Gibbous By Abi Ashra (Tumblr)

What are comets made of?

Just some eye candy from the Hubble Space Telescope.  One of the great scientific achievements of our time.

What is the next step for hacktivists, radical or not. What’s 4Chan, what’s Anonymous and what’s the next thing? What’s the real deal - Ray Johansen gives his views.

Revolutionaries are always controversial. Some get proven right, some as a doing bad, some seen as doing equal amounts of both.The truth is complex. So we let Ray give us his views.

As part of our transparent process, we’re making some of our research interviews available for all.  Check out both our Transparently Unedited interviews on our YouTube channel where you’ll and also find other awesome clips from a diverse set of characters.

Hydra 3K Medium Mech da Marco Marozzi

Ham radio operator taking part in a field day

(Walter B. Lane. 1946)

The Apollo 14 Command Module “Kitty Hawk”, on display at the Apollo Saturn V Center at KSC.

Image credit: Erik Hess

Milky Way & shooting stars.

Map of Jupiter’s South

This map of Jupiter is the most detailed global color map of the planet ever produced. The round map is a polar stereographic projection that shows the south pole in the center of the map and the equator at the edge. It was constructed from images taken by Cassini on Dec. 11 and 12, 2000, as the spacecraft neared Jupiter during a flyby on its way to Saturn. The map shows a variety of colorful cloud features, including parallel reddish-brown and white bands, the Great Red Spot, multi-lobed chaotic regions, white ovals and many small vortices. Many clouds appear in streaks and waves due to continual stretching and folding by Jupiter’s winds and turbulence. The bluish-gray features along the north edge of the central bright band are equatorial “hot spots,” meteorological systems such as the one entered by NASA’s Galileo probe. Small bright spots within the orange band north of the equator are lightning-bearing thunderstorms. The polar region shown here is less clearly visible because Cassini viewed it at an angle and through thicker atmospheric haze. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Enceladus - Life in our solar system?

Enceladus is Saturns icy moon that measures approximately 504km in diameter, about a tenth of the size of Saturn’s largest moon Titan. Almost completely covered in ice, this moon could potentially harbour the same type of life-sustaining chemical reactions found in deep sea hydrothermal vents here on Earth.

In 2005, NASA’s Saturn orbiting Cassini spacecraft spotted geysers of water and ice erupting fro fissures near Enceladus’ South Pole. Scientists believe they originate from a great ocean beneath the shell of ice. This ocean manages to stay liquid because the gravitational force exerted by Saturn is so intense that it twists and stretches the moon generating internal heat.

In October 2015, Cassini went on a dive through one of the plumes passing within just 39km of Enceladus’ surface. A team of scientists led by Hunter Waite analysed the observations made by the spacecraft. They discovered that the geysers contain between 0.4%-1.4% molecular hydrogen (H2) and 0.3%-0.8% carbon dioxide (CO2). These are being produced continuously by reactions between hot water and rock near the core of the moon. Some of the most primitive metabolic pathways found in microbes at deep ocean hydrothermal vents involve the reduction of CO2 with H2 to form methane (CH4) by a process known as methanogenesis.

The second closest planet to the sun, Venus. Venus is about the same size as Earth, having a 12,104 km diameter. Venus has phases, like our moon, that can be seen as a crescent to a full circle. When visible at dusk and dawn, Venus is the brightest shining object in the sky (besides the sun & moon of course), brighter than mercury and mars. It is the hottest planet, and it’s surface temperature can reach up to 470 degrees Celsius. This is because Venus traps the sun’s heat, unlike mercury which doesn’t. A day on Venus lasts longer than its year, lasting for 19 days over. Venus is definitely a planet we could explore more, we just need to find a way to combat the blistering heat! ☀️