Off World Aurora Pictures

[Sub-Ether]

Most of you will have seen the aurora borealis, some lucky enough to have seen it for real(I have not), what is not so well known is there are other planets and moons that also exhibit the incredible beauty of the charged particle phenomena.

Here is Saturn taken from the underneath by Cassini probe.

In Infra red false colour,

 

[Sub-Ether]

Jupiter has an aurora at both poles,

Orbiting Jupiter is the largest moon of the solar system, Ganymede, which also has an aurora that provides clues to the large subterranean liquid ocean beneath,

 

[Sub-Ether]

Here is the frigid moon of Enceladus jetting ionized icy volcanic plumes into the charged magnetic field generated by its iron core and Saturn

and a closer view on the surface of chilly Enceladus

 

[TaoOfSatoshi]

Sweet pics!

 

[Dunedoo]

All of us greys know Ganymede has water. I miss home.

 

[Sub-Ether]

All of us greys know Ganymede has water. I miss home.

Spotted another one, this time on Mars (am looking for better quality) ..

 

[Sub-Ether]

Heres a totally new discovery, the very first Brown dwarf at 20 light years away has been seen with an aurora,
(a brown dwarf is a failed star that was too small and lacked the mass and heat to initiate proper fusion)
They are a useful thing to study for exoplanets as they are not too bright to look at like with stars and not too dim to give no data as they radiate infrared that allows a spectrum analysis of the overly large planetary atmosphere to acertain the molecular content of the gases.

the aurora can be seen blinking here (strong flash at 14 seconds)

http://www.caltech.edu/news/failed-stars-host-powerful-auroral-displays-47428

 

[raganius]

I have never heard about brown dwarves. Thanks! Could Jupiter be considered a brown dwarf? I love this subject,I've dedicated most of my young days on it!

 

[Sub-Ether]

I have never heard about brown dwarves. Thanks! Could Jupiter be considered a brown dwarf? I love this subject,I've dedicated most of my young days on it!

Good question, I think brown dwarfs have been the more boring and less exotic things to study but with the advent of very large telescope arrays coupled together around the world and planet hunting(they are often mistaken for real planets) they may turn out to have some hidden surprises especially as the atmospheres can be studied now.
The wikipedia answer states a Brown Dwarf ranges from 13 - 90 Jupiter masses, there is some fusion of deuterium going on but not enough for a runaway chain reaction, surprisingly even at 60 jupiter masses they are roughly the same diameter as jupiter.

''Currently, the International Astronomical Union considers an object with a mass above the limiting mass for thermonuclear fusion of deuterium (currently calculated to be 13 MJ for objects of solar metallicity) to be a brown dwarf, whereas an object under that mass (and orbiting a star or stellar remnant) is considered a planet.
The 13 Jupiter-mass cutoff is a rule of thumb rather than something of precise physical significance. Larger objects will burn most of their deuterium and smaller ones will burn only a little, and the 13 Jupiter mass value is somewhere in between''

 

[Sub-Ether]

The atmosphere, the darkside, ice mountains and sunset of Pluto.

http://astronomynow.com/2015/09/10/latest-new-horizons-images-of-pluto-and-charon-delight-and-amaze/



The darkside showing the ionized atmosphere

http://astronomynow.com/2015/09/17/haunting-sunset-vista-shows-foggy-hazes-on-pluto/

Skiing is possible on Pluto's mountains but watch out for the low G and wrap up warm,

Another foggy day,

 

[Sub-Ether]

The space probe Juno arrrives at Jupiter next week, as well as more stunning pictures of Jupiter's aurora, the moon Io is covered with active volcanos and there is lightning shorting down to jupiter, a fiery place indeed.
Also, Europa has 3 times the amount of water as the earth, it is warm inside due to gravitational warming, the cause of the dirty brown cracks is unknown but if this was earth it could be caused by a type of microbial life form.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/...ll-of-gas-nasas-juno-spacecraft-arrives-at-b/

 

[splawik21]

Simply beautiful!

 

[rustycase]

Nice pics.
really cold out there.
rc

 

[Sub-Ether]

Nice pics.
really cold out there.
rc

Certainly a bit chilly that far out but warm inside moons like Europa and Io because of the tidal heating caused by the gravity of Jupiter, all the action might be going on under the ice, Nasa has discussed plans for a probe to drill through Europa's ice, although that may not be neccessary because sometimes water spurts through cracks in thinner parts, and (remote) mass spectronomy can perhaps discern life.
The movie 'Europa Report' is pretty decent if you ain't seen it,
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2051879/

 

[rustycase]

The movie 'Europa Report' is pretty decent if you ain't seen it,
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2051879/

Thank you !
I shall look for that movie !
Best
rc

 

[luiane]

Thanks for sharing those pics.