LPI Earth and Space Science Newsletter
July 2007
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A photo of the May 2003 lunar eclipse by Loyd Overcash of Houston, Tex. |
Aug 4 – Phoenix Mission launches to Mars
Aug 12 – Perseid Meteor Shower
Aug 28– Total Lunar Eclipse early before sunrise
LPI/ NASA ARES Workshops at Harris County
The 2007-2008 calendar of workshops offered jointly by the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) and NASA's Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) is now available, with one and two-day workshops on the Moon, Mars, the Solar System, plate tectonics, and more at the Harris County Department of Education. There is also a one-week workshop for summer 2008 on the rock cycle – sign up now!
Tuition-Free Earth Science Graduate Course for K-8 Teachers
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is offering Laboratory Earth II. Earth's Natural Resource Systems starting August 27, 2007. This 16-week online, 3-credit graduate-level Earth Science course is free of charge to the first 20 students to register. This professional development opportunity class will strengthen teachers' scientific knowledge and improve their ability to teach Earth Science concepts. This four-module course will emphasize rock and mineral, water, soil, and energy resources. In Lab Earth you may participate as a team or as an individual. We strongly encourage teachers to form teams for different grades. Contact Dr. Dave Gosselin, UNL School of Natural Resources, at [email protected] or 402-472-8919 .
Apply Today to Become a NASA Explorer School
Applications are now available for educators interested in joining NASA Explorer Schools (NES) during the 2008-2009 school year. NES offers unique opportunities designed to engage and educate the future scientists who may someday advance U.S. scientific interests through space exploration. Teams composed of full-time teachers and a school administrator develop and implement a three-year action plan to address local challenges in science, technology and mathematics education for grades 4-9. Schools that are selected are eligible to receive funding during the three-year partnership to purchase technology tools. The project also provides educators and students with content-specific activities that can be used within the curricula to excite students about science, technology, engineering, and math. Applications are due Jan. 31, 2008.
NASA Partners with AGI on 2007 Earth Science Week
Earth Science Week is an initiative of the American Geological Institute (AGI). NASA is a partner in the tenth annual Earth Science Week, which will be celebrated Oct. 14-20. The 2007 theme, “The Pulse of Earth Science,” will focus attention on geoscience research, such as that associated with the International Polar Year (IPY) and the International Year of Planet Earth (IYPE). Earth Science Week Toolkits include educational resources from AGI, NASA, NOAA, USGS, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution, and other organizations.
NASA’s Education Channel Wants Your Comments
NASA Education wants your perspectives on NASA-TV and the Education Channel in particular. To obtain this information, NASA Education is conducting a short viewer survey that should take no more than five minutes to complete. Your answers will help NASA provide educational programming that supports your curriculum needs.
Live On-line K-12 Space Shuttle Teacher Training
You will be provided with the training website address and a toll-free number when the session fills, or no less than one week before the session. Registration is open until Oct. 15, 2007.
Slide Show: Cassini Does Rings Around Saturn
Lakes, geysers and gigantic storms. These are just a few of the surprises uncovered by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, which is studying Saturn, its moons and rings. This new slide show highlights some of the most memorable images from the mission's third year at the ringed planet.
NASA International Polar Year (IPY)
This site is your one-stop shop for the latest NASA images and videos on polar exploration combined with a searchable storehouse of related information. This Web site is an essential resource for educators, news media and museums interested in the 2007-2009 IPY.
Podcasts from CHANDRA X-Ray Observatory
Subscribe to monthly Podcasts, available in video or audio-only formats, from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. The latest episode (June 28) is Mergers And Acquisitions In The Cosmos. Many objects in the Universe, from black holes to clusters of galaxies, are prone to mergers. Like the corporate world, cosmic mergers are dictated by where the most assets lie.
Earth and Space Science Explorers Poster
This poster highlights some of the people featured in the NASA Earth Explorers and NASA Space Science Explorers series of articles on the NASA.gov education pages. Some of the explorers highlighted on this poster are still in school, and some are adults who have chosen science as a career. The backside of the poster includes suggestions for using the series in the classroom.
Google Moon
This Web site allows you to browse the features on the Moon, in commemoration of the first human landing on the Moon.
Star Deck
Michael K. Shepard has produced a set of constellation cards and a Guide to the Constellations, free to educators to download and use.
Identifying Galaxies for Galaxy Zoo
You and your students can contribute to astronomical research by classifying galaxies. Galaxy Zoo is calling on the public to help classify 1,000,000 galaxies. This research will help reveal whether astronomers current models of the Universe are correct or not.
Scientists Keep an Eye on Martian Dust Storm
Modified from http://www.asu.edu/news/stories/200707/20070711_themis.htm
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Time lapse photography shows Mars Rover Opportunity’s skies darkening with dust |
Scientists are monitoring a large dust storm on the Red Planet. The dust storm, which erupted during the last week of June, is affecting operations for all five spacecraft operating at Mars. The fleet includes two NASA rovers on the ground (Spirit and Opportunity), plus three orbiters, two of which belong to NASA (Mars Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter) and one to the European Space Agency (Mars Express). Beginning in the equatorial region west of Meridiani Planum, the storm moved into the heavily cratered southern highlands. It took roughly a week to grow large enough to spread around the planet south of the equator. Dust has now drifted into the northern hemisphere as well.
It is currently summer in the southern Martian hemisphere, when dust storms are more common. For nearly a month, a series of severe Martian summer dust storms has affected the rover Opportunity and, to a lesser extent, its twin, Spirit. The dust in the Martian atmosphere over Opportunity has blocked 99 percent of direct sunlight to the rover, leaving only the limited diffuse sky light to power it. Scientists fear the storms might continue for several days, if not weeks. Mars dust map images are available online at http://themis.asu.edu/dustmaps .
Water on Distant Planet
Modified from http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMBDZI2O3F_index_0.html
Scientists report the first conclusive discovery of the presence of water vapor in the atmosphere of a planet beyond our Solar System. Astronomers used data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, analyzing infrared light as a previously discovered gas giant, HD189733b, passed in front of its star. As the gas giant’s outer atmosphere passed in front of the star, the light seen showed that water vapor in the atmosphere absorbed some of the star light.
Even though this planet has water, it is not a good candidate for alien life. Instead of a rocky planet like Earth, HD189733b is a gas giant, bigger than Jupiter but extremely close to its parent star, orbiting the star in only 2.2 days. Its atmosphere is almost 1,300 degrees Fahrenheit! Still, this discovery increases hopes for detecting water on rocky planets in the near future.
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| An artist’s conception of Charon (with Pluto in the background). The plumes and brighter spots depicted at left on Charon are thought to be created as water and ammonia hydrate “erupts” from deep beneath the surface. Credits: Software Bisque. Loch Ness Productions, Sky-Skan, Inc. |
Pluto’s Moon Charon has Geysers
Modified from http://www.gemini.edu/icemachine
Astronomers have detected ice deposits on the surface of Pluto’s moon Charon. The observations show fingerprints of fresh water crystals and some ammonia hydrates in patches on the surface, and suggest that liquid water mixed with ammonia from deep inside the moon is spewing onto its surface by geysers, through a process called cryovolcanism.
Charon is very cold, about -650 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s too cold, one would think, for liquid water. In some thermal models of Charon, the antifreeze properties of ammonia result in resevoirs of liquid water deep beneath the crust. Some scientists suspect that heat from internal radioactivity creates a pool of melted water mixed with ammonia inside the ice shell. As the water sprays out through the crack, it freezes and immediately “snows” back down to the surface, creating bright ice patches that can be distinguished in near-infrared light.
Cryovolcanism in the outer solar system is a fairly common occurrence. Enceladus (a moon of Saturn) and Europa (orbiting Jupiter) both show evidence of water ice oozing or spewing out from beneath the surfaces. Enceladus and Europa are tidally squeezed by the gravitational forces of their giant planets and in some cases by large nearby moons. This forces water out through cracks. By contrast, Kuiper Belt Objects (KBOs) such as Charon, Quaoar, Orcus, and others are not tidally squeezed. Yet, they seem to show evidence of cryovolcanism.
