Astronomy Menz! I have some interesting facts for you...

[warcrow]

I just got done reading the newst issue of Time, and they have an article on on Saturn and Cassini-Nuygen (the unmanned spacecraft currently orbiting it). After reading the article I thought it would be a cool idea to share some interesting facts with you guys.


By the numbers:

7 1/2 years - Years Cassini-Nuygen has spent in flight to Saturn

84 Mins - Amount of time it takes a radio signal moving at the speed of light to travel from earth to saturn

930 Million miles - Distance between Earth and Saturn (nearly as far aparts as they ever get).

1% - Amount of sunlight Saturn gets compared to Earth, one reason for its -218F temperature.

94% - Portion of Saturn's upper atmosphere that is made of hydrogen. The rest is Helium.

29.42 - A Satrun year measured in Earth years. A Saturn day last 10 hours and 39 mins.

54,000MPH - The speed at which Cassini has traveled.



Random Facts:

- Saturn has seven rings and 31 moons.
- The Cassini Orbiter is more than 22ft tall and weights more than 6 tons when fueled. Its packed with dozens of scientific intruments and powered by a minature nuclear generator.
- Titan, one of saturns moons is a world of its own and possesses the preorganic chemistry that Earth had 4.5 billion years ago.
- Jupiter, Uranus (har har) and Neptune also have rings, just very faint and considered "thready".

 

[Nohr]

Neato.

 

[DanTMWTMP]

cool, never knew it had a mini nuke generator.

now i want to read more about the craft.

 

[silverpig]

Yeah, all that stuff is pretty neat.

 

[warcrow]

Originally posted by: DanTMWTMP
cool, never knew it had a mini nuke generator.

now i want to read more about the craft.

Yea, I didnt realize that either. There is such incredible technology integrated into that little guy.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: warcrow

Originally posted by: DanTMWTMP
cool, never knew it had a mini nuke generator.

now i want to read more about the craft.

Yea, I didnt realize that either. There is such incredible technology integrated into that little guy.

little? its 22ft tall!


but yeah amazing stuff.

but now that mini nuke generator is going to crash land on some small planet and give a struggling system this new advanced technology. They then will use that to take over there world. which will have a nuclear war. the survivors will build mother ships and make there way back to the earth for revenge. Wiping out every living being on the planet!

sigh thanks NASA.

 

[warcrow]

Originally posted by: waggy

Originally posted by: warcrow

Originally posted by: DanTMWTMP
cool, never knew it had a mini nuke generator.

now i want to read more about the craft.

Yea, I didnt realize that either. There is such incredible technology integrated into that little guy.

little? its 22ft tall!


but yeah amazing stuff.

but now that mini nuke generator is going to crash land on some small planet and give a struggling system this new advanced technology. They then will use that to take over there world. which will have a nuclear war. the survivors will build mother ships and make there way back to the earth for revenge. Wiping out every living being on the planet!

sigh thanks NASA.

I think it would just burn up before getting anywhere near something thats considered "ground" on Saturn

 

[Armitage]

Originally posted by: warcrow

Originally posted by: DanTMWTMP
cool, never knew it had a mini nuke generator.

now i want to read more about the craft.

Yea, I didnt realize that either. There is such incredible technology integrated into that little guy.

It uses an RTG (Radio-isotope Thermonuclear Generator) to generate electricity. Caused all sorts of controvery when it was launched, and then again when it did a gravity assist flyby of the earth a few years later. Lots of tree huggers tried to get it shut down.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: warcrow

Originally posted by: waggy

Originally posted by: warcrow

Originally posted by: DanTMWTMP
cool, never knew it had a mini nuke generator.

now i want to read more about the craft.

Yea, I didnt realize that either. There is such incredible technology integrated into that little guy.

little? its 22ft tall!


but yeah amazing stuff.

but now that mini nuke generator is going to crash land on some small planet and give a struggling system this new advanced technology. They then will use that to take over there world. which will have a nuclear war. the survivors will build mother ships and make there way back to the earth for revenge. Wiping out every living being on the planet!

sigh thanks NASA.

I think it would just burn up before getting anywhere near something thats considered "ground" on Saturn

well yeah.. that could also happen but what are the odds?

 

[warcrow]

Originally posted by: Armitage

Originally posted by: warcrow

Originally posted by: DanTMWTMP
cool, never knew it had a mini nuke generator.

now i want to read more about the craft.

Yea, I didnt realize that either. There is such incredible technology integrated into that little guy.

It uses an RTG (Radio-isotope Thermonuclear Generator) to generate electricity. Caused all sorts of controvery when it was launched, and then again when it did a gravity assist flyby of the earth a few years later. Lots of tree huggers tried to get it shut down.

Oh I knew that dude, come on!

 

[CombatChuk]

Originally posted by: Armitage

Originally posted by: warcrow

Originally posted by: DanTMWTMP
cool, never knew it had a mini nuke generator.

now i want to read more about the craft.

Yea, I didnt realize that either. There is such incredible technology integrated into that little guy.

It uses an RTG (Radio-isotope Thermonuclear Generator) to generate electricity. Caused all sorts of controvery when it was launched, and then again when it did a gravity assist flyby of the earth a few years later. Lots of tree huggers tried to get it shut down.

It's hard to believe that technology is 7 1/2 years old

 

[NeoV]

I do recall a slew of protests when it initially launched.

The data from this mission will take years to sort through - it's already raising more questions than answering any!

Titan is probably the most spectacular body in our solar system - from the standpoint of scientific study - it will be very exciting when the probe attempts to land on it, I think in December.

 

[cucumber]

Originally posted by: warcrow

Originally posted by: waggy

Originally posted by: warcrow

Originally posted by: DanTMWTMP
cool, never knew it had a mini nuke generator.

now i want to read more about the craft.

Yea, I didnt realize that either. There is such incredible technology integrated into that little guy.

little? its 22ft tall!


but yeah amazing stuff.

but now that mini nuke generator is going to crash land on some small planet and give a struggling system this new advanced technology. They then will use that to take over there world. which will have a nuclear war. the survivors will build mother ships and make there way back to the earth for revenge. Wiping out every living being on the planet!

sigh thanks NASA.

I think it would just burn up before getting anywhere near something thats considered "ground" on Saturn

Yeah it is pretty damned unlikely but it would make for a cool sci fi movie

 

[warcrow]

Originally posted by: NeoV
I do recall a slew of protests when it initially launched.

The data from this mission will take years to sort through - it's already raising more questions than answering any!

Titan is probably the most spectacular body in our solar system - from the standpoint of scientific study - it will be very exciting when the probe attempts to land on it, I think in December.

The Titan probe is called Huygens. Cassini is suppose to do 59 fly-bys of all the moons, and 45 of those will be done on Titan alone. The artciel states that around christmas time, the probe will be launches and rendezvous on jan 14th. On arrival it will make a 2 1/2 hour decent through that atmostphere by parachute. If it isnt destroyed by the landing, the probe could survive on he surface for another 30 mins or so.