Search for Fossil on Mars

After four decades running, now Mars mission enters new phase. Exploration is initially much struggling in water searches, are now widespread in the search for signs of life on the red planet.
"We will enter the transition from mission to mission in search of water looking for signs of life," said Doug McCuistion, director of NASA's Mars Exploration Program at the panel discussion at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington last week.
New phase of Mars exploration began in line with the launch of NASA spacecraft, Curiosity. Spacecraft is different from the Spirit and Opportunity, launched earlier because of smaller size.
However, this does not mean less sophisticated aircraft. Curiosity will be charged more complex instruments. In addition, this spacecraft will be equipped with a chemical laboratory on board.
Curiosity will also be equipped with "chemical camera." McCuistion said, the tool can shoot the laser at the rock and create a plasma that can he analyzes so that it can identify the sample.
In a sign of life was finding mission, the search for organic compounds become important agenda done. Compounds that could be indicative of or had any life on Mars.
"One of the key questions that we ask is, where the organic compounds that exist," said Jennifer Eigenbrode, scientists from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, USA.
Answer it, researchers reveal the logic of that life which may never be able to leave the organic compounds. Just as animals leave fossils, microorganisms can also leave traces of their existence.
Eigenbrode said, "Under certain conditions, organic compounds (which are formed on the carbon bond) could be preserved. It's called molecular fossils." For example, there is in the form of microorganisms that preserved the cell membrane.
Curiosity will be equipped with equipment that can detect these molecular fossils. So, Curiosity can find microorganisms as small life forms that exist on Mars.
Although equipped with advanced equipment, barriers still exist in the study. Not primarily in terms of inadequate equipment, but on limited knowledge or concepts mastered.
One of them about organic compounds. If later is found, this compound is not necessarily a sign there life on Mars. Therefore, it could have come from meteorites compounds formed through geological processes or Mars.
Second is the notion of life. For example, currently understood that living beings are always in need of water. But, whether it is true? Is there no other compounds, such as methane, which can support life?
Related to this last, the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA in 2016 will work together carrying out a mission to Mars. The goal is to find methane, digging the surface of Mars to find life forms that may exist.

Biggest Black Hole in Universe was found

 

The biggest black hole in the universe have been found with heavy 6.8 billion times the mass of the Sun. So big, the hole is said to be able to swallow the Earth and its entire contents of the solar system.

With the size of the horizon, it is estimated the entire contents of the solar system can not run away from the edge of this, including even light. For comparison, the magnitude can reach four times the orbit of the planet Neptune.

The black hole is located in M87. So far, he is the biggest galaxy closest to the Milky Way. The distance is estimated about 50 million light years from Earth and is still not known when the 'monster' was born.

Given the size is very huge, some scientists think the hole was created by hundreds of black holes merge into one in the past.

"He could swallow our solar system," said Karl Gebhardt, a scientist from the University of Texas, Austin-USA, as quoted from All Voices, Sunday, January 16, 2011.

A special telescope in Hawaii used by scientists to observe an object which is estimated to have weighed more than double the previous. With these telescopes, Gebhardt and his team are able to observe space objects up to a distance of 500 km.

"And, this giant black hole is a black hole and Accurate termasif we've ever found,"said astronomer George Djorgovski of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

Farthest galaxy clusters has been found

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and international team of astronomers found the farthest galaxy clusters in the universe. Clusters are named Cosmos-Aztec3 12.6 million years away from Earth and is the youngest galaxy clusters ever found.
Aged more than 12 billion years, the cluster was formed 1 billion years after the Big Bang.
- Bahram Mobasher

Professor Bahram Mobasher of the University of California who are involved in the study said, the cluster is a cluster of galaxies that are in the process of formation, called proto-clusters.
This galaxy cluster is described as a collection of small towns. At one point, the small galaxies will coalesce to form larger galaxies, such as a small town that grew into a metropolitan. Or it could be called a primitive galaxy clusters that will evolve into modern galaxies.

Cosmos-Aztec3 was discovered and characterized by a variety of telescopes, ranging from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory and the James Clerk Maxwell, until Japan's Subaru telescope and NASA's Hubble and Spitzer. Each telescope is used for characterization of different purposes.

The discovery of this cluster is quite surprising because observations with Chandra X-ray found a black hole is 3 million times more massive than the sun. It was not commonly found in clusters of galaxies that are still young as Cosmos-Aztec3.

Another surprising thing is, the whole object in a cluster that has a mass of more than 400 billion sun. Clusters of galaxies are also very active, rich in cold gas, grow with significant speed, and able to form a star 4000 each year.

Cosmos-Aztec3 known to lie in the constellation Sextans. His name was taken from a search mission, namely Cosmos (Cosmic Evolution Survey). Meanwhile, the Aztec is the name of the camera located at the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope at Manua Kea, Hawaii.

The findings are published in the latest edition of the journal Nature. The team of researchers involved in this research was also present at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society being held this week in Seattle, the United States.

Internal Structure of the Moon

 

Apollo Data Revealed Moon's Internal Structure

NASA deployed the frist seismographs on the moon as part of the Apollo Mission in 1969. These seismographs collected data and enabled researchers to determine that the moon's structure consisted of a thin crust of about 65 kilometers, a mantle about 100 kilometers thick and a core with a radius of about 500 kilometers. At that time seismic data processing was not advanced enough to determine the characteristics of the core.

NASA researchers have recently applied state-of-the-art seismological techniques applied to the Apollo-era data and discovered that the moon probably has a core that is very similar to earth's.

Moon's Formation and Magnetic Field

Uncovering details about the lunar core is critical for developing accurate models of the moon's formation. The data sheds light on the evolution of a lunar dynamo -- a natural process by which our moon may have generated and maintained its own strong magnetic field.

The team's findings suggest the moon possesses a solid, iron-rich inner core with a radius of nearly 150 miles and a fluid, primarily liquid-iron outer core with a radius of roughly 205 miles. Where it differs from Earth is a partially molten boundary layer around the core estimated to have a radius of nearly 300 miles. The research indicates the core contains a small percentage of light elements such as sulfur, echoing new seismology research on Earth that suggests the presence of light elements -- such as sulfur and oxygen -- in a layer around our own core. 

Data from Apollo-Era Seismometers

The researchers used extensive data gathered during the Apollo-era moon missions. The Apollo Passive Seismic Experiment consisted of four seismometers deployed between 1969 and 1972, which recorded continuous lunar seismic activity until late-1977.

"We applied tried and true methodologies from terrestrial seismology to this legacy data set to present the first-ever direct detection of the moon's core," said Renee Weber, lead researcher and space scientist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

The team also analyzed Apollo lunar seismograms using array processing, techniques that identify and distinguish signal sources of moonquakes and other seismic activity. The researchers identified how and where seismic waves passed through or were reflected by elements of the moon's interior, signifying the composition and state of layer interfaces at varying depths.

Comparison with Apollo-Era Results

Although sophisticated satellite imaging missions to the moon made significant contributions to the study of its history and topography, the deep interior of Earth's sole natural satellite remained a subject of speculation and conjecture since the Apollo era. Researchers previously had inferred the existence of a core, based on indirect estimates of the moon's interior properties, but many disagreed about its radius, state and composition.

A primary limitation to past lunar seismic studies was the wash of "noise" caused by overlapping signals bouncing repeatedly off structures in the moon's fractionated crust. To mitigate this challenge, Weber and the team employed an approach called seismogram stacking, or the digital partitioning of signals. Stacking improved the signal-to-noise ratio and enabled the researchers to more clearly track the path and behavior of each unique signal as it passed through the lunar interior.

"We hope to continue working with the Apollo seismic data to further refine our estimates of core properties and characterize lunar signals as clearly as possible to aid in the interpretation of data returned from future missions," Weber said. 

New Data From the GRAIL Mission

Future NASA missions will help gather more detailed data. The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, or GRAIL, is a NASA Discovery-class mission set to launch this year. The mission consists of twin spacecraft that will enter tandem orbits around the moon for several months to measure the gravity field in unprecedented detail. The mission also will answer longstanding questions about Earth's moon and provide scientists a better understanding of the satellite from crust to core, revealing subsurface structures and, indirectly, its thermal history.

The Research Team

In addition to Weber, the team consisted of scientists from Marshall; Arizona State University; the University of California at Santa Cruz; and the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris in France. Their findings are published in the online edition of the journal Science.

NASA and other space agencies have been studying concepts to establish an International Lunar Network -- a robotic set of geophysical monitoring stations on the moon -- as part of efforts to coordinate international missions during the coming decade.

press release by NASA

Highest Mountain in the World

What you know about the highest mountain in the world?
This is the answer.

Mount Everest:
The "Highest Altitude" 

Almost everyone knows that Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world and climbers from everywhere travel to Everest hoping to earn the distinction of climbing the "World's Highest".

The peak of Mount Everest is 8,848 meters (29,028 feet) above sea level. This high elevation gives Mount Everest the distinction of being the mountain with the highest altitude.

Mauna Kea:
The "Tallest Mountain"

Mauna Kea has an altitude of 4,205 meters (13,796 feet) - much lower than Mount Everest. However, Mauna Kea is an island and if the distance from the bottom of the nearby ocean floor to the peak of the island is measured, then Mauna Kea is taller than Mount Everest.

Mauna Kea is over 10,000 meters tall compared to 8,848 meters for Mount Everest - making it the world's tallest mountain.

Chimborazo:
"Highest Above Earth's Center"

Chimborazo in Ecuador has an altitude of 6,310 meters (20,703 feet). Mount Everest has a higher altitude and Mauna Kea is "taller". However, Chimborazo has the distinction of being the highest mountain above Earth's center.

This is because Earth is not a sphere - it is an oblate spheroid. As an oblate spheroid, Earth is widest at it's equator. Chimborazo is just one degree south of Earth's equator and at that location it is 6,384 kilometers from Earth's center or about 2 kilometers farther from Earth's center than Mount Everest.