Mercury in focus

Phil Plait says it much better that I ever could:

"Holy Haleakala. Look at those rays! They go all the way across the planet!"

Go read his first report. Grow into these trousers... >>

George Hrab sings a song

You might know by now that I like the Geologic podcast.

So here is George doing his musical best. Which is good.

Sweet Dreams Are Made of This - by George Hrab on vocals. Grow into these trousers... >>

MESSENGER fly-by of Mercury

Earlier today the Messenger spacecraft flew past the planet Mercury (images to follow as they are released).
The photo here is ~15h before closest approach
Credit NASA / APL

This is a long term and complicated mission...
Launched in 2004 Messenger aims to go into orbit around Mercury in 2011 and collect data for a whole year.

Remember, Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun. If you were to aim a craft directly, the Sun's enormous gravitation would cause so much acceleration that the craft could not carry enough fuel to slow down in time to enter mercurial orbit.

So what do you do? You launch it sideways into orbit around the Sun, use gravity assists (flybys) and short engine burns (using the precious fuel) to gradually nudge the craft into a diminishing solar orbit until it is captured by the gravitation field of Mercury.

From the mission website:

To become the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury, MESSENGER must follow a path through the inner solar system, including one flyby of Earth, two flybys of Venus, and three flybys of Mercury. This impressive journey will return the first new spacecraft data from Mercury since the Mariner 10 mission over 30 years ago.

See the Messenger site for this timeline of the mission:


One more Mercury fly-past (29th Sept. 2009) and two more fuel burns (DSMs - Deep Space Maneuvers) before it goes into orbit (18th Feb 2011). Grow into these trousers... >>

BBC wildlife video - lion kill.

I'm not promoting the new 'Big Cat Live' series on BBC1, but have a look at the website. They have four live webcam streams running day and night (with infra-red).

No doubt this clip will be broadcast:

The BBC's Natural History Unit cameras are in Kenya's Masai Mara Reserve for a week of live programmes - and already they have seen some astonishing sights.

The cams are live right now but I don't know for how long.

As yet there's nothing as good as Battle at Kruger but you never know. Grow into these trousers... >>

Public Image Ltd

There is something about John Lydon that you just have to admire. Er! Oh yeah here it was:

PIL - Rise

More below the belt

PIL - This Is Not A Love Song


Hey, times don't change much.

Sex Pistols - Pretty Vacant

Grow into these trousers... >>

Phoenix, a long awaited update

Watching the clouds go by.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University Arizona/Texas A&M University

Recently, results from the experimental kit on Phoenix have been slow to be released. Now suddenly there's all this fascinating stuff at once.

The gentle but persistent heat of the analyser ovens (TEGA - Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer) and the wet chemistry lab (MECA - Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer) have both recorded firm evidence for calcium carbonate in 'soil' samples from Mars.

From NASA:

The TEGA evidence for calcium carbonate came from a high-temperature release of carbon dioxide from soil samples. The temperature of the release matches a temperature known to decompose calcium carbonate and release carbon dioxide gas, which was identified by the instrument's mass spectrometer.

The MECA evidence came from a buffering effect characteristic of calcium carbonate assessed in wet chemistry analysis of the soil. The measured concentration of calcium was exactly what would be expected for a solution buffered by calcium carbonate.

Calcium carbonate is limestone, or chalk or marble and can even form cave features such as stalactites. It is also an integral part of many marine organisms on Earth. Don't be confused though, there is no evidence for life on Mars, just carbonates which chemically are to be expected given Mars' CO₂ based atmosphere, but it needs water. It's a bit like this:

H₂O + CO₂ --> H₂CO₃

Water plus carbon dioxide gives carbonic acid. Now, remember what happens when you mix a metal, such as calcium, and an acid?

Ca + H₂CO₃ --> Ca₂CO₃ + H₂

You get a salt, calcium carbonate, and hydrogen gas.

----------------

Another part of MECA is the atomic force microscope. They (try to) sieve in some dust from the Martian 'soil' and scan the surface of the particles with incredible precision. Here's an image:


This image's field of view is approximately 23 microns wide. That's 23µm or 23×10⁻⁶m, or 23/1,000,000 metres. That's at the low end of human hair width. It's described as platey material, flat sheets with clearly defined edges.

"We are seeing smooth-surfaced, platy particles with the atomic-force microscope, not inconsistent with the appearance of clay particles," said Michael Hecht, MECA lead scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

Clay!

Clay minerals are typically formed over long periods of time by the gradual chemical weathering of rocks (usually silicate-bearing) by low concentrations of carbonic acid.

TEGA has also found hints of phyllosilicates, These results just drip with water.

Here's the stunner though. It was snowing on Mars.

Martian clouds, like those in the animation above, have been followed by the Meteorological Station (MET) aboard Phoenix. It caries a LIDAR or light detection and ranging instrument. Basically a radar but done with a laser beam.

Watching the clouds go by, with a laser.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University Arizona/Canadian Space Agency

Something was dropping out of the clouds and being buffeted by the differing wind speeds as it fell. Ice crystals; we might call it snow.
It can't be frozen carbon dioxide, it's not cold enough for that yet. It is very cold though:

A thin layer of water frost is visible on the ground around NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander in this image taken by the Surface Stereo Imager at 6 a.m. on Sol 79 (August 14, 2008), the 79th Martian day after landing. The frost begins to disappear shortly after 6 a.m. as the sun rises on the Phoenix landing site.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Texas A&M University

As the winter progresses it will get much colder still. Cold to the point where Phoenix will cease to function, and be entombed in ice and solid CO₂. Until the Martian spring that is. As the polar cap again retreats Phoenix will be re-exposed and, if the sunlight charges up it's batteries, it may just manage a last "Still Here". I hope so, this is a great mission. Grow into these trousers... >>

Oops -

Had a bit of a brown-out. Some code got scrambled (read - me pissing about) and the 'Grow into these trousers... >>' link stopped working. I had my template backed up but restoring it didn't solve the problem (???).

Anyway, things seem to be stable again now. I've changed all the code for the fullpost trousers link and, mops brow, I didn't have to reinstall all my widgets! Grow into these trousers... >>

Pat Condell - petition the government

I finally found the petition that Pat Condell refers to in the 'banned' video.

Sign up here http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/sharialawuk/. Do it quickly though. In fact, do it NOW because the deadline is the 4^th Oct.

Thanks to The Freethinker. Grow into these trousers... >>

Music again - Rolling Stones

Check out this version of 'Paint it Black' - it pressed the right buttons for me.

Rolling Stones - Paint it Black
Grow into these trousers... >>

I said he wouldn't be very happy

A couple of weeks ago I posted about the imposition sharia law in Britain being legitimised by our government. I thought at the time that Pat Condell would have something to say about this. He did, and the video was promptly banned by YouTube. Don't worry you can see it below and keep up with Pat here.

Welcome to Saudi Britain:


This is a bad move by YouTube and I will be making them aware of my displeasure. Grow into these trousers... >>