A Quote by Sir Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal of Great Britain



Telescopes are in some ways like time machines...
They reveal galaxies so far away that their light has taken billions of years to reach us. We in astronomy have an advantage in studying the universe, in that we can actually see the past. We owe our existence to stars, because they make the atoms of which we are formed. So if you are romantic you can say we are literally starstuff. If you're less romantic you can say we're the nuclear waste from the fuel that makes stars shine. We've made so many advances in our understanding. A few centuries ago, the pioneer navigators learnt the size and shape of our Earth, and the layout of the continents. We are now just learning the dimensions and ingredients of our entire cosmoc, and can at last make some sense of our cosmic habitat.



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Friday, October 9, 2009

LCROSS impacts the moon

Its been a wonderful night for me, watching the LCROSS hit the moon. Obviously I could not see the actual impact(nobody could have), but I saw the images taken by cameras onbord LCROSS while it was approacing the lunar surface. It was a beautiful sight.

NASA selected the impact site to be a shadowed region in a crator on the moons south pole. The logic behind this selection for impact is... possible abundance of water or water ice molecules(is any). Why is there a need to search for water on the moon? Finding natural resources, such as water ice, on the moon could help expedite lunar exploration. By going to the moon for extended periods of time, a new generation of explorers will learn how to work safely in a harsh environment. A lunar outpost is a stepping stone to future exploration of other bodies in our solar system. The moon also offers many clues about when the planets were formed.
Over the next 10 or so days NASA will study the large amounts of data collected during the mission and declare if or not there is water or water ice on the moon.


I am posting one or two closeup shots of the moon taken by LCROSS. Hope to see more!

Clear Skys...
Image Courtesy: www.nasa.gov

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