Saturday Off Topic

Cold again here in Massachusetts. Did anyone think those proposed government bailout plans I posted last night were funny? I was cracking myself up writing them. Maybe my sense of humor is unique, but I thought they were hilarious.

Off Topic Topics

A quiet Saturday for news leaves me without much to write about. I thought I might have a post that shares some information about some things I like to try and entertain the readership.

One favorite thing of mine is any pictures taken by space probes from the surface of another planet or moon. There is something about looking at a foreign surface that can keep my interest for long periods of time. Below are some of my favorite photos along these lines.

Venus

The Soviets built a whole armada of Venus probes. The program was simply called Venera. Some of them were constructed to land on the surface and transmit pictures. These probes had to be massively overbuilt with regards to toughness to survive even a few minutes in the super dense Venusian atmosphere. Here is a photo from the surface of Venus taken by Venera 13:

Mars

Mars, more than any other planet or moon, has a great wealth of information available. the amazing rover Spirit and Opportunity to this day send back vivid images of the martian terrain. With so many to choose from, it can be hard to pick a few to show here. This picture shows a meteorite on the surface of Mars which amazingly was extremely close to where the Opportunity rover touched down:

This photo is my favorite picture of all as it shows the what the Earth looks like from the martian surface at night:

Saturn's Moon Titan

The only moon in the solar system with it's very own atmosphere is Saturn's largest moon Titan. Thought to be hydrocarbon lakes scattered all around the surface, the moon has captured attention for years. A probe called the Huygens probe was able to land on the surface and transmit for a few minutes. Here is one picture that has been released:

There are many more out there and I tend to get lost looking through these kinds of pictures. Makes you feel pretty small in the scheme of things to see these kinds of things. Makes a possible RECESSION seem that much more insignificant as well!

Wikipedia may have some issues at times, but all of the space entries are top notch and I fully endorse their usage to read about space related topics.

Have a good night.