“Using data from a NASA radar that flew aboard India’s Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, scientists have detected ice deposits near the moon’s north pole. NASA’s Mini-SAR instrument, a lightweight, synthetic aperture radar, found more than 40 small craters with water ice. The craters range in size from 1 to 9 miles (2 to15 km) in diameter. Although the total amount of ice depends on its thickness in each crater, it’s estimated there could be at least 1.3 trillion pounds (600 million metric tons) of water ice.” Quoted from the NASA release.
Astronomers think they have a good idea of what substances lay under the icy surface of Saturn’s moon Titan. It could be a type of rocky slush, which formed gradually over a million years.
This is an interview with Sally Ride, the first U.S. female in space. She would like to encourage young people, particularly girls, to become more interested in science.
“Flowing lava can carve or build paths very much like the riverbeds and canyons etched by water, and this probably explains at least one of the meandering channels on the surface of Mars.” Quoted from the NASA mission news.
What can we learn from the huge, old craters on the moon? There is a possibility that some of the Moon’s deep crust is accessible from the Apollo Basin impact crater.
“The Shallow Radar instrument on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has detected widespread deposits of glacial ice in the mid-latitudes of Mars. The ice, up to 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) thick, is found adjacent to steep cliffs and hillsides, where rocky debris from slopes covers and protects the ice from sublimation into the atmosphere.” Quoted from the NASA press release.
The New York Association of Towns has a membership of 900 towns located across New York State. They passed a unanimous resolution calling for increased preparation to protect against an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) event – a high-intensity burst of electromagnetic energy that can be produced by a solar storm or a human event such as a high-altitude nuclear burst.
Even if everyone stopped launching spacecraft starting today, the Earth’s space junk problem will continue to worsen on its own. Junk collisions create even more pieces of debris to deal with. What are we going to do?
“NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, has discovered its first comet, one of many the mission is expected to find among millions of other objects during its ongoing survey of the whole sky in infrared light. ” Quoted from the NASA press release.
Near-Earth objects are now being identified through infrared light with the WISE (Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer) spacecraft. The first new asteroid spotted by WISE was 2010 AB78, which is nearly 100 million miles away from our planet – and on a different orbital plane.
A meteorite crashes through the roof of a doctors office in Lorton, Virginia and the doctors give the rock to the Smithsonian. Now the landlords say the rock belongs to them. Who really owns it?
NASA has released an image of a cloud of debris that looks like a comet but is probably a hyperveolcity collision between two asteroids. The image was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope on January 29, 2010.
President Obama’s 2011 budget eliminated funding for NASA’s plan to build a spacecraft to carry humans to the Moon by 2020. Instead, NASA would work on many projects with public partners who would bear part of the costs.
Ongoing efforts to dislodge the Mars Spirit Rover from a sand pit have been luckless, leading experts to abandon the cause and declare the Spirit a permanent fixture where it stands. However, if the machine lasts through the winter, it may still be able to provide years of valuable service.
A black hole more than 15 times our sun’s mass has been discovered in the far-off NGC 300 galaxy. The black hole is draining its dying neighbor, a Wolf-Rayet star, which will soon go supernova and turn into a black hole, as well.
“In a break from its usual task of searching for distant cosmic explosions, NASA’s Swift satellite has acquired the highest-resolution view of a neighboring spiral galaxy ever attained in the ultraviolet. The galaxy, known as M31 in the constellation Andromeda, is the largest and closest spiral galaxy to our own.” Quoted from the NASA SWIFT Mission feature.
UC Berkeley professors believe that minute stress changes caused by the gravitational attraction of the sun and moon trigger deep tremors along the San Andreas fault.
The geologically active south pole of Saturn’s moon Enceladus is an exciting mystery for scientists and students of astronomy. What is going on there? This article includes an impressive mosaic of the moon’s surface, made with satellite images taken by the Cassini Orbiter. There is also a link to a cross-section of Enceladus’ crust.
The Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research sky survey has discovered a trail in the sky that appears to be a comet but instead might be a collision between two asteroids.
Here is a nice video that explains some of the early observations used to determine that the Earth is round, and also how the first calculation of Earth’s circumference was accomplished.
After over five months of troubleshooting, the HIFI space instrument has returned to its data collection duties. The malfunction in the infrared spectrometer may have been caused by a cosmic ray.
The Science Channel will begin a new series of Meteorite Men featuring the work of veteran meteorite hunters Steve Arnold and Geoffrey Notkin. The premiere is this Wednesday, January 20 at 9:00 PM. Tune in to learn more about meteorites.
Related: Geoffrey Notkin’s Meteorwritings series on Geology.com.
An annular solar eclipse was visible over Asia and Africa on January 15, 2010. National Geographic has compiled some nice photos of the eclipse, taken from Jiangsu Province, China; Bangkok, Thailand; Fujian Province, China; Rameswaram, India; Poseidon’s temple in Cape Sounion, Greece; and a map of the eclipse’s path from the Central African Republic to China.
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The East Africa Rift System: Learn some basics about the East Africa Rift System from this article by James Wood and Alex Guth of Michigan Technological University.
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Marcellus Shale: The most overlooked resource in the eastern United States!
Mineral Rights / Oil & Gas: Who owns the minerals under your land? Have they been sold? Can someone mine without your permission?
