Buckyballs in Space!
Published February 23, 2012
To form a solid particle, the buckyballs must stack together, as illustrated in this artist's concept showing the very beginnings of the process.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The discovery implies that the little carbon spheres are prevalent in certain stellar regions of the cosmos. Unlike a gas, a solid is more dense, requiring large quantities of molecules to form.
The infrared observatory first detected buckyballs as a gas in 2010, the first time the material was ever definitively observed in space. Buckyballs are made up of 60 carbon atoms arranged as hollow spheres that resemble soccer balls. They also look like the geodesic domes of the late architect Buckminister Fuller, hence their name.
If you’d like to learn more, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/news/spitzer20120222.html
Source:NASA Spitzer Mission Images
Carnival of Space #237
Published February 22, 2012
Carnival of Space.
Image Credit: Jason Major/Universe Today
Carnival of Space #237 is available at Universe Today!
This edition features great articles about:
Check it out at: http://www.universetoday.com/93653/this-weeks-carnival-of-space-237-right-here/
Remember, if you’ve got a space-related blog, you really should consider joining the Carnival. It’s easy to participate – just email an entry to carnivalofspace@gmail.com, and the next host will link to it.
By participating, your writing will get more exposure, and you will also meet other bloggers in the space/astronomy community, after all, community is what blogging is all about. You can also sign your blog up to host the Carnival of Space by sending an e-mail to the address above.
NuSTAR Mated to Launch Rocket
Published February 21, 2012
Artist's concept of NuSTAR in orbit. NuSTAR has a 10 meter long mast that separates the optics modules (right) from the detectors (left).
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
According to NASA, NuSTAR will probe some of the hottest, densest and most energetic objects in space, such as black holes and supernova remnants. NuSTAR is the first space telescope that can image in X-rays at high detail, which will help astronomers better understand our universe.
The spacecraft was built by Orbital Sciences Corporation, and its instrumentation was provided by a number of agencies including: Caltech; NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory; Columbia University; NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center; UC Berkeley; and others.
If you’d like to learn more about NuSTAR, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/nustar/main/index.html or http://www.nustar.caltech.edu/
Source:NASA/JPL News
Recent Geologic Activity on the Moon?
Published February 20, 2012
Newly detected series of narrow linear troughs are known as graben. Image Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University/Smithsonian Institution
The images reveal small trenches less than a kilometer in length, and less than a few hundred meters wide. Only a small number of these features, known as graben, have been discovered on the lunar surface.
There are several clues in the high-resolution images that provide evidence for recent geologic activity on the Moon.
The LROC team detected signs of contraction on the lunar surface as early as August of 2010. The contractions were in the form of lobe-shaped ridges known as lobate scarps.
Based on the data, the team suggests the widely-distributed scarps indicate the Moon shrank in diameter, and may be continuing to shrink. Interestingly enough, the new image data featuring graben presents a contradiction, as they indicate lunar crust being pulled apart and theorize that the process that created the graben may have occurred within the past 50 million years.
Read the full article over at: Universe Today
Carnival of Space #236
Published February 16, 2012
Carnival of Space #236 is available at the “AartScope” blog.
This edition features great articles about: New space propulsion technologies, suborbital skydiving, Earth’s complex magnetic field, how to (properly) paint a Saturn V model, and more!
Check it out at: http://aartscope.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/carnival-of-space-236-feb-10-2012.html
Valentine’s Day Message From The Moon
Published February 14, 2012
A Valentine's day message from our Moon.
Image Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University
The original image is of a lunar crater, made famous by a sharp-eyed observed who was browsing the public LROC data set
If you aren’t aware of the The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera, it is designed to address two of the prime LRO measurement requirements:
In addition to the above objectives, the LROC team is conducting meter-scale mapping of polar regions, stereo images that provide meter-scale topographic measurements, global multi-spectral imaging, and a global landform map.
The LROC Center at Arizona State University also houses one of a handful of Lunar samples – Apollo Sample 15555.
Sample 15555 is a sample of lunar basalt – a type of volcanic rock. The sample dates back to nearly 3.3 billion years ago. The sample on display in the LROC Visitor Gallery at ASU is a small piece of original rock – one of the largest and most studied basalt samples collected at the Apollo 15 landing site.
If you’d like to learn more about Apollo Sample 15555, visit: http://www.lroc.asu.edu/apollo-sample-15555/index.php
To learn more about the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera, visit: http://www.lroc.asu.edu/index.html
Read more about the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter at: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/main/index.html
Source: LROC Featured Images