Saturn's Moons Dione and Titan from Cassini

Astronomy photo of the day link:

Saturn's Moons Dione and Titan from Cassini

Q. What would it be like to see a sky with many moons?

A. Totally awesome, it'd be like playing Spore, but I'd still want my terraforming tools :)

Link to Cool Video of Volcanism on Io

Neat image animation of a volcano erupting into space and debris falling back to Jupiter's Moon Io: http://www.planetary.org/image/tvashtar_051407_loop.gif

Springtime Avalanches on Mars

Springtime dust avalanches on Mars caught in action with the HiRISE camera.

Image credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona.

Original Posting: Springtime For Avalanches

Space potato

Just for fun, a link to the Astronomy Picture of the Day from April 5:

Prometheus Remastered

Q: What does Saturn's shepherd moon Prometheus really look like?

A: It looks a lot like a giant, grey space potato. But still, a very dramatic pose.

SimCity for iPod update

A quick (hardly exhaustive) internet search to follow up on my question about the maximum possible population limit in Sim City for iPod/iPhone has shown that the largest number floating on the surface of the internet is about 350,000.

Some handy tips for gameplay can be found here: http://www.iphonestrategygames.com/strategies/simcity-guide

Some cheats here (not that you'd want to use them, wink, wink): http://www.insidesocialgames.com/2009/01/13/simcity-for-iphone-cheats-tips-tricks/
And here: http://www.insidesocialgames.com/2009/03/07/simcity-for-the-iphone-%E2%80%93-more-cheats-tips-tricks/

I'll have to try again and see if I can beat 350,000!

Venus hotspot

Hotspots on Venus detected with the Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer on Venus Express may be active volcanoes. This would be a first for the terrestrial planets in the inner Solar System besides Earth.

Image credit: NASA/JPL

Funny Face Craters on Mars

Not very scientific, but here are some Mars emoticons. Image taken with the HiRISE camera. The smiley and frowny features are explained as dunes on the floors of the craters.

Image credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona, more info at: http://www.uahirise.org/ESP_017020_1620