Dan Brandon
Author's posts
May 13
The Fizzy Seas of Titan : By Marcus Woo
With clouds, rain, seas, lakes and a nitrogen-filled atmosphere, Saturn’s moon Titan appears to be one of the worlds most similar to Earth in the solar system. But it’s still alien; its seas and lakes are full not of water but liquid methane and ethane. At the temperatures and pressures found on Titan’s surface, methane …
Apr 14
NOAA’s Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) to monitor Earth as never before : By Ethan Siegel
Later this year, an ambitious new Earth-monitoring satellite will launch into a polar orbit around our planet. The new satellite—called JPSS-1—is a collaboration between NASA and NOAA. It is part of a mission called the Joint Polar Satellite System, or JPSS. At a destination altitude of only 824 km, it will complete an orbit around …
Mar 15
What It’s Like on a TRAPPIST-1 Planet : By Marcus Woo
This artist’s concept allows us to imagine what it would be like to stand on the surface of the exoplanet TRAPPIST-1f, located in the TRAPPIST-1 system in the constellation Aquarius. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle (IPAC) With seven Earth-sized planets that could harbor liquid water on their rocky, solid surfaces, the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system might feel …
