The Juno spacecraft, after a planned launch in August, will travel to and then orbit the planet Jupiter. On board will be three LEGO minifigs representing the Roman god Jupiter, his wife Juno, and the astronomer Galileo Galilei. Jupiter is holding his traditional lightning bolt, Juno a magnifying glass to represent her search for truth, and Galileo holds a globe and telescope. Link -via DVICE | Photo: NASA

Artist Franceska McCullough makes toothpick sculptures that are inspired by geometric forms and astrophysical patterns. Pictured above is “Ganymede and Callisto Pod”, in reference to the two largest moons of Jupiter:

This is Ganymede Callisto Pod – or more directly the orbital pattern of the two largest moons of Jupiter. I chose Ganymede and Callisto because they are the two ice covered potentials to life, they are simply beautiful in the photo’s I’ve seen and their orbital dance is exquisite. If you are ever close enough to my sculpture that you can see inside to the core then you will see the orbital pattern very clearly.

Link via Make | Photo: Franceska McCullough, used with permission.

The planet Jupiter has lost one of its belts — the Southern Equatorial Belt (SEB). It’s made of mostly ammonia ice, phosphorus, and sulfur, and apparently disappears now and then:

The belt took leaves of absence in both the early 1990s and in 1973, so its disappearance now, if anything, is a bit overdue (it seems to be on a roughly 15-year cycle).

But due to the orbital dynamics of Earth and Jupiter, this particular disrobing was far more abrupt. Jupiter has been hanging out on the other side of the sun since late 2009, obscured from our view for the last few months. The belt disappeared while Jupiter was hiding, making for quite a drastic change in appearance when it recently re-emerged.

Link | Image: Anthony Wesley

Neil Fraser wondered if a lava lamp would still work in the higher gravity environment of Jupiter. How such a question ever occurs to anyone is a matter of wonder in itself, but Fraser went ahead and built a ten-foot wide centrifuge in his living room to conduct the experiment to answer his question.

The centrifuge is a genuinely terrifying device. The lights dim when it is switched on. A strong wind is produced as the centrifuge induces a cyclone in the room. The smell of boiling insulation emanates from the overloaded 25 amp cables. If not perfectly adjusted and lubricated, it will shred the teeth off solid brass gears in under a second. Runs were conducted from the relative safety of the next room while peeking through a crack in the door.

Highlight this text for a spoiler: Yes, the lava lamp worked in 3G. Link -via Digg

Astronomers from Japan and Northern Ireland, presenting their findings today at the European Planetary Science Congress, used observations of Comet Kushida-Muramatsu—from when it was discovered in 1993 and when it returned in 2001—to calculate the comet’s path over the previous century. They determined that the comet became a temporary moon when it entered Jupiter’s neighborhood in 1949. It made two full, if irregular, orbits around the planet, and then continued its travels into the inner solar system in 1962.

The researchers also predict that Comet 111P/Helin-Roman-Crockett, which circled Jupiter between 1967 and 1985, will again become a temporary moon and complete six loops around the planet between 2068 and 2086.

“The results of our study suggests that impacts on Jupiter and temporary satellite capture events may happen more frequently than we previously expected,” David Asher of Northern Ireland’s Armagh Observatory told the AFP.

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Photo: NASA

From soon after 8pm until just before 11pm the planets Venus and Jupiter will stare down from the western sky like two brilliant eyes. Directly below, the crescent moon will form a happy mouth.

"I think it will be very spectacular," Sydney Observatory’s astronomer, Nick Lomb, said. "The three brightest objects in the night sky will all be in the same patch of the sky."

As the night draws on, Dr Lomb predicted, "the smiley face" – with Venus playing the left eye and giant Jupiter the right – "will improve and become a little more compact".

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