Jupiter

Ever Seen a Four-Planet Sunset?

You have now. This composite image, captured by astrophotographer Chris Kotsiopoulos, combines a series of photographs snapped from Alikes salt lake in Kos Island, Greece, during last light on May 25th. NASA claims you can spot four planets in the image. The trails of Jupiter, Venus and Mercury appear from left to right, “dropping toward…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Jun 13

Alien life in our solar system, according to pulp-art legend Frank R. Paul

Almost fifty years after his death, Frank R. Paul remains one of the biggest names in science fiction art and pulp magazine illustration. These visions of life on moons and planets throughout our solar system (recently posted to reddit with no attribution to Paul, his work, or his impact) provide us with another fantastic example…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Apr 8

The Cities of Europa Glow in Icy Fissures Beneath Jupiter’s Swirling Face

Flying into Jupiter’s moon Europa is always a breathtaking sight. Cities cling to the reflective moon’s icy crust, while vast farms swirl in the warm seas below the surface. Now that we’ve learned to cultivate the native flora and fauna for food, it’s become the number one destination in the Jovian system. This gorgeous image…

io9 Annalee Newitz Mar 22

Jupiter’s hot spots reveal a tantalizing glimpse into the gas giant’s inner atmosphere

As a gas planet, it’s not exactly surprising that Jupiter is famous for its storms and clouds—indeed, Jupiter’s most famous feature, the Great Red Spot, is a storm that’s lasted perhaps 400 years and is at least twice the size of Earth. By those standards, the rare breaks in Jupiter’s swirling cover are tiny, but…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Mar 17

The Hottest Space Porn of 2012

2012 was a remarkable year for jaw-dropping space imagery. Here, in no particular order, are our 22 favorite photos, videos, composites, timelapses and animations of the cosmos for the year. An Impossibly Beautiful Image of Earth Released in January of this year, NASA calls this update to the iconic “Blue Marble” photograph “the most amazing…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Dec 24

How Someone Measured the Speed of Light by Accident

At a time when many thought the Speed of Light was infinite, a few brave souls tried to come up with a definite number for it. Most of them failed. There was one guy, however, who wasn’t even trying, but came up with a great way to guess. Take a look at how he took…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell Dec 13

NASA sheds some light on Jupiter’s mysterious companion asteroids

Jupiter is not alone out there. Aside from its 62 moons, the massive gas giant is joined by two clumps of asteroids that orbit around the sun in the same orbit — what are called the Jovian Trojans. Not much is known about these ancient objects, but new data from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer…

io9 George Dvorsky Oct 16

Jupiter Has Taken a Massive Meteor Hit (So Earth Didn’t Have To)

On Monday, Jupiter took a massive hit from a meteor, which was spotted by amateur astronomers based in the US—and if previous evidence is anything to go by, it could have saved Earth from a massive collision in the process. Dan Peterson of Racine, Wisconsin, was gazing at Jupiter on Monday when he saw a…

Space & Spaceflight Jamie Condliffe Sep 12

Jupiter may have just saved Earth from a devastating impact event

Something just went down on Jupiter. Monday morning, at 11:35:30 UT, amateur astronomers glimpsed a brief but blazing flash of light in the upper reaches of the planet’s cloudy atmosphere. If past observations are any indication, Jupiter may have just sustained a major impact event. If that’s the case, the gas giant may have just…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Sep 11

The Robot Explorer That Will Navigate Jupiter’s Liquid Moon

NASA’s Europa Jupiter System Mission, set for 2026, will be the first survey Jupiter’s frozen moon. Scientists also plan to explore the moon’s liquid oceans, which are buried under 6km of ice. Getting through that will be tough. But once we hit water, Eurpoa’s interior will be explored by the most advanced autonomous underwater vehicle…

Tech News Andrew Tarantola Jul 27

What if we had a planet instead of a Moon?

Our moon is a pretty big object. It’s big enough to be a respectable planet in its own right, if it were orbiting the sun instead of the Earth. (Actually, it is orbiting the sun in a nearly perfectly circular orbit, that the Earth only slightly perturbs… but that’s a topic for another day.) The…

io9 Ron Miller Jul 25

Behold the rings of Jupiter

Not Saturn. Jupiter. Yes, Jupiter has rings. Did we just blow your mind? It’s surprising how few people know about the ring system of our solar system’s largest planet. Then again, spotting the Jovian ring system from Earth is next to impossible; in fact, it wasn’t until 1979, when Voyager I returned some of its…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Jun 21

The Search for Life on Jupiter’s Icy Moons

Could there be life on one of Jupiter’s moons? The European Space Agency is hoping to find out. The ESA will send the JUICE space probe to Jupiter to study three of its moons, Europa, Calliso, and Ganymede. A key objective of the mission is to study the potential for life, and because these three…

io9 George Dvorsky May 3

This Beautiful Space Video Will Make You Have Flying Dreams Tonight

Using images sequences from NASA’s Cassini and Voyager missions, Sander van den Berg has put together one of the most beautiful space videos I’ve ever seen. So dreamy. The film and the song—That Home, by The Cinematic Orchestra—just give me the chills. [Twitter via Fogonazos]

Space & Spaceflight Jesus Diaz Apr 24

A breathtaking reminder of just how gigantic Jupiter really is

If you’re looking for a reminder of how impossibly huge Jupiter is, just take a gander at this image from Cassini. That tiny satellite in front is Io…which is almost the same size and relative distance as our own Moon. Of course, other than their closeness in size – Io and the Moon are the…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins Apr 8

Jupiter, Venus, and the Moon Will Ménage à Trois Tonight

Ohhh baby, space is about to get real sexy tonight. Starting around 9pm EST (for North America) the Moon and Venus will be just three degrees apart in the western sky, with Jupiter joining only ten degrees below. You can even watch it on a webcam. Check out the celestial bodies on them! From 8pm…

Space & Spaceflight Brent Rose Mar 25

Flag Designs for Earth & The Solar System in 2020 and Beyond

Redittor thefrek has designed a kick-ass series of flags for the Solar System and its planets. But flags, as we all know, change over time. So he’s also created possible revisions for those flags reaching as far as 800 years into the future. Below you’ll find thefrek’s concept designs for “Earth/Solar flags throughout the future,”…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Mar 23

Behold, the first-ever geologic map of volcanic moon Io

Feast your eyes on the volcano-covered surface of Io, the innermost of Jupiter’s four Galilean moons. We’ve been snapping photo’s of Io’s stunning surface features for decades, but only recently did the US Geological Survey team up with NASA to create a detailed “global” picture of the moon; what you see here is the product…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Mar 21

Leaked documents reveal Russia’s ambitious new space exploration strategy

When it comes to space exploration, the last couple decades have been pretty tough going for Russia. Now, leaked documents have revealed the country’s plan for getting back on the path to deep space success — and holy crap, is it ambitious. RIA Novosti reports that the plans were submitted to the Russian government earlier…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Mar 15

10 Moons Every Person Should Know

Pretty much everyone can rattle off the names of our solar system’s eight (formerly nine) planets, but ask the average person to list some moons and you’ll be lucky if they can tell you more than two or three. Now, you obviously can’t expect people to remember the name of every single satellite in the…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Mar 12

Ever Seen a Four-Planet Sunset?

Alien life in our solar system, according to pulp-art legend Frank R. Paul

The Cities of Europa Glow in Icy Fissures Beneath Jupiter’s Swirling Face

Jupiter’s hot spots reveal a tantalizing glimpse into the gas giant’s inner atmosphere

The Hottest Space Porn of 2012

How Someone Measured the Speed of Light by Accident

NASA sheds some light on Jupiter’s mysterious companion asteroids

Jupiter Has Taken a Massive Meteor Hit (So Earth Didn’t Have To)

Jupiter may have just saved Earth from a devastating impact event

The Robot Explorer That Will Navigate Jupiter’s Liquid Moon

What if we had a planet instead of a Moon?

Behold the rings of Jupiter

The Search for Life on Jupiter’s Icy Moons

This Beautiful Space Video Will Make You Have Flying Dreams Tonight

A breathtaking reminder of just how gigantic Jupiter really is

Jupiter, Venus, and the Moon Will Ménage à Trois Tonight

Flag Designs for Earth & The Solar System in 2020 and Beyond

Behold, the first-ever geologic map of volcanic moon Io

Leaked documents reveal Russia’s ambitious new space exploration strategy

10 Moons Every Person Should Know

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