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APOD
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
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 , moon , and comet nucleus . It is larger than any other rocky planet . (Nobody knows for sure what size rocks lie at the cores of Jovian planets , or orbit other stars.) The Voyager 1 spacecraft took this picture in 1990 from the outer Solar System . This rock is so large its gravity makes it nearly spherical, and holds heavy gases near its surface. Yesterday, this rock started another orbit around its parent star , for roughly the 5 billionth time, spinning over 350 times during each trip. Happy Gregorian Calendar New Year to all the human inhabitants of this rock we call Earth .
| Date | January 2, 2000 |
|---|---|
| Credit | Credit: Voyager 1, NASA |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |