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    Category Astronomy/Space

    Frost on moon’s surface: New evidence

    June 1, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    In craters near the south pole of the moon, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter found some bright areas and some very cold areas. In areas that are both bright and cold, water ice may be present on the surface as frost. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Scientific Visualization Studio

    In craters near the south pole of the moon, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter found some bright areas and some very cold areas. In areas that are both bright and cold, water ice may be present on the surface as frost. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Scientific Visualization Studio

    Scientists using data from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, have identified bright areas in craters near the moon’s south pole that are cold enough to have frost present on the surface. The new evidence comes from an analysis that combined surface temperatures with information about how much light is reflected off the moon’s surface.
     
    “We found that the coldest places near the moon’s south pole are also the brightest places – brighter than we would expect from soil alone – and...
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    Cassini finds Saturn’s moon Enceladus may have tipped over

    May 31, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Working with image data from NASA's Cassini mission, researchers have found evidence that Saturn's moon Enceladus may have tipped over, reorienting itself so that terrain closer to its original equator was relocated to the poles. This phenomenon is known as true polar wander. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute/Cornell University

    Working with image data from NASA’s Cassini mission, researchers have found evidence that Saturn’s moon Enceladus may have tipped over, reorienting itself so that terrain closer to its original equator was relocated to the poles. This phenomenon is known as true polar wander. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute/Cornell University

    Saturn’s icy, ocean-bearing moon Enceladus may have tipped over in the distant past, according to recent research from NASA’s Cassini mission. Researchers found evidence that the moon’s spin axis—the line through the north and south poles—has reoriented, possibly due to a collision with a smaller body, such as an asteroid...

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    Do stars fall quietly into black holes, or crash into something utterly unknown?

    May 31, 2017, Categories  Physics, Astronomy/Space

    This artist's impression shows a star crossing the event horizon of a supermassive black hole located in the center of a galaxy. The black hole is so large and massive that tidal effects on the star are negligible, and the star is swallowed whole. Mark A. Garlick/CfA

    This artist’s impression shows a star crossing the event horizon of a supermassive black hole located in the center of a galaxy. The black hole is so large and massive that tidal effects on the star are negligible, and the star is swallowed whole. Mark A. Garlick/CfA 

    Astronomers at The University of Texas at Austin and Harvard University have put a basic principle of black holes to the test, showing that matter completely vanishes when pulled in. Their results constitute another successful test for Albert Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. Most scientists agree that black holes, cosmic entities of such great gravity that nothing can escape their grip, are surrounded by a so-called event horizon...
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    ‘Halos’ discovered on Mars Widen Time Frame for Potential Life

    May 30, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    A mosaic of images from the navigation cameras on the NASA Curiosity rover shows “halos” of lighter-toned bedrock around fractures. These halos comprise high concentrations of silica and indicate that liquid groundwater flowed through the rocks in Gale crater longer than previously believed. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

    A mosaic of images from the navigation cameras on the NASA Curiosity rover shows “halos” of lighter-toned bedrock around fractures. These halos comprise high concentrations of silica and indicate that liquid groundwater flowed through the rocks in Gale crater longer than previously believed. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

    Lighter-toned bedrock that surrounds fractures and comprises high concentrations of silica – called “halos” – has been found in Gale crater on Mars, indicating that the planet had liquid water much longer than previously believed. “The concentration of silica is very high at the centerlines of these halos,” said Jens Frydenvang, a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the University of Copenhagen...

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