Wednesday 30 October 2013

'Gravity': junk film in junk space

"I hate space", she says, among debris, semi-destroyed space ships and malfunctioning equipment.


No wonder. Then back on Earth, by miracle, she whispers to sand in her hands: "Thank you ! "

You ? Who do you mean ? no, no, please not God !

I just hate this film. Those who created it hate the human Space Adventure.

Friday 18 October 2013

I've seen the Hexagon Vortex on Saturn's North Pole



This is the most recent composite image of Saturn based on Cassini probe photos. On top of the planet, a blue-tone hexagon is visible. What we're seeing is the center of a huge polar vortex that spins on the north pole of Saturn.


Beautiful Saturn hides violent and tumultuous structures.

First observed by Voyager 1 and 2 probes in the early 80, this complex structure extends for nearly 25 thousand kilometres and forms a hexagonal pattern easily recognizable in images taken in infrared wavelengths.


As far as it is known, this form results of a standing hexagonal wave of cyclonic clouds, each side about 14 000 miles long (Earth diameter - 12 700 miles).

No one knows its origin, although it is probably related to the magnetic field resonance, of dodecahedric form. Similar patterns in swirling fluids have already been created in laboratory .

Sunday 13 October 2013

Reiner Gamma

A magnetic whirlpool on the Moon ? Seems like old-fashioned fiction... but it's true: there are several formations on the moon surface with magnetic origin, resembling to the dipolar formation created by iron filings on a surface with a bar magnet on the underside.


Reiner Gamma's magnetic field is one of the strongest localized magnetic anomalies on the Moon. The surface field strength of this feature is sufficient to form a mini-magnetosphere that spans 360 km at the surface, forming a 300 km thick region of enhanced plasma where the solar wind flows around the field.

As the particles in the solar wind are known to darken the lunar surface, the magnetic field at this site may account for the survival of this albedo feature - apppearing to be a bright spot on the moon surface.