Skytalk

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has returned images that clearly show thick layers of water ice just beneath the surface and extending up to 100 meters down in some places. The layers were spotted on exposed cliff faces mostly in the southern hemisphere. Geologists surmise that the ice formed from thin layers of surface frost and snow that later compacted and recrystallized. As the cliff faces are exposed, the water ice sublimates and the dehydrated rocky material crumbles away and falls to the cliff footings, exposing new deposits of previously buried ice. That water is frozen into the Martian soil isn’t news. In 2008, the Phoenix lander scraped the soil surface not far from the Martian north pole and exposed layers of permafrost just centimeters below. Radar scans from orbit also indicate huge glaciers of ice are just 20 m below the surface and cover a third of the Martian surface.

Opportunity Rover has been operating successfully on Mars for 5,000 days – 13.5 years! Originally, the expected mission length was 9 months. It’s covered 28 miles and returned 225,000 pictures. It’s seen it share of dangers; sand traps, steep crater slopes, dust storms, cold, dim Martian winters, equipment failures, and communications issues. Engineers have finessed ways around all of these to send back information extraordinary information and images.

The Trump administration’s NASA budget proposal for 2019 recommends $19.9 billion dollars, which is $370 million above last year. However, the plan cuts out funding for International Space Station by 2025, as well as for the Office of Education. Dave and Dr. Pitts discuss the implications.

There is a panoply of planets in the pre-dawn sky; Saturn, Mars, Jupiter. In the evening: Venus is very bright but low in the West-Southwest.

Planets have been observed for the first time orbiting stars in a distant galaxy 3.8 billion light years away. Einstein suggested that this form of detection might be possible.

At The Franklin Institute, the monthly Night Sky Observatory program featured author Richard Paul, who with Steven Moss wrote the book, “We Could Not Fail: The First African-Americans in the Space Program,” a nuanced description of the early history of NASA and the deep involvement of people of color. NASA was one of the first government agencies to change its hiring practices in an effort to ensure the success of the American space program.

On Wednesday, January 31st, don’t miss the Super Blue Blood Total Lunar Eclipse Moon! This lunar event means that the second full moon in a calendar month coincides with a lunar eclipse, and that the full moon appears slightly larger than usual. A moon like this one has not appeared in the sky since 1982.

Superbowl Sunday is also the 112th birth anniversary of Clyde Tombaugh, discoverer of Pluto.

Continue your lunation observations: The first quarter moon is on Wednesday Jan. 24. Here’s what to look for:

a. The line that separates the illuminated half from the not-so illuminated half is called the “terminator.”

b. Craters- the record of early solar system bombardment. The Moon absorbed a lot of what could’ve rained down on Earth.

Space material still rains down even on Earth – 100 tons of space dust every day, 36,500 tons per year. Sounds like a lot, right? Well, not so much… it’s a minuscule amount in relation to the Earth itself.

Of the remaining cohort of Earthlings privileged to set foot on the moon, let’s extend 88th birthday greetings this week to Buzz Aldrin. As the Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 11, he was one of the first two humans to land on the Moon, and the second person to walk on it, in July of 1969.

On January 15th, 1973, the Soviet Union launched their second lander and rover to the moon, just a month after the final Apollo lunar mission returned.

This is a great week to begin a full lunation (moon phase) observation. New Moon is Tuesday night Every day, watch the moon grow from a very thin crescent up to the first quarter.

Eighty-six new star names have been approved by the International Astronomical Union, an association of professional astronomers. The names are drawn from ancient mythologies and historical star names from indigenous cultures around the world, including China, Australia, and Southern Africa.

Dr. Pitts and Dave Heller recap their top astronomy stories of 2017:

In 2018, watch for the scheduled launch of the James Webb Space Telescope.

Monday, December 18 is the new moon of the year’s last lunar cycle. The moon will be in the 1st quarter by Christmas Eve. If you’re up late wrapping presents on Christmas Eve, or up early to open gifts on Christmas morning, in the East there will be lots of stars visible, as well as Mars, Jupiter and Mercury.

The Geminid meteor shower peaks Wednesday and Thursday this week with upwards of 100 meteors per hour.