Laboratory Equipment

Bright Explosion Seen on the Moon

For the past eight years, NASA astronomers have been monitoring the Moon for signs of explosions caused by meteoroids hitting the lunar surface. “Lunar meteor showers” have turned out to be more common than anyone expected, with hundreds of detectable impacts occurring every year.

They’ve just seen the biggest explosion in the history of the program. “On March 17, 2013, an object about the size of a small boulder hit the lunar surface in Mare Imbrium,” says Bill Cooke of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office. “It exploded in a flash nearly 10 times as bright as anything we’ve ever seen before.”

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/videos/2013/05/bright-explosion-seen-moon

Spring Constellations Yield Science Targets

May is a great month to see a lovely collection of constellations with your own eyes and view objects studied by NASA spacecraft and telescopes.

Use the moon to help locate the constellations this month.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/videos/2013/05/spring-constellations-yield-science-targets

Titan’s Methane May Disappear Soon

By tracking a part of the surface of Saturn’s moon Titan over several years, NASA’s Cassini mission has found a remarkable longevity to the hydrocarbon lakes on the moon’s surface.

A team led by Christophe Sotin of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, fed these results into a model that suggests the supply of the hydrocarbon methane at Titan could be coming to an end soon (on geological timescales). The study of the lakes also led scientists to spot a few new ones in images from Cassini’s visual and infrared mapping spectrometer data in June 2010.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/04/titans-methane-may-disappear-soon

Titan’s Chemistry Prime to Form Building Blocks of Life

A laboratory experiment at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, simulating the atmosphere of Saturn’s moon Titan, suggests complex organic chemistry that could eventually lead to the building blocks of life extends lower in the atmosphere than previously thought. The results now point out another region on the moon that could brew up prebiotic materials. The paper was published in Nature Communications this week.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/04/titan%E2%80%99s-chemistry-prime-form-building-blocks-life

Existing Mineralogy Survives Lunar Impacts

Despite the unimaginable energy produced during large impacts on the Moon, those impacts may not wipe the mineralogical slate clean, according to new research led by Brown Univ. geoscientists.

The researchers have discovered a rock body with a distinct mineralogy snaking for 18 miles across the floor of Copernicus crater, a 60-mile-wide hole on the Moon’s near side. The sinuous feature appears to bear the mineralogical signature of rocks that were present before the impact that made the crater.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/04/existing-mineralogy-survives-lunar-impacts

Saturn Visible, But Moonlight Mars View of Meteors

Bright, golden Saturn rises in the late evening early this month. Look low in the southeast below Virgo’s bright star Spica. Saturn’s north pole is now tilted towards Earth, giving us the best view of the rings since 2006. The rings are tilted 18 degrees now and will be 22 degrees open by year end. Through a telescope you’ll see the swirling storm that NASA’s Cassini spacecraft sees from a much closer vantage point.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/videos/2013/04/saturn-visible-moonlight-mars-view-meteors

Mercury, Hydrogen Seen in GRAIL Crash Plumes

When NASA’s twin GRAIL spacecraft made their final descent for impact onto the Moon’s surface last December, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter’s sophisticated payload was in position to observe the effects. As plumes of gas rose from the impacts, the Lyman Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP) aboard LRO detected the presence of mercury and hydrogen and measured their time evolution as the gas rapidly expanded into the vacuum of space at near-escape velocities.

NASA intentionally crashed the GRAIL twins onto the Moon on Dec. 17, 2012, following successful prime and extended science missions. Both spacecraft hit a mountain near the lunar north pole, which was shrouded in shadow at the time. Developed by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), LAMP uses a novel method to peer into the darkness of the Moon’s permanently shadowed regions, making it ideal for observations of the Moon’s night-side and its tenuous atmospheric constituents.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/03/mercury-hydrogen-seen-grail-crash-plumes

NASA Moon Craft Spots Crash Sites

When NASA’s twin spacecraft Ebb and Flow crashed into the moon last year, scientists did not count on seeing the aftermath.

Now, the space agency has released before-and-after pictures of the lunar north pole where Ebb and Flow came to rest. Months after the back-to-back, mission-ending dives, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter flew over the crash sites and imaged the final resting spots. Ebb and Flow broke into smithereens upon impact and pinpointing the small craters they carved was difficult, says Arizona State Univ. researcher Mark Robinson, who operates the orbiter’s camera.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/03/nasa-moon-craft-spots-crash-sites

History of the Moon is Not Visible on the Surface

For much of human history, the moon has been a familiar, yet remote, presence in the night sky. Only recently have humans been able to explore the lunar surface to look for clues to the moon’s early history — clues that may reveal a similar history for the Earth and other terrestrial planets.

Since the 1950s, more than 100 spacecraft have launched to the moon. Twelve astronauts have walked on its surface; 842 pounds of moon rocks and soil have been returned to Earth for meticulous analysis. And yet, much of the moon’s early history and origins remain shrouded in mystery.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/03/history-moon-not-visible-surface

Contest Seeks Names for Two of Pluto’s Moons

Want to name Pluto’s two tiniest moons? Then you’ll need to dig deep into mythology. Astronomers announced a contest to name the two itty-bitty moons of Pluto discovered over the past two years.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/02/contest-seeks-names-two-pluto%E2%80%99s-moons

3D Printers Could Make Moon Base

Setting up a lunar base could be made much simpler by using a 3D printer to build it from local materials. Industrial partners including renowned architects Foster + Partners have joined with ESA to test the feasibility of 3D printing using lunar soil.

“Terrestrial 3D printing technology has produced entire structures,” says Laurent Pambaguian, heading the project for ESA. “Our industrial team investigated if it could similarly be employed to build a lunar habitat.” Foster + Partners devised a weight-bearing “catenary” dome design with a cellular structured wall to shield against micrometeoroids and space radiation, incorporating a pressurized inflatable to shelter astronauts.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/02/3d-printers-could-make-moon-base

Planets Come Close to the Moon

It’s easy and fun to find planets when they’re next to the moon. Saturn is visible in the southeastern dawn sky near Virgo’s bright white star Spica and the moon on the fifth. And to the left of the moon on the sixth.

On the 10th, Venus will be next to the crescent moon before dawn.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/videos/2013/01/planets-come-close-moon