The tallest known auroras in our solar system were discovered as Cassini imaged the first “northern lights” on the planet Saturn.

The auroras have a vertical pattern, which resemble tall curtains flapping in the wind. Some of which are seen 750 miles above the planet’s northern hemisphere.

Auroras occur on Earth as we all know, but they occur on other planets as well in our solar system. The new images from Saturn help us gain more knowledge into how auroras work. “Seeing these things on another planet helps us understand them a little better when we see them on Earth.” said Andrew Ingersoll of the Cassini imaging team.

An aurora, shining high above the northern part of Saturn, moves from the night side to the day side of the planet in this image recorded by Cassini.

The new data seems to be helping already. Auroras occur when charged particles from a planet’s magnetosphere enter the atmosphere. So the heights of the auroras on Saturn say much about its atmospheric differences compared to the Earth.

The Earth’s atmosphere is mainly oxygen and nitrogen. The atmosphere of Saturn is primarily hydrogen, which is much lighter. This causes the atmosphere to extend out further from the planet, in turn increasing the height of the auroras.

An aurora, shining high above the northern part of Saturn, moves from the night side to the day side of the planet in this movie recorded by Cassini.

Cassini has imaged the auroras of Saturn before, but that was using its ultraviolet and infrared imaging tools. These new images taken in October were captured with the visible light camera. The images were originally in black and white, but the imaging team enhanced them with a orange false-color to highlight the auroras.

The oxygen and nitrogen of the Earth’s atmosphere are what give our auroras their green, blue, and red colors. More needs to be studied about the atmosphere of Saturn to have a more accurate idea of what the colors of its auroras are.

A Cassini scientist, Dr. Andy Ingersoll, explains the flickering “northern lights” high above Saturn, shown for the first time in a visible-light movie.

(The Planetary Society) – Cassini flies into the plumes …

http://planetary.org/blog/article/00002227/

Hangtianyuan

Astronaut

Cosmonaut

According to Wikipedia, the word “astronaut” has a special translation in China: hangtianyuan (航天员). In Taiwan and Hong Kong, it is often called “taikonaut” (太空人). The later was invented perhaps by Chiew Lee Yih or Chen Lan. In fact, Chen Lan indicated in his blog that it was his invention. But who invented the word “hangtianyuan”? It was unknown for a long time.

On Oct 31, China’s father of space program Qian Xuesen (钱学森) died at the age of 98 sparked a huge amount of articles in memory of him. I myself wrote one too: “Father of Chinese Space Program Qian Xuesen Died“. One of the articles gives the answer: It was Qian Xuesen. According to the story told by the first Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei (杨利伟), Qian Xuesen favored the word “hangtianyuan” which translates “sailing personnel in space” literally. His reason was: In China, we used to distinguish the space (天), the sea (海), the sky (空). He believed that the word “hangtianyuan” made more sense.

Aviation Week has an obituary on Qian’s death. It says “According to the physicist Theodore von Karman, Qian was ‘an undisputed genius whose work was providing an enormous impetus to advances in high-speed aerodynamics and jet propulsion.’ But the U.S. government suspected him of communism and arrested him in 1950 — though the suspicion seems unfounded in light of his subsequent attempt to stay in the United States rather than go home and help China.” Finally in 1955, Qian was deported, “happy to go home and happily received by China. There he became the central figure in the creation and administration of a scientific and industrial complex which, with Soviet help in its early stages, grew from virtually nothing in 1956 to launching a satellite in 1970.”

And Phew ! Finally Liberation ! On writing that I should warn myself that though the Prelims are over I have hardly a month left for my University Exams. And they say 2nd year is the toughest of all. But as the saying goes “Fortune favors the brave”. The brave and extra ordinary Johnites are often favored by RGUHS and I hope that magic works out this time also.

Apart from studies, something else is happening in my college campus… the much hyped Johnite Premier League is back in a miniature version – A knock out T10 Cricket Series. I hope this one also would work out like JPL Season 1. And as this unfolds I would like to share with my readers the story of how this JPL came into Johns… On a quick take, it would be right to say ‘JPL is the height of joblessness of a few Johnites’. It all started on a Sunday afternoon when a few of us who were sitting quite bored in my hostel room (B-206), doing nothing but our usual stuff – gossiping and cribbing. Then suddenly everyone wanted to go out play some cricket. It was IPL season, and no doubt the match had a regional flavor immediately. APites and Mals formed different teams. Teams where christened as team Hyderabad and Team Kochin (Team Kochin name rooting from the disappointment of Mallus including me who felt Gods own country was not adequately represented in IPL) . And thus the first JPL  match was played. A detailed report on this match is available on Johnknight – The St. Johns Medical College Blog. ( http://johnknight.in/?p=40)

The concept of mixing up players from different batches and playing became a sudden hit. Thus other batches and guys who wanted to play

with Jarvis, the owner of Mumbhai 420 (Champs JPL 2009)

cricket started approaching us. And thus after a few table discussions, brain storming sessions (?), arguments, debates and what not… finally we came up with a set of rules, guidelines and a fixture. Thus JOHNITE PREMIER LEAGUE started officially. Again the first match of the official version was between Bhagyanagar Beewars (Team Hyderbad) and Kochin Kudos (Team Kochin)

The success of JPL was in the fact that people who never played cricket or rather never bothered to even go to the playgrounds (read as Jino Joy) came down and played for their teams. Can you believe that a total of 124 Johnites played in the series with 6 teams and 25 matches spread over 2 weeks. Not to forget the presence of the fairer sex not just in cheering but also on the ground playing cricket with the guys.  All together it was fun + Cricket. JPL would have never happened this way without the support of my batch mates and 2005. Some people who deserve a special mention are:- Yatta, Nitin, Pranit (Ass. coordinator), Tony, Roshan, Murtuza, Jarvis, Suyash, Charles, Basanth, Rajkumar, Judi etc.

I would not claim JPL as something so great to write pages about, but rather would put it as an example of how small things work out in a big way at my college – St. Johns ! And this spirit is what we call as our Johnite Spirit.

That’s all for now… back to JPL Core Team work…

Follow JPL on Johnknight.in

FOGS SPRING EQUINOX NEWSLETTER 2002 volume XII no.2

Bishop's Palace, Fetternear; heritage project under threat

QUANGOS are non-Governmental, but the Executive seems to have become ‘responsible’ for them, as non-departmental public bodies (NDPB)- a different animal altogether.

This issue deals almost exclusively with this matter because it would appear ministers have not initiated adequate consultation within professional and academic groups whose opinion is of supreme importance. If bureaucratic systems are implemented wholesale, the work of generations of fine minds may be relegated to the bin in a ‘baby-with-bathwater’ attempt at civil service rationale. We may not wish to comment on internal Parole Board workings or how the Royal Botanic Garden educates the planet. It is relevant to FOGS, however, that some of our greatest institutions with documentary evidence of our heritage collected over centuries, may be under immense threat.

Wishing to go further, the Executive is now looking at all Scots public bodies and the ‘role they play in delivering Ministers’ policies’. Overall aim is to modernise infrastructure by reduction or initiating appropriate systems, to ensure appointments are ‘suitable’ and that ‘public bodies are properly accountable to Ministers and Parliament.’

We all know that we live in the most over-governed small country in the world. Within it, nevertheless, are national treasures, resources and a long history of care for heritage and environment independent of bureaucrats. Our voluntary groups and charitable societies rival any in the English-speaking world. There are descendants of Scots in every nation, many of whom despair of our careless disbanding of tradition, value and history, seen in recent government efforts to remake ‘cool Britannia’.

It seems ‘Scottish Ministers want the changes to the framework within which public bodies operate to yield lasting benefits and to command widespread support.’ This initial review will not be the last word. The process of dialogue and consultation invites comment by April 12th 2001 [address below], but will continue beyond May. Every public body which remains will be subject to a ‘modernized, focused rolling review process.’

Annex B of the consultation document states ‘if the case is not made for the QUANGO, we will abolish it.’

One wonders how, for instance, the National Library, legal repository for every work published in Great Britain and Ireland, having an unrivalled Scots collection, will fare.

The Ancient Monuments Board has traditionally advised ministers on the exercise of their functions under the Act of 1979. Do ministers now intend a little rôle reversal to advise the Board on how they should guard monuments?

The Royal Commission (RCAHMS) is under most pressure. How will it fit into the category of ‘what Ministers want’? It has an unparalleled (& efficient) library in Edinburgh which gives members of the public unlimited access to archive material collected since 1908. Its enormously innovative & important Canmore website is an independent project like Monuments on Record on CD-ROM, published to mark its 90th anniversary. ‘Canmore’ database attracted 50,000 searches in its first year on the Internet. Recognised as a charity with the Capital Taxes office [SC026749], able to apply for independent funding via Heritage Lottery Fund, the Commission provides a niche for high-profile, irreplaceable archives; but just as NASA and JPL are dependent on amateur astronomers for unusual material, RCAHMS has accepted personal photographic and documentary historical research donated over the years by amateurs. The present much-needed ‘Strath Don’ survey of Aberdeenshire is possible only because RCAHMS technicians are single-minded, dedicated professionals; not a blade of grass is left unturned nor a single mound unexamined. Instead of this remarkable heritage, are we to receive short shrift from a civil servant with a budget to watch? Will our ancient land once again become amalgamated and manipulated to suit some jargon-filled programme?
We invite you to write in support of RCAHMS before April 12th (2001) to:
Scottish Executive, Public Bodies Review Team,
Room 318,16 Waterloo Place, Edinburgh EH1 3DN
Fax: 0131 244 5077
e-mail: ndpbreview@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Resources Relevant to RCAHMS
MANY FOGS members will know that the English equivalent of Historic Scotland currently wants to pass through the Lords the Culture and Recreation Bill (H.L.) which would give English Heritage extraordinarily sweeping intellectual property rights relating to ancient monuments and historic buildings, including ‘any other intangible assets’ – wording of a clause which it seeks to insert into 1983’s National Heritage Act. If exercised, such rights could significantly undermine work of independent charities, freelance professionals and owners of such properties. As drafted, it could infringe authors’, illustrators’ and photographers’ rights and undermine legitimate arrangements on intellectual property and other rights.

When moved for a second time on 18-01-2001, Lord Scott of Foscote, a Law Lord, observed that it seemed to contravene the Human Rights Act, pointing out: ‘it surely could not have been intended that the exploitation of intellectual property rights (relating to monuments and historic buildings) should be privately owned rights’. Prehistorians and archaeologists are alarmed that a similar situation might follow north of the border, if the present Scottish Executive Review of Public Bodies succeeds.

Among correspondence we have received, Dr PZ Dransart who works within both legislatures, gives a most succinct comparison:
‘Part V of the Culture and Recreation Bill (H.L.) is analogous to the Scottish Executive review. It intends ‘to remove anomalies which hamper efficient/effective delivery of public services’. Three new bodies are proposed, designed to be reconstituted as statutory bodies to ‘provide the Secretary of State with a basis for making grants’. It also makes changes to the way people are appointed to governing bodies of different museums.

‘As you mentioned, all these issues are interconnected. Independence and organisation of our national museums, libraries and RCAHMS is under threat from such proposals. It will dilute professionalism and make bodies less professionally accountable.

‘At present advertisements are placed in the press to invite applications for people to serve on the executive and advisory NDPBs. Paradoxically, the proposals may not even save money, as the Scottish Executive will have to appoint more civil servants to replace people who sit on those bodies.’
P.Z.Dransart, Univ. of Wales at Lampeter; archaeologist Episcopal Palaces project Fetternear, Aberdeenshire.

NASA hopes to free Mars rover from ’sand trap’

After months of tests and analysis, engineers plan to beam commands to NASA’s Spirit Mars rover Monday, kicking off a long-awaited attempt to free the hardy craft from the talcum powder-like soil of a hidden crater that trapped it last April.

“Spirit’s facing the most challenging situation it’s seen yet on the surface of Mars,” Doug McCuistion, director of NASA’s Mars exploration program, said Thursday. “We know a lot of people around the world…view Spirit with great affection, exploring the Red Planet along with it, experiencing the excitement, seeing new and exciting vistas, seeing new landscapes, uncovering some incredible new knowledge about our sister planet.

. . .

“I’d like everybody to be hopeful, but I’d also like them to be realistic,” he said. “If Spirit cannot make the great escape from this sand trap, it’s likely that this lonely spot, straddling the edge of this crater, might be where Spirit ends its adventures on Mars.”

. . .

Last April 23, the six-wheel Spirit was slowly rolling backward on the western side of a feature known as “Home Plate,” heading toward the south and a pair of volcanic structures that scientists wanted to examine. The rover was driving backward because its right front wheel stopped working in 2006.

The ground to the south of Spirit looked normal, but as it rolled along, its wheels broke through an upper-crust-like layer of soil and into a softer, unseen material.

“Essentially, the rover was driving on what we call a dirt crust,” said John Callas, the project manager of the Mars exploration rovers at JPL. “It was a hard surface that we broke through, and underneath this material, camouflaged underneath, was this loose, fine material where the rover is challenged right now.”

Scientists later determined that Spirit’s path was straddling the rim of an ancient, 26-foot-wide crater just beneath the surface. The crater was filled in with sulfate sands that formed layers with different compositions.

Initial attempts to drive out in a crablike fashion by turning the front and back wheels in the same direction only made matters worse.

See also:
NASA to try to free stuck Mars rover Spirit
NASA unveils plan to free sand-trapped Mars rover
Engineers desperate to move plucky Mars rover
NASA to power Mars rover out of sand trap
Unsticking Spirit
NASA Unveils Plan To Unstick A Mars Rover
NASA tries to dig out its stranded Mars robot
Spirit Rover Wiggles Her Wheels
Mars Exploration Rover Mission
Spirit rover

Well, this seems to be quite the heroic rescue attempt for a rover that’s already five years past its three month life expectancy. Go NASA!

/what’s really amazing is that Obama hasn’t canceled this project yet, it must be costing quite a bit of money that he could be wasting on pet Democrat social boondoggles like ACORN instead

Vía JPL

La frase del título es de Steven Wright.

What’s up everyone, been off the map for a minute, I’m trying to get over this cold I have, I guess I got it because of the changing weather. I think I read somewhere where they were potentially looking at creating a Huge Array of solar panels to use in space,maybe to solve the world’s energy problem, well the problem with this is who gets to control the whole system, as you know the United States is not going to let anyone control the energy being regulated, so it’s going to be a big problem. If this could work it would really really help the world get over it’s dependency on fossil fuels, but this is not going to happen any time soon, because a lot of companies will go out of business, because of not being able to generate the capital needed to sustain themselves through this tough time, when they’re not needed anymore, a lot of people will lose their jobs.so actually it’s a great idea and at the same time it’s a bad idea, because the United States is built on capitalism, this is why a lot of good ideas go unrecognized and this is all in the name of capitalism. this is the SunGod64. signing off,Peace!

Image by NASA: Hubble Space Telescope
Three colliding galaxies around 100 million light years away.

Image by JPL / NASA
The splendor to the Orion Nebula

Image by NASA
The Omega Nebula

Image by NASA
The Eagle Nebula

Image by NASA and ESA
The Sombrero Galaxy in the Constellation Virgo

Image by NASA and ESA
A 50 light year across view of the much larger Carina Nebula

Image by NASA and ESA
A nebula in Sagittarius close to 8000 light years away.

Image by ESA and NASA
Region of space where numerous galaxies are behind this blue and brown nebula

Image by NASA
Crab Nebula, the result of a supernova seen by Chinese and Japanese astronomers in 1054

Image by JPL and NASA
Saturn’s moon Hyperion appearing to be spongy in texture.

Image by John Hopkins Physics Lab / NASA / Carnegie Institute of Washington
Cratered surface of Mercury.

Image by NASA Hubble Telescope
M51 Whirlppol Galaxy discovered by Messier in 1774.

Image courtesy JPL website.
Our solar systems heavenly bodies. (only clickable link on page)

Image by NASA
Sol, far side imagery of our Sun’s prominence.

Image by amateur astronomer Jack Newton
Comet Lulin seen February 2009.

.

Qian Xuesen (钱学森)

The news that Qian Xuesen died on October 31 created a shock wave in China, but the wave didn’t seem to reach the other end of the Pacific ocean. If one search Google news on Qian Xuesen, there are only 228 results (as of Nov 2, 2009). But if one search 钱学森, there are 5,389 results. One of them was from LA Time: “Qian Xuesen dies at 98; rocket scientist helped establish Jet Propulsion Laboratory. NASA didn’t say a word. Cal Tech had few. I asked a few space engineers. None of them know about the news. One CFD expert said to me that he never saw Qian’s photo.

Qian Xuesen, also known as Tsien Hsue-shen, was a U.S. educated rocket scientist. He was one of the founders of JPL, the CalTech run NASA center. During the red scare of the 1950s the UUS government accused Qian of having communist sympathies. Qian was imprisoned at Terminal Island. Stripped of his security clearance, Qian decided to go back to China. After being under house arrest for 5 years, from 1950-55, Qian was released in exchange for the return of US pilots captured during the Korean war. Qian returned to China in September of 1955.

US pilots returned

A big lose to the USA, and a huge gain to China. Without him, the Chinese space program would be at least 20 years behind.

“We screwed up.” said the CFD expert referring to Qian’s return to China. Nevertheless, the United States managed to lead the space exploration since then. I guess that is the most important fact to them.

Invited reading: A story that Qian Xuesen told Chinese space engineers: Story of Wan Hu — The first astronaut in the world.

Every year when fire season rolls around there is a twinge of anxiety in the air in Southern California.

Living in a canyon tucked into the foothills of the Angeles National Forest brings considerable dread during hot, dry months. So when August 26, 2009 rolled around and we noticed a small puff of smoke over the top of our canyon, we viewed it with cautious suspicion. “I don’t think its anything to worry about,” said our neighbor Ann, “they usually get these things out pretty quickly once the helicopters show up.”  Well, once the fixed wing aircraft showed up, we decided to take a couple of things to my in-laws’ house.

August 26, 2009. Greg's photo: the first day of the Station Fire from our driveway.

The Station Fire began at mile marker 29 on Angeles Crest Highway.

Mile marker 29 is about 26 miles north of Scott and Terry McKenzie’s house. By Friday the 28^th, we awoke to the news that the fire had jumped Angeles Crest Highway and that the street across the canyon from the McKenzie’s had been evacuated. Knowing that they were in Minnesota, we expected a phone call. At 7 am Terry phoned asking us to rescue their cat Arlene who was hiding somewhere in the house. After talking our way through the police barriers and seeing the amount of ash and smoke coming from the canyon right next to ours, we knew we should get ready to evacuate.

You never realize how integral internet access is to your life until you don’t have it. 

After a sleepless night of watching our glowing red windows, we watered the house and the yard, packed up the car and the dog and by 10:00 am on Saturday heard the Sheriffs’ bullhorn bellowing, “please leave the area, you are under mandatory evacuation.” We headed to a house with no internet access. What? I had a sinking feeling that it was going to be difficult to get accurate information regarding the progress of the fire from the mainstream media, but boy was I wrong. There was actually NO news from the mainstream media. Studies regarding “technophobia” and the elderly abound, but we were now entering the Twilight Zone of technophobes without technology. After watching replays of the same video of the fire with meaningless statistics of how many firefighters were on the line and how many acres had burned, we decided to find a spot to watch what was happening for ourselves.

The virtual meeting place became our home away from home.

Armed with an iPhone and no other means of connection, we hunkered down in the car to watch the airplanes pound the crest above our canyon and JPL with the fire retardant Foschek.

Realizing that our friends and family knew we had evacuated, but not wanting to return all of the calls being left on our answering service, I logged onto Facebook and used our status update to keep everyone informed of what was happening in real time. It was amazing to feel connected when, in reality, we were so displaced. Throughout the afternoon, we checked the mainstream news sites for specific information about our neighborhood—nothing. We then turned to our local blogger for information. The altadenablog turned out to be the most amazing source of local news. Citizen reporter  Tim Rutt, armed with a police-scanner, readers’ comments and internet access, out-reported established news organizations. In the face of media consolidation and newspaper collapse, this was a real-life example of how impactful blogging has become in keeping communities informed and connected.

The growth of social networks have fueled the legitimacy of blogs as credible news sources.

The takeaway lesson of this disaster for us was that communities are responsible for themselves in an emergency. Assumptions about first responders and reverse 911 calls for evacuation preparedness were proven false in our little unincorporated hamlet of Altadena. Even after the shock of the evacuation subsided, I realized that YouTube and Vimeo told a better story about what happened during the Station Fire than the television networks did. I was amazed and awed viewing a time-lapse video of the fire’s progress filmed by a local resident and posted on Vimeo. It is empowering to live in a time of such technological advances. As bandwidth increases and access to the internet expands worldwide, it seems that the narrative of historical events is returning to the individual and away from governments and corporations. In the words of John Lennon: power to the people!

NASA and city of La Cañada Flintridge officials cut the ribbon on the new Space Flight Building on Oct. 26, 2009. (NASA/JPL)

Area lawmakers and Jet Propulsion Laboratory officials turned out Monday morning to cut the ribbon on the new Flight Projects Center at the La Cañada Flintridge facility.

NASA is touting it as its “greenest” building to date, having received the LEED Gold Certification under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system. To qualify, buildings have to make “efficient use of water, energy and resources, and provide a healthy and comfortable indoor workspace,” according to a NASA/JPL  press statement.

Among the dignitaries seen at the ribbon cutting were La Cañada Flintridge Mayor Laura Olhasso, Councilman Dave Spence and La Cañada Flintridge Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Pat Anderson. Also attending the ceremony were U.S. Reps David Dreier and Adam Schiff.

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Hello,

AIAA will be taking a tour of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory on the morning of Friday, November 20th. We will be getting a first hand look of the new Mars Science Laboratory (the new rover) which is set to launch in December 2011. We will also be able to see NASA test facilities and the spacecraft assembly facility.

In order to go to this event, you must RSVP via e-mail to aadit.patel@gmail.com by October 20th . The tour has only 30 available openings, and we will need about 3-4 drivers. Priority will first be given to those willing to drive, then paid AIAA members, and then non-members on a first come first serve basis.

Please include the following when you RSVP:
1) Name
2) Country of Citizenship
3) Age
4) If you are handicapped and/or require special assistance

This is a great opportunity to learn more about space industry and get information about upcoming NASA robotic missions and projects. The tour is sure to fill up fast, so RSVP today!

Thanks,

Aadit Patel
External Vice President
AIAA

Opportunity's new find

The exploration rover Opportunity has identified what seems to be another ferrous extraplanetary visitor resting on the sands of Meridiani Plains.

The 19-inch-long meteorite, shown here, has been dubbed “Shelter Island” by the MER team. Opportunity’s tire tracks are visible in the upper left.

Opportunity spent six weeks in September and October investigating “Block Island”, a similar, larger meteorite located about 2,300 feet away.

This is a false-color raw image taken on October 11, 2009, and has not been calibrated. View the official press release here.

Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Astrônomos descobrem anel gigante em torno de Saturno

O maior anel do planeta abrigaria 1 bilhão de Terras dentro de seu diâmetro

Acima: Concepção artística do anel gigante em torno de Saturno: em seu diâmetro caberiam alinhados 1 bilhão de planetas do tamanho da Terra (Foto: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Keck).

Cientistas da Nasa (Agência Espacial Americana) descobriram um anel gigante em torno de Saturno, em cujo diâmetro caberiam alinhados 1 bilhão de planetas do tamanho da Terra. Sua parte mais densa fica a cerca de 6 milhões de quilômetros de Saturno e se estende por outros 12 milhões de quilômetros, o que o torna o maior anel de Saturno. A altura do halo é 20 vezes maior que o diâmetro do planeta.

“Se ele fosse visível a partir da Terra, veríamos o anel com a largura de duas luas cheias, com Saturno no meio.”

 “Trata-se de um anel superdimensionado”, definiu a astrônoma Anne Verbiscer, da Universidade da Virgínia em Charlottesville e uma das autoras de um artigo sobre a descoberta publicado na revista científica “Nature”. “Se ele fosse visível a partir da Terra, veríamos o anel com a largura de duas luas cheias, com Saturno no meio”, comparou a cientista.

Quase invisível

Anne e seus colegas utilizaram uma câmera de infravermelho a bordo do telescópio espacial Spitzer para fazer uma “leitura” de uma parte do espaço dentro da órbita de Phoebe, uma das luas de Saturno.

“As partículas estão tão distantes umas das outras que mesmo se você ficasse em pé em cima do anel, não o veria.”

Segundo a astrônoma, o anel é praticamente invisível por telescópios que utilizam luz, já que é formado por uma fina camada de gelo e por partículas de poeira bastante difusas. “As partículas estão tão distantes umas das outras que mesmo se você ficasse em pé em cima do anel, não o veria”, disse Anne.

Os cientistas acreditam que a lua Phoebe é que contribuiu com o material para a formação do anel gigante, ao ser atingida por cometas. A órbita do anel está a 27 graus de inclinação do eixo do principal e mais visível anel de Saturno.

Mistério

Os cientistas acreditam que a descoberta do anel poderá ajudar a desvendar um dos maiores mistérios da astronomia – a lua Iapetus, também de Saturno. A lua foi descoberta pelo astrônomo Giovanni Cassini em 1671, que percebeu que ela tinha um lado claro e outro bastante escuro, como o conhecido símbolo yin-yang.

Segundo a equipe de Anne, o anel gira na mesma direção de Phoebe e na direção oposta a Iapetus e às outras luas e anéis de Saturno. Com isso, o material do anel colide constantemente com a misteriosa lua, “como uma mosca contra uma janela”. Fonte: G1.

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Three articles in Science Express were released yesterday, 24 September. They detail evidence for water from three different Lunar missions: Deep Impact Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) on Chandrayaan-1 Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) on Cassini (1999) These are summarized by A Lunar Waterworld by Paul G. Lucey at Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawaii, 1680 East West Road, POST 504, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA. “Space-based spectroscopic measurements provide strong evidence for water on the surface of the Moon.” The authors and abstracts are detailed below:

Credit: NASA Image

• Temporal and Spatial Variability of Lunar Hydration as Observed by the Deep Impact Spacecraft by Jessica M. Sunshine (1*), Tony L. Farnham (1), Lori M. Feaga (1), Olivier Groussin (2), Frédéric Merlin (1), Ralph E. Milliken (3), Michael F. A’Hearn (1)
  
  1 University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
  2 Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille, Marseille, France.
  3 Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
  
  “The Moon is generally anhydrous, yet the Deep Impact spacecraft found the entire surface to be hydrated during some portions of the day. OH and H2O absorptions in the near infrared were strongest near the North Pole and are consistent with <0.5 wt% H2O. Hydration varied with temperature, rather than cumulative solar radiation, but no inherent absorptivity differences with composition were observed. However, comparisons between data collected one week (a quarter lunar day) apart show a dynamic process with diurnal changes in hydration that were greater for mare basalts (~70%) than for highlands (~50%). This hydration loss and return to steady state occurred entirely between local morning and evening, requiring a ready daytime source of water group ions, which is consistent with a solar wind origin.”
• Character and Spatial Distribution of OH/H2O on the Surface of the Moon Seen by M3 on Chandrayaan-1
  C. M. Pieters 1*, J. N. Goswami 2, R. N. Clark 3, M. Annadurai 4, J. Boardman 5, B. Buratti 6, J.-P. Combe 7, M. D. Dyar 8, R. Green 6, J. W. Head 1, C. Hibbitts 9, M. Hicks 6, P. Isaacson 1, R. Klima 1, G. Kramer 7, S. Kumar 10, E. Livo 3, S. Lundeen 6, E. Malaret 11, T. McCord 7, J. Mustard 1, J. Nettles 1, N. Petro 12, C. Runyon 13, M. Staid 14, J. Sunshine 15, L. A. Taylor 16, S. Tompkins 17, P. Varanasi 6
  
  1 Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA.
  2 Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, India.; Indian Space Research Organization, Bangalore, India.
  3 U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, CO 80225, USA.
  4 Indian Space Research Organization, Bangalore, India.
  5 Analytical Imaging and Geophysics, Boulder, CO 80303, USA.
  6 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
  7 Bear Fight Center, Winthrop, WA 98862,USA.
  8 Mt. Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA 01075, USA.
  9 Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD 20723–6005, USA.
  10 National Remote Sensing Agency, Hyderabad, India.
  11 Applied Coherent Technology Corporation, Herndon, VA 22070, USA.
  12 NASA Goddard, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.
  13 College of Charleston, Charleston, SC 29424, USA.
  14 Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, AZ 85719–2395, USA.
  15 University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
  16 University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996–1410, USA.
  17 Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, VA 22203, USA.
  
  “The search for water on the surface of the anhydrous Moon remained an unfulfilled quest for 40 years. The Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) on Chandrayaan-1 has now detected absorption features near 2.8-3.0 µm on the surface of the Moon. For silicate bodies, such features are typically attributed to OH- and/or H2O-bearing materials. On the Moon, the feature is seen as a widely distributed absorption that appears strongest at cooler high latitudes and at several fresh feldspathic craters. The general lack of correlation of this feature in sunlit M3 data with neutron spectrometer H abundance data suggests that the formation and retention of OH and H2O is an ongoing surficial process. OH/H2O production processes may feed polar cold traps and make the lunar regolith a candidate source of volatiles for human exploration.”
• Detection of Adsorbed Water and Hydroxyl on the Moon by Roger N. Clark from U.S. Geological Survey, MS 964, Box 25046 Federal Center, Denver, CO 80227, USA.
  
  “Data from the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) on Cassini during its fly-by of the Moon in 1999 show a broad absorption at 3µm due to adsorbed water and near 2.8µm attributed to hydroxyl in the sunlit surface on the Moon. The amounts of water indicated in the spectra depend on the type of mixing, and the grain sizes in the rocks and soils but could be 10 to 1,000 parts per million and locally higher. Water in the polar regions may be water that has migrated to the colder environments there. Trace hydroxyl is observed in the anorthositic highlands at lower latitudes.”