Astronomy News
More water found on Moon
13th November 2010

NASA has uncovered water on the moon during impacts conducted by its Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite or LCROSS. The impacts created a plume in the permanently shadowed region of the Cabeus crater near the moon’s south pole.

Water had previously been found at the moons poles but these new findings indicate that water maybe be much more prevalent on the moon than previously thought. If so it could help sustain any future lunar missions as well as providing vital data in relation to the history and evolution of the solar system.

LCROSS scientists have been working non stop analysing data from the impacts, mainly from the satellite's spectrometers which examine light emitted or absorbed by materials that helps identify their composition.

NASA’s chief lunar scientist Michael Wargo said “We're unlocking the mysteries of our nearest neighbor and by extension the solar system. It turns out the moon harbors many secrets, and LCROSS has added a new layer to our understanding.”

LCROSS was launched on June 18, 2009 as a companion mission to the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). Once in orbit it separated from the LRO but held onto the upper stage rocket, this rocket was used to create the impact as it separated from LCROSS on its final approach to the moon. The satellite followed closely behind but managed to gather a few minutes of data before it too crashed into the lunar surface.


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First Earth like exoplanet may have been discovered
1st October 2010

An Earth like world orbiting in the habitable zone of a distant star has been discovered by planet hunters at the University of California. It is the first exoplanet found which may possibly harbour life.

The NASA sponsored project found the planet after more than decade of research using the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii. The findings are yet to be confirmed but scientists are hopeful that this could be the first “Earth like” planet ever discovered.

The planet which has three times the mass of Earth orbits around the red dwarf star Gliese 581, which is comparatively close to Earth, being only 20 light years away in the constellation of Libra. It orbits the star every 37 days with a mass that suggests it is a rocky planet with sufficient gravity to keep its atmosphere.

Six planets have now been detected around Gliese 581, two of which lie just outside its habitable or “Goldilocks zone” as it is known, the newly discovered Gliese 581g however orbits right in the middle.

The planet is tidally locked meaning that the same side is always facing its sun, leaving one side in constant daylight and the other in constant darkness. According to Professor Steven Vogt at UC Santa Cruz this would stabilize the planet's surface climates.

To date almost 500 planets have been discovered outside of our solar system, Professor Vogt stated that "The number of systems with potentially habitable planets is probably on the order of 10 or 20%, and when you multiply that by the hundreds of billions of stars in the Milky Way, that's a large number".