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🌓 When Big Meteors Strike the Moon, they Create Instant Lava Flows 🌗
Space rocks hammer the Moon at speeds faster than 12 km/s. Kinetic energy is converted into heat, melting rock into lava. It sprays onto crater walls and the surrounding area, then flows downhill like volcanic eruptions on Earth, spreading out across the surface of the Moon. In one impact, the lava flowed for 18 kilometers, measuring over 50 meters thick at some points.
🚀 Splashdown! Orion Returns to Earth 🚀
On Saturday at 9:40 am PST, NASA's Orion capsule landed in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.
It had completed a 2.2 million km journey around the Moon, sending home pictures.
When it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere, it was going 40,000 km/h and slowed down to 32 km/h when it landed in the ocean.
There will be a delay before we see Artemis II, but there'll be humans on board this time.
NASA’s Orion spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, west of Baja California, at 9:39 a.m. PST Sunday after a record-breaking mission, traveling more than 1.4 million miles on a path around the Moon and returning safely to Earth, completing the Artemis I flight test.
🔭 It's Titan! Seen by JWST 🔭
I thought we wouldn't see Titan again until NASA's Dragonfly mission arrives in 2034.
Thanks to JWST, we get another view of Saturn's largest moon.
JWST originally captured this image using its Mid-Infrared Instrument on Nov. 4-5 and then it was processed by Ph.D. student Michael Radke at Johns Hopkins University.
He mapped three wavelengths of infrared light to red, green, and blue giving us this cool final image.
🚀 Artemis I Launch Seen from the Rocket 🚀
And this is amazing. Here's the view of the Artemis I launch seen from the rocket itself looking down.
The actual launch happens at about the three-minute mark of the video.
Again, I shared a lower-resolution version; you can get higher versions here.
https://images.nasa.gov/details-ART-CMA2_2022_320_0637_SHARED_art001m1203200637B
🚀 Finally! Video of Artemis I SRB separation 🚀
During the live broadcast of the Space Launch System, I was a little disappointed at the coverage from NASA. Just video footage of the rocket blasting off, getting smaller and smaller until it was gone.
Why didn't we get a live view from all the cameras on board the rocket? Well, they're here.
Here are a few seconds of the SRB detaching from the Core Stage.
I've uploaded the smallest resolution, but you can go bigger.
https://images.nasa.gov/details-Artemis%20I%20-%20Rocket%20Camera%20Footage
☄️Asteroid impact predicted with stunning accuracy☄️
On Nov 18, the Catalina Sky Survey detected an asteroid on collision course with Earth.
Although the 1m rock was harmless, it triggered the test of an automated system designed to warn humanity of a more dangerous impact.
Within hours astronomers calculated that it would hit southern Ontario on Nov. 19 at 3:27 am EST.
At the predicted time, people across the region saw the bright trail as it blazed across the sky.
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-program-predicted-impact-of-small-asteroid-over-ontario-canada
Sending a Signal Through the Ice on Europa
Ice worlds like Europa are tantalizing places to search for life beyond Earth.
But any life will be locked under kilometers of ice, an engineering challenge to bore through for a sample.
Another challenge will be communicating your findings back to the surface.
NASA Ocean Worlds Signals Through the Ice team is working on techniques to deploy a fiber optic cable through the ice to connect with a base station on the surface.
https://science.nasa.gov/technology-highlights/sending-signals-through-the-ice-on-ocean-worlds
Huge JWST Exoplanet News: WASP-39b
JWST demonstrates its stunning capability to analyze exoplanet atmospheres thanks to WASP-39b
This hot-jupiter was first discovered in 2011, only 700 ly away. It's ideal for study because it transits every 4 days.
Observations from JWST found CO2, water, CO, sodium, potassium, and even clouds.
The most exciting is sulfur dioxide (SO2), which indicates active chemistry in the planet's atmosphere.
Earthset from Orion
We're all familiar with Earthrise, that famous photo of Earth taken during Apollo 8.
Here is "Earthset", captured as Orion passed behind the Moon during its first flyby on Nov 21st.
At the end of this clip, Orion passed behind the Moon and briefly lost contact with Earth.
The next hurdle happens on Friday, Nov. 25th, when it makes a maneuver putting it into a distant retrograde orbit around the Moon.
