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So much of astronomy and planetary science focuses on water right now. Here are some more recent results about water: - The bright, salty deposits that NASA’s
by tectonic 6y ago
So much of astronomy and planetary science focuses on water right now. Here are some more recent results about water:
- The bright, salty deposits that NASA’s Dawn spacecraft spotted on Ceres likely come from briny water escaping from a 418 km across underground reservoir 48 km below the surface (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-020-1138-8 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-020-1138-8). Two reservoirs were spotted by analyzing the dwarf planet’s gravitational field. The salt deposits are young, suggesting that Ceres, the largest asteroid in the solar system, is still an active world. Ceres joins the growing list of solar system bodies that likely host hidden oceans: Enceladus (now with recently detected fresh interior ice), Europa, Ganymede, Pluto, and subglacial lakes on Mars.
- Some of Earth's water may have come from the breakdown of organic space-born molecules (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-64815-6 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-64815-6), while the rest could have come from hydrogen locked up in enstatite chondrite meteorites (https://science.sciencemag.org/content/369/6507/1110 https://science.sciencemag.org/content/369/6507/1110), instead of being delivered by comets and carbonaceous chondrite meteorites that formed beyond the snow line, as has been previously assumed.
- Juno took the first image of Ganymede’s north pole (https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/news/nasa-juno-takes-first-images-of-jovian-moon-ganymedes-north https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/news/nasa-juno-takes-first-...). Ganymede, a moon larger than the planet Mercury, is made mostly of water ice. The ice near its north pole appears to have been altered by Jupiter’s intense radiation to become an amorphous material without crystalline structure.
Oh, and here's a recently-released mission poster for NASA’s upcoming Europa Clipper mission to study the Jovian moon’s icy shell and liquid saltwater ocean: https://europa.nasa.gov/resources/173/europa-clipper-journey-to-an-ocean-world-poster/ https://europa.nasa.gov/resources/173/europa-clipper-journey...
Our next issue of Orbital Index (https://orbitalindex.com https://orbitalindex.com) is coincidentally all about water.
- tectonic 6y agoAnd fresh geysers on Enceladus: https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/saturns-moon-enceladus-shows-fresh-ice-more-geysers-on-the-tiny-iceworld https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/saturns-moon-enceladus-shows-f...
- reaperducer 6y agoNASA’s upcoming Europa Clipper mission As long as it stays in orbit. I'm pretty sure we're not supposed to land on Europa. Some monolith mentioned it.
- BbzzbB 6y agoIt will perform "45 flybys of Europa at closest-approach altitudes varying from 1700 miles to 16 miles (2700 kilometers to 25 kilometers) above the surface", so there's no plan of landing to my knowledge. I also recall a mission to fly through the geysers, but am not if that's the one. I for one however am eager that we start digging in there once we're ready.
- YarickR2 6y agoAgain, all those worlds are yours, except Europa .
- jrussino 6y agohttps://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/europa-lander/ https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/europa-lander/ ;-)
- YarickR2 6y agoSubscribed. Anywhere to set up monthly payments for your newsletter ?