solar system | M Thomas Apple Author Page

Water molecules detected on the surface of an asteroid in space for the first time

March 13, 2024
MThomas

Water molecules have been detected in asteroid samples returned to Earth, but this marks the first time that the molecules have been discovered on the surface of an asteroid in space. The team studied four silicate-rich asteroids using data from the now-retired Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy(SOFIA).
https://www.popsci.com/science/water-asteroid-space/

The asteroids in question are Iris (124 miles / 200 km in diameter) and Massalia (84 miles / 135 km). Both are in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Iris is about the size of the US state of Maryland, while Massalia is roughly the size of Connecticut.

Note that the same observatory also found water on the Moon, about a “12-ounce bottle” worth. Not nearly enough for a settlement, but where there’s surface water (albeit trapped in soil on the surface), there’s likely to be more underneath.

(See also https://www.swri.org/press-release/swri-scientists-identify-water-molecules-asteroids-the-first-time — the PopSci linked article above essentially plagiarised almost its entire text. Bad scientist, bad.)

Original article here: Arrendono et al. (2024) Detection of molecular H20 on nominally anhydrous asteroids. Planet. Sci. J. 5. 37 doi 10.3847/PSJ/ad18b8 – good luck trying to read it!

Introducing the Bringer of Light!

March 8, 2024
MThomas

Hello, everyone, and thank you for reading!

This is a short (~8 minute) video I made to introduce the story Bringer of Light.

I’ll be posting a couple more videos in the near future about the characters, location, and science behind the story.

Check it out, and share freely!

That’s no m…no, wait, sorry, it is!

February 25, 2024
MThomas

Astronomers have found three previously unknown moons in our solar system — two additional moons circling Neptune and one around Uranus.
https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/astronomers-spot-new-tiny-moons-neptune-uranus-rcna140285

One takes nearly 27 years to circle Neptune.

The “new” moon of Uranus is only 8 kilometers (5 miles) in diameter.

And there are likely many more yet to be discovered.

Bringer of Light: Background Notes (1)

February 21, 2024
MThomas

It’s been well-known for some time now that the building blocks of life called amino acids can be found on asteroids strewn throughout the solar system.

It’s also thought that water on Earth is largely (or entirely) the result of comets and asteroids bombarding it (it remains debatable to what degree Earth already had water, but since when it formed the Earth was first molten lava and then dry as a bone, I think it far more likely that water came here from elsewhere, and science tends to agree).

I’ve already blogged about the origins of Bringer of Light, when I (finally) finished the first draft back in early September. In a sense, I’ve been constantly blogging the science behind the story.

But I haven’t discussed the characters at all. And despite what some old-fashioned writers may think (just finished a particularly badly-written snarky “why your books don’t sell” piece of trash that claimed science fiction shouldn’t have any emotions in it…say what? sorry not sorry), if the characters of a story aren’t interesting, there isn’t much point in reading a story.

So for the next couple of weeks, I’ll write a bit about the characters — the crew of the Artemis, the crew of the Sagittarius, the UN flunkies (sorry, career politicos) on Mars and Luna and so forth. There are lots of characters, and their interaction is complicated. Or is it?

I would get into my scifi influences at this point, but long blogs are slogs. So I’ll come back to that tomorrow!

Coffee time. Also to finish up at least one unrelated project and also the hardcover manuscript (which needs to be a different paper size than the paperback for some reason).

That’s no (stealth ocean) moon…oh, wait…

February 12, 2024
MThomas

Mimas, the smallest and innermost of Saturn‘s major moons, is believed to generate the right amount of heat to support a subsurface ocean of liquid water
https://www.space.com/saturn-moon-mimas-stealth-ocean-world

Unfortunately the “stealth ocean” is only a few million years old, not nearly enough to harbor life.

But it demonstrates the fact that water may in fact be common in space, opening the possibility of finding life on celestial bodies with older (much older) water sources.

(FYI: Mimas orbits Saturn once every 22 hours, and is affected by tidal forces from Saturn that appear to have melted part of its icy surface.)

Well, that was interesting!

February 1, 2024
MThomas

OK, so my post about a big ole spider got the most likes of any post in ten years of blogging about science.

I have so not got the zeitgeist of the 2024 blogosphere lol – anyway, thanks, all, for the “likes”! Although one person used AI to write a very meaningless comment about arachnophobia. What’s the point, man?

By the way, back to science and space stuff. I forgot to post about the Europa Clipper project back in October.

So here you go. (It’s too late to add a message, but the project obviously is going to take some time arriving there, and you can supposedly hear US Poet Laureate Ada Limón read her poem online, although I’ve had trouble with the audio lately:

“Arching under the night sky inky
with black expansiveness, we point
to the planets we know, we

pin quick wishes on stars. From earth,
we read the sky as if it is an unerring book
of the universe, expert and evident.

Still, there are mysteries below our sky:
the whale song, the songbird singing
its call in the bough of a wind-shaken tree.

We are creatures of constant awe,
curious at beauty, at leaf and blossom,
at grief and pleasure, sun and shadow.

And it is not darkness that unites us,
not the cold distance of space, but
the offering of water, each drop of rain,

each rivulet, each pulse, each vein.
O second moon, we, too, are made
of water, of vast and beckoning seas.

We, too, are made of wonders, of great
and ordinary loves, of small invisible worlds,
of a need to call out through the dark.”

SLIM pickings! Back to work…

January 31, 2024
MThomas

The craft is at a very awkward angle. A picture, captured by the small baseball-sized robot called Sora-Q – which was ejected from Slim moments before touchdown – showed the lander face-down on the lunar surface.

That left its solar panels facing away from the sunlight and unable to generate power. The decision was taken to put the lander into sleep mode – and conserve what power remained – less than three hours after it landed.

That tactic appears to have worked. A change in the direction of the sunlight has now “awoken” the craft.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-68131105

As previously reported, JAXA did achieve its goal of a “precision landing” — as some put it, a “pinpoint” touchdown within 100 meters of the intended target — within 55 meters, although if all had gone as planned, it would have been within 10 meters.

That’s far, far closer than previous Moon landings.

Too bad SLIM is essentially standing on its nose. But at least this is a beginning. Japan has now become the fifth country (US, USSR, China, India) to successfully “soft land” an object on the Moon.

And the robots it brought with it are pretty amazing. And tiny.

NASA — send in the cats!

December 20, 2023
MThomas

Taters the cat chases a laser pointer in a video sent to Earth from Psyche

Aiming the laser at the spacecraft so the transceiver knows where to point back is the most difficult part, Wright said. And because Earth and the spacecraft are both moving, the lasers must point to where the destination will be in a few minutes.
“The beam’s so narrow, it can’t just point to Earth. It needs to know exactly where on Earth,” Wright said. “Trying to hit a dime from a mile away while you’re moving at 17,000 miles an hour — that’s the challenge.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/12/19/nasa-laser-video-streaming-space-mars-cat/

So NASA has been working on this idea for a while now. The invisible laser beam that carried this video file came from the Psyche probe, on its way to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Psyche is 19 million miles away right now. The laser beam took 108 seconds to reach Earth.

Mars and Earth are on average 140 million miles apart and can be up to 250 million miles apart depending on the timing of their respective orbits.

I don’t think lasers are the answer here. A good start, maybe, but you can do the math. Having to wait between 10 to 20 minutes, or more, for a one-way transmission (double that for an exchange of messages) would not be ideal for a human settlement in an emergency.

Star Trek style instant interstellar communication is still just scifi. Unless there’s still something out there we haven’t found yet, even quantum communication will take time…

But at least NASA has finally realized that non-science people like cat videos.

🐈 🐈‍⬛

Mars missions are paused immediately…as of 11/11?

November 24, 2023
MThomas

“NASA will hold off sending commands to its Mars fleet for two weeks, from Nov. 11 to 25, while Earth and the Red Planet are on opposite sides of the sun. Called Mars solar conjunction, this phenomenon happens every two years,” NASA said in a statement.
https://www.livescience.com/space/mars/nasa-is-pausing-all-mars-missions-effective-immediately-heres-why

It’s funny that Live Science just announced this three days…given that the time period in which Mars is directly behind the Sun opposite the Earth only lasts from November 11th through November 25th.

Which is, ah, tomorrow.

Thanks for the heads up, guys. Honestly…

Horned comet approaching Earth soon

October 30, 2023
MThomas

The comet has a core of dust, gas and ice surrounded by a bright cloud of gas known as a coma. Sunlight and solar radiation can heat the comet’s core, sometimes causing violent outbursts like the ones observed in July and Oct.

Herman said the comet’s temporary horns are thought to originate from these icy eruptions. The comet’s structure may be shaping how the spewed clouds of gas and ice appear from Earth, creating the appearance of horns to ground-based telescopes.
https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/devil-comet-will-bring-horns-swooping-earth-summer-rcna121989

Apparently some astronomers likened the shape to the Millenial Falcon.

I guess they have sharper eyes, bc I don’t see that.

Anyway, Comet 12/P Pons-Brooks only comes once every 71 years, so keep your eyes open next June. It may be visible even without a telescope.

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