Hasta La Gadget!

You know how some homes have one of those really large globes sitting in the living room, showing off where each country is in a much, much scaled down version of the spinning ball of molten rock and lava that we live on? Well, why not accord the same honor to other planets in our solar system as well (sorry, Pluto!), with the gas giant Jupiter taking center stage in the form of the $144.99 Jupiter Solar Spinning Globe.

The Jupiter Solar Spinning Globe might be able to pique the interest of your little one when it comes to future space exploration, where it comes in a 4.5″ diameter globe that depicts the massive Jupiter. Its rotation will be powered by low-light solar cells, although in the real world, it is a whole lot more complicated than that to have Jupiter orbit around the sun. Definitely one of the more mesmerizing things to occupy your time with at the office or at home if you’re bored, or need to take your mind off some serious matter at work. The equatorial bulge and planetary rings are not included, so do take note of that.
[ Jupiter Solar Spinning Globe runs on solar power copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

One day, poor planet Earth will succumb to the centuries of abuse we’ve dealt her, shrivel up, and cease to support life. Then, if we’re not already living in some Elysium-like habitat in space, we’ll have to find a new home. Jupiter’s moon, Ganymede, might just be it.

Read more…

We’re a little late to the party on this one, but it’s just too fascinating to pass up. A team of planetary scientists recently claimed that the mix of methane, carbon and lightning in Saturn’s atmosphere is causing diamonds to be forged in the planet’s atmosphere. Like, a lot of diamonds.

Read more…

With potential oceans flowing below its icy surface, NASA thinks Jupiter’s Europa moon is promising candidate to harbor organic life. As such, the space agency and its JPL laboratory are looking to send a lander there within a decade, and have detailed what it wants it to explore in a new paper. Key goals include measuring the organic content of surface and near-surface chemistry, exploring mineralogy, measuring the thickness and salinity of the oceans and ice, imaging surface formations and looking at microscopic ice and non-ice grains. Researchers also looked at potential landing sites, and were torn between a more interesting, active site like “Thera Macula” and a more stable location with ancient geology. NASA’s Juno mission, launched in August 2011, is expected to help settle such issues when it probes Europa from orbit starting in 2016. Though it’d be hard to top Curiosity’s setdown, a Europa landing could be even more dramatic, considering the moon is over 10 times farther away than Mars and never gets above minus 370 degrees Fahrenheit.

Filed under: Science, Alt

Comments

Via: The Register

Source: NASA (paper)

This moon looks even more like it’s made from green cheese than ours does, but it’s not. Lame. Io, the innermost moon of Jupiter, is the most volcanically active body in our solar system because of gravitational "tides" exerted by Jupiter and its other moons. And the constantly flowing lava gives Io’s surface frequent makeovers.

Read more…