Astro Blog

Try out this interactive simulation for Crater Impacts. Keywords: asteroid, crater, impact, meteoroid http://simulator.down2earth.eu/ 

NASA RELEASE 14-241 Excerpt: Scientists have found evidence of plate tectonics on Jupiter’s moon Europa. This indicates the first sign of this type of surface-shifting geological activity on a world other than Earth. ...While examining Europa images taken by NASA’s Galileo orbiter in the early 2000s, planetary geologists Simon Kattenhorn, of the University of Idaho, Moscow, and Louise Prockter, of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, discovered some unusual geological boundaries. ...When Kattenhorn and Prockter rearranged the icy terrain in the images, they discovered about 7,700 square miles (about 20,000 square kilometers) of the surface were missing in the moon’s high northern latitudes. Further evidence suggested the missing terrain moved under a second surface plate -- a scenario commonly seen on Earth at plate-tectonic boundaries. Kattenhorn and Prockter saw ice volcanoes on the overriding plate, possibly formed throug...

A new blog named "Planetary Blog" has replaced the old AstroBlog as of 2014 Sept 1. All AstroBlog posts before that date may still be found at the old blog site: We are working on transferring the old blog entries to the new one. Thanks for your patience. http://www.fossweb.com/astroblog