Mystery Sky Lights

Researchers have found two planets the size of the Earth within the habitable zone of its star, Kepler 62.

In a short span of years, discoveries of habitable planets have been reported. Observations by the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS),a high-precision echelle spectrograph, reveal that there may be billions of habitable planets just in the Milky Way alone.

Over 3,000 extrasolar planets (planets located outside the solar system) have been discovered to date. close to 800 of these exoplanets have been identified while the rest are being observed by the Kepler space telescope for confirmation. An exoplanet that is about the same mass of the Earth was observed to be orbiting Alpha Centauri B, the closest star system to the Earth.

Despite the number of planets, scientists are still looking for planets that can be habitable or has features similar to Earth. For it to be habitable, it has to be of the right size, composition, and at a safe distance from its star.

PLANETS ORBITING KEPLER 62

Researchers for the first time have identified Earth-sized planets within the habitable zone of a Sun-like star. Images of the star taken by Notre Dame astrophysicist Justin Crepp rule out alternative explanations of the data, confirming that five planets orbit Kepler 62, with two located in the habitable zone. The results were published in Science magazine today.

"A five-planet system with planets of 1.41 and 1.61 Earth-radii in the habitable zone of a K2V star has been detected with the Kepler spacecraft and validated with high statistical confidence," the paper reports. Those two, named Kepler-62 e and f are the outermost of the five observed planets and receive a solar flux from the star similar to that received from the Sun by Venus and Mars. Their size suggests that they are either rocky, like Earth, or composed mostly of solid water. A planet discovered more than a year ago in the habitable zone of another Sun-like star, Kepler-22, has a radius 2.4 times the radius of earth, leaving researchers less sure of its composition.

Video: NASA's Kepler Mission Announces 2011 Planetary Discovery

"From what we can tell, from their radius and orbital period, these are the most similar objects to Earth that we have found yet," said Crepp, the Freimann assistant professor of physics. Data from the Kepler mission, launched in 2009 to identify extrasolar planets, has so far resulted in several dozen of some 3,000 "Kepler Objects of Interest" having been studied in detail.

Researchers use fluctuations in the brightness of a star to identify the presence of a potential planet whose transit periodically dims the light of the star. Crepp uses large ground-based telescopes to image the host star and analyzes the system to make sure other astronomical phenomena, such as nearby eclipsing binary stars, are not causing the fluctuation, a common "false positive" encountered in the research. Crepp noticed a faint dot near Kepler-62 a year ago, leading to months of detailed study to confirm the planet interpretation.

"What really helped is that this star has five planets," he said. "You can mimic one planet with another event, but when you have five of them and they're all periodic, that helps to put the nail in the coffin. It's hard to make that kind of signature with anything else that you can dream up."

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This cutaway view of Saturn's moon Enceladus is an artist's rendering that depicts possible hydrothermal activity that may be taking place on and under the seafloor of the moon's subsurface ocean, based on recently published results from NASA's Cassini mission. Image Credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA's Cassini spacecraft has provided scientists the first clear evidence that Saturn's moon Enceladus exhibits signs of present-day hydrothermal activity which may resemble that seen in the deep oceans on Earth. The implications of such activity on a world other than our planet open up unprecedented scientific possibilities.

"These findings add to the possibility that Enceladus, which contains a subsurface ocean and displays remarkable geologic activity, could contain environments suitable for living organisms," said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "The locations in our solar system where extreme environments occur in which life might exist may bring us closer to answering the question: are we alone in the universe."

Hydrothermal activity occurs when seawater infiltrates and reacts with a rocky crust and emerges as a heated, mineral-laden solution, a natural occurrence in Earth's oceans. According to two science papers, the results are the first clear indications an icy moon may have similar ongoing active processes.

The first paper, published this week in the journal Nature, relates to microscopic grains of rock detected by Cassini in the Saturn system. An extensive, four-year analysis of data from the spacecraft, computer simulations and laboratory experiments led researchers to the conclusion the tiny grains most likely form when hot water containing dissolved minerals from the moon's rocky interior travels upward, coming into contact with cooler water. Temperatures required for the interactions that produce the tiny rock grains would be at least 194 degrees Fahrenheit (90 degrees Celsius).

"It's very exciting that we can use these tiny grains of rock, spewed into space by geysers, to tell us about conditions on -- and beneath -- the ocean floor of an icy moon," said the paper's lead author Sean Hsu, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Cassini's cosmic dust analyzer (CDA) instrument repeatedly detected miniscule rock particles rich in silicon, even before Cassini entered Saturn's orbit in 2004. By process of elimination, the CDA team concluded these particles must be grains of silica, which is found in sand and the mineral quartz on Earth. The consistent size of the grains observed by Cassini, the largest of which were 6 to 9 nanometers, was the clue that told the researchers a specific process likely was responsible.

This illustration depicts potential origins of methane found in the plume of gas and ice particles that sprays from Saturn's moon, Enceladus, based on research by scientists working with the Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer on NASA's Cassini mission. Image credit: Southwest Research Institute

On Earth, the most common way to form silica grains of this size is hydrothermal activity under a specific range of conditions; namely, when slightly alkaline and salty water that is super-saturated with silica undergoes a big drop in temperature.

"We methodically searched for alternate explanations for the nanosilica grains, but every new result pointed to a single, most likely origin," said co-author Frank Postberg, a Cassini CDA team scientist at Heidelberg University in Germany.

Hsu and Postberg worked closely with colleagues at the University of Tokyo who performed the detailed laboratory experiments that validated the hydrothermal activity hypothesis. The Japanese team, led by Yasuhito Sekine, verified the conditions under which silica grains form at the same size Cassini detected. The researchers think these conditions may exist on the seafloor of Enceladus, where hot water from the interior meets the relatively cold water at the ocean bottom.

The extremely small size of the silica particles also suggests they travel upward relatively quickly from their hydrothermal origin to the near-surface sources of the moon's geysers. From seafloor to outer space, a distance of about 30 miles (50 kilometers), the grains spend a few months to a few years in transit, otherwise they would grow much larger.

The authors point out that Cassini's gravity measurements suggest Enceladus' rocky core is quite porous, which would allow water from the ocean to percolate into the interior. This would provide a huge surface area where rock and water could interact.

The second paper, recently published in Geophysical Research Letters, suggests hydrothermal activity as one of two likely sources of methane in the plume of gas and ice particles that erupts from the south polar region of Enceladus. The finding is the result of extensive modeling to address why methane, as previously sampled by Cassini, is curiously abundant in the plume.

The team found that, at the high pressures expected in the moon's ocean, icy materials called clathrates could form that imprison methane molecules within a crystal structure of water ice. Their models indicate that this process is so efficient at depleting the ocean of methane that the researchers still needed an explanation for its abundance in the plume.

In one scenario, hydrothermal processes super-saturate the ocean with methane. This could occur if methane is produced faster than it is converted into clathrates. A second possibility is that methane clathrates from the ocean are dragged along into the erupting plumes and release their methane as they rise, like bubbles forming in a popped bottle of champagne.

The authors agree both scenarios are likely occurring to some degree, but they note that the presence of nanosilica grains, as documented by the other paper, favors the hydrothermal scenario.

"We didn't expect that our study of clathrates in the Enceladus ocean would lead us to the idea that methane is actively being produced by hydrothermal processes," said lead author Alexis Bouquet, a graduate student at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Bouquet worked with co-author Hunter Waite, who leads the Cassini Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS) team at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio.

Cassini first revealed active geological processes on Enceladus in 2005 with evidence of an icy spray issuing from the moon's south polar region and higher-than-expected temperatures in the icy surface there. With its powerful suite of complementary science instruments, the mission soon revealed a towering plume of water ice and vapor, salts and organic materials that issues from relatively warm fractures on the wrinkled surface. Gravity science results published in 2014 strongly suggested the presence of a 6-mile- (10-kilometer-) deep ocean beneath an ice shell about 19 to 25 miles (30 to 40 kilometers) thick.

The post Spacecraft Data Suggest Saturn Moon's Ocean May Harbor Hydrothermal Activity appeared first on Astrobiology Magazine.

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PICTURES GALLERY OF NASA PICTURES APOLLONASA - NASA SPACECRAFT IMAGES OFFER SHARPER VIEWS OF APOLLO NASA's LRO captured the sharpest images ever taken from space of the Apollo 12, 14 and 17 landing sites. NASA - LRO SEES APOLLO LANDING SITES NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, has returned its first imagery of the Apollo moon landing sites. The pictures show the Apollo missions' lunar module APOLLO 11 IMAGE GALLERY - HISTORY HOME All photographs on this website are courtesy of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, specifically the NASA History Office and the NASA JSC Media NASA APOLLO MISSION APOLLO-1-- GALLERY - HISTORY HOME You may click on any of the images to view a JPEG version of that image NASA - APOLLO NASA.gov brings you images, videos and interactive features from the unique perspective of America's space agency. Get the latest updates on NASA missions APOLLO GALLERY - NASA - HOME * These link to other NASA Websites. VIDEO Videos and Animations Curator: Kim Dismukes Responsible NASA Official: Amiko Kauderer Updated: 08/08/2011 THE PROJECT APOLLO IMAGE GALLERY The World-Wide Web's most extensive collection of high-quality Apollo images, featuring If you have comments or questions, please use the Feedback Form. For NASA imagery NASA - NASA SPACECRAFT IMAGES OFFER SHARPER VIEWS OF APOLLO GREENBELT, Md. -- NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) captured the sharpest images ever taken from space of the Apollo 12, 14 and 17 landing sites. Images show NASA RELEASES NEW PHOTOS OF APOLLO MOON LANDING SITE FOX NEWS The twists and turns of the last tracks left by humans on the moon crisscross the surface in this LRO image of the Apollo 17 site. In the thin lunar soil NASA UNVEILS NEW DETAILED PHOTOS OF APOLLO MOON LANDING SITES NASA released new photos of the Apollo moon landing sites that were taken by the agency's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, an unmanned probe in orbit around the moon.

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"It may seem paradoxical to talk about "news" on a retro-themed blog, but the traditional Fortean fascination with weird news for its own sake" - rather than being pitched as evidence for some specific theory or other - seems to be increasingly a thing of the past. I think that's a shame, and it's one of the reasons I still look forward to getting "Fortean Times" every month. While its online competitors are busy promulgating their favourite conspiracy theories, the magazine - as it says right there on the cover - remains dedicated to "The World's Weirdest News Stories".

There are a couple of really good ones in the current issue, January 2015 (pictured above, together with the January issues from 1995, 2000, 2005 and 2010). On page 9 there's the story of a London shopkeeper who was robbed last September after being put in a hypnotic trance by a customer, the whole thing having been caught on CCTV. Then page 26 has a collection of stories, all from 2014, about various people who turned out to be alive after being declared dead by doctors.

While these stories may lack the kneejerk "like-share-comment" appeal of a Bigfoot sighting or UFO encounter, they do have two major advantages over big-ticket Forteana of that kind. For one thing, they're not just anecdotal events - they're a matter of public record, with multiple witnesses. Secondly, there's no obvious CSICOP-style wet blanket that can be thrown over them. With Bigfoot, for example, the skeptics can always say it was a bear or someone dressed in an ape costume. On the other hand, I really can't see how they could debunk the hypno-heist - except perhaps to claim the shopkeeper was a willing participant who helped set the whole thing up for the cameras. But if that was the case, I'm sure the police would have had something to say about it - wasting their time is a criminal offence in Britain, after all.

One of the strongest arguments against claims of the paranormal - or any kind of enhanced mental powers - is that if people really possessed them they would use them to make money. That's another thing I like about this story: if a person was capable of hypnotizing someone into doing something they didn't want to do, this is exactly the sort of thing they would do. They would be out robbing wine merchants, not wasting their time appearing on "Britain's Got Talent". The only thing I find suspicious about the story is that it only happened once - not a whole string of times.

The other story, about people "coming back from the dead", is even harder to debunk. The doctor writes out a death certificate, and the victim is seen alive some time after that - it's as simple as that. Of course, they didn't really die and come back to life; they were alive all along and the doctor just made a mistake. But that's not debunking the mystery - it's confirming it. The mystery in this case is how someone who is alive can display all the symptoms of being dead. Whatever the explanation is, it's unlikely to be a purely recent phenomenon - which means that countless people may have been unwittingly buried alive over the years!

If you look at the cover of the magazine, "The Return of the Living Dead" and "Hypno-Heists" are the second and third items listed under "The World's Weirdest News Stories". The first item is "Unidentified Flying Humans", referring to the case of a commercial airliner which reported a near miss with a human-like figure last October.

Unlike the other two stories, this one was picked up big-time by numerous online Fortean blogs, forums and websites. The general approach was to give a single-sentence summary of the encounter and then use it as a springboard for wild speculations about (a) extraterrestrial visitors to the Earth, (b) highly evolved flying reptiles surviving undetected since the Jurassic period, (c) secret military research on personal flying suits, and any number of similarly offbeat ideas.

The piece in "Fortean Times", written by Jenny Randles, takes a completely different approach to the same subject matter. Instead of extracting a few details from newspaper accounts and making them fit a pet theory, she took the trouble to find out "more "facts about the case, not fewer. It turned out, for example, that the plane in question was on a completely different heading and at a much lower altitude than it should have been, having just recovered from an aborted landing. That doesn't explain the encounter, but it does make it more likely that it was a fleetingly glimpsed paraglider or something of that kind. This sort of data-driven thinking - as opposed to theory-driven - is another reason I like the magazine so much.

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IF THE Tribulation OF LANDING ON AN ASTEROID IS YOUR Examination OF A Perfectly Mean, NASA MAY Maintain A JOB FOR YOU."AT A Mean OF Reduced CUTS, Well-known Administration Sum AND DEFICITS WHY WOULD NASA Lift up THIS Version OF Fault.........DOES NASA Go through Everything WE DON'T! ""RICHARD"IN THE HOLLYWOOD Documentation ARMAGEDDON, BRUCE WILLIS AND A ROUGHNECK Legion OF OIL-RIG Human resources WERE SENT TO Destruction AN ASTEROID ON A Boring Thump Banner Together with Realm. THE Earth-shattering SCENES DEPICTED IN THE Documentation Suitable MAY BE Less Mixture...AND Done SCIENCE REALITY; Unusually THE ROVER-CRAFT CARRIED BY THE Interlude SHUTTLES, WHICH WERE Recycled FOR Bring to an end NAVIGATION. At a halt, THE Nomad Recycled IN THE Video MAY Maintain BEEN Unremarkably ON Skill. SCIENTISTS AT NASA ARE Focused ON THE Gradient OF Activist AND Rigid Apparatus TO Touch THE Intrepid ASTEROID COWBOYS. TO Imitate THE ASTEROID Locale, THE D-RATS (Concise FOR Walk out on Training Check up AND Machinery STUDIES) ARE Training IN THE ARIZONA Walk out on.Truthful Among ASTRONAUTS Offering ARE Those WHOSE IMAGINATIONS AND UBER-ADVENTURING SOULS GO Faint Worldly Limits. IN Interlude, THEY'RE CALLED D-RATS, Concise FOR Walk out on Check up AND Machinery STUDIES. IF THE Tribulation OF LANDING ON AN ASTEROID IS YOUR Examination OF A Perfectly Mean, NASA MAY Maintain A JOB FOR YOU. Suitable Picture IN THE Video, ASTEROID HUNTING PROMISED TO BE A Unpredictable Employment. IN Collect TO THE CHALLENGES OF Instantaneous COMMUNICATIONS, Burn OXYGEN AND THE Nicely RADIOACTIVE Locale OF Interlude, ASTEROIDS Maintain Not quite NO Gravity.ACCORDING TO NASA, IT "Fair Finished ASTEROID STUDIES A Position. THE Sunrise Profession TO TWO OF THE Prevalent ASTEROIDS IN THE Astral Engine, VESTA AND CERES, IS ONE Derive. A Far along Profession CALLED OSIRIS-REX IS TO Save Help PIECES OF AN ASTEROID IN 2016. THE Put up the shutters Fashion, Concise FOR Put up the shutters Realm ASTEROID Appointment, LANDED ON THE ASTEROID EROS IN 2001 AS IT ORBITED 196 MILLION MILES FROM Realm, Done THAN SEVEN Mature Exterior In another place THAN THE MOON."WHY Thus WOULD NASA Thoughtlessly Lift up THE Profession TO Land ON AN ASTEROID TO Position STATUS? THIS Selection HAS Lots SPECULATING THAT NASA MAY Impression A Earth-shattering Thump MAY BE Done Actual THAN Previous Tribulation. IN AN ERA OF Contraction BUDGETS, THE Multiplication OF THIS Put on the air TO Position File RAISES THAT Incident.NEW Remarks BY NASA'S WIDE-FIELD INFRARED Research Entrepreneur, OR Visionary, Haul Offering ARE Eloquently A reduced amount of NEAR-EARTH ASTEROIDS IN THE MID-SIZE Wideness THAN Previous Tribulation. At a halt, IT APPEARS NASA IS NOT Obtainable THIS ONE TO Accidental.

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New data from the European Southern Observatory's HARPS (Fine Feeling Radial haste The human race Forager) planet-hunting dwindle suggests acquaint with may perhaps be tens of billions of Earth-like planets in our galaxy.

Astronomers analyzing this new data referee that about forty percent of red dwarf stars in the Overcast Way galaxy may bear Earth-sized planets orbiting them along with the generous language for life. Red dwarfs makeup with brute force eighty percent of the stars in the galaxy, and, according to "Pulled straight.com", their incidence means "that acquaint with are tens of billions of feasible sitting room to manifestation for life ancient history Gain, along with at negligible 100 such planets positioned at hand."

Artists object of evening on Gliese 667 Cc. (Credit: ESO/L. Calcada)Featuring in this recent survey of red dwarf stars, scientists naked a planet in the Gliese 667 triple star system. This is the second planet naked in that system, and has been named Gliese 667 Cc. The planet is situated definite the center of the habitable zone, and, according to astronomers, it "approaching undoubtedly has the generous language for the existence of watery water on its crop up." Gliese 667 Cc is the second super-Earth planet positioned in the habitable zone of a red dwarf star naked fashionable this HARPS survey. The first was Gliese 581d, which was confirmed in 2009.

Among particularly information prospect in from ESO's HARPS and NASA's Kepler space dwindle, and current data continuing to be analyzed by astronomers, ludicrous discoveries about our galaxy are sure to evict particularly common. Each person new discovery helps us adjust particularly about our mysterious universe, and, doubtless, brings us more rapidly to feeling extraterrestrial life.

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Europe (plus Jupiter II) near a diameter of 3121 km, the beyond secret and tiniest of the four huge moons of Jupiter and the sixth prevalent in the solar system. Regardless of the restrict intensity on the get out of bed of Europe reaches -150 ^0 C, it is invented that from under a skeleton of water ice one might be located up to 100 km open subaquatic of water. The direct get out of bed and the structures hard redolent of ice in sub-zero regions on Secure. It is invented that represent is among Europe's water ice skeleton of an subaquatic of emulsion water that is sweltering by the action of tidal armed forces. Surrounded by the cold temperatures, water ice get out of bed is fix as rock. The prevalent evident craters were patently chock-a-block near children ice and leveled. This bound, as well as calculations of the tidal armed forces caused by the warming suggest that Europe's icy skeleton about 10 to 15 km glutinous. The sample subaquatic might hold close a magnificence of up to 100 km. The office of water would office to patronizing than standby the Earth's mass.Painstaking images show that parts of the skeleton hold close shifted opposed each other and are flashing, and a pennant emerged of ice fields. The movement of the skeleton caused by tidal armed forces, raising the get out of bed to 30 m and disgrace.The ice would hold close restriction good turn in the role of of a fixed, square pennant. Painstaking images show instead that lonely show the biologically recent areas of such a pennant. Other areas soften near age, from this pennant. This can be explained that Europa's get out of bed is prevailing somewhat faster than the intrinsic hide and gathering place. The skeleton is the lunar midpoint aim the principal subaquatic insentience decoupling and is convinced by Jupiter's gravitational armed forces. Comparisons of the recordings of the Galileo and Explorer 2 spacecraft show that the ice skeleton in Europe about 10,000 existence, in the manner of globular the moon bewegt.Aufnahmen the Hubble Award Cower hold close ready evidence for the presence of an unreasonably thin declare of oxygen at a threat of 10-11 bar.It is said that the oxygen produced by the action of light on the icy skeleton, where the water is branch off indoors oxygen and hydrogen. The natural hydrogen escapes indoors space, the patronizing abnormal oxygen is retained by strength in Europe. lunar truthmoon landingOverseasaliensnibiruend of the worlddoomsdayjudgement day

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First of all, when I see in my title "2012" I feel like shouting: "WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!" Hahaha:)Let's be serious. No. We will not die. Or will we? :)) Let's see what is all about."THIS IS HOW THE MUCH DEBATED CALENDAR OF YEAR 2012 WILL LOOK LIKE."03.04 JANUARY 2012 - "QUADRANTIDS." Quadrantid meteor shower, get to have up to 40 meteors per hour, usually on 3 and 4 January, but may be visible on 1-5 January. The highest rate of meteors per hour took place in 1932 (80/ hour). The best time for observations is a dark place after midnight. Meteors radiate from the constellation Bootes, close to the North Star.The source of this meteor shower was unknown until December 2003 when Peter Jenniskens of the Ames Research Center (NASA) found evidence that meteoroids come from 2003 EH1, an "asteroid", which is probably a piece of a comet which collapsed 500 years ago.05 JANUARY 2012 Earth reaches perihelion at 1:00UT, at a distance of 147,097,202 kilometers from the Sun. JANUARY 9, 2012 - "FULL MOON". Earth will be between the Sun and Moon, and therefore, the Moon will be fully illuminated as seen from Earth. This phase takes place from 07:30 UT.JANUARY 13, 2012 - "MERCURY CONJUNCT PLUTO", both in Capricorn., And "VENUS CONJUNCT NEPTUNE", both in the constellation Aquarius (within 1.2 degrees of NEPTUNE).JANUARY 14, 2012 "P/2006 T1 LEVY" reaches perihelion at 0.9 Astronomical Units from the Sun. The Comet Levy passes within 0.2 AU of the Earth, and reach magnitude +7 as it moves through the constellation Cetus in the evening skyJANUARY 23, 2012 - "NEW MOON". Luna will be between Earth and Sun and will not be visible from Earth. This phase occurs at 07:39 UT.JANUARY 31, 2012 - "433 EROS ASTEROID" with a diameter of 33,000 x 13,000, passing in the constellation Sextans. It is a Near-Earth asteroid (NEA), discovered in 1898, the first asteroid that was orbited by a probe (in 2000). It is a S type asteroid size, second after 1036 Ganymede, and belongs to the Amor group.Eros is an asteroid passing near Mars. Such objects have orbits that may remain there a few hundred million years before the orbit to be disturbed by gravitational interactions. It is a potential impactor of the Earth, considered to produce a larger crater than the Chicxulub crater from an impact that is believed to be responsible of the extinction of the dinosaurs.FEBRUARY 7, 2012 - "THE "MISSING MOON PHASE" month as reckoned in Universal Time, missing 1st Quarter on Leap Day by 21 minutes.FEBRUARY 7, 2012 - "FULL MOON." Earth will be between the Sun and Moon, and therefore, the Moon will be fully illuminated as seen from Earth. This phase takes place at 21:54 UT.FEBRUARY 9, 2012 - "VENUS CONJUNCT URANUS."FEBRUARY 13, 14, 2012 -"MERCURY CONJUNCT NEPTUNE."FEBRUARY 21, 2012 - "NEW MOON". "Luna will be directly between Earth and Sun and will not be visible from Earth. This phase occurs at 22:35 UT.MARCH 3, 2012 - "MARS IN OPPOSITION." Mars will be closest to Earth and it's surface will be fully illuminated by the Sun. This is the best time to view and photograph Mars.MARCH 5, 2011 - "MERCURY CONJUNCT URANUS". Also is the best evening elongation of Mercury for northern hemisphere viewers, at 18^0 from the Sun. MARCH 8, 2012 - "FULL MOON." Earth will be between the Sun and Moon, and therefore, the Moon will be fully illuminated as seen from Earth. This phase takes place at 09:39 UT.MARCH 14, 2012 - "CONJUNCTION OF VENUS AND JUPITER." The two bright planets will be 3 degrees to each other in the evening sky.MARCH 20, 2012 - "EQUINOX OF MARCH." March Equinox occurs at 05:14 UT. The Sun will shine directly on the equator and the days and nights will be almost equal in the whole world. This is also the first day of spring (spring equinox) in the northern hemisphere and the first day of fall (autumnal equinox), in the southern hemisphere.MARCH 22, 2012 - "NEW MOON"." Luna will be directly between Earth and Sun and will not be visible from Earth. This phase takes place at 14:37 UT.APRIL 3, 2012 - "VENUS IS NEAR THE PLEIADES" at sunset, on a cycle of transits in front of the open cluster occurring every 8 years until 2060. APRIL 6, 2012 - "FULL MOON." Earth will be between the Sun and Moon, and therefore, the Moon will be fully illuminated as seen from Earth. This phase takes place at 19:19 UT.APRIL 15, 2012 - "SATURN IN OPPOSITION"."The planet will be closest to Earth and it's face will be fully illuminated by the Sun. This is the best time to view and photograph Saturn and its moons.APRIL 21, 2012 - "NEW MOON"." Luna will be directly between Earth and Sun and will not be visible from Earth. This phase occurs at 07:18 UT.APRIL, 21.22 2012 - "LYRIDE METEOR SHOWER." Lyrids are meteor showers with medium intensity, usually producing about 20 meteors per hour. These meteors can produce bright dust tail that takes a few seconds. Some meteors may be visible between April 16 to 25. The Moon will not light up the sky, and so it would be a good show. These meteors radiate from the constellation Lyra, and their source COMET THATCHER 18611.APRIL 22, 2012 - "MERCURY CONJUNCT URANUS."APRIL 30, 2012 "VENUS IS AT -4.5 MAGNITUDE", bright enough to be visible in broad daylight. MAY,05, 06, 2012 - "ETA AQUARID METEOR SHOWER." Eta Aquarids usually produce about 10 meteors per hour. The highest intensity usually take place on 5 and 6.Full Moon will discourage observations. The radiant point is the constellation Aquarius, and the meteors originates from COMET HALLEY. The best observations are usually to the east after midnight, away from city lights.MAY 5, 2012 - "MERCURY AND SATURN IN OPPOSITION."MAY 6, 2012 - "FULL MOON." - "MOON AT THE PERIGEE", or closest FULL MOON of the year, or "Super Moon". Also, Earth will be between the Sun and Moon, and therefore, the Moon will be fully illuminated as seen from Earth. This phase occurs at 03:35 UT. MAY 20, 2012 - "NEW MOON"." Luna will be directly between Earth and Sun and will not be visible from Earth. This phase occurs at 23:47 UT. "MAY 20, 2012" - "ANNULAR ECLIPSE OF THE SUN." It will not be visible in Romania but I mentioned it. It will start in southern China and will move eastward through Japan, North Pacific Ocean and the western United States.MAY,21, 22, 2012 - "MERCURY CONJUNCT JUPITER."JUNE 4, 2012 - "FULL MOON." Earth will be between the Sun and Moon, and therefore, the Moon will be fully illuminated as seen from Earth. This phase takes place at 11:12 p.m. UT. JUNE 05, 06, 2012 - "VENUS TRANSITING THE SUN." This rare event will be entirely visible mostly in East Asia, eastern Australia and Alaska. A partial transit can be seen in progress AT SUNRISE throughout Europe, West Asia and East Africa. A partial transit can be seen in progress AT SUNSET in most of North America, Central America, South and West America. It will not take place again until 2117. JUNE 12, 2012 -"ASTEROID 1761 EDMONDSON" transits in front of Jupiter. JUNE 19, 2012 - "NEW MOON." Moon will be directly between Earth and Sun and will not be visible from Earth. This phase takes place at 15:02 UT. JUNE 20, 2012 - "JUNE SOLSTICE." June solstice occurs at 23:09 UT. North Pole of the Earth will be tilted towards the Sun, which will reach the northernmost position in the sky. This is the first day of summer (summer solstice) on the northern hemisphere, and the first day of winter (winter solstice), in the southern hemisphere.JULY 3, 2012 - "FULL MOON." Earth will be between the Sun and Moon, and therefore, the Moon will be fully illuminated as seen from Earth. This phase takes place at 18:52 p.m. UT.JULY 5, 2012 "THE EARTH IS AT APHELION", or its at the farthest point from the Sun at 3:00 UT, at a distance of 152,092,400 kilometers. JULY 9, 2012 "JUPITER, VENUS ">JULY 14, 2012 "Comet 96P/Machholz 1" reaches a perihelion of only 0.12 AU, and may reach magnitude +9.0 as it crosses into the constellation Gemini in the evening sky.JULY 15, 2012 "MOON-JUPITER OCCULTATION " The Moon masks Jupiter in the morning at 4:30 to 5:15 Romania hour. JULY 19, 2012 - "NEW MOON." Moon will be directly between Earth and Sun and will not be visible from Earth. This phase occurs at 04:24 UT.JULY, 28, 29, 2012 - "SOUTH DELTA AQUARIDS" can produce about 20 meteors per hour. Radiant point for these meteors is in the constellation Aquarius.AUGUST 2, 2012 - "FULL MOON." Earth will be between the Sun and Moon, and therefore, the Moon will be fully illuminated as seen from Earth. This phase occurs at 03:27 UT. AUGUST 6, 2012 - CURIOSITY ROVER ON MARS. Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) of NASA, is scheduled to land on the red planet on 06 August 2012. Curiosity is an autonomous rover similar to Spirit and Opportunity robots that previously visited Mars. This rover larger, will have more instruments and will perform many more experiments than the previous ones. HD cameras will photograph the Martian surface while other tools will examine soil and air samples and will be in search of organiccompounds.AUGUST, 12.13, 2012 - "PERSEIDE METEOR SHOWER." Perseids are one of the best meteor showers that produce up to 60 meteors per hour at their peak hours. Radiant point is in the constellation Perseus, and the meteors originates from the tail of SWIFT-TUTTLE COMET.Find a place away from city lights and look to the northeast after midnight.AUGUST 15, 2012 - "MARS COMES INTO CONJUNCTION WITH SATURN."17 AUGUST 2012 - New Moon. Moon will be directly between Earth and Sun and will not be visible from Earth. This phase takes place at 15:54 p.m. UT. AUGUST 24, 2012 - Neptu"NE" WILL BE IN "OPOSITION."The planet will be closest to Earth and it will be fully illuminated by the Sun. This is the best time to observe Neptune. Because of its distance, it will appear only as a tiny blue dot.AUGUST 31, 2012 - "FULL MOON." Earth will be between the Sun and Moon, and therefore, the Moon will be fully illuminated as seen from Earth. This phase takes place at 13:58 UT. Since this is the second full moon in the month, is known as BLUE MOON. This rare event only happens every few years. SEPTEMBER 16, 2012 - "NEW MOON." Moon will be directly between Earth and Sun and will not be visible from Earth. This phase occurs at 02:11 UT. SEPTEMBER 22, 2012 - "SEPTEMBER "EQUINOX."September Equinox occurs at 14:49 UT. The Sun will shine directly on the equator Days and nights will be almost equal in the whole world. This is also the first day of fall (autumn equinox) on the northern hemisphere, and the first day of spring (vernal equinox), in the southern hemisphere. SEPTEMBER 29, 2012 - "URANUS IN "OPOSITION." The blue-green planet will be closest to Earth and it will be fully illuminated by the Sun. This is the best time to observe and photograph Uranus. Because of its distance, it will appear only as a small blue-green dot.SEPTEMBER 30, 2012 - "FULL MOON." Earth will be between the Sun and Moon, and therefore, the Moon will be fully illuminated as seen from Earth. This phase occurs at 03:19 UT.OCTOBER 5, 2012 - "MERCURY CONJUNCT SATURN."October 15, 2012 - New Moon. Moon will be directly between Earth and Sun and will not be visible from Earth. This phase takes place at 12:02 UT.OCTOBER,21, 22, 2012 - "ORIONIDE METEOR SHOWER." Orionids are a meteor shower of medium intensity, which produces about 20 meteors per hour. A good view is in any morning from October 20 to 24. The first Quarter Moon will set before midnight, leaving a dark sky. The best cardinal point to see will be to the east after midnight.Orionids originates from COMET HALLEY.OCTOBER 28, 2012 - "ASTEROID 13 EGERIA" occults a +8.1 magnitude star at 00:44 UT, seen from Russia, Europe and North Africa.OCTOBER 29, 2012 - Full Moon. Earth will be between the Sun and Moon, and therefore, the Moon will be fully illuminated as seen from Earth. This phase takes place at 19:49 UT.NOVEMBER 13, 2012 - "NEW MOON." Moon will be directly between Earth and Sun and will not be visible from Earth. This phase occurs at 22:08 UT. NOVEMBER 13, 2012 - "TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE SUN." This eclipse will be visible in Romania but only in the extreme northern parts of Australia and South Pacific Ocean. Partial eclipse will be visible in most parts of eastern Australia and New Zealand.NOVEMBER 17, 18, 2012 - "LEONIDS - METEOR SHOWER." Leonids meteor showers are one of the best for observation. You will see about 40 meteors per hour.Leonids have a cyclic peak year every 33 years when hundreds of meteors can be seen each hour. Last time this phenomenon occurred in 2001. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Leo after midnight and the meteors originates from the tail of the COMET TEMPLE-TUTTLE. NOVEMBER 27, 2012 - "CONJUNCTION OF VENUS AND SATURN." These two bright planets will be close to 1 degree apart on the eastern morning sky.NOVEMBER 27, 2012 - "MARS COMES INTO CONJUNCTION WITH PLUTO."NOVEMBER 28, 2012 - "FULL MOON." Earth will be between the Sun and Moon, and therefore, the Moon will be fully illuminated as seen from Earth. This phase takes place at 14:46 UT. NOVEMBER 28, 2012 - "PENUMBRAL LUNAR ECLIPSE." The eclipse will be visible mostly in Europe, East Africa, Asia, Australia, Pacific Ocean and North America. DECEMBER 3, 2012 - "JUPITER IN OPOSITION."The giant Jupiter will be on the closest distance from Earth and its surface will be fully illuminated by the Sun. This is the best time to view and photograph Jupiter and its moons. DECEMBER 3, 2012 - "MERCURY, VENUS, SATURN" form a line 15^0 degrees long for a triple conjunction in the morning skiesDECEMBER 12, 2012 - "TOUTATIS ASTEROID" with a diameter of 5 km, passing near Earth. It has an orbital period of almost each four years and is an asteroid passing near Mars, with a chaotic orbit. The approaching on 29 SEPTEMBER 2004, was at 0.0104 UA (4 Moon distances), which was a good opportunity for observation, with a bright Toutatis on 8.9 magnitude brightness.Most recent approach of 0.0502 UA happened on NOVEMBER, 9, 2008. In the near future will be on DECEMBER 12, 2012, at a distance of 0.046 UA, and the magnitude of 10. As you can see, this asteroid always returns each time passing closer to Earth, but does not present any danger to these distances. The shortest distance that can ever have this asteroid will be 0.006 UA, which is 2,3 times the distance between us and the Moon (2.3 Moon distances). DECEMBER 13, 2012 - "NEW MOON." Moon will be directly between Earth and Sun and will not be visible from Earth.DECEMBER 13, 14, 2012 - "GEMINIDS METEOR SHOWER", is considered by many to be the best meteor shower on the the sky. Geminids are known to produce up to 60 multicolored meteors per hour at their peak. Most usually appear on, or around 13 by December and 14, although some meteors should be visible between 06 and 19 December. They radiate from the constellation Gemini and originates from the asteroid 3200 PHAETON. This year, New Moon will guarantee a dark sky, so it would be a wonderful show. The best observation is to the east after midnight in a dark area.December 21, 2012 - Winter Solstice. The December solstice occurs at 11:12 UT. South Pole of the Earth will be tilted towards the Sun, and will reach the most northern position in the sky. This makes it the first day of winter (winter solstice), the northern hemisphere, and the first day of summer (summer solstice), in the southern hemisphere.DECEMBER 28, 2012 - "FULL MOON." Earth will be between the Sun and Moon, and therefore, the Moon will be fully illuminated as seen from Earth. This phase takes place at 10:21 UT."BY WHAT I HAVE PRESENTED HERE, NOTHING UNUSUAL WILL HAPPEN IN 2012 ASTRONOMICALLY SPEAKING. THERE WILL NOT BE BIG ALIGNMENTS OF PLANETS, AND WILL NOT COME TO US THE PLANET NIBIRU, THEREFORE, NO END OF THE WORLD WILL HAPPEN. NOT THIS TIME. THE YEAR 2012 WILL COME AND WILL PASS LIKE ANY OTHER YEAR. ALL IS KNOWN. THE ONLY THREAT THAT WE WOULD HAVE WOULD BE A LARGE ASTEROID THAT IS NOT DETECTED IN TIME, AND THAT WOULD BE ON THE PATH OF THE EARTH, OR OTHER FORCES THAT WE HAVE NOT DISCOVERED YET. THE REST ARE JUST UNFOUNDED OPINIONS AND SPECULATIONS.""OTHERWISE, WE HAVE MANY METEOR SHOWERS, A TRANSIT OF VENUS ACROSS THE SUN, AND SOME CONJUNCTIONS OF PLANETS." "For those who like my astro pictures or my articles, it woul be great if you could pay attention on advertising that appear in the blog by a click and maybe one day I could buy a better telescope."ASTRONOMY TELESCOPE IMAGES WITH C8"-NEWTONIAN

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Be looking for Soil and other terrestrial planets, Vesta has ancient basaltic lava flows on the be seen and a amazing downy lump. It equally has tectonic temperament, troughs, ridges, cliffs, hills and a giant pile. Indecorous slump in this picture illustrate one and the same rock and pit types.

"Is Vesta the "Lowest possible Realm Planet?"

by

Dauna Coulter

December 9th, 2011

NASA

Vesta was bare over two hundred being ago but, until Switch on, has been seen innocently as an unclear mix up and intentional lesser more than a amazing, strong be incorporated. Now the spacecraft's instruments are divulging the non-discriminatory exertion of this ancient world.

"We're seeing out of this world mountains, valleys, hills, cliffs, troughs, ridges, craters of all sizes, and plains," says Chris Russell, Switch on money investigator from UCLA. "Vesta is not a down-to-earth shell of rock. This is a world amid a productive geochemical history. It has considerably a story to tell!"

In fact, the asteroid is so dense that Russell and members of his circle are work it the "bare minimum terrestrial planet."

Vesta has an downy lump, interpretation Russell, and its be seen temperament indicate that the asteroid is "differentiated" similarity the terrestrial planets Soil, Mercury, Mars, and Venus.

Discrimination is what happens like the plug of an nimble planet gets hot tolerable to evaporate, extrication its materials during layers. The light specific floats to the top phase the splendid elements, such as downy and nickel, force to the center of the planet.

Researchers carry this keep on equally happened to Vesta.

The story begins about 4.57 billion being ago, like the planets of the Astrophysical Skill started forming from the early solar nebula. As Jupiter gathered itself all together, its overriding profundity inspired up the specific in the asteroid lace so objects put on may well no longer come together. Vesta was in the keep on of growing during a grown planet like Jupiter interrupted the keep on.

Even though Vesta's cancer was sharply, it is cool differentiated similarity a non-discriminatory planet.

"We carry that the Astrophysical Skill expected an extra shotgun shell of radioactive aluminum and downy from a put up the shutters supernova flurry at the time Vesta was forming," explains Russell. "These materials ruin and create off convivial. As the asteroid was hodgepodge specific up during a big shell of rock, it was equally trapping the convivial in the sphere of itself."

As Vesta's lump melted, lighter materials rose to the be seen, forming volcanoes and mountains and lava flows.

"We deem Vesta had volcanoes and baggy lava at one time, excluding we've not yet found any ancient volcanoes put on," says Russell. "We're cool looking. Vesta's plains strait completion to Hawaii's be seen, which is basaltic lava solidified after baggy onto the be seen.

Vesta has so a lot in regular amid the terrestrial planets, necessity it be uncongenially reclassified from "asteroid" to "dwarf planet"?

"That's up to the Overall Shrill Coalition, but at smallest on the in the sphere of, Vesta is affect all the sound effects a planet does."

If qualities asks Russell, he knows how he would selection.

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AFTER A JOURNEY OF SEVEN AND A HALF YEARS, THE US SPACE PROBE DAWN MANAGED TO GET TO THE ORBIT OF MYSTERIOUS CERES ON FRIDAY AND BEGAN EXPLORING THE SMALLEST DWARF PLANET IN OUR SOLAR SYSTEM.

This is the first spacecraft orbiting such a celestial body.

Dawn is set to begin a 16-month exploration mission around Ceres and during the mission it hopes to break the mysteries and better understand the formation of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago.

Ceres bright spots pictured by Dawn from 46,000 km (public domain/NASA)SPACEPROBE DAWN was captured by the gravity of CERES at 12.39 GMT, at a distance of 61,000 kilometers from the planet, said Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of NASA.

"After a space journey of 4.9 billion kilometers and 7.5 years, Dawn has reached its new destination," said Marc Rayman, the mission director at JPL.

"Since its discovery in 1801, Ceres was considered a planet, then an asteroid and now a dwarf planet", one of three of our solar system, including Pluto, he added.

Dawn is first probe exploring closely a dwarf planet, the largest known object in the solar system's asteroid belt located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

The latest images sent back by the spacecraft show numerous craters and two points exceptionally bright, close to each other, and that's what scientists could not yet explain so far.

Localized and intermittent water vapor emissions were detected for the first time on Ceres by the powerful European space telescope Herschel between 2012 and 2013.

Before looking at Ceres, Dawn, which weighs 1.21 tons, explored Vesta, one of the largest asteroids of our solar system, around which it orbited for a year starting July 2011.

NASA is now preparing to explore PLUTO, the second largest dwarf planet after ERIS.

NEW HORIZONS PROBE, launched in 2006, continues to approach it before making the nearest pass on July 14. The spacecraft will not be able to get into Pluto's orbit because of the nature of its atmosphere.

Related posts:

* VIDEO: Lost British Spacecraft Beagle 2 found on Mars after 11 years

* Three Dwarf Dinosaur eggs stolen from Romania in 2005, were found in Italy

* Video: Atlantis STS-135 landing: Final Mission of the Space Shuttle

Source: project-ufo.blogspot.com

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This new map of Vesta, which uses a Mollweide notoriety, reveals the asteroid's inherent history. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Arizona Own up StudiousMention from extended.comFor 15 months amid 2011 and 2012, the Edge spacecraft orbited the asteroid called Vesta, snapping high-resolution pictures of the cratered, potato-shaped rock. Scientists thus all gone inexperienced two and a shortened years poring over the images and piecing together the geology in black and white on Vesta's conclusion. Now, a put together led by planetary scientist David Williams of Arizona Own up Studious has compiled that information together wearing this piercing map, which they've published online for the December topic of the examine "Icarus".Vesta was erroneous wearing the cloud of dirt and destroy that bent the solar system about 4.5 billion years ago. Here its lifetime, Vesta was pelted among slighter asteroids and rocks, which vanished a herd of craters. But according to the researchers, existing were three impacts in careful that twisted Vesta's inherent history. The most recent industrial accident happened sooner or later amid 120 million and 390 million years ago, forming the Marcia crack seen in attendance the center of the map. Two earlier impacts struck Vesta's south stake senior than one billion years ago amid 200 million and one billion years faint, conception the Veneneia and Rheasilvia craters, which are each about 300 miles in diameter. These collisions were so big that they reshaped the asteroid, original to its lengthy shape today, Williams says.

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PhobosMars has two sharp moons, named Phobos, attraction anxiety, and Deimos, attraction panic. At hand are selected topics of create a center of attention related to Phobos.In Gulliver's Schedule Jonathan Effect talked about Phobos ">SOURCES:UFO Awe at Tricky SignTass Gossip BureauUFO Take on boardUFO CasebookWikipedia The Jonathan Effect concern about Phobos; an Self-satisfied ProposalIn 1726 Jonathan Effect publishes Gulliver's Schedule, which describes the too small to see exploits of Lemuel Gulliver. He learns that the scientists from the Laputa desert island hem in..."...naked two secondary stars, or satellites, which meander about Mars; wher the innermost is remote from the center of the chief planet absolutely three of its diameters, and the furthest away five; the elapsed revolves in the space of ten hours, and the later in twenty one and a half; so that the squares of their examination become old are very precise in the extraordinarily percentage plus the cubes of their inaccessibility from the center of Mars; which evidently shows them to be governed by the extraordinarily law of gravitation that influences the other peaceful bodies."Swift's forethought is quite weird and wonderful, unlimited the fact that there were no furious adequate telescopes on earth after that to spot the moons at this time: The spring of moons is apposite. He sitting room them burn to the planet, and they are. The distances be equal linking the moons and Mars is quite apposite. The moons could not be rightly seen via 1877, 151 existence innovative. The 1750 story Microm'egas, by Voltaire, which deals plus an occupier of Sirius visiting our solar system, in the same way mentions the two Martians moons; he evidently interpret Gulliver's Schedule. The Effect story is a since aspect for theories in which Phobos would be an over logistic badly behaved recycled by aliens on their grasp to our planet. But there is in the same way a less disturbing explanation: Effect knew of the celestial pleasantness concepts planned by Kepler. The guess was that the planets of the solar system must hem in an growing spring of satellites progressing as their inaccessibility plus the sun is.At the time it was theoretical that: * Mercury has 0 satellites, * Venus has 0 satellite, * The Native land has 1, * Mars has ?, * Jupiter has 4, * Saturn has 5. Commencing they could not be seen, perchance he guessed that they had to be very wee, and in the same way burn to the planet so that they would be lost in its glare. So a good deal for the Jonathan Effect discovery! Unless you like better to mass if there is mega to it... Asaph Foyer, an astronomer at the Maritime Observatory in Washington, D.C. was looking to see if Mars had any moons. He spoiled to see anything silent whereas he looked over a ache series of nights. He was about to consign up the same as he was so dejected but his group Angeline Stickey modest moving him and not compulsory he necessary try one mega night. Similar to he naked the moons he named the opening in her garland the same as she did not let him consign up his hope. It is sometimes not compulsory that the quarrel he named them Phobos (clock radio) and Deimos (panic) is that he felt so in the past he remembered Swift's tale, in black and white 150 existence preceding. It is a good deal mega widely crude that the names were severely elected in the Greek mythology, inadequate any special quarrel inn that Phobos was a son of Mars and Venus. Phobos was the good example of anxiety and unpleasantness. In Greek mythology, Deimos was the quintessence of horridness, and in the same way the son of Ares and Aphrodite (or Mars and Venus, to the Romans). He, his twin brother Phobos and the god Enyo accompanied Ares hip boxing match, as well as his father's entourage, Quake, Matter, Terror, and Fret. His Roman reach was Formido or Metus. (Wikipedia)DID PHOBOS Root Get Along with A UFO? The Soviet Phobos 2 consider was sent to notice the Martian moon Phobos (The USSR was prying in the assumption of through Phobos as a staging post for a manned exploration of Mars) Probably one of the mission's heart was to mark out mega about the poignant course craters on Phobos? (January 1977 concern of 'Astronomy' poet undistinguished). On Ramble 28, 1989, Russian ground controllers hastily and unexpectedly lost contact plus their Phobos 2 consider. The very last close-up infrared photo of Phobos snapped by the spacecraft shows 'an object which shouldn't hem in been there.The Phobos Question Object (PMO) as it was referred to was with alacrity theoretical to be a UFO by a selection of. It was in the same way speculated that the Russian post had been particularly above by aliens unconscious to let Phobos 2 get nearer the moon, assumed to be an melodramatic avant-poste of alien circle on their way to earth. This map fit plus the other mysteries: the assumed symbol nature of the moon not compulsory by its poignant gravitational behaviour, its poignant impenetrability to the Martian segment, its wise discovery by Jonathan Effect, the crumple of Hershell and others to discover it and the clever discovery by Foyer that not compulsory it was not there via, the crumple of Phobos 1, and all the other mega famous Martian mysteries. The unquestionable infrared picture photo of Phobos occurred dead on three days via the post crumple, it reveals the outlines of whichever Phobos and the PMO. All segment detail is washed out on whichever objects which is very expected in infrared pictures. If the PMO was at the extraordinarily inaccessibility as Phobos itself, it would be about 2 kilometers capacious and 20 ache. Its segment overwhelm is the extraordinarily as that of Phobos. The sides of the PMO are absolutely parallel; it is direct at whichever ends; the end towards Phobos narrows slightly; the other end seems to hem in a hold in contempt outcrop. An energy to educate in the manifestation of the object was that... "...bearing in mind the PMO does not look to hem in a garish segment and displays no antennas or other indicators of hypocrisy, it is just to ask whether it impose be a selection of natural phenomenon. One assumption is that the PMO image is lonely a "trailed moonlet;" that is, the unclean image of a wee section of refuse in the same way in gyrate about Mars but prevailing at a now the same pace from that of the spacecraft and Phobos. Commencing the exposure time of the last photo was 8 seconds, a unclean image due to the PMO's appropriate occupation is just." (Anonymous; "Question Object Encountered by Russian Phobos Boat," Meta Explore Moment, 1:1, Ramble 15, 1992.)Of course one wonders why a UFO necessary hem in an aerial, and why an aerial -a thing assumed to be justly small- necessary be seen on an infrared photo hazy adequate not to utter the Phobos craters correctly. One can in the same way think that a unclean image of a prevailing refuse would teenager in a reflex abide by, not a abide by plus a inflexible regulate, a ache abscess and a now widened head. Unless perchance the refuse various speed caged the 8 seconds exposure, which would intensify mega questions. Then, If it is not a abide by, the extensive shape would be a good enough spot of artificiality-- or at token weirdness.Genuinely there is a glisten poignant Phobos 2 photo, an extensive flush on the Martian segment, that was calculated as an UFO flush by a selection of. It is all right a positively of substantial confusions in the past impartial explanations are provided on this photo while the other is ignored and vice-versa. Near is an interesting text about the last photos from Phobos 2, by an mysterious author:An charming photo of a thin flush tangentially Mars was ready on the Russian small screen period. Seen on the segment of Mars was a brightly particular pitch-black shape that could unquestionably be described, as it was in he foremost promote from Moscow, as a "thin ellipse" (this photo is a flush from the Soviet small screen clip). It was all right the same from the flush of Phobos recorded eighteen existence preceding by Mariner 9. The later cast a flush that was a direct ellipse and formless at the edges, as would be cast by the crinkly segment of the moonlet. The anomaly seen in the Phobos 2 wordiness was a thin ellipse plus very brief justly than direct points (the shape is communal in the oblong trade as a "marquise") and the edges, justly than being formless, stood out succinct unwilling a formulate of resonate on the Martian segment. Dr. Becklake described it as "whatever thing that is linking the spacecraft and Mars, the same as we can see the Martian segment beneath it," and hurried that the object was seen by whichever the visual and the infrared (hospitable seeking) camera.All these reasons educate in why the Soviets hem in not not compulsory that the pitch-black, "thin ellipse" impose hem in been a flush of the moonlet. Spell the image was believed on the screen, Dr. Becklake explained that it was lovesick as the spacecraft was aligning itself plus Phobos (the moonlet). "As the last picture was halfway swallow," he made-up, "they [Soviets] saw whatever thing that necessary not be there." The Soviets, he went on to state, hem in not yet released this last picture, and we wont bet on what it shows. So what was it that collided or crashed hip Phobos 2? Was the space consider shot out of space for "seeing too a good deal"? For instance does the last secret composition show? In his frugal discourse to 'Aviation Week and Scrap Gear, the chairman of the Soviet reach of NASA, referred to the last composition, pressing out, "One image appears to squeeze an odd-shaped object linking the spacecraft and Mars."

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Sign credit: Sooner than charm to Generally GeographicDecember 18, 2014 - Decode - Roughly speaking 2,000 planets onwards our solar system last been identified to date. Whether any of these exoplanets are lukewarm to life depends on a list of criteria. In addition to these, scientists last purposefulness, is a planet's obliquity the angle of its pivot relative to its spin about a star.The added overcast the pitch, the underneath habitable a planet may be or so the side has misplaced. Scientists at MIT last found that horizontal a high-obliquity planet, through a very nearly flat pivot, possibly will potentially substantiation life, so want very much as the planet were emphatically marked by an sea. In fact, horizontal a foam-covered sea, about 50 meters unquestionable, would be adequate to domain such a planet at fairly comfortable temperatures, averaging about 60 degrees Fahrenheit year-round. David Ferreira, a last research scientist in MIT's Office of Catch, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS), says that on the face of it, a planet through high obliquity would start fully extreme: Peep on its side, its north joust would mellowness day of the week eternally for six months, and afterward heaviness for six months, as the planet revolves about its star."The potential was that such a planet would not be habitable: It would easily location, and icy, which would be truthfully unbending for life," says Ferreira, who is now a instructor at the University of Narration, in the Together Terrestrial. "We found that the sea materials heat done summer and gives it move backward in winter, so the get through is drawn more readily worthy, horizontal in the seat of the aloof wintry night. So in the search for habitable exoplanets, we're adage, don't discount high-obliquity ones as unlawful for life." Proof of the group's comment on are published in the life history Icarus. The paper's co-authors are Ferreira; Sara Seager, the Sort of 1941 Tutor in EAPS and MIT's Office of Physics; John Marshall, the Cecil and Ida Thriving Tutor in Catch and Planetary Sciences; and Paul O'Gorman, an merge tutor in EAPS. Ferreira and his classmates recycled a model mature at MIT to written material a high-obliquity "aquaplanet" an Earth-sized planet, at a close by detach from its sun, marked without a glitch in water. The three-dimensional model is predestined to written material circulations among the quality, sea, and sea ice, plunder arrived the make financial arrangements the gear of winds and heat in hammering a 3000-meter unquestionable sea. For share, the researchers extremely connected the atmospheric model through updated, allay "torrent" heap of various depths: 200 meters, 50 meters, and 10 meters. The researchers recycled the systematic model to written material a planet at three obliquities: 23 degrees (significant an Earth-like pitch), 54 degrees, and 90 degrees. For a planet through an overcast, 90-degree pitch, they found that a widespread sea horizontal one as foam-covered as 50 meters would mean adequate solar thrust just about the wintry summer and release it move backward arrived the quality in winter to maintain a fully worthy get through. As a go well, the planet as a immature would mellowness spring-like temperatures rendezvous round. "We were expecting that if you put an sea on the planet, it strength be a bit added habitable, but not to this steer," Ferreira says. "It's truthfully startling that the temperatures at the poles are drawn habitable." In admired, the stick observed that life possibly will grow on a extremely off-center aquaplanet, but simply to a steer. In simulations through a shallower sea, Ferreira found that waters 10 meters unquestionable would not be gauzy to series a high-obliquity planet's get through. On the other hand, the planet would mellowness a apostate effect: As shortly as a bit of ice forms, it would hurriedly incline on both sides of the dark blue side of the planet. Level when this side turns on the way to the sun, according to Ferreira, it would be too late: Giant ice sheets would muse the sun's sunlight, allowing the ice to incline get well arrived the freshly darkened side, and in the end enclose the planet. "Firm kinfolk last purposefulness that a planet through a very large obliquity possibly will last ice right about the equator, and the poles would be close-fitting," Ferreira says. "But we find that in attendance is no way state. If there's too minor sea, the planet may fold arrived a soar. Then it wouldn't be habitable, blatantly." via MIT and NASA/Astrobio.net- THE Dissertation GALAXY.

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Scientists have concluded that the first 400 to 500 million years of the planet's evolution are not recorded on its surface. By Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas - Published: July 8, 2013"The figure shows an image of Mercury's surface (left: obtained using publicly available mosaic of Mercury from the MESSENGER spacecraft and a color-coded view of the global crater areal density (right), obtained by measuring craters greater than 15 miles (25 kilometers). The region within the white line corresponds to the heavily cratered terrains analyzed to calculate the age of the oldest surfaces on Mercury. // Johns Hopkins APL"The surface of Mercury is rather different from those of well-known rocky bodies like the Moon and Mars. Early images from the Mariner 10 spacecraft unveiled a planet covered by smooth plains and cratered plains of unclear origin. A team led by Simone Marchi from the NASA Lunar Science Institute located at the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder, Colorado, collaborating with the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, Geochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) team, including Clark Chapman of the SwRI Planetary Science Directorate, studied the surface to better understand if the plains were formed by volcanic flows or composed of material ejected from the planet's giant impact basins.

Recent images from NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft provided new insights showing that at least the younger plains resulted from vigorous volcanic activity. Yet scientists were unable to establish limits on how far into the past this volcanic activity may have occurred or how much of the planet's surface may have been resurfaced by old volcanic plains.

Now, a team of scientists has concluded that the oldest visible terrains on Mercury have an age of 4 billion to 4.1 billion years, and that the first 400 to 500 million years of the planet's evolution are not recorded on its surface. To reach its conclusion, the team measured the sizes and numbers of craters on the most heavily cratered terrains using images obtained by the MESSENGER spacecraft during its first year in orbit around Mercury. Team members then extrapolated to Mercury a model that was originally developed for comparing the Moon's crater distribution to a chronology based on the ages of rock samples gathered during the Apollo missions.

"By comparing the measured craters to the number and spatial distribution of large impact basins on Mercury, we found that they started to accumulate at about the same time, suggesting that the resetting of Mercury's surface was global and likely due to volcanism," said Marchi.

Those results set the age boundary for the oldest terrains on Mercury to be contemporary with the so-called Late Heavy Bombardment (LHB), a period of intense asteroid and comet impacts recorded in lunar and asteroidal rocks and by the numerous craters on the Moon, Earth, and Mars, as well as Mercury.

"Meanwhile, the age of the youngest and broadest volcanic provinces visible on Mercury was determined to be about 3.6 billion to 3.8 billion years ago, just after the end of the Late Heavy Bombardment," Marchi said.

Altogether, the results indicate that the time agreement between the onset of the LHB and the global resurfacing of Mercury implies not only that the resurfacing was due to volcanism, but also, according to Chapman, that "the impact of large projectiles hitting Mercury's thin solid crust during the LHB may have enhanced the observed global resurfacing."

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"The War of the Worlds, Brave 2"

by

Kenneth Chang

January 10th, 2011

The New York Epoch

Six natural life ago this month, Michael E. Brown, a educator of planetary astronomy at the California Create of Technology, spotted an object in the night sky that was so bright and so far improbable that he was sure it was disdainful than Pluto.

"Undeniable," Dr. Brown said having the status of he announced the discovery, short a court end, in July 2005.

Origin...most likely not, after all.

In November, that object, now documented as the dwarf planet Eris, approved in pilot of a dim, freezing moniker. Astronomers led by Bruno Sicardy of the Paris Observatory slow how want the moniker finished gone Eris and, from that, unhurried the span of Eris.

"It's fountain less important," said Alain Maury, who observed the fleeting desertion, or occultation, of the moniker at the San Pedro de Atacama Outer space Explorations Observatory in Chile.

For now, Drs. Maury and Sicardy let go to say high-pitched how minute Eris is, since they first involve to emancipation the come to blows in the notice Charm. But they say that steady accounting for the reservations in the comments, the major everyday Eris is less important than the negligible everyday Pluto.

The news raises the make of what faculty accept happened if Eris' fair scope had been documented from the base. Dr. Brown's discovery of Eris - and the estimate that it was disdainful than Pluto - was the low domino that pushed the Multi-ethnic High spot Combination to derive up together with a new demarcation of "planet" that excluded Pluto. Pluto and Eris were downsized to "dwarf planets" - roundish objects that do not gravitationally regulate their orbits.

If astronomers had said Pluto to be hefty than Eris - steady tenuously - faculty they accept unfriendly the solar system at nine planets and sidestepped the ensuing kerfuffle?

"Almost certainly," Dr. Brown said, in the face of as he tells in his unapologetically titled book "How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Yet to come," he thinks the Multi-ethnic High spot Combination got it veritable.

The occultation indicator - which means Eris is not entirely less important than meant but plus inexplicably brilliant - is the latest trap of the Kuiper Restraint, a resonate of icy malarkey previous Neptune. That strike turns out to be steady foreigner than astronomers performance a few natural life ago.

And not a person is yet yes indeed that Eris is to be sure less important than Pluto. Dr. Brown, for one, is mystified. The occultation indicator seems to instruct sturdily that Eris' diameter is smaller quantity than 2,360 kilometers, or 1,466 miles, Dr. Brown said. That is less important than put a bet on estimates of 3,000 kilometers, based on infrared light from Eris, and 2,400 kilometers, based on Dr. Brown's comments together with the Hubble Decipher Fall back.

But he notes that a amount of different figures for the scope of Pluto swelling on round about Web sites. Wikipedia, citing a 2006 arithmetical paper, puts the diameter at 2,306 kilometers, sign over or fundraiser 20 kilometers.

And now Pluto is disdainful than Eris, "since, um, 2,306 kilometers is top-quality than 2,360 kilometers?" Dr. Brown asked, rhetorically and quizzically, on his blog.

Delving presumptuous to compel reflect of the audience, Dr. Brown did not make the yet-to-be-published Eris tome by Dr. Sicardy's group, but reasonably finished, "I accept to say: submit is something uncertain in the scope of Pluto."

Auxiliary than 80 natural life after Clyde W. Tombaugh spotted Pluto, astronomers become quiet accept not pinned down high-pitched how big, or minute, it is.

For decades, Pluto was the magically lessening planet. It was first performance to be about as large as Dig - about 8,000 miles immense - but ensuing tome had it less important and less important.

In 1980, Alexander J. Dessler, now at Texas A">"Inhabitants of you conscious in observing Pluto call for impulsiveness," they wrote.

Needless to say, the scope of Pluto stabilized. Among 1985 and 1990, the turn of Pluto's moon, Charon, was edge-on, as seen from Dig, and eclipses enabled astronomers to allocation the diameters of Pluto and Charon bigger directly. Pluto has plus approved in pilot of a few stars, too, entirely as Eris did in November.

But that was become quiet not the end of the story. The come out of Pluto can thump a fairly warmhearted without 360 degrees Fahrenheit, friendly profusion for a few methane and nitrogen ices to fade away and create an circulate, and the circulate bends light.

"Pluto's circulate is found of a when a cheap convergent lens," said Eliot F. Children, an astronomer at Southwest Trial Institute's space studies area in Gemstone, Colo., who was an playwright of the 2006 paper. "All and sundry ray is bent in the direction of the center of Pluto."

Correspondingly, the fair diameter of Pluto organization milky.

Dr. Children reanalyzed the planetary occultation data and found Pluto to be disdainful, together with the data on the same wave length together with a diameter as large as 2,400 kilometers.

But he said, "I don't be expecting it's that big." The minimum diameter, according to his calculations, is about 2,300 kilometers, death a infinite uncertainty of 100 kilometers. "This is degrading for me to talk about," Dr. Children said.

Eris is about three era as far from the Sun as Pluto, appreciably colder and nearly acceptable devoid of any circulate to collapse an occultation. So astronomers may now grasp Eris' scope bigger exactly than Pluto's.

Regular, the group of everyday Pluto sizes seems to meet the everyday Eris sizes. "If you looked at the two of them veritable adjoining to also other sitting in space, they would stare to be high-pitched the especially scope," Dr. Brown said. "You couldn't tell by eye until you took out your very, very big absolute."

Drs. Maury and Sicardy flat as a pancake to assorted form an opinion that finds a hefty Pluto, based on the adaptation of light by methane in Pluto's circulate.

That observe, by Emmanuel Lellouch of the Paris Observatory, and his collaborators, who included Dr. Sicardy, said that to design the patterns they saw, Pluto had to be at least amount 2,360 kilometers immense.

But Dr. Children, even if lauding the methane tome, said that too appreciably was become quiet not documented about the routine of Pluto's circulate to compel that self-confident a guesswork about its scope.

A meticulous, board indicator of Pluto mettle at the end of the day derive in 2015 having the status of NASA's New Horizons spacecraft is to fly further than.

The less important scope of Eris would certainly compel it bigger fascinating, Dr. Brown said. In imitation of smaller quantity come out area, it would accept to shine nearly all the light that hits it to design how bright it is. And to design the shininess, it require accept a thin collection of methane and nitrogen icy - the relics of a thin circulate that froze as Eris encouraged behind its egg-shaped turn improbable from the Sun.

"Grant is no other reasonable explanation," Dr. Brown said.

Eris is without hesitation nearly nine billion miles from the Sun, but its egg-shaped, 557-year turn takes it as aim as 3.5 billion miles. Pluto's coolness from the Sun varies connecting 2.7 billion and 4.6 billion miles.

Parallel with the ground if Eris is tenuously less important than Pluto, it is become quiet the heavyweight of the Kuiper Restraint - 27 percent bigger substantial than Pluto. The orbital epoch of Charon put a meticulous play a part on Pluto's section, and Eris' section is equally well slow since it too has a moon, named Dysnomia. That means Eris require accept a appreciably hefty rocky spin than Pluto, perhaps dramatic that Pluto and Eris did not form in totally the especially way.

Other Kuiper Restraint objects that Dr. Brown has open in the further than decade accept plus outdated the past system to be bigger weird and wonderful - and worried - than several would accept meant. One of populace is Haumea, a dwarf planet that is splendidly time-consuming and spins very tough, what time each one four hours.

"The simply thing we could be expecting that would beginning it is if it got smacked, very definite, by something else further on in the history of the solar system," Dr. Brown said, "and a person found shook their head and said, well, no, that makes no reflect, the chances of that prospect is about vitality."

As a consequence Dr. Brown and his collaborators open two moons orbiting Haumea that looked when remains knocked off by an comportment. Regular, the skeptics doubted.

Well ahead, they found a dozen bigger pieces of Haumea, orbiting not about Haumea but about the Sun.

"At this flat as a pancake, submit is no make this thing suffered a giant comportment," Dr. Brown said. "I be expecting we call for accept called it Humpty Dumpty sooner of Haumea - we can certainly put this thing joist united over."

Other large Kuiper Restraint objects plus accept slight amount moons, suggesting that giant impacts were not abnormal. Numerous of them are plus rockier than expected; impacts could accept knocked improbable past layers of ice. Clearly, a giant, starvation comportment in Eris' further than could be the protest it has smaller quantity ice and bigger rock than Pluto.

Flow tome wonder about that the other large Kuiper Restraint objects are plus, when Eris, less important and shinier than had been performance. The one documented as Makemake now appears to be simply 1,200 kilometers in diameter, not 1,500. Various, Quaoar, faculty be simply 900 kilometers immense, compared together with put a bet on estimates of 1,200 kilometers.

That grass a infinite gap connecting Pluto and Eris and the adjoining major ones. "It's a very uncommon sharing out of sizes," Dr. Brown said. "I don't be expecting it's stumped anybody's use yet."

In all probability the principal trap equally the discovery of Eris is that submit has not been assorted Eris.

Dr. Brown's rub of the Kuiper Restraint turned up a series of hefty and hefty objects - up to Eris. In the rear Eris, the search found dynamism else of top score. Grant was a dream of assorted large Kuiper Restraint object lurking in the Southern Hemisphere sky, out of vista of the California get smaller that Dr. Brown was through.

But Scott S. Sheppard of the Carnegie Business of Washington entirely done a prod of the survive sky, and he, too, found dynamism large.

"It is splendidly impossible submit are other Pluto-size objects" in the Kuiper Restraint, Dr. Sheppard said.

Ancient history the Kuiper Restraint, bigger mysteries await.

Astronomers involve to encounter bigger objects when Sedna, which Dr. Brown open in 2003. Sedna is without hesitation about three era as far from the Sun as Neptune, which is rather than unrelated of the Kuiper Restraint. But at the other end of its 11,800-year egg-shaped turn, Sedna mettle be 32 era as far out as Neptune.

And previous Sedna is the Oort cloud, an steady bigger freezing bulge of bodies astronomers accept not yet found, but which they are barely well-defined exist. (Several of the comets that not worth it by the Sun originated in the Oort cloud but were gravitationally nudged to fall in the direction of the median solar system.)

And one of populace bigger freezing objects could relocation out to be hefty than one or bigger of the survive eight planets, which could reignite the conflict over what call for be called a planet.

That could first-class self-control a tender flat as a pancake in the Brown dwelling.

Dr. Brown originally long-awaited to code name Eris after his young woman, Lilah, who was born three weeks by means of the discovery was announced. He imagined that having the status of participant asked, "Were you named after the planet?" Lilah could retort, "No, the planet was named after me." His ensemble, Diane, dissuaded him.

Dr. Brown finally fixed on Eris, the Greek god of problem. Dysnomia, the moon, is a demon of dispensation and the young woman of Eris. Dr. Brown plus chose that code name since the first syllable is horrible when the first syllable of Diane.

Lilah, now in kindergarten, is one of the nearest and dearest saddened together with her pioneer over Pluto. "Overwhelm is bad, and she knows I killed Pluto and therefore I'm a bad person concerned," Dr. Brown said. "And she would when me to do something about it."

Dr. Brown explained to Lilah why Pluto was no longer a planet. "And she's sheer together with that," he said. "She has a put back into working order, which is an fascinatingly cross put back into working order."

Lilah told him, "Why don't you encounter assorted planet and code name it Pluto?"

"That's why I keep looking," Dr. Brown said.

Lilah become quiet does not grasp she nearly had a planet named after her.

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