“Comet Nishimura, like many others, has a green color because of diatomic carbon. This highly reactive molecule is destroyed almost as soon as it is released from the comet by the Sun’s energy, which is why the comet’s tail isn’t green as well.” - The Downlink #PlanetarySociety #Downlink

“The term 'planetary nebula' is a misnomer; planetary nebulae don’t actually have anything to do with planets. They were so named because the astronomers who first observed them in the 1700s thought they looked a bit like planets.” - The Downlink #Downlink #PlanetarySociety

“The Moon is covered in craters, with estimates ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions. New craters — usually very small — are being added all the time. On average, about 100 meteoroids the size of a ping pong ball hit the Moon every day.” - The Downlink #Downlink #PlanetarySociety

“Like on Earth, Mars’ intense storms are a product of climate change. Mars used to have oceans and an atmosphere that helped it trap and redistribute the heat it got from the Sun. Without those moderating factors, Mars can have extreme winds and dust storms.” - The Downlink #Downlink #PlanetarySociety

“On the Moon, when you cross the terminator from day side to night side, it gets hundreds of degrees colder. On Venus, the change in temperature from day to night is negligible. The difference? No atmosphere versus an extremely thick one.” - The Downlink #Downlink #PlanetarySociety

“The boulders ejected from asteroid Dimorphos by the DART impact are among the faintest objects the Hubble Space Telescope has ever photographed within the Solar System. Since Hubble mostly looks at extremely distant objects, they are also among the nearest.” - The Downlink #PlanetarySociety #Downlink

“Venus’ atmosphere is extremely thick, creating a huge amount of pressure at the surface. If you were standing on Venus, you’d be under so much atmospheric pressure that it would feel the same as being a kilometer underwater on Earth.” - The Downlink #PlanetarySociety #Downlink

“Although Saturn is the second-most massive planet in the Solar System, it’s the least dense of all the planets. Saturn’s average density is lower than that of water — in a hypothetical situation involving a truly enormous pool, Saturn could actually float.” - The Downlink #PlanetarySociety #Downlink

“ESA’s Mars Express mission is aptly named. It reached Mars particularly quickly because it launched when the orbits of Earth and Mars brought them closer together than they had been in about 60,000 years.” - The Downlink #PlanetarySociety #Downlink

“Over the 26-year history of the Shoemaker NEO grant program, Planetary Society members and donors have played a major role in the advancement of planetary defense by providing about $585,000 in grant funding for asteroid hunters around the world.” - The Downlink #PlanetarySociety #Downlink

Networking With Balloons - Starlink has been making tremendous progress towards providing world-wide access t... - https://hackaday.com/2023/06/26/networking-with-balloons/ #raspberrypi #radiohacks #downlink #balloon #network #images #packet #rf4463 #radio #stm32 #aprs

“When BepiColombo enters into orbit around Mercury in 2025 it will separate into two spacecraft, one led by ESA and the other by JAXA. That will double the total number of spacecraft to have ever studied Mercury up close, bringing the count from two to four.” -The Downlink #PlanetarySociety #Downlink

“A Mars day (called a sol) is about 40 minutes longer than an Earth day. The scientists and engineers who operate Mars rovers sometimes have to sync up with sols, meaning they start their work about 40 minutes later every day.” - The Downlink #PlanetarySociety #Downlink

“With trillions of galaxies in the Universe, each containing hundreds of billions of stars, most of which are likely to host planets, many of which host moons, the number of worlds out there is staggering — as is the likelihood that life exists beyond Earth.” - The Downlink, Planetary Society #PlanetarySociety #Downlink

I haven't decoded this, a downlink from the INS-2TD satellite, but I am still thrilled you can capture beeps and boops from #space. #satellite #hamradio #satNOGS #downlink #fsk

“This week a record number of people were in space. A total of 16 people were in Earth orbit aboard China’s Tiangong space station, the International Space Station, and SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule. The previous record of 14 was set in 2021.” - The Downlink, Planetary Society #PlanetarySociety #Downlink #ISS #Orbit #Records

“Because of the New Horizons mission, we now know more about the surface of Pluto than the surface of Venus, even though the latter is billions of miles closer to home. NASA’s VERITAS mission, which is facing crippling budget cuts, would change that.” - The Downlink, Planetary Society #PlanetarySociety #Downlink

“The European Space Agency’s Juice mission, which launched earlier this year, will be the first mission ever to orbit another planet’s moon. Juice will study Jupiter’s moons Europa and Callisto via flybys before entering into orbit around Ganymede.” - The Downlink #Downlink #PlanetarySociety #ESA #Juice

#PlanetarySociety #Downlink

Fact Worth Sharing

Mars illustration
Mars’ moons are both very small. Deimos is so small and has such low gravity that if you stood on its surface and jumped you could achieve escape velocity and leave the moon forever.

[planetar Society][www.planetary.org]

The dwarf planet Eris was named after the Greek goddess of discord and strife, which is fitting; discoveries about Eris were instrumental in the eventual reclassification of Pluto as a dwarf planet, which sparked a lot of discord and strife among the public. #PlanetarySociety #Downlink