Tourist travel in the solar system

Diversity of solar system objects

What is remarkable about observing our solar system, is the extraordinary diversity of objects connected to it. Yet they are all formed from the same original cloud at the same location in the Galaxy, using the same materials at the same time there are about 5 billion years.
These objects which have evolved very differently from identical initial conditions, let us admiring so much diversity. Here are some beautiful and amazing pictures that show the diversity of our immediate environment as would travel agencies of the future environment.
The first destination that will amaze us this is the first suburb of the Earth. We are the first generation to see our planet from outer and in its entirety. The first image of the Earth taken by Apollo 8 , the first mission to be carried men beyond Earth orbit between 21 December 1968 and 27 December 1968 .

Earth glides majestically on an ideal orbit, leaving perceive no trace of the formidable force that leads it. We fall into the infinite spiraling constantly changed and we will never go back to where we are today. Day and night while the sky unfolds a panorama changing over our heads, our Earth, this little star dust, turns on itself without worry for tomorrow.

Image: The most remarkable on the enlarged picture of the Earth, is the frail membrane air that the Earth has managed to maintain for 4.2 billion years. Our Earth is an oasis of life, that it must to a singularity in the gaseous envelope coverage. This air layer composed of 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen, isolate us to the space protecting us from cosmic radiation.

Olympus Mons on Mars

Phobos, moon of Mars

Itokawa asteroid

Image: Olympus Mons is the largest volcano in the solar system, it towers on a vast plateau 25 km in height. This volcano 600 km wide bordered by cliffs, has a caldera 85 km long, 60 km wide and 3 km deep, in which there are six other smaller collapse craters. The exceptional size of Olympus Mons is certainly due to the fact that Mars does not have tectonic plates and therefore the lava accumulated in one place, on this hot spot to reach unbelievable heights.

Image:  Phobos, the largest moon of Mars, the Stickney crater is more than 9 km in diameter, nearly half of its diameter, Stickney is so great that this impact could completely disintegrate the small moon of Mars. But Phobos is condemned because its orbit is below synchronous altitude tidal forces gradually decrease its orbital radius of 1.8 meters per century. In about 40 million years, it will break to form a ring around Mars or crash into its surface.

Image: But where the craters of the asteroid Itokawa are?
The Japanese Hayabusa probe shows a surface that is unlike any other body in the solar system already photographed. The absence of circular impacts do tell at the scientists that Itokawa is a pile of rubble, a heap of stones and pieces of ice weakly held together by gravity. Craters may fill with stones each gravitational shock when this NEO asteroid passes near Earth every year.

Jupiter and Io

Europe, moon of Jupiter

Rings of Saturn

Image: The blue color shows the clouds and mist high altitude, while the red shows the deepest clouds of Jupiter's atmosphere. The enlarged picture you can see a major eruption in progress on Io's night side, just on the northern volcano, Tvashtar. This little red dot is representative of the glowing lava of the volcano, it is located under the blue volcanic plume illuminated by sunlight. The panache appears blue due to scattering of light on fine particles.

Image: Europe cracks, open and close constantly the rhythm of tides. Fractures crust ice show this friction, are double lines for the most part, which lengthen on either side of the crack, making up the water underground. Surface ice several kilometers thick hides a liquid ocean maintained by the heating produced by these forces due to its proximity to Jupiter.
This ocean could reach 150 km thick. Europe has a very tenuous oxygen atmosphere.

Image: Saturn's rings have complex resonances with some satellites. Satellites 'shepherds' (Atlas, Prometheus and Pandora), roll edge rings and are essential for stability.
Mimas seems to be responsible for the Cassini Division, Pan is located inside the Encke division. The overall system is very complex as shown in this picture. Another enigma subsists is the dark interval between rings A and B, it contains more dust than ice.

Enceladus, moon of Saturn

Hyperion, moon of Saturn

Uranus and its moons

Image: Enceladus, Saturn's moon, possesses, despite his small size of 500 kilometers in diameter, geological activity. It has cracks that are the source of plumes of ice. These plumes sprinkle its orbit, geysers constantly explode, ejecting ice particles and spread a thin swirling trail in the wake of the moon. This trail constitutes the ring of ice particles which is replenished every orbit of the moon around the planet. The detection of salty ice indicates that the little moon has a liquid water reservoir beneath its surface.

Image: The low density of Hyperion indicates that it is composed mainly of ice with a small amount of rock. Hyperion's rotation is chaotic, its axis of rotation varies so much that its orientation in space is impossible to predict. Hyperion is unique in its very irregular shape and very eccentric orbit. This object is remarkably riddled with strange craters and its surface is amazing. Hyperion measures approximately 250 km in diameter means rotates chaotically and has such a low density that it could conceal a vast network of caves.

Image: Most of the planets spin on an axis nearly perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic but Uranus' axis is almost parallel to that plane. It seems 'roll' on its orbit. Uranus has thin rings, with clear edges like the other gas giants, they are very dark like those of Jupiter and composed of relatively large particles up to 20 meters in diameter in addition to fine particles, like the rings of Saturn. There are 13 main rings, all drapes and wide a few km, the brightest being the Epsilon ring.

Miranda, moon of Uranus

Neptune

Triton, moon of Neptune

Image: Miranda nearest moons of Uranus, has probably had a tumultuous past. Miranda shows a unique variety of terrain which leads some astronomers think it was broken several times during its evolution as shown in the famous "chevron" feature, the brilliant V-shape just above the center. This surprising mosaic of varied areas shows a series of crests, valleys and smooth surfaces and very deep canyons dark such as large crater (center of picture) which has a depth of over 15 km.

Image: In the confines of the solar system to 4.5 billion km, the winds in the atmosphere of Neptune are the fastest measured in the solar system. Their amazing speed was estimated at 2100 km/h. Several storms represented by the Great Dark Spot, accompanied by bright white clouds to rapid changes can be seen. South we see another storm, the small spot at the bright heart. Each storm of Neptune's atmosphere moves eastward at a different speed, so it is difficult to see them close to each other.

Image: Triton is a big satellite 2706 km in diameter, but its orbit is retrograde, i.e. its direction is opposite to that of rotation of Neptune, this feature reveals that Triton is an external object that was captured by the giant planet. The moons that have a retrograde orbit, can not have been formed from the same cloud of dust that their planet in the primitive nebula. They are objects made ​​elsewhere, probably in the Kuiper belt, not far away.