Fun thread: what is this a picture of?

vogon13 · Apr 7, 2005

Compare Neried's orbital period around Neptune to the time it takes earth to orbit sun. Probably the closest match in the solar system. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!So many people, so few recipes !!Let's clean up this stinkhole !! </div>

CalliArcale · Apr 7, 2005

teije and imran, you're both close. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> Clue: it's named for a character in the same play as Oberon. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "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." -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink" </div>

imran10 · Apr 7, 2005

Never seen the play but my second choice was Titania.

CalliArcale · Apr 7, 2005

You got it! Titania was Oberon's wife in "A Midsummer Night's Dream". They are the king and queen of the fairies. Oberon is mad at his wife, so he gets the fairy Puck (who also has a moon named after him) to acquire a nectar which will make her fall in love with the first male she sees. They kidnap a very bad actor named Bottom and turn his head into a donkey's head. (Yes, there's a pun in that, and a double meaning, since he acts like an ass too. Shakespeare's humor isn't always very sophisticated.) Titania ends up falling madly in love with Bottom, and hilarity ensues. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> It's one of Shakespeare's sillier plays. Fun facts about Titania (the moon): * The bulk composition of Titania makes it fit the description "dirty iceball"; it seems to be a roughly even mix of rock and ice. * Titania is the largest moon of Uranus, only slightly larger than Oberon, named for Titania's husband. But size is all it shares in common with Oberon. Titania is very like a much smaller moon, Ariel. * Titania has a lot of enormous groves on one side, possibly similar to Tethys' Ithaca Chasma. One theory is that as Titania froze within, it expanded and cracked the surface. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "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." -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink" </div>

CalliArcale · Apr 7, 2005

Another full-disk image: <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "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." -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink" </div>

jaredgalen · Apr 7, 2005

Oo..oo I know this dag-nab-it, it was taken with three different wavelengths with each one then colourised green, red and blue to show up different features at different wavelengths. Now if only I could remember what it was of......

odysseus145 · Apr 7, 2005

Isn't that Earth in Gamma? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

CalliArcale · Apr 7, 2005

Yep! <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> I figured somebody'd have seen the picture before. It's indeed the Earth, taken in gamma ray. It was the Astronomy Picture of the Day just last Thursday. Fun facts about Earth and gamma rays: * Earth is extremely faint in gamma ray; the rays are emitted from the upper atmosphere as a result of high energy interactions between the atmosphere and cosmic rays. This image was compiled from seven years of Compton Gamma Ray Observatory data. Three frequencies were assigned to three colors to produce a false-color visible image. * Earth's atmosphere protects us on the surface from harmful cosmic radiation. The same atmosphere that produces this faint glow at high altitudes is our shield. That's actually why Compton was launched, along with subsequent gamma-ray observatories (such as Swift). You can't do any useful observation in gamma ray from down here, because the atmosphere soaks it up. * The Earth is the densest body in the solar system and is made primarily of rock, with a high percentage of iron (over 30% of its entire mass, which makes it the most abundant element on Earth, although most of it is buried deep in the core). <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "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." -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink" </div>

CalliArcale · Apr 7, 2005

I might not be able to keep these updated very well tomorrow; I have the day off work and will be spending time with my daughter. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> Just a heads up. Here's an interesting one: <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "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." -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink" </div>

astrophoto · Apr 7, 2005

Mike Wyzowski from Monsters, Inc!

mrmorris · Apr 7, 2005

"The Earth is the densest body in the solar system..." I would have said Mercury was the densest planet off the top of my head. Therefore I did some research to see where I went wrong. Figured I'd post the results here: The first data I found was here: Even before Mariner 10, Mercury was known to have a high density. Its density is 5.44 g/cm3 which is comparable to Earth's 5.52g/cm3 density. In an uncompressed state, Mercury's density is 5.5 g/cm3 where Earth's is only 4.0 g/cm3. This high density indicates that the planet is 60 to 70 percent by weight metal, and 30 percent by weight silicate. This gives a core radius of 75% of the planet radius and a core volume of 42% of the planet's volume. I wondered what they meant by 'uncompressed state' and found that here: ...the reason that Mercury, with so much iron, has less density than Earth is that the overall mass of Earth compresses the planet and creates a high density. Mercury has only 5.5% of Earth's mass. The iron core fills 42% of the planetary volume (Earth's core only fills 17%). Surrounding the core is a 600km mantle. Of course -- it was also nice to find out that I was not alone in thinking that Mercury was the densest <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> : Some things we already know. Here are some things we already know about the planet Mercury: - Mercury's density is the highest of any planet...

CalliArcale · Apr 7, 2005

Yep. Mercury *should* by rights be the densest, based on its composition. But Earth's gravity compresses it, and the overall density of Earth is thus higher. There are things that are denser still, such as the core of the Sun (compressed by its enormous gravity), but as the rest of the sun is so much more diffuse, the overall density is much lower. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "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." -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink" </div>

CalliArcale · Apr 7, 2005

Quick hint on the object above: it was the first of its kind to be discovered. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "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." -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink" </div>

nacnud · Apr 7, 2005

Ceres

nacnud · Apr 7, 2005

Calli, your gona have to make the clues harder <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> I have no idea untill you give us a clue. Can I give a random factoid please <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> Ceres comprises over one-third the 2.3 x 1021 kg estimated total mass of all the asteroids. (all asuming I'm right that is <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" />)

larper · Apr 7, 2005

Actually, instead of Ceres, I will guess Dactyl, first "moon" of an asteroid. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Vote Libertarian </div>

CalliArcale · Apr 7, 2005

Larper is correct! This is not Ceres, which is in fact pretty much spherical. This is Dactyl, the moon of asteroid 243 Ida. Fun facts about Dactyl: * it was the first natural satellite of a minor planet to be discovered (unless you count Pluto as a minor planet, of course, in which case it's the first natural satellite of an asteroid) * Dactyl was discovered completely by chance in a preplanned series of high-res images taken by the Galileo spacecraft during its encounter with 243 Ida. As luck woudl have it, the images were so good that the previously undiscovered moon even showed its heavily cratered surface. * Dactyl and Ida are not identical in composition; Dactyl is not a piece of Ida. But they are similar, and may have formed together in whatever event produced the Koronis family of asteroids. * Dactyl is very small -- only 1.6 km across. But Ida is only 53 km across, so it's a pretty respectable size in comparison to its planet. * one bonus from the unexpected discovery of Dactyl was a rough estimate of Ida's mass and therefore density. Ida had been believed to be a an S-type asteroid, but it turned out to not be dense enough. It's probably a chondrite asteroid. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "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." -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink" </div>

CalliArcale · Apr 7, 2005

I gotta go get dinner soon, so I won't be able to post hints for a while. I might not be logging on again until tomorrow. So be forewarned. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "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." -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink" </div>

nacnud · Apr 7, 2005

DOH <img src="/images/icons/frown.gif" />

teije · Apr 8, 2005

my first guess would be The Moon. But somehow I don't think Calli would make it that easy...

CalliArcale · Apr 8, 2005

Nope, it's not the Moon. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> Of course, I might make it easy just to fool you.... <img src="/images/icons/tongue.gif" /> Here's a hint: this object has a rather unusual orbit. For many years, it frustrated astronomers, whose equations could not predict its orbit. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "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." -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink" </div>

nacnud · Apr 8, 2005

Mercury

shuttle_rtf · Apr 8, 2005

> This is Dactyl, the moon of asteroid 243 Ida< A moon of an asteriod! Bloody heck. Ok, Calli gets a cut if this comes up if you're on Millionaire. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" />

shuttle_rtf · Apr 8, 2005

Callisto?

najab · Apr 8, 2005

<blockquote>In reply to:<hr />This object has a rather unusual orbit. For many years, it frustrated astronomers, whose equations could not predict its orbit.<hr /></blockquote>Well that describes Mercury to a 'T', but I don't think we have any pics of Mercury at that resolution - at least not till MESSENGER gets there. So I guess it's one of Jupiter's moons - Callisto maybe?

Fun thread: what is this a picture of?

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