Well, even though there was a LARGE earthquake in Chile recently, look at this gem view of Jupiters
dynamic weather pattern. I wonder if there are JUPITERQUAKES...



Here is technical description of image:
"This new thermal image was captured by the VISIR instrument on the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile."

A "new" photo from NASA's WISE space telescope shows a cosmic rosebud blossoming with new stars. Question is: what does it smell like? :*)

131 Years and Still Counting... Happy Brain Day, Albert Einstein

Here we go again. This time the rock counters are from the European Space Agency. The red rock image posted here is from 2008. The ESA site says they will post "new" images of this red rock at a future date. Following quotations are from ESA:

"4 March 2010 Mars Express encountered Phobos last night, smoothly skimming past at just 67 km, the closest any manmade object has ever approached Mars’ enigmatic moon. The data collected could help unlock the origin of not just Phobos but other ‘second generation’ moons. European Space Agency

Closest-ever flyby of Phobos went down smoothly - Spacecraft in excellent health

According to the bits of telemetry that just came through we have a healthy spacecraft all-around! Despite the heavy use of our batteries with long transmitter times during a season of long eclipses, the spacecraft is in good shape, showing that the flight control team's careful planning of the past weeks paid off.

With a new bag full of high-fidelity radio science data, researchers can now feed their number crunchers for weeks to come. Stay tuned, however, as we have more exciting flybys coming up. The next one as early as Sunday! -- Hannes"

I WONDER HOW MUCH THESE NUMBER CRUNCHERS GET PAID. Oh well, everyone needs a job.

Got to give credit where credit is due. NASA released this today (quote from NASA) "This raw, unprocessed image of Helene was taken by Cassini on March 3, 2010." I have heard of the phrase "bean counting" many times---NASA's new practice is ROCK counting. I always wonder about who names these newly discovered rocks. Well, one day they will run out of names. NASA should start an auction on E-bay for naming rights. If some private people are willing to pay millions of dollars to physically go up into outer space, imagine how much someone might pay to have a distant rock named after themselves. That money could go into funding future missions...

NASA cannot return to Earths moon right now. Yet, they are sending pictures of moons that are orbiting around Planet Saturn. We do not want to see another pie in the sky, we want to eat green cheese on our own moon...:*)

NASA is rocking the solar system again.

Now that the Solar Dynamics Observatory has launched, I remixed the antenna's located in New Mexico that will receive the data from the Sun.

Just when you think NASA is boring they send images from the solar system that blow Hollywood's special effects away.

Image Advisory: February 23, 2010

CASSINI FINDS PLETHORA OF PLUMES, HOTSPOTS AT ENCELADUS

Newly released images from last November's swoop over Saturn's icy moon Enceladus by NASA's Cassini spacecraft reveal a forest of new jets spraying from prominent fractures crossing the south polar region and yield the most detailed temperature map to date of one fracture.

The new images from the imaging science subsystem and the composite infrared spectrometer teams also include the best 3-D image ever obtained of a "tiger stripe," a fissure that sprays icy particles, water vapor and organic compounds. There are also views of regions not well-mapped previously on Enceladus, including a southern area with crudely circular tectonic patterns.

Oh---by the way---here is the REAL "special effects":