The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) continues to return spectacular images. The one featured today might seem like an odd choice as it is almost totally black.
This is Erlanger Crater near the Moon's north pole. It's diameter is about 10km (6 miles) Unlike Earth, the Moon's axis is tilted only about 1.5 degrees. Therefore, the Sun never gets more than a couple of degrees high in the sky near the poles. If you have a crater with nice high walls, there are places where the Sun never shines. The bottom of these craters have temperatures that hang out around -375F (or about 50 Kelvin).
Why do we care about dark spots? In these very dark craters that do not receive Sunlight, water ice can happily sit and wait for oh, say, humans to land nearby and have a ready source of water. Exploring crater such as this is one of the reasons we launched LRO.Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.
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10 comments:
"where the Sun never shines," eh? You know what else could be down there? Huge ugly monster creepy-crawlies that are temporarily blinded by our lights, but, of course, our power source fails and our batteries wear down as we huddle in the darkness for warmth (in our Kelvin Klein spacesuits), waiting for the creepies to attack . . .
"If you have a crater with nice high walls, there are places where the Sun never shines."
Now I'm certain you are yanking our chain... lol
Why are we looking for other planets (?) to occupy? We can't take care of our own. I really do wish someone could explain to me in 25 words or less just why we are continuing space projects.We look at the planets through telescopes and then have to send a capsule to check it out. Why?
Sassa, we wanna know where the UFOs come from.
They come from Uranus.......
Sorry just had too.
I knew there would be a few bad jokes with this one...oy!
Sassa, I think part of the problem is you present to me a false dichotomy with your question. You present two unrelated propositions (taking care of our planet vs. space exploration) as an either or proposition. This is a common logical fallacy we need to be careful not to let muddle our thinking.
So let me give you a simple example...many years ago when they were designing Hubble, an important decision had to be made about what types of detectors to use. They choose Charge Couple Devices (CCD). These detectors are now used in you digital cameras thanks to the boost the tech got from NASA.
Every year, NASA publishes their spinoff book which is available online highlighting technologies developed for the space program that have found applications here on Earth. It is an impressive list for an agency that spends a fraction of a percent of the federal budget.
I wonder if they can grow pot on the moon.
"And if the dam breaks open many years too soon
And if there is no room upon the hill
And if your head explodes with dark forebodings too
I'll see you on the the dark side of the moon"
Hale--I recently started thinking about the earth and how things are going so wrong with different countries, animals (bees & polar bears) and the rain forest, and it just seems that no one is (or can) do something about it. And yet we spend millions on space projects. I am not arguing with you about your interest in space. Some of the info you give us is very interesting. So please don't take offense. We spend all this $$ so we can use a digital camera? We invent faster ways to do operations because of a war? We build bigger cars that should only be used in combat? I'm just an earth do-gooder in my old age. If I were young I probably would want to be an astronaut (astronautress?) LOL Anyways I do appreciate all the pictures you share with us and your determination with your interests. PS Why do I have to sign in everytime I 'comment'?
Sassa
If you have your computer set to dump cookies, clear the cache, temp folders, etc., every time you close your browser, it will require you to sign back in. Shouldn't be happening if you comment on several blogs without closing in between.
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