A review of the extraterrestrial solar systems found by Kepler shows that most are like our own, “flatter than pancakes.”
A review of the extraterrestrial solar systems found by Kepler shows that most are like our own, “flatter than pancakes.”
Tag: science
A planet with four suns, found by amateurs.
A planet with four suns, found by amateurs.
Scientists have found the source of the water on the Moon and Mercury: the solar wind.
Scientists have found the source of the water on the Moon and Mercury: the solar wind. Key paragraph:
“We found that the ‘water’ component, the hydroxyl, in the lunar regolith is mostly from solar wind implantation of protons, which locally combined with oxygen to form hydroxyls that moved into the interior of glasses by impact melting,” said Zhang, the James R. O’Neil Collegiate Professor of Geological Sciences. “Lunar regolith is everywhere on the lunar surface, and glasses make up about half of lunar regolith. So our work shows that the ‘water’ component, the hydroxyl, is widespread in lunar materials, although not in the form of ice or liquid water that can easily be used in a future manned lunar base.” [emphasis mine]
Though this result would explain the detection of hydrogen on the lunar surface and would also mean that this hydrogen is far less useful for future colonists than previously hoped, it doesn’t eliminate the possibility that there is ice in the permanently shadowed craters near the lunar poles that came from other as yet unknown sources.
The models are wrong
Today one mainstream newspaper finally caught up with the global warming skeptic community and recognized that a recent release of data from the United Kingdom’s Met Office shows that since 1996 the temperature of the climate has stalled. For the past sixteen years there has been no global warming, at all.
Three takeaways from this story.
» Read more
Scientists studying a meteorite thought to come from the asteroid Vesta have concluded that it contains evidence that the asteroid once had a magnetic field.
Scientists studying a meteorite thought to come from the asteroid Vesta have concluded that it contains evidence that the asteroid once had a magnetic field.
This appears to be a very tentative finding, intriguing and possible, but not yet strongly proven.
Bouncing on Titan
How Huygens bounced on Titan. With animation.
A super Earth, made of diamonds
A super Earth, made of diamonds.
Astronomers also thought 55 Cancri e contained a substantial amount of super-heated water, based on the assumption that its chemical makeup was similar to Earth’s, Madhusudhan said. But the new research suggests the planet has no water at all, and appears to be composed primarily of carbon (as graphite and diamond), iron, silicon carbide, and, possibly, some silicates. The study estimates that at least a third of the planet’s mass — the equivalent of about three Earth masses — could be diamond. “By contrast, Earth’s interior is rich in oxygen, but extremely poor in carbon — less than a part in thousand by mass,” says co-author and Yale geophysicist Kanani Lee.
A gallery of planetary nebula.
Ten incredible rock pillar landscapes.
Science vs religion
The anthropologist who led the research into the Kennewick Man skeleton found in the Columbia Valley presented his research to Indian tribal leaders yesterday.
First the science:
» Read more
Has Voyager 1 already left the solar system?
Has Voyager 1 already left the solar system?
New data from the spacecraft indicate that the historic moment of its exit from the solar system might have come and gone two months ago. Scientists are crunching one more set of numbers to find out for sure.
Curiosity takes its first scoop
Curiosity takes its first scoop.
The very tiny bright object spotted on the ground nearby has ironically turned out to be more intriguing to the science team than the dirt in the scoop.