Probe Studies 'Extreme Physics'
by Paul Rincon, BBC News
A pioneering US
space agency spacecraft is set to launch on a mission to explore the
most energetic phenomena in the Universe.
The Gamma-ray
Large Area Space Telescope (Glast) has been described as an "extreme
physics" laboratory.
The probe is due
to launch from Florida's Cape Canaveral base in November on a Boeing
Delta II rocket.
The team
presented details of the mission at the meeting of the American
Astronomical Society in Seattle...
Click
here for the rest of the story
Lost lakes of Titan are Found at Last
Phys.Org
Lakes of methane have been spotted on
Saturn's largest moon, Titan, boosting the theory that this strange,
distant world bears beguiling similarities to Earth, according to a
new study.
Titan has long
intrigued space scientists, as it is the only moon in the Solar
System to have a dense atmosphere -- and its atmosphere, like
Earth's, mainly comprises nitrogen.
Titan's atmosphere is also rich in methane, although the source for
this vast store of hydrocarbons is unclear.
Methane, on the geological scale, has a relatively limited life. A
molecule of the compound lasts several tens of millions of years
before it is broken up by sunlight.
Given that Titan is billions of years old, the question is how this
atmospheric methane gets to be renewed. Without replenishment, it
should have disappeared long ago...
Click
here
for the rest of the story.
Neptune May Have Thousands of Escorts
By
David Powell, Space.com
Neptune may be escorted in its orbit by thousands of asteroid-like
objects, perhaps more than exist in the entire asteroid belt.
So far, five of these enigmatic bodies, known as
Trojans,
have been found at one of Neptune’s Lagrange points. These are
places where the gravity of a planet and that of the
Sun
interact to create an area of gravitationally stability.
Jupiter’s Lagrange regions are home to legions of Trojans, and
around 2,000 cluster at these gravity graves along Jupiter's orbit
60 degrees ahead and 60 degrees behind the
gas
giant.
Click
here for the rest of the story.
Moonbase: In
the Dark On Lunar Ice
By Leonard David, Space.com
NASA is on a flight path to replant
astronauts on the
Moon,
looking to sustain a human presence on that cratered, airless orb on
a “go-as-the nation-can-afford-to-pay” basis. That approach is seen
as letting people step back onto the
lunar
surface no later than 2020.
Space engineers have honed in on one
possible site for a lunar outpost: the Moon’s south pole. It’s a
tactical setting on the rim of
Shackleton Crater, a feature some 12 miles (19 kilometers) in
diameter. There’s real estate here that basks in near-perpetual
sunlight. Also, it’s a region that is a doorway into the depths of
always dark, Sun-deprived, territory.
Click
here for the rest of the story. |
