solar system | M Thomas Apple Author Page

Chandraan-3 rover finds…sulfur on the Moon?

September 1, 2023
MThomas

India’s Moon rover is making tracks…

One main reason for landing at the Moon’s South Pole is that the presence of water would help us build permanent settlements…

This region on the moon is an attractive place for humans to build a lasting presence due to the fact that water ice is located underfoot. Future moon-dwellers can potentially tap into that water for consumption, or even to create rocket propellant, instead of depending on water shipped from Earth.
https://www.space.com/chandrayaan-3-sulfur-surprising-composition-lunar-south-pole-soil

Another reason has now been found…iron, manganese, aluminum, titanium…and “surprisingly” sulfur. Why should they be surprised? It’s already been established that the Moon has ice, and sulfur forms every time hydrocarbon and sulfates combine. Plus sulfur obviously results from volcanic activity, and it’s likely the Moon was volcanic when it first formed. And sulfur is also produced through nuclear fusion – i.e., the Sun.

So what can we do with this knowledge?

Having a more complete chemical composition of the lunar south pole area means future travelers to — and possible inhabitants of — the region can also plan for what else they don’t need to bring from Earth. In particular, some scientists have suggested moon-dwellers could use sulfur in bits of infrastructure such as building materials, solar cells and batteries.

Hmmm…I think more studies are needed first…define “bits,” for example.

New (possibly) interstellar comet on a one-way trip…

August 24, 2023
MThomas

Comet Nishimura’s orbit means that this is likely its first and final trip through the inner solar system. It is possible that the comet originated outside our star system, which would make it the third known interstellar object ever detected, following ‘Oumuamua — which some astronomers speculatively suggested was an alien spacecraft — and Comet 2I/Borisov.
https://www.livescience.com/space/comets/new-potentially-interstellar-comet-will-be-visible-to-the-naked-eye-next-month-before-leaving-our-solar-system-forever

Discovered just two weeks ago by an amateur Japanese astronomer (after whom the comet is now named), the comet Nishimura will approach Earth at its closest on September 13th. But it will be at its brightest about five days later as it approaches the Sun.

Its fate?

Astronomers don’t know when the possible interstellar interloper will depart the solar system. However, it is also possible that the intense force of the comet’s solar slingshot will rip its solid nucleus apart, according to NASA.

Also, its nucleus gives off a “green glow,” which is the result of sunlight breaking apart dicarbon, or diatomic carbon. So getcher geek on, chemical lab rats!

Chandrayaan-3 successfully lands on the Moon!

August 24, 2023
MThomas

Taken just prior to landing…the “image” shown of it actually landing was not real but a simulation.

India and Russia had been locked in a race to the lunar south pole. The Luna-25 spacecraft that crashed was the first moon-landing spacecraft launched by Russia’s space agency in almost five decades. Roscosmos officials said Sunday they lost contact with the lander after it fired its engines in preparation for a descent to the surface.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/india-chandrayaan-3-landing-moon-south-pole-rcna101296

It wasn’t much of a “race,” tbh. India had been planning this for years, while Russia randomly launched a craft that had virtually no chance of succeeding.

Congratulations, ISRO! You should have some company over the next couple of years. Here’s hoping that international cooperation and not competition will lead humanity to permanent settlements on the Moon. Mars, and beyond…

Phosphorus on Enceladus boosts chances for life?

July 2, 2023
MThomas

According to legend, the ancient giant Enceladus vents sulfur from his tomb. According to data, Saturn’s tiny moon Enceladus vents more than that.
https://www.astronomy.com/science/phosphate-find-on-enceladus-boosts-chances-for-life/

Scientists have suspected for a long time that this tiny moon of Saturn may be the best place in our solar system to look for life.

Now they have confirmed evidence of all six crucial elements necessary for life to exist (life as we know it, anyway): carbon (C), hydrogen (H), nitrogen (N), oxygen (O), phosphorus (P), and sulphur (S). If present as a phosphate, essential for DNA and RNA to exist, the discovery of phosphorus on the 310-mile-wide Enceladus may indicate life of sort sort, perhaps at a microscopic level beneath the icy surface.

One guess is that the oceans of Enceladus have at least 100 times more phosphorus than the Earth’s oceans. That would make for quite the carbonated fizzy pop. Methane has already been seen coming out out of various “ice geysers” (a.k.a. cryovolcanoes). Since methane results from rotten organic material, there logically should be something alive out there.

Now we just have to get back out there and figure out a way to find them.

And another post to which I forgot to add a title…

June 30, 2023
MThomas

In a few billion years, our aging Sun will run out of hydrogen fuel in its core and begin to swell, eventually engulfing Mercury, Venus, and probably Earth itself. Known as the red giant phase, this is a normal step in a mid-sized star’s life cycle, when it swells to hundreds of times its usual size. There are plenty of red giants in the night sky, but astronomers have never caught one in the act of swallowing its planets — until now.
https://www.astronomy.com/science/star-seen-swallowing-its-planet-whole/

Pack your stuff, folks…

The photo is an artist’s depiction btw. The article describes how the astronomer discovered that star was eating its own planet.

Plume of water seen on Saturn’s moon

May 31, 2023
MThomas

The record-breaking plume reached nearly 6,000 miles into space – covering the distance between Ireland and Japan – and poured water into the void at an estimated rate of 300 litres a second.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/may/30/astronomers-see-6000-mile-water-vapour-plume-blasting-from-saturn-moon

Note that the water jetted out into space nearly 40 times longer than the actual size of the moon (about 500 in diameter, or as the Gurdian puts it “500-mile-wide” for those who forgot the meaning of “diameter).

Enceladus is probably the best bet for life elsewhere in the solar system due to its water — and while whipping around Saturn once per day, which is likely the reason for underwater volcanos and other vents that may provide the proper chemistry for life.

Also the perfect place to trick an inexperienced asteroid hunter crew…

Cancel your asteroid insurance – for the next thousand years

May 22, 2023
MThomas

Of all the asteroids they modeled, the one with the largest risk of impact was a kilometer-wide asteroid known as 1994 PC1. Over the next thousand years, the probability that 1994 PC1 will cross within the orbit of the Moon is a paltry 0.00151%, hardly worth worrying about.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/cancel-asteroid-insurance-earth-declared-150002866.html

Thanks to Glen Hill over at Engagin’ Science (formerly Scientia, which apparently was far too Latin- and science-esque for search engines to handle) for bringing this (not-so Earth-shattering) info to my attention.

Sorry, folks. Hollywood was once again wrong (sigh).

😂

JUICE it ESA!

April 14, 2023
MThomas

Led by the European Space Agency (ESA), the mission will orbit the largest planet in the solar system and explore its icy moons, which scientists think could support living organisms.

JUICE will explore three possible ocean-bearing moons – Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. Under their icy surfaces are thought to be huge oceans of water – a crucial ingredient for life as we know it.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/13/explaining-juice-mission-to-jupiter-and-its-moons

The “Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer” is the first time an ESA-headed project will visit another moon.

If it launches successfully, of course.

Lift off in less than seven hours from French Guiana!

Great job by Alzajeera, although “Earth is about 4.1 times the size of Europa and is believed to have a young and active surface that may vent water vapour to space via plumes and geysers.” is a bit misleading (Europa, not Earth, is believed to have…)

Copy editor!

🤞 🚀 🇬🇫

UPDATE

The launch was successful, and the 90 m2 solar array also deployed successfully.

Now we just have to sit and wait until 2031!

The strangeness of Mercury’s huge core

March 30, 2023
MThomas

Mercury is a planet that just doesn’t make sense. It’s incredibly small yet hosts a relatively massive core. Mercury is so strange that astronomers have not been able to explain its properties with simulations of the solar system’s formation. But now, researchers have found an important clue, and Mercury’s weirdness appears to be the fault of the giant planets.
https://www.space.com/mercury-weird-because-of-jupiter-outer-planets

Basically, Mercury is nearly as dense as the Earth despite being less than 6% the size. This is due to the gas giants in our solar system yanking material (“planetesimals” and protoplanets) and ejecting it from the solar system, leaving Mercury with very little material left to form itself.

But there are plenty of questions still…

Titan and its subsurface ocean has tides

February 24, 2023
MThomas

It is this subsurface ocean, or rather its interaction with the ice shell that covers it, that a team of researchers led by the Catholic University of Louvain (UCLouvain) in Belgium hope to better understand. More specifically, they wish to understand how the ocean’s depth and the pressure exerted by the icy shell on the underground water body influence the formation of tidal motions and currents inside of it.
https://www.space.com/saturn-moon-titan-ocean-tides-icy-crust-study

When I first heard of “Attack on Titan,” I was disappointed to learn that it didn’t take place actually on Titan. (The title in English is a mistranslation. It should be “Attack of the Titans” or “The Titans Attack” or even “Attacking Titans,” depending.) In any case, it’s a disgusting manga/anime with nothing to do with the icy moon of Saturn. Except for the name. And even that’s a misuse (they should have used “giant” as the storyline is very loosely based on Ymir and the frost giants of Scandinavian myth).

Anyway. It’s a fascinating moon the size of the planet Mercury with a liquid ocean and (mostly) nitrogen atmosphere, making it a candidate for extraterrestrial life. Here’s a cool view of it: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/moons/saturn-moons/titan/overview/

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