Friday night science and space thread

The week brought great news from our largest satellite.  There is water on the moon!  Plus, get ready for the upcoming Leonid meteor shower, and read a great article from Astronomy.com.  We round out the day with the wise Carl Sagan, telling us about the pale blue dot.

Wet moon

NASA’s LCROSS project found clear signs of significant water on the moon.  Evidence of water was detected in the plumes of debris ejected by the impact of rockets on the Cabeus crater.

The impact created by the LCROSS Centaur upper stage rocket created a two-part plume of material from the bottom of the crater. The first part was a high angle plume of vapor and fine dust and the second a lower angle ejecta curtain of heavier material. This material has not seen sunlight in billions of years.

The discovery helps explain why there is so much hydrogen on the moon.

Scientists have long speculated about the source of vast quantities of hydrogen that have been observed at the lunar poles. The LCROSS findings are shedding new light on the question of water, which could be more widespread and in greater quantity than previously suspected.

While the over hyped impacts may have not made much of a splash with the media, the data gathered will help open doors for scientists in the future.  LCROSS was launched on June 18, 2009.

Extras

• A great article about celebrating the International Year of Astronomy via Astronomy.com.
• The Leonid meteor shower peaks on Nov 17.  Viewing tips and locations here.
• The new moon is Nov 16 (should make for great meteor viewing)

And finally… Carl Sagan drops the science: