| Piú viste - SMART-1: the Moon from ESA |
04-CopernicusCrater-LO5.jpgThe "Peaks" of Eternal Sun-light (1)230 visite"If we can confirm peaks of eternal light", says Bernard Foing, SMART-1 Project Scientist, "these could be a key locations for possible future lunar outposts". The existence of peaks of eternal light at the poles, that is areas that remain eternally illuminated regardless of seasonal variations, was first predicted in the second half of the nineteenth century by the astronomer Camille Flammarion.
Even if for most of the Moon the length of the day does not vary perceptibly during the course of seasons, this is not the case over the poles, where illumination can vary extensively during the course of the year. The less favourable illumination conditions occur around the Northern Winter Solstice, around 24 January. There are areas at the bottom of near-polar craters that do not see direct sunshine, where ice might potentially be trapped. Also there are areas at higher elevation on the rim of Polar craters that see the Sun more than half of the time. Eventually, there may be areas that are always illuminated!".
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05-CopernicusHD.jpgThe "Peaks" of Eternal Sun-light (2)208 visiteAstronomers say they have identified a place on the Moon that lies in permanent Sunlight and close to regions suspected to hold water ice: in short, an ideal location for a tentative Lunar Colony.
The spot is located on a highland close to the Lunar North Pole, between 3 large impact craters called Peary, Hermite and Rozhdestvensky (report in Thursday's issue of Nature, the British weekly Science Journal).
The temperature there is estimated to range between -40 and
-60°C, which by Lunar Standards is relatively balmy and stable.
By comparison, the temperature on the Moon's equator ranges from -180°C to +100°C!
Since the area is bathed in perpetual Sun-light, a future human outpost on the Moon could draw on abundant solar energy and,
in addition, the Lunar Pioneers could tap into supplies of water if (as some Scientists speculate) ice lurks in permanently shadowed craters at the Lunar Poles. The study is lead-authored by Ben Bussey of Johns Hopkins University, Maryland.
In January 2004, President George W. Bush sketched plans for a US return to the Moon as early as 2015, saying a lunar base would be a launch pad for manned missions to Mars and "across our Solar System".
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03-PythagorasCrater-1.jpgPythagoras Crater153 visiteCaption ESA originale:"This mosaic view of Pythagoras is composed of images taken by the AMIE camera during two successive orbits on 29 and 30 December 2004 from an altitude of ~ 4000 Km.
Pythagoras is a 120 km diameter complex large Lunar Crater characterized by a relatively flat crater floor, a central peak and terraced walls.
The terraced walls height reaches 5000 mt."
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02-NorthPole.jpgThe "North Pole" of the Moon139 visiteCaption ESA originale:"This image was taken by the AMIE camera on board SMART-1 on 19 January 2005 (close to the northern winter solstice) from a distance of 5000 Km.
The image shows an area 250 Km wide near the Lunar North Pole.
The illuminated part of the crater rim at the top of the image is very close to the Lunar North Pole and is a candidate for a peak of eternal sunlight".
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09-D-CIXS_calcium-detection2.jpgWhat the Moon is made of...According to SMART-1137 visiteUna premessa necessaria: il giorno 15.01.2005 una possente eruzione solare (solar flare) ha investito la Luna. Le particelle provenienti dal Sole, abbattendosi sul nostro Satellite, hanno interagito con la sua superficie ed i suoi elementi.
L'output globale di questa interazione è stato registrato da SMART-1 usando lo spettrografo D-CIXS.
"Top Left: GOES X-ray spectrum showing the Solar input. Note the flares around 06:00 UT on 15 January 2005 (GOES Data Courtesy NOAA).
Lower Left: D-CIXS spectrograms showing fluorescence emission from the Moon as a response. The 3 panels show the summed outputs of the 3 separate D-CIXS facets.
Top Right: Area of the Moon overflown during this observation, running from 15° to 45° North, at 60° East long., including Mare Crisium in the southern part of the region.
Bottom Right: The derived X-ray spectrum, indicating lunar elemental composition. Note the prominent Calcium feature, as well as visible Aluminium, Silicon and Iron".
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01-SMART-1%20northpole29Dec4.jpgThe "North Pole" of the Moon132 visiteCaption ESA originale:"This image was taken by the AMIE camera on board SMART-1 on 29 December 2004 from a distance of 5.500 Km.
It shows an area, 275 Km across, of heavily cratered highland terrain close to the Lunar North Pole (upper left corner).
The image is used to monitor illumination of the polar areas, and long shadows cast by large crater rims".
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22-ReinerGamma-Maps.jpgReiner Gamma: a Moon "Magnetic Anomaly" (1)116 visiteCaption ESA originale:"The bright albedo feature called Reiner Gamma, is located in the Oceanus Procellarum on the near side of the Moon.
From ground-based observations, this feature was first mis-identified as a crater. Spacecraft orbiting the Moon, however, revealed its true nature: Reiner Gamma is totally flat and consists of much brighter material than the surrounding dark mare. Only three features like this exist on the Moon. Apart from Reiner Gamma on the lunar near side, there are two more on the lunar far side, not visible from the Earth. The last two features are exactly opposite of the large impact sites which created Mare Imbrium and Mare Orientale. It is assumed that these features formed due to the reflection of the shock wave of these impacts on the opposite side of the Moon.
The area also coincides with a strong magnetic anomaly".
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28-Zucchius-1.jpgThe Central "Peak" of Zucchius Crater (HR)109 visiteL'immagine, nonostante gli sforzi dell'ESA e nonostante l'Alta Risoluzione, resta mediocremente sfuocata. Tuttavia, sebbene la certezza non la si può avere, riteniamo di poter dire, con un discreto margine di certezza, che esiste un oggetto anomalo proprio sulla sommità (o nei suoi pressi) di una delle collinette che caratterizzano l'area centrale del Cratere Zucchius. L'oggetto (se seguissimo la Scuola di Hoagland potremmo già parlare di "costruzione") pare avere una base rettangolare e, su questa base (e leggermente alla Sx dell'Osservatore) pare esserci un ulteriore rilievo di forma circolare.
Un'immagine brutta, ripetiamo, ma intrigante ed enigmatica. Da studiare.
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08-AMIEmosaic-291204.jpgGioja, Mouchez, Poncelet, Carpenter and Pythagoras106 visiteUn bellissimo foto-mosaico (purtroppo una delle pochissime immagini ad oggi disponibili della Luna 'vista' dalla Sonda Europea SMART-1) che ci mostra una serie di interessanti e relativamente famosi crateri - su tutti il Cratere Pitagora - ripresi da una distanza di circa 4000 Km.
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07-Smart-1_lunar-eclipse_family-portrait.jpgMother Earth and a Lunar Eclypse from Space105 visiteIl sostentamento di una Colonia Lunare (o Marziana, o posta su qualsiasi altro corpo celeste diverso dalla Terra) è, viste le nostre caratteristiche biologiche, le tecnologie disponibili ed i fabbisogni energetici, legato alla possibilità di avere "acqua" a disposizione.
E allora c'è acqua sulla Luna? Forse si ed infatti, accanto a queste zone di luce eterna, ve ne potrebbero essere altre - magari poste sul fondo di grandi crateri - in cui regna il buio eterno e, di conseguenza, il gelo eterno. Un'oscurità ed un gelo perpetui assolutamente necessari affinchè alcune zone della Luna possano essere state capaci di catturare e conservare, attraverso le ere, il ghiaccio d'acqua portato sul nostro Satellite, p.e., dalle comete che lo impattarono.
Bisogna quindi trovare dei "Giacimenti di ghiaccio d'acqua": ecco la chiave di volta per arrivare, in tempi ragionevoli, alla creazione di insediamenti umani permanenti sulla Luna e Marte, i primi due 'outpost' del Genere Umano nel Sistema Solare.
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16-Lunar Alps_H_SEMG9R7X9DE.jpgThe Lunar Alps103 visiteOriginal caption:"The European Alps were formed over millions of years by slow-moving sections of Earth’s crust pushed together, squeezing the land to form a giant arc of upthrust mountains, but the Lunar Alps were formed in an instant. It is thought that the Moon collided with a huge object, such as an asteroid, 3850 million years ago. The collision formed a huge crater, about 1000 Km in diameter. This crater was later filled with basaltic lava, forming the dark circular basin known as Mare Imbrium (Sea of Rains). After the explosive collision, fragments, rocks and dust fell back to the surface. While there is considerable debate as to the actual mechanism which formed the concentric rings, it is agreed they are not 'fallback' material. Some scientists argue that the the impact caused the lower layers to act as a liquid and that the rings then 'froze' in place. A flood of lava covered the lower inner one, but the outer one remains as a series of arc-shaped mountain ranges.
In places these mountains rise over 3000 metres. Their inner walls are steep and well defined, but their outer slopes become more broken as elevation decreases away from the impact site. Early European astronomers named them after familiar mountain ranges, such as the Juras, the Apennines and the Alps.
Seen in this image, Vallis Alpes (Alpine Valley) is a spectacular feature that bisects the Montes Alpes range. This valley was discovered in 1727 by Francesco Bianchini. It extends 166 kilometres from Mare Imbrium, trending north-east to the edge of the Mare Frigoris (Sea of Cold). The valley is narrow at both ends and widens to about 10 kilometres across.
The valley floor is a flat, lava-flooded surface that has narrow sinous ‘rille’ running down the middle. It is generally considered to be a 'graben', an area between two parallel faults which has dropped below the surrounding area. This is believed to have formed after the formation of the basin, but before the full maria lava flows. The rille corresponds to a ‘lava tube’ formed in a later geological episode by high-speed and low viscosity magma.
"SMART-1 is studying the signature of violent processes that took place during the formation of these giant impact basins, as well as the sequence of late volcanic history over the lunar surface until 3000 million years ago,” said ESA’s SMART-1 Project Scientist Bernard Foing.
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11-Rima Hadley.jpgRima Hadley100 visiteCaption ESA originale:"Hadley Rille is the sinuous depression running across this image.
Beneath it are the 1 to 2 Km high Apennine mountains.
The large crater in the center of the image is the 30 Km diameter "Hadley C".
Location: The feature is centred at: 25,0° N and 3,0° E
Naming: In honour of the English scientist John Hadley who built telescopes in the eighteenth century".
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