Tata Surya adalah kumpulan benda langit yang terdiri atas sebuah bintang yang disebut Matahari dan semua objek yang terikat oleh gaya gravitasinya. Objek-objek tersebut termasuk delapan buah planet yang sudah diketahui dengan orbit berbentuk elips, lima planet kerdil/katai, 173 satelit alami yang telah diidentifikasi, dan jutaan benda langit (meteor, asteroid, komet) lainnya.
Tata Surya terbagi menjadi Matahari, empat planet bagian dalam, sabuk asteroid, empat planet bagian luar, dan di bagian terluar adalah Sabuk Kuiper dan piringan tersebar. Awan Oort diperkirakan terletak di daerah terjauh yang berjarak sekitar seribu kali di luar bagian yang terluar.
Berdasarkan jaraknya dari matahari, kedelapan planet Tata Surya ialah Merkurius (57,9 juta km), Venus (108 juta km), Bumi (150 juta km), Mars (228 juta km), Yupiter (779 juta km), Saturnus (1.430 juta km), Uranus (2.880 juta km), dan Neptunus (4.500 juta km). Sejak pertengahan 2008, ada lima obyek angkasa yang diklasifikasikan sebagai planet kerdil. Orbit planet-planet kerdil, kecuali Ceres, berada lebih jauh dari Neptunus. Kelima planet kerdil tersebut ialah Ceres (415 juta km. di sabuk asteroid; dulunya diklasifikasikan sebagai planet kelima), Pluto (5.906 juta km.; dulunya diklasifikasikan sebagai planet kesembilan), Haumea (6.450 juta km), Makemake (6.850 juta km), dan Eris (10.100 juta km).
Enam dari kedelapan planet dan tiga dari kelima planet kerdil itu dikelilingi oleh satelit alami, yang biasa disebut dengan "bulan" sesuai dengan Bulan atau satelit alami Bumi. Masing-masing planet bagian luar dikelilingi oleh cincin planet yang terdiri dari debu dan partikel lain.
Software
Solar System 3D Simulator is a FREE software application that generates a realistic solar system model and planets in 3 Dimension on the PC using advanced physics formulas. It can display the planets and their orbits, the sun and the moon. The nine planets including planet earth and their detailed physical & chemical information and image pictures is also displayed including solar power, solar energy and solar eclipse details. The graphical output is in high-resolution 3D full color format and the orbit view can be adjusted and the orbits tilted & rotated to any angle. The speed of the solar system can also be varied. The Solar System model is useful for learning about the physics of the universe, astronomy, science projects & science experiments interactively for both adults and kids. Students of Elementary, Middle and High School can use it for science fair projects ideas, physics help, science news & creating science articles. The software is easy to use with a fully Windows based interface. The program has a fully graphical menu oriented interface designed for ease of use. The Solar System 3D software has been designed for fast setup and interactivity with excellent high quality visual output. The software runs on all Windows Operating Systems.
Download (5 MB)
Download (5 MB)
2. WorldWide Telescop
WorldWide Telescope is free software from Microsoft that lets users explore the universe with impressive content from the Hubble Space Telescope, NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory Center, and other famed ground- and space-based telescopes. Colorful nebulae, distant galaxies, black holes, and radiation clouds are all accessible from your desktop with a few clicks.
The main WorldWide Telescope interface includes seven tabs for navigating: Explore, Guided Tours, Search, Community, Telescope, View, and Settings. Some of the tabs, such as Explore and Search, include collapsible submenus with further options at the bottom of the interface. The bulk of the screen is devoted to displaying detailed images of objects throughout the universe.
You can move around the sky by clicking with your left mouse and dragging the screen. There are multiple mouse and keyboard commands for rotating and tilting the view, and zooming in and out. Right-click on any object to learn more about it. You can save your favorite places in the universe to visit them later under "My Collections," and you can watch guided tours of the universe conducted by experts and users. You can also add text, images, and shapes to enhance your tour, and you can even layer a soundtrack and voice over.
There are a few niggling bugs--zooming with the mouse wheel is inaccurate, canceling the download of a guided tour crashes the program, and the help content is hidden underneath the Explore drop-down menu. However, the software boasts a hoard of amazing telescope imagery to be explored as well as very cool features that let you view, save, and manage that imagery in many different ways. WorldWide Telescope appears to be an invaluable tool for hobbyists, astronomers, students, educators, or anyone curious about the universe.
Download (27.5 MB)
3. Stellarium
The main WorldWide Telescope interface includes seven tabs for navigating: Explore, Guided Tours, Search, Community, Telescope, View, and Settings. Some of the tabs, such as Explore and Search, include collapsible submenus with further options at the bottom of the interface. The bulk of the screen is devoted to displaying detailed images of objects throughout the universe.
You can move around the sky by clicking with your left mouse and dragging the screen. There are multiple mouse and keyboard commands for rotating and tilting the view, and zooming in and out. Right-click on any object to learn more about it. You can save your favorite places in the universe to visit them later under "My Collections," and you can watch guided tours of the universe conducted by experts and users. You can also add text, images, and shapes to enhance your tour, and you can even layer a soundtrack and voice over.
There are a few niggling bugs--zooming with the mouse wheel is inaccurate, canceling the download of a guided tour crashes the program, and the help content is hidden underneath the Explore drop-down menu. However, the software boasts a hoard of amazing telescope imagery to be explored as well as very cool features that let you view, save, and manage that imagery in many different ways. WorldWide Telescope appears to be an invaluable tool for hobbyists, astronomers, students, educators, or anyone curious about the universe.
Download (27.5 MB)
3. Stellarium
Stellarium is a free open source planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope.
It is being used in planetarium projectors. Just set your coordinates and go.
Download - Windows Xp/Vista/Seven
Download - Linux
Download - Mac OS
4. Cellestia
It is being used in planetarium projectors. Just set your coordinates and go.
Download - Windows Xp/Vista/Seven
Download - Linux
Download - Mac OS
4. Cellestia
Unlike most planetarium software, Celestia doesn't confine you to the surface of the Earth. You can travel throughout the solar system, to any of over 100,000 stars, or even beyond the galaxy.
All movement in Celestia is seamless; the exponential zoom feature lets you explore space across a huge range of scales, from galaxy clusters down to spacecraft only a few meters across. A 'point-and-goto' interface makes it simple to navigate through the universe to the object you want to visit.
Celestia is expandable. Celestia comes with a large catalog of stars, galaxies, planets, moons, asteroids, comets, and spacecraft. If that's not enough, you can download dozens of easy to install add-ons with more objects.
Download - Windows Xp/Vista/Seven
Download - Linux
Download - Mac OS
5. Winstars
Download (29 MB)
All movement in Celestia is seamless; the exponential zoom feature lets you explore space across a huge range of scales, from galaxy clusters down to spacecraft only a few meters across. A 'point-and-goto' interface makes it simple to navigate through the universe to the object you want to visit.
Celestia is expandable. Celestia comes with a large catalog of stars, galaxies, planets, moons, asteroids, comets, and spacecraft. If that's not enough, you can download dozens of easy to install add-ons with more objects.
Download - Windows Xp/Vista/Seven
Download - Linux
Download - Mac OS
5. Winstars
Download (29 MB)
Mobile Software
1. Sideralis -
Sideralis is a small and free midlet application which displays a map of the stars on your mobile phone. In other words a sky chart for mobile phones.
This is an equivalent to Stellarium or KStar but on your mobile phone.
Theorically it should work on all mobiles supporting MIDP2.0 and CLDC1.1. Practically, it depends on the brands. It works fine on Nokia phones, quite good on SonyEricsson, on Samsung and Motorola, it depends on the phone and does not seem to work on blackberry. You will have to try to know if it works :)
Features:
- A lot of different objects:
- More than 1600 stars.
- More than 100 Messier objects
- Constellations drawing
- 7 planets: Mars, Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptun.
- Sun and Moon.
- 2 different views :
- 3D Horizontal view.
- Zenith view.
- Information on all objects:
- Name.
- Magnitude
- Distance
- Azimuth
- Right Ascension
- Declinaison
- Height
- Current time or any time can be chosen.
- Selection of location by:
- Entering latitude and longitude
- Selecting a city among more than 80 cities
- Selection on a globe
- GPS (for mobile supporting it)
- Small dictionary available giving some interesting information about universe and constellations
- Miscelleanous:
- Search function
- Night view
- History of constellations
- Available in English, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, German and Polish languages
2. Compass - Download (90 KB) - See information about sunrise, sunset, moon, twilight, sun and moon location and more
3. Mobile Star Chart - Download (156 KB) - See about solar system position, more information about stars, galaxy, etc.
4. Solun - U - Download (61 KB) - See about solar system, information, etc.
NASA Buru Komet Hartley 2
JAKARTA: Dua sisi keping ilmu pengetahuan perbintangan, astrologi dan astronomi hari ini akan mendapatkan tamu, komet Hartley 2 yang telah 24 tahun ditunggu-tunggu kedatangannya.
Jika astrologi menghubungkan kedatangan komet Hartley 2 dengan fenomena sosial dan politik, astronomi dengan antusias melihatnya sebagai sebuah sekadar fenomena pergerakan alamiah benda-benda angkasa.
Sebelumnya, pada 18 Oktober, NASA telah menangkap bola api dari Hartley 2 yang menimbulkan spekulasi hujan meteor.
Badan Luar Angkasa Amerika Serikat (NASA) dengan harap-harap cemas menantikan keberhasilan misi pengejaran benda luar angkasa yang dilakukan sebuah pesawat tanpa awak Epoxi.
Pesawat mini dengan memanfaatkan gaya gravitasi Bumi untuk mempercepat lajunya, kini berkecepatan 12,5 km per detik itu akan berada pada jarak 700 km dari komet, jarak terdekat yang akan dicapainya pada pukul 10.01 pagi waktu AS.
Komet Hartley 2 kebetulan tengah melintas pusat tata surya dan sempat berada pada jarak terdekat dengan Bumi sejauh 18 juta kilometer minggu lalu.
Setelah 24 tahun, kini komet Hartley berada di titik terdekat dengan bumi. Jaraknya hanya 11 juta mil, lebih dekat ketimbang jarak bumi ke matahari.
Dalam sepekan ke depan, komet ini seharusnya dapat dilihat dengan mata telanjang di langit yang gelap gulita beberapa jam sebelum fajar menyingsing.
Peristiwa pendekatan pesawat ruang angkasa ke komet ini akan menjadi catatan sejarah.
Untuk kelima kalinya komet tersebut dipotret dengan jarak dekat dan untuk pertama kalinya pesawat yang sama mampu memotret dua komet.
Sebelum memotret komet Hartley 2 yang diperkirakan memiliki diameter hingga 0,75-0,99 mil ini, misi Epoxi yang merupakan kelanjutan misi Deep Impact telah digunakan untuk memotret komet Tempel 1.
Observasi komet Hartley 2 menggunakan Epoxi dimulai pada 5 Sepertember lalu.
Sementara itu, masa pesawat mulai memasuki wilayah yang dekat dengan komet (encounter phase) mulai kemarin, saat pesawat ruang angkasa itu berjarak 18 jam dari inti komet.
Potret komet
Saat pesawat ruang angkasa ini memasuki encounter phase, dia akan mengarahkan dirinya ke komet, memancarkan dua cahaya tampak dan satu infrared ke arah komet. Posisi itu akan terus berlanjut hingga kurang lebih 24 jam dari awal encounter phase.
“Saat itu, pesawat akan mengambil semua citra komet dan menyimpannya di dua komputer yang telah dipersiapkan,” kata Tim Larson, manager proyek Epoxi dikutip dari situs resmi NASA.
Beberapa jam kemudian, lanjutnya, pesawat akan mulai mengarahkan dirinya ke bumi sehingga semua citra bisa dikirim ke bumi. Pada saat yang sama, pesawat masih akan mengambil citra-citra baru dari komet
Pada kesempatan yang sama Mike A’Heam, kepala tim investigasi yang berasal dari Universitas Maryland, AS menuturkan setelah semua citra terkirim, karakter dari nukleus komet Hartley akan mampu teridentifikasi.
“Setelah gambar didapatkan, kami akan mampu membedakan karakter nukleus komet Hartley dengan komet Temple 1,” ujarnya.
Masa-masa menunggu Epoxi sampai ke titik terdekat dengan Hartley 2 akan sangat menegangkan bagi para anggota tim.
Pasalnya, Epoxi sebenarnya bukan sebuah pesawat ruang angkasa baru yang khusus dirancang untuk meneliti komet Hartley 2 sehingga semua kemungkinan bisa terjadi.
EPOXI sebelumnya bernama Deep Impact yang sudah menyelesaikan misi sebelumnya pada 4 Juli 2005.
Namun, kondisi pesawat ruang angkasa tersebut masih bagus. Dengan mendaur ulang Deep Impact menjadi Epoxi, NASA mampu menghemat 90% pembiayaan untuk misi sejenis.
Komet Hartley 2 pertama kali ditemukan seorang astronom asal Australia, Malcolm Hartley pada 1986. Komet ini membutuhkan waktu sekitar 6,46 tahun untuk mengelilingi matahari.
Ketika muncul, komet ini akan ‘datang’ beberapa jam sebelum fajar tiba dan akan terlihat jelas di sisi barat laut sekitar 75 derajat di atas cakrawala. Hartley 2 juga berada di dekat bintang Capella, di konstelasi Auriga.
Syarat untuk melihat komet ini hanya satu, langit harus sangat gelap dan tidak ada polusi cahaya. Tahun lalu, NASA mencatat 43 meteor Orionid, yang sebagian besar terbakar lebih dari 50 mil di atas tanah.
Bacaan:
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar