Fun thread: what is this a picture of?

[CalliArcale]

I've decided to start a fun thread in this forum to lighten the mood a little. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> I'm going to post pictures from time to time and challenge people to guess what it's a picture of. Some will be easy and (hopefully) some will be hard.<br /><br />Here's the first one. I know for at least some folks, this one will be easy. It all depends on whether or not you've seen this before. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[maxtheknife]

I dunno, Calli. Whatever NASA tells us it is, I guess. Is that the right answer?<br /><br />What do you suppose these are?<br /><br />http://ida.wr.usgs.gov/display/MGSC_1066/m08046/m0804688.imq.jpg <br /><br />http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/m07_m12/nonmaps/M08/M0800440.gif <br /><br />

 

[najab]

My fist guess would be Triton or Miranda.

 

[kmarinas86]

A picture of a fictional planet.

 

[gfpaladin]

Sort of looks like the sun with a specific wavelength filter in place....

 

[CalliArcale]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>My fist guess would be Triton or Miranda. <p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />Triton and Miranda look pretty dissimilar actually -- but you are correct. This is a picture of Triton, one of the oddest moons in the entire solar system. If not *the* oddest. Here are some quick fun facts about Triton:<br /><br />* largest moon in a retrograde orbit; it was almost certainly not originally a satellite of Neptune, but it is far larger than other moons believed to have been captured by their parent planets<br /><br />* believed to have active cryovolcanism; the plumes of volcanoes or gysers are clearly visible in the Voyager images, and from density and spectral analysis, it is likely to have a large amount of water ice in it; these volcanoes may erupt, liquid nitrogen, or a slushy mixture of water ice and ammonia, or something entirely different<br /><br />* one of the few moons with a significant atmosphere; Voyager even imaged tenuous clouds over the limb of Triton<br /><br />* only visited by one spacecraft: Voyager 2 <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

This one is black-and-white, which may present a challenge as this object is usually shown in color. You don't have to identify the particular landform; just identify the celestial body it's on. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[najab]

><i>Triton and Miranda look pretty dissimilar actually...</i><p>Yeah, I just couldn't remember which was which! <img src="/images/icons/laugh.gif" /></p>

 

[najab]

That's a hard one....is that material ice or rock?

 

[gfpaladin]

Hmmmm.<br /><br />Mars?

 

[slayera]

WoW, great thead idea, keep'em coming.<br /><br />I know what is not. Not any interplanets. Not a gas planet, or Pluto. . I don't think we have any clear pictures like this of any moons around Nepture or Uranus. But as close as I can narrow down is a moon of a gas gaint, Jupiter or Saturn.

 

[nacnud]

Humm, objects shown in colour, Io or Mars spring to mind just from that clue.

 

[CalliArcale]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>That's a hard one....is that material ice or rock? <p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />Rock. These mountains are very distinctive, because they are formed by a somewhat different process that we are used to.... <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>Humm, objects shown in colour, Io or Mars spring to mind just from that clue.<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />You go it -- it's Io!<br /><br />Fun facts about Io:<br /><br />* Io was only the second object in the solar system where active volcanos were observed (the first was, of course, Earth <img src="/images/icons/tongue.gif" /> )<br /><br />* Of all the volcanically active bodies in the solar system, Io is by far the most active. Its surface has been aptly compared to Hell.<br /><br />* Io's volcanos spew sulfurous clouds hundreds of miles into the sky, so violently that the particles often end up on Io escape trajectories. This is believed to feed Jupiter's ring system.<br /><br />* The mountains on Io are seldom produced by volcanos; Io's volcanos are flat calderas. Rather, these enormous mountains are believed to be huge blocks of rock shifting to one side as Io flexes from the tremendous tidal strain put on it by its orbital resonance with the other "Galilean" satellites. They erode over time as Io's gravity causes them to slump back down. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

This one'll stay up for a while; I have to go get lunch, and then I need to work on some documentation at my "real" job. <img src="/images/icons/tongue.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[nacnud]

Is it Enceladus?

 

[gfpaladin]

Europa?

 

[CalliArcale]

Nope -- not Enceladus, and not Europa! <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br />Hint: it is always farther from the Sun than either of those. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[gfpaladin]

Miranda!

 

[CalliArcale]

You got it! <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> najaB mentioned Miranda earlier, so I couldn't help posting a picture of it. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br />Fun facts about Miranda:<br /><br />* Miranda is one of the few moons not named for a mythical figure; like most of Uranus' moons, it is named for a Shakespearean character. Miranda is the leading female character in "The Tempest", Shakespeare's last play.<br /><br />* Miranda has a startlingly jumbled surface which is not adequately explained by any theory yet produced. One of the more dramatic theories is that Miranda was struck by an object which broke it into several fragments, which then recoalesced, resulting in the strange textures seen on its surface. However, this doesn't seem to quite work, and it has also been theorized that Miranda could have some sort of active process spitting fresh material out onto the surface in long flows. The Voyager 2 pictures do not give enough information to tell, and unfortunately there are unique challenges to orbiting Uranus in a useful way (since its axis is inclined a little over over 90 degrees) so this question will probably remain unanswered for a long time.<br /><br />* The pictures of Miranda have the best resolution of all the pictures taken in the entire Voyager mission! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

Here's another one. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[zavvy]

Phobos?

 

[gfpaladin]

Phobos?

 

[yurkin]

<br /> So far I’m 1 for 4. <img src="/images/icons/frown.gif" /><br />Has anyone gotten them all on the first guess?<br /><br />Calli you should post say five pictures at once. Make it like a weekly solar system quiz or something.<br />

 

[najab]

I'm going to buck the trend and say that the crater isn't big enough for it to be Phobos. I'm guessing a main-belt asteroid like Gaspara or Eros.<br /><br />Okay, changed my mind, I'm going with Phobos again. I've never seen a photo from that angle before.