Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

A Snapshot of the Plot of the Inner Solar System

Posted by michael on from the got-rocks? dept.

BawbBitchen writes "The BBC is running an interesting story about a bunch of Astronomers who have produced a snapshot of the Solar System as of 26 July 2002. Here is the full image and here is a 5.1MB animated GIF (each frame is 961 x 961 pixels) of the map. The credits say it was generated on an OpenVMS system using the PGPLOT graphics library and the animation was done on a RISC OS 4.03 system."

14 of 30 comments (clear)

  1. Never mind the NEOs, check out the asteroid belt! by WolfWithoutAClause · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Check out all that stuff floating outside Mars orbit!

    It's icy asteroids outside the icing point of the sun- at that distance water is in the form of ice and sublimes only over enormous timescales.

    Water is an okish fuel for rockets- the ISP of steam is about 190 seconds, just under half the thrust of the space shuttle main engines, even if you don't split it into hydrogen and oxygen.

    Basically, if you can reach that, the whole solar system is open to you- so much fuel you wouldn't know which way to go first...

    --

    -WolfWithoutAClause

    "Gravity is only a theory, not a fact!"
  2. misleading by capt.Hij · · Score: 4, Informative
    The project is really cool, and the plots are fascinating. However, the plots that are produced are misleading. The role of science and the media is a growing concern, and it was on slashdot earlier today.

    When you look at the plots it looks like the whole space is filled. This is not even close to representing the true picture since the spacial scales are so large, the actual masses are really smaller than pinpoints. The media is putting out misleading pictures without giving any explanation about the scale, and it looks like we are sitting inside a virtual fog bank of asteroids.

    1. Re:misleading by Christopher+Thomas · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The project is really cool, and the plots are fascinating. However, the plots that are produced are misleading. The role of science and the media is a growing concern, and it [slashdot.org] was on slashdot earlier today.

      Would you be happier if they put a little sticker on the picture saying "object size is not to scale"?

      They're constrained by the fact that we actually have to be able to _see_ objects on the plot, and be able to pick out the more important objects (like planets) from the hordes of smaller objects sprinkled about the plot.

      Looks like a decent plot to me.

    2. Re:misleading by Hacker'sEdict · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Plus the fact that a 3d enviroment can't fully be projected onto a 2d page.

    3. Re:misleading by p3d0 · · Score: 2
      Plus the fact that a 3d enviroment can't fully be projected onto a 2d page.
      I don't think that matters much. All these bodies are probably near the plane of the ecliptic anyway.
      --
      Patrick Doyle
      I mod down every jackass who puts his moderation policy in his sig. Oh, wait a sec....
    4. Re:misleading by Lars+T. · · Score: 2

      What do you think projection means?

      --

      Lars T.

      To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck

  3. Here's another version by portwojc · · Score: 3, Informative

    APOD July 24th

    Gives the usual detailed information.

  4. Re:Never mind the NEOs, check out the asteroid bel by eyepeepackets · · Score: 2

    Sorry dude, I have no mod points or I'd give you a good one as you make the one good observation so far in these posts.

    I'm convinced these asteroids (and the ones that come closer) are our key to future development off planet. We should be putting some serious research into these little rocks first, the big rocks (planets) less so.

    Just my opinion, of course.

    --
    Everything in the Universe sucks: It's the law!
  5. Re:Asteroid Belt... by gaudior · · Score: 2

    Green is the New Black.

  6. Re:Too much noise by Stoutlimb · · Score: 3, Interesting

    "pretty, but not very informative"

    Heck no. Have you noticed that Jupiter's lagrange points are fairly populated. I never knew that before, and I took 3 years of astrophysics at the university level. Just goes to show, you learn something new every day.

    Bork!

  7. Re:Anthropically misleading? by Stoutlimb · · Score: 2

    Actually I think it's because they're clustered around some of Earth's Lagrange points. Just look at the ones around Jupiter to see how significant this is.

  8. Re:Too much noise by medcalf · · Score: 2

    I was under the understanding that all of the LaGrange points for all of the planets and large moons were well populated, but particularly L4 and L5. Fair point, though, that it's not just a pretty picture.

    --
    -- Two men say they're Jesus. One of them must be wrong. - Dire Straits
  9. It can't? by SIGFPE · · Score: 2

    Oh my God! I'm wasting my life writing rendering code then.

    --
    -- SIGFPE
  10. Plot of the inner solar system by Graspee_Leemoor · · Score: 2

    "Plot of the inner solar system" ?

    I always knew Venus was up to no good, but little did I realise that Mars, Earth, Mercury were in on it. Just what sinister plot does the inner solar system have ?

    or:

    "Plot of the inner solar system"

    Those who criticize the plot of the inner solar system should realize that the plot itself takes a backseat to the special effects.

    graspee