Astro Blog

Source:   N ASA Release 11-132 Excerpt: NASA has selected three science investigations from which it will pick one potential 2016 mission to look at Mars' interior for the first time; study an extraterrestrial sea on one of Saturn's moons; or study in unprecedented detail the surface of a comet's nucleus. For more information about the Discovery Program, visit:  discovery.nasa.gov   www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2011/may/HQ_11-132_Future_Plantary.html

Source:   NASA/JPL Excerpt:  Since the dawn of the space age, humanity has sent 16 robotic emissaries to fly by some of the solar system's most intriguing and nomadic occupants -- comets and asteroids. ..."On November 8, asteroid 2005 YU55 will fly past Earth and at its closest approach point will be about 325,000 kilometers [201,700 miles] away," said Don Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "This asteroid is about 400 meters [1,300 feet] wide – the largest space rock we have identified that will come this close until 2028." www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm  

Source:   NASA Excerpt: There is plenty of hot stuff in our solar system, even in the outer frozen realms; so much that planetary scientists have found evidence of volcanism on every terrestrial planet and on many of the moons and even some asteroids! solarsystem.nasa.gov/yss/display.cfm

Source:   NASA Excerpt: From Earth to the Solar System is home to a collection of high resolution images that showcase the discoveries and excitement of planetary exploration, with a focus on the origin and evolution of the Solar System and the search for life. The 90+ images in the collection were chosen for their scientific significance and sheer beauty. fettss.arc.nasa.gov/

Source:    NASA RELEASE: 11-118 Excerpt: NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has discovered the total amount of atmosphere on Mars changes dramatically as the tilt of the planet's axis varies. This process can affect the stability of liquid water if it exists on the Martian surface and increase the frequency and severity of Martian dust storms. …a large, buried deposit of frozen carbon dioxide, or dry ice, at the Red Planet's south pole … has a volume similar to Lake Superior's nearly 3,000 cubic miles. The deposit holds up to 80 percent as much carbon dioxide as today's Martian atmosphere.  …"When you include this buried deposit, Martian carbon dioxide right now is roughly half frozen and half in the atmosphere, but at other times it can be nearly all frozen or nearly all in the atmosphere," For more information about MRO, visit: www.nasa.gov/mro www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2011/apr/HQ_11-118_Mars_Atmosphere.html

Source:   NASA Excerpt:  ...NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has discovered the total amount of atmosphere on Mars changes dramatically as the tilt of the planet's axis varies. This process can affect the stability of liquid water if it exists on the Martian surface and increase the frequency and severity of Martian dust storms. Researchers using MRO's ground-penetrating radar identified a large, buried deposit of frozen carbon dioxide, or dry ice, at the Red Planet's south pole. The scientists suspect that much of this carbon dioxide enters the planet's atmosphere and swells the atmosphere's mass when Mars' tilt increases. ...The deposit holds up to 80 percent as much carbon dioxide as today's Martian atmosphere.... www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2011/apr/HQ_11-118_Mars_Atmosphere.html

Source:   Peter C. Thomas, Science Magazine   Earth's climate is buffered by massive oceans of liquid water and by gases, such as carbon dioxide (CO2).... Mars has no oceans to buffer its temperatures, and the thin atmosphere (95% CO2) provides little thermal buffering.  ...early space probes explored whether large CO2-ice deposits might buffer the atmospheric pressure of Mars (1).  ...Phillips et al. (2) report the discovery of thick deposits in the south polar region that are most likely composed of solid CO2 and comparable in mass to the present Mars atmosphere. www.sciencemag.org/content/332/6031/797.summary