Astronomy Picture of the Day -- Crescent Neptune and Triton

NASA ^ | April 14, 2013 | (see photo credit)

[SunkenCiv]

Explanation: Gliding silently through the outer Solar System, the Voyager 2 spacecraft camera captured Neptune and Triton together in crescent phase in 1989. The elegant picture of the gas giant planet and its cloudy moon was taken from behind just after closest approach. It could not have been taken from Earth because Neptune never shows a crescent phase to sunward Earth. The unusual vantage point also robs Neptune of its familiar blue hue, as sunlight seen from here is scattered forward, and so is reddened like the setting Sun. Neptune is smaller but more massive than Uranus, has several dark rings, and emits more light than it receives from the Sun.

[Vendome]

Like fudge?

[Yardstick]

and emits more light than it receives from the Sun.

Okay, Uranus is officially blowing my mind.

[JCBreckenridge]

Powered by gravitational compression.

[thackney]

Massive is still a word used to describe size.

No, it primarily is used to mean having a large mass.

massive
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/massive

mas·sive adjective \’ma-siv\

1 : forming or consisting of a large mass:
b : weighty, heavy
c : impressively large or ponderous
d : having no regular form but not necessarily lacking crystalline structure

2
a : large, solid, or heavy in structure
b : large in scope or degree
c (1) : large in comparison to what is typical
(2) : being extensive and severe
(3) : imposing in excellence or grandeur

3: having mass
— mas·sive·ly adverb
— mas·sive·ness noun

[BenLurkin]

Great pic

[BenLurkin]

I hate it when my morning Obama is tightly packed.

[wastedyears]

So what’s the ive for, then?

[thackney]

- suffix

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/-ive

1. ( forming adjectives ) indicating a tendency, inclination, character, or quality: divisive ; prohibitive ; festive ; massive

2. ( forming nouns of adjectival origin ): detective ; expletive [from Latin -Ä«vus ]

[wastedyears]

I think I know why I never cared much for English class.