May 31, 2019Volume 12, Issue 8

“It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.” Albert Einstein

CONTENTS

ASTRONEWSLETTER

• NASAInvitesPublictoSubmit

NamestoFlyAboardNext

MarsRover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

•SpaceXLaunchedItsStarlink

Satellites. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

•The‘Forbidden’PlanetHas

BeenFound. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

•RareMeteoritesFoundin

CostaRica. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

•NewWaytoMakeBreathable

OxygenonMars . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

•StrangeMartianMineral. . . . . . 3

Afterseveraldelays,SpaceXhasfinallylaunchedthefirst60satellitesofitsStarlinkprogram.TheCaliforniacompanyhopesthatthesatellites,launchedonaFalcon9rocketwhoseboosterwasmaking itsthirdmission,willeventuallybe joinedby12,000orsoothersasthecompanyattemptstoexpandlow-costbroadbandinternetacrosstheglobe.

TheFalcon9rocket’sboostersuccessfully landedonthecompany’s“OfCourseIStillLoveYou”droneship,stationedintheAtlanticOcean.ThelandingmarkedSpaceX’s40thsuccessfulboosterrecovery.

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Although itwill be yearsbefore thefirsthumanssetfootonMars,NASAisgivingthe public an opportunity to send theirnames—stenciledonchips—totheRedPlanetwithNASA’sMars2020rover,whichrepresents the initial leg of humanity’sfirst round trip to another planet. Therover is scheduled to launch as early asJuly 2020, with the spacecraft expectedtotouchdownonMarsinFebruary2021.

The opportunity to send your name toMarscomeswithasouvenirboardingpassand “frequent flyer” points. More than2 million names flew on NASA’s InSightmissiontoMars,givingeach“flyer”about300 million frequent flyer miles (nearly500millionfrequentflyerkilometers).

FromnowuntilSept.30,youcanaddyourname to the list and obtain a souvenirboardingpasstoMarshere: https://go.nasa.gov/Mars2020Pass

NASA Invites Public to Submit Names to Fly

Aboard Next Mars Rover

NASA.govAstro Newsletter

PopularMechanics.com

SpaceX Launched Its Starlink Satellites

2 Astro Newsletter

The ‘Forbidden’ Planet Has Been Found in the ‘Neptunian Desert’

AnexoplanetsmallerthanNeptunewithitsownatmospherehasbeendiscoveredintheNeptunianDesert,byaninternationalcollaboration of astronomers, with theUniversity of Warwick taking a leadingrole.Newresearch,ledbyDr.RichardWestincluding Professor Peter Wheatley, Dr.Daniel Bayliss and Dr. James McCormacfrom the Astronomy and AstrophysicsGroup at the University of Warwick,has identified a rogue planet. NGTSis situated at the European SouthernObservatory’sParanalObservatory intheheart of the Atacama Desert, Chile. It isa collaboration between UK UniversitiesWarwick, Leicester, Cambridge, andQueen’sUniversityBelfast, togetherwithObservatoire de Genève, DLR Berlin andUniversidaddeChile.

Dr. Richard West, from the Departmentof Physics at the University of Warwickcomments:

“Thisplanetmustbetough—itisrightinthe zone where we expected Neptune-sizedplanetscouldnotsurvive. It istrulyremarkable that we found a transitingplanet via a star dimming by less than0.2% - this has never been done beforeby telescopeson theground, and itwasgreattofindafterworkingonthisprojectforayear.

“WearenowscouringoutdatatoseeifwecanseeanymoreplanetsintheNeptuneDesert—perhaps the desert is greenerthanwasoncethought.”

Meteorites are an astronomer’sdream. In a field that by definitionstudies objects and phenomenaabove and beyond Earth’satmosphere, many researchersneverget a chance to touchor seeup close the things they study.But then, sometimes, these itemssimply rain down from the sky, inthe form of ancient space rockscalledmeteorites. Meteorites comein many different types. But someof the most precious are calledcarbonaceous chondrites, valuedbecausetheycontainlargeamountsof water and organic compounds.These meteorites contain a historyofthatwaterfromthesolarsystem’searly days, and trace how thematerials of life were distributedacrosstheplanetsandspace.

On April 23 of this year, one ofthesespacerocks–roughlythesizeof a washing machine – streakedthrough the skies over the CostaRican town of Aguas Zarcas. Asit fell, it broke into many smallerpieces, and astronomers scrambledtocollectandstudythem.Theyarethe first large fall of carbonaceouschondrites in half a century, andshould provide ample data on thehistoryofwaterinthesolarsystem,according to a press release fromArizona State University, which isstudyingthemeteorites.

Mud ballsEven though meteoroids havesurvived in space for billions ofyears, all the water contained in

carbonaceous chondrites canmakethem surprisingly fragile once theyhit the ground. They’re basicallyballs of clay, and dissolve rapidlywhen exposed to more water –and May marks the beginning ofthe rainy season in Costa Rica. Someteorite hunters knew there wasaclocktickingassoonasthefireballstreaked across the skies aboveAguasZarcas.

They ended up having five days tosearchforandcollectthemeteoritesfrom the surrounding area beforetherain fell.About55poundshavebeen collected so far. Some ofthem havemade their way to ASUthankstoameteoritehunternamedMichael Farmer. He collected someof the space rocks or bought themfrom locals and donated them toASU,which has a dedicated Centerfor Meteorite Studies. Researchersthere are comparing the AguasZarcas fall to other, previouslyknown meteorites so they canbe more accurately classified. Allmeteorites began as part of largerasteroids. These building blocks ofthesolarsystemarethesameasthelong-ago space rocks that collidedtoformEarthandtheotherplanets,and could be the source of Earth’swater and other materials vital forthe formation of life. By analyzingthedetailedchemistryof thewatercontainedinmeteorites,researcherscan learn when and how Earthobtained itswater,whichhadabigimpactonEarth’searlyhistory.

The ‘Forbidden’ Planet Has Been Found in the

‘Neptunian Desert’Rare Meteorites Found in Costa Rica

Could Shed Light on Earth’s Water

Phys.org

Astronomy.com

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Scientists Cook Up a New Way to Make Breathable Oxygen on Mars

Astro NewsletterMarsDaily.com

Scientists Cook Up a New Way to Make Breathable Oxygen on Mars

Ashfall from ancient volcanic explosionsis the likely source of a strange mineraldeposit near the landing site for NASA’snext Mars rover, a new study finds. Theresearch,publishedinthejournalGeology,couldhelpscientistsassembleatimelineof volcanic activity and environmentalconditionsonearlyMars.

“Thisisoneofthemosttangiblepiecesofevidence yet for the idea that explosivevolcanism was more common on earlyMars,”saidChristopherKremer,agraduatestudentatBrownUniversitywho led thework.

“UnderstandinghowimportantexplosivevolcanismwasonearlyMarsisultimatelyimportant for understand the waterbudget inMartianmagma, groundwaterabundance and the thickness of theatmosphere.”Volcanicexplosionshappenwhengaseslikewatervaporaredissolvedinundergroundmagma.

When thepressureof thatdissolvedgasismore than the rock above canhold, itexplodes,sendingafierycloudofashandlavaintotheair.Scientiststhinkthatthesekindsoferuptionsshouldhavehappenedveryearly inMartianhistory,whentherewas more water available to get mixedwith magma. As the planet dried out,thevolcanicexplosionswouldhavedieddown and given way to more effusivevolcanism-agentleroozingoflavaontothe surface. There’s plenty of evidenceof an effusivephase to be foundon theMartiansurface,butevidenceoftheearlyexplosivephasehasn’tbeeneasytospotwithorbitalinstruments,Kremersays.

Strange Martian Mineral Deposit Likely Sourced

From Volcanic Explosions

Space.com

Scientists have found a new waythat future Mars explorers couldpotentially generate their ownoxygen. Mars is a long way fromEarth, so being able to createbreathable air on-site would savemoneyandeffortinhavingtohauloxygen all theway from our ownplanet.Aresearchteamdiscoveredthis new oxygen-generatingreactionbystudyingcomets.Mostof thesesmall icyworldsoriginateinadistantareaofthesolarsystemknown as the Oort Cloud, farbeyond the orbit of Neptune. If acomet’sorbitbringsitclosetothesun,heatbeginspushingcometaryice off into space. This reactionproduceslongtailsthatcanstretchforthousandsofmiles.

A team of researchers from theCalifornia Institute of Technology(Caltech) in Pasadena found anew way to explain how cometsgenerate molecular oxygen, thetwo atoms of oxygen that cometogethertoformbreathableair.Onealready-knownmethod is throughkinetic energy. A sublimatingcomet is a busy environment,wherethesolarwind(theconstantstreamofparticlesemanatingfromthe sun) can push floating watermoleculesintothecomet’ssurfaceathighspeed.Ifthereareoxygen-containing compounds on thesurface,careeningwatermoleculescan rip oxygen atoms off andproducemolecularoxygen.

Molecular oxygen can also beproduced through carbon dioxidereactions,theteamfound.(Carbondioxide contains a single carbonatom and two oxygen atoms.)FormerCaltechpostdoctoralfellowYunxi Yao and current Caltechchemical engineering professorKonstantinos Giapis simulatedthis reaction by crashing carbondioxide into gold foil. Since goldfoil cannotbeoxidized,by itself itshouldnotproduceanymolecularoxygen. But when carbon dioxidecareensintothefoilathighspeed,the gold surface emits molecularoxygen. ”This meant that bothatoms of oxygen come fromthe same CO2 [carbon dioxide]molecule, effectively splitting it inan extraordinary manner,” Caltechrepresentativessaidinastatement.

To better understand howcarbon dioxide can break downinto molecular oxygen, CaltechchemistryprofessorTomMillerandpostdoctoralfellowPhilipShushkovcreatedacomputersimulation.Onechallengeinmodelingthereactionis that the reactingmolecules arevery“excited,”meaningtheyvibrateand rotate in a complex way, theresearcherssaid.“Ingeneral,excitedmolecules can lead to unusualchemistry,sowestartedwiththat,”Miller said in the statement. “But,to our surprise, the excited statedid not create molecular oxygen.Instead,themoleculedecomposedintootherproducts.”

OnMay20, anearly FullMoonand Jupiter shared this telephotofieldof view.Capturedwhenapassingcloudbankdimmedthemoonlight,thesingleexposurereveals the familiar face of our dfair planet’s own large natural satellite, alongwithbright Jupiter (lower right) and someof itsGalileanmoons. Linedup lefttorightthetinypinpricksof lightnearJupiterareGanymede,Europa, [Jupiter]andCallisto.(That’snotjustdustonyourscreen...)Closerandbrighter,ourownnaturalsatelliteappearstoloomlarge.ButGanymede,andCallistoarephysicallylargerthanEarth’sMoon,whilewaterworldEuropaisonlyslightlysmaller.Infact,oftheSolarSystem’ssixlargestplanetarysatellites,Saturn’smoonTitanismissingfromthesceneandafourthGalileanmoon,Io,ishiddenbyourrulinggasgiant.

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Schools in Action

4 Astro Newsletter

apod.nasa.gov

Moons Near JupiterImage Credit & Copyright: Betül Türksoy

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Schools in ActionLotsofschoolshavecompletedtheeducationalpackagesthatwehavesentthembutsomeofthemstillwanttolearnmore

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