An explanation as to why the Earth, and the other (smaller) inner planets of the solar system, have not been consumed by the Sun.
It all made sense, except for one tiny problem: this same model also suggested that a little world like Earth shouldn’t exist at all; it (or more precisely, the Moon-size proto-planets [...]
How exactly does the Earth evade the Sun’s (powerful) gravity?
Posted by John Lampard on Tuesday, 12 January, 2010 to the comment subset
Cross the Solar System by crossing the widest webpage online
Posted by John Lampard on Friday, 18 December, 2009 to the design and art subset
P H E N O M E N A L, an online scale model of the Solar System, which is said to be half a mile in width.
Unlike most models, which are compressed for viewing convenience, the planets here are also shown at their true-to-scale average distances from the Sun. That makes this page [...]
The knowledge and wisdom of two deep-space voyagers
Posted by John Lampard on Friday, 6 November, 2009 to the comment subset
A summary of the how the two Voyager space probes have expanded our knowledge of the solar system’s outer planets.
How then to summarise Voyager? As Stone observes “I felt that we were all in the tradition of Galileo. He was the first to see the moons of Jupiter and the first to apply an instrument [...]
Charting the exploration of the Solar system
Posted by John Lampard on Wednesday, 14 October, 2009 to the design and art subset
Awesome National Geographic infographic depicting the exploration of the solar system in the last 50 years… be sure to view the larger version.
Of course we may not need to go to Mars, it might come to us
Posted by John Lampard on Friday, 12 June, 2009 to the comment subset
It seems not even the orbital stability of the solar system’s inner planets is a given. If Mercury, orbiting closest to the Sun, were to be dragged out of its current orbit by Jupiter (a situation that is somehow possible) all sorts of chaos could ensue.
Mercury is the key to catastrophe. It is especially susceptible [...]
Flickr’s stellar collection of planets, stars, and galaxies
Posted by John Lampard on Friday, 27 March, 2009 to the photography subset
Discover the solar system, galaxy, and the infinite beyond right here on Flickr.
Is a 300 year old storm on Jupiter finally abating?
Posted by John Lampard on Tuesday, 24 March, 2009 to the comment subset
There’s evidence that Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, a storm twice the size of Earth, which has been raging for the last 300 or so years, may be diminishing.
Observations of cloud cover over the past decade or so have suggested the huge, oval tempest was getting smaller as Jupiter’s climate changes. But such observations are tricky [...]
If you think the Sun is massive you ain’t seen nothing yet…
Posted by John Lampard on Monday, 16 March, 2009 to the comment subset
An awesome graphic which puts the scale of the cosmos into (some sort of) perspective.
Starting with the Earth and the Moon, it eventually works up to the largest known star, the hypergiant VY Canis Majoris, the surface of which – if estimates of its size are correct – would extend to the orbit of Saturn [...]
Act locally, think intergalactically, Pluto is a planet in Illinois
Posted by John Lampard on Friday, 13 March, 2009 to the comment subset
Today is Pluto Day, at least if you live in the US state of Illinois, where lawmakers have also decreed that Pluto is a planet, in contravention of the International Astronomical Union 2006 ruling declaring it be classified a dwarf planet, as it is “too small” to be a full-sized planet.
Clyde Tombaugh who discovered Pluto [...]
If there is a Planet X what should we call it?
Posted by John Lampard on Tuesday, 10 February, 2009 to the comment subset
Some astronomers feel there is another, as yet undiscovered, planetary member of the Solar system far out beyond the orbit of Neptune, which may be about the same size as Earth.
If we know enough to say the solar system is a filigree construction, we might reasonably assume we know where all its bits are. But [...]
