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NASA captures comet’s crash into Sun

January 22, 2012 in Astronomy by admin

Comets are vaporized by the sun daily, but this was the first time technology has allowed NASA to observe a comet being vaporized as it approached the sun, the space agency reported.

In an article published in this month’s Science, NASA said its Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded Comet C/2011 N3 nearing the sun and burning to nothing over a 20-minute span in July. NASA describes the event as “Comet corpses in the solar wind.”

The comet was about the size of an aircraft carrier and was part of the Kreutz family of comets believed to be remnants of a giant parent comet that broke apart some 2,500 years ago, the report said.

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Meteorites in Morocco found to be from Mars

January 18, 2012 in Uncategorized by admin

Fifteen meteorites that fell to Earth during a meteor shower in July of 2011 have been confirmed to be from Mars. The rocks, discovered in Morocco, were likely ejected off the surface of the planet during an ancient impact.

This is believed to be the fifth time in history that people have observed what turned out to be chemically confirmed martian material falling to Earth. Out of the approximately 24,000 known meteorites to have fallen to Earth, only about 34 have been verified to be martian in origin. Some of the rocks, which are very rare on Earth, are being sold from US$11,000 to $22,500 per ounce, which is about ten times more than the cost of gold.

Meteorites confirmed to be from Mars fell to Earth in 1815, 1865, 1911 and 1962. The more recent they fell, the less they are contaminated by its natural processes. The meteorites have provided scientists with great insight about the geology of Mars. “Because it’s so fresh, if you find organics in this sample, you can be pretty sure those organics are Martian,” said Carl Agee, director of the Institute of Meteoritics at the University of New Mexico.

Some scientists think that a large object struck Mars millions of years ago, cuainsg the material’s ejection from the planet.

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Phobos-Grunt falls in Pacific Ocean

January 16, 2012 in Aerospace, Astronomy by admin

The Russian spacecraft Phobos-Grunt fell into the Pacific Ocean some 1,250 kilometers west of Wellington, Chile yesterday after circling in Earth orbit for two months. The spacecraft was designed to retrieve soil samples from Phobos, the largest satellite of Mars, but its engines failed and became stuck in an orbit around Earth before returning.

The Russian Federal Space Agency said the spacecraft was in a near-Earth orbit with perigee 113.8 km and apogee 133.2 km at 8.15 p.m. UTC yesterday. It fell into the Pacific ocean around 9.45 p.m.

It is unknown whether any segments reached the surface. New Zealanders reported seeing the spacecraft glowing orange as it passed eastwards.

Russian officials plan to determine the reasons behind the failure of the mission, considered as a major setback for the Russian agency. Vadim Lukashevich commented, “Five and half billion rubles and all the hopes of Russian space science for a revival, today burn up without any glory in the earth’s atmosphere.”

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