I vote for Neptune!
Scale - What If other planets replaced the moon? (by Pakiavelli)
Rings and Enceladus
A crescent Enceladus appears with Saturn’s rings in this Cassini view of the moon.
The famed jets of water ice emanating from the south polar region of the moon are faintly visible here. They appear as a small white blur below the dark south pole, down and to the right of the illuminated part of the moon’s surface in the image.
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Jan. 4, 2012 from a distance of approximately 291,000 kilometers from Enceladus.
Omega Centauri looks amazing through a telescope…
APOD: Millions of Stars in Omega Centauri
Image Credit & Copyright: Gordon Mandell
Explanation: Featured in this sharp telescopic image, globular star cluster Omega Centauri (NGC 5139) is some 15,000 light-years away. Some 150 light-years in diameter, the cluster is packed with about 10 million stars much older than the Sun. Omega Cen is the largest of 200 or so known globular clusters that roam the halo of our Milky Way galaxy. Though most star clusters consist of stars with the same age and composition, the enigmatic Omega Cen exhibits the presence of different stellar populations with a spread of ages and chemical abundances. In fact, Omega Cen may be the remnant core of a small galaxy merging with the Milky Way.
Two Planets Discovered Sharing the Same Orbit
In a cosmic first, the Kepler telescope has discovered two planets sharing the same orbit. There is a theory that says our moon was created when a body sharing our orbit crashed into Earth, but up until now no one had found evidence of co-orbiting planets elsewhere in the universe.
It is possible that such a phenomenon could occur when matter around a newborn star forms into planets. In a planet’s orbit around a star, there are two places where a third body can safely orbit. These spots, known as Lagrange points, are 120 degrees in front of and behind whichever body is smaller. The discovered co-orbiting planets, located in the four-planet system KOI-730, are always 120 degrees apart, permanent fixtures in each others’ night skies.
Lunar Eclipse from Brisbane, 21 December 2010
Unfortunately there was cloud on the horizon. The Moon finally rose clear of the cloud after 7:30pm.
Saturn’s Rings May Be Remains of Ripped-Apart Moon
Saturn’s famous rings are the last remaining shards of a huge moon the planet tore apart long ago, a new study suggests.
A moon about the size of Titan — Saturn’s largest satellite — likely spiraled into the giant planet about 4.5 billion years ago, scientists think. As it made its way, Saturn’s powerful gravity stripped off the doomed moon’s icy outer layers, thus spawning the planet’s magnificent rings, according to the research.
I hope they have insurance…
Two galaxies collide head-on in this new image from the European Southern Observatory. (via New Sharp Image of Violent Galactic Collision | Wired Science | Wired.com)
From Sagittarius to Scorpius, the central Milky Way is a truly beautiful part of planet Earth’s night sky. The gorgeous region is captured here, an expansive gigapixel mosaic of 52 fields spanning 34 by 20 degrees in 1200 individual images and 200 hours of exposure time. Part of ESO’s Gigagalaxy Zoom Project, the images were collected over 29 nights with a small telescope under the exceptionally clear, dark skies of the ESO Paranal Observatory in Chile. The breathtaking cosmic vista shows off intricate dust lanes, bright nebulae, and star clusters scattered through our galaxy’s rich central starfields. Starting on the left, look for the Lagoon and Trifid nebulae, the Cat’s Paw, the Pipe dark nebula, and the colorful clouds of Rho Ophiuchi and Antares (right). (via Astronomy Picture of the Day )
