Media Information
 
 
 
Collection:
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection
Title:
The Largest Rock Known
Explanation:
There, that faint dot in the center - that's the largest rock known. It is larger than every known asteroid [ http://www.seds.org…], moon [ http://www.solarvie…], and comet nucleus [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. It is larger than any other rocky planet [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. (Nobody knows for sure what size rocks lie at the cores of Jovian planets [ http://quest.arc.na…], or orbit other stars.) The Voyager [ http://nssdc.gsfc.n…] 1 spacecraft took this picture [ http://nssdc.gsfc.n…] in 1990 from the outer Solar System [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. This rock is so large its gravity [ http://www.glenbroo…] makes it nearly spherical, and holds heavy gases near its surface. Yesterday, this rock started another orbit around its parent star [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], for roughly the 5 billionth time, spinning over 350 times during each trip. Happy Gregorian Calendar [ http://es.rice.edu/…] New Year to all the human inhabitants of this rock [ http://www.seds.org…] we call Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…].
Credit and Copyright:
Voyager [ http://vraptor.jpl.…] 1, NASA [ http://www.nasa.gov/]
keyword:
Earth
keyword:
Solar System
facet_when:
1990
facet_where:
Ganymede
facet_where:
Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
facet_where:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
facet_what:
Earth
facet_what:
Galileo
facet_what:
Voyager
facet_what:
Ganymede
facet_what:
Moon
facet_when_year:
1990
original url:
http://antwrp.gsfc.…
UID:
SPD-APOD-ap000102

The Largest Rock Known
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