Categories
Natural Science

Unfathomable

The Hubble Ultra Deep Field

I spotted quite a few links to this over the week but only just got around to watching it. It’s actually ridiculous. And I get scared enough just thinking about how deep the sea is.

Categories
Natural Science Photography

Quadruple Saturn moon transit

Snapped by the Hubble telescope this is a pretty rare thing to be able to see. From left to right we have:

  • Enceladus – named after one of the Gigantes, Enceladus has water ice on its surface and could have liquid water too which raises the possibility of it supporting life
  • Dione – is apparently named after an archaic Greek goddess/Titan who might be Aphrodite’s mother (though I was fairly sure Aphrodite was born from Uranus’s genitals and not much else), Dione also has surface ice and ‘wispy terrain’
  • Titan – named for the Titans is the only body in the solar system (apart from Earth) that appears to have stable bodies of surface liquid (methane)
  • Mimas – named after another Gigante, Mimas kinda looks a bit like the Death Star