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NASA’s InSight detects Phobos using its seismometer during solar eclipses
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- Normille 6y agoPhobos has a seismometer? This is huge news, as it's a positive sign of intelligent life having evolved there.
- mhh__ 6y agoGod forbid! A joke on the internet?
- sambroner 6y agoVery neat article. Nasa and ETH Zurich noticed the Martian moon Phobos during the eclipse using a seismometer. The effect is tiny, but their hypothesis is that this is caused by the top level of ground rapidly cooling. The effect can be used to determine the material of the ground. Separately, this can help determine Phobos' orbit more accurately. > “This tilt is incredibly small,” Stähler notes. “Imagine a 5- franc coin; now, push two silver atoms under one edge. That’s the incline we’re talking about: 10-8.” As slight as this effect was, it was still unmistakable.
- natcombs 6y agoThat is incredible sensitivity. How does one calibrate something, or also not suspect the instrument is affected by other environmental variables?
- dreen 6y agoConsidering the Moon could have a similar (but stronger due to totality) effect on Earth during a Solar eclipse, could the Moon cause an earthquake?
- sambroner 6y agoThis seems to be caused by heat, not the gravity. The article includes a story about a lamp being left on in a mine that caused enough thermal expansion to be measured by a seismometer. Presumably the solar eclipse could be measured as well.
- dreen 6y agoI did mean the heat, not gravity. A Solar eclipse on Earth blocks all direct sunlight for about 10 minutes. My question is would that be enough to cause an earthquake, by suddenly cooling an area of the planet. I also realise the night blocks sunlight for way longer, but maybe this is different because the effect is spread out. During eclipse we have the planet all around the area of eclipse heated up and a comparatively small area not being heated in the middle.
- macintux 6y agoI suspect, without having any real clue, that you’d see greater localized extremes in temperature with a pop—up thunderstorm. I’d have a hard time believing earthquakes could result from that (although the science & engineering in this article are enough to make me believe just about anything is possible).
- Sharlin 6y agoDo lightning strikes/thunderclaps register on seismometers? Apparently yes: [1][2] [1] https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/91JD00789 https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/91JD... [2] https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/2007GL030404 https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/2007...
- sitkack 6y agoSo do rivers and animal migrations. http://www.geologypage.com/2019/11/studying-the-snowmelt-episodes-of-a-pyrenean-river-with-a-seismometer.html http://www.geologypage.com/2019/11/studying-the-snowmelt-epi... https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25618038/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25618038/ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/251437544_Seismic_waves_from_elephant_vocalizations_A_possible_communication_mode https://www.researchgate.net/publication/251437544_Seismic_w... https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/DyeHard/elephants-predict-earthquakes/story?id=8643318 https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/DyeHard/elephants-predict-...
- rossdavidh 6y agoWow, Phobos has a seismometer? Neat!
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- SirLuxuryYacht 6y agoNASA's InSight lander is located on the surface of Mars. There are no synthetic objects on Phobos (please correct me if I'm wrong).