Geothermal Heating Discovered Under Ice Sheets in Antarctica - http://clapway.com/2015/07/12/geothermal-heating-discovered-under-ice-sheets-in-antarctica456/

When one thinks of Antarctica, one generally thinks of blistering cold storms for months on end, penguins, polar bears, huge ice caps, etc. What you generally don’t associate with the continent is secret geothermal heating sources.

In fact, it seems a bit counterintuitive to find such a thing, but that is exactly what happened recently. A National Science Foundation drilling project‘s data, combined with the findings of a team of researchers, shed light onto the phenomenon of heat flow from the Earth to the zone below the ice sheet.

Finding the secret geothermal heating

The find came from when the team was monitoring a borehole on the western side of Antarctica. Temperatures measured were really high, according to the press release by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The team also published their findings in the Science Advances journal on Friday.

Although the temperature was unusually high from this secret geothermal heating, it does not account for the massive loss of ice that has been observed in research, says one researcher on the team. But the heating may account for why the area seems a bit unstable and volatile.

The study was made possible by using previously collected data from the aforementioned drilling project, which was funded by an award from the NSF’s Division of Polar Programs. The section of the NSF is helping to produce more opportunities for research and collect more research on the ice sheet to better understand the unique ecosystem in the harsh environment. But not only that, it helps to understand the landscape better as well.

Other Findings about the polar geothermal heating

The secret heating find also could provide a reason for why there are underground lakes or streams, which may aid in the ice sheet’s speed. However, this was only on the western side and the heat flow is bound to be different on different parts of the ice sheet.

Something else to keep in mind is that this area is also where there is some volcanic activity that also may account for the secret heating. However, there needs to be more research done before anything more conclusive comes up.

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Geothermal Heating Discovered Under Ice Sheets in Antarctica

New Faces and Mysterious Spots of Pluto Captured Thanks to New Horizons - http://clapway.com/2015/07/02/new-faces-and-mysterious-spots-of-pluto-captured-thanks-to-new-horizons654/

The New Horizons spacecraft is closing in on Pluto, and every day it sends fascinating new images of the dwarf planet that–as expected–are exceeding our expectations. The most recent photos show two distinct faces and a series of intriguing spots in full color. Earlier worries of lethal space debris have been reneged, much to the New Horizons’ NASA team’s relief.

IMAGE ORIENTATION

The newest images of Pluto and its moon Charon, captured by New Horizons’ Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) and its Ralph Instrument, show the two bodies as they would appear to the naked eye, with half of Pluto imaged over its circular body (on the right). This would mean that what looks like the south pole is actually the equator.

INTRIGUING FEATURES TO NOTE

Around the equator, or what appears as the South Pole, are spots of about 300 miles (480 km) in diameter, with a surface area approximately the size of Missouri. These spots seem to have consistent size and spacing, and they trace a band across the dwarf planet. Their origin is still a mystery to scientists, but some answers may be revealed upon New Horizons’ arrival on July 14th.

“It’s a real puzzle – we don’t know what the spots are, and we can’t wait to find out,” Dr. Alan Stern of Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) announced from Boulder, Colorado. He is also New Horizons’ principal investigator.

CHARON IS MYSTERIOUS, TOO

Another puzzle lies in wait in the form of finding out why and how Pluto differs so much from its dark and gray moon Charon. When two bodies form in space, they are generally composed of the same material, and so are expected to appear as such.

BACK TO PLUTO

Pluto’s color has been confirmed by these images. It is a brown planet, whose color is the result of “radiation chemistry acting on the methane and nitrogen ices there,” said Dr. Stern. But a stranger surprise is yet to come, for both the Lorri and Ralph Instrument are going to search for clouds.

CLOUDS ON PLUTO?

Science team postdoc Kelsi Singer of SwRI said “we’re looking for clouds in our images using a number of techniques…if we find clouds, their presence will allow us to track the speeds and directions of Pluto’s winds.”

Some artist renderings of what Pluto may look like from low orbit can really take one aback–thin, wispy systems of white contrails all but rotating across the brown and yellow landscape. If this surreal possibility turns out to be true, it could indicate that Pluto has a much more complex weather system than we’d originally thought.

NEW HORIZONS ITINERARY UPDATES

NASA gave the all clear for the spacecraft to continue its approach to the Plutonian system yesterday, after several weeks of scanning for dust clouds, rings, hidden moons or other interplanetary hazards posing an imminent threat to the probe. As a last ditch effort, the team even considered the possibility of using the large high gain antenna dish (used to communicate with us, on Earth) as a physical shield against debris. Space dust is lethal because, regardless of size, a particle travelling at 30,800 miles per hour (49,600km/h) would turn anything we’ve built into swiss cheese.

The New Horizons team engaged a 23 second thruster burn to increase the probe’s speed, but overall “we’re breathing a collective sigh of relief knowing that the way appears to be clear,” remarked Jim Green, director of NASA’s planetary science division. The New Horizons team was worried they’d have to adopt a Safe Haven by Other Trajectory (SHBOT), a decision they needed to have made by this week, but it turned out to be an unnecessary precaution.

PRELIMINARY CONCLUSIONS

The New Horizons team partially expected to detect new moons or rings, but the lack of either was a “bit of a scientific surprise,” to Dr. Stern. “As a scientist I’m a bit disappointed that we didn’t spot additional moons to study, but as a New Horizons team member I am much more relieved that we didn’t find something that could harm the spacecraft,” added John Spencer of SwRI, leader of the New Horizons hazard analysis team. The possibility of a faint ring does exist, but it would be extremely sparse and almost invisible to equipment.

The path is open and the stage is set for New Horizons to make history in the age of interplanetary exploration in twelve days’ time.

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New Faces and Mysterious Spots of Pluto Captured Thanks to New Horizons

NEW HORIZONS ON FINAL APPROACH TO PLUTO - http://clapway.com/2015/06/28/new-horizons-on-final-approach-to-pluto432/

The teams in charge of the interplanetary satellite New Horizons are burning the midnight oil in an attempt to correct the spacecraft’s trajectory and flight time. The ETA for these corrections was June 14th, so hopefully everything turns out okay when it reaches Pluto.

The director of space navigation and flight dynamics for KinetX Aerospace, Dr. Bobby Williams said this series of course corrections was just an early part of three advanced planned activities.

WHAT WILL NEW HORIZONS DO WITH PLUTO?

Every day, NASA releases images of Pluto, but the upcoming flyby means that New Horizons’ Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) camera will finally be able to photograph the closest images ever taken of Pluto. This will be at a distance of approximately 7,750 miles from Pluto’s frigid crust. As such, Williams explained, these will be the most clear and focused images of Pluto ever, and things are only going to get better.

BUT WE DIDN’T COME HERE JUST FOR THE TOUR

New Horizons will also assist scientists hoping to estimate the mass of Pluto and its moons, a subject of long-standing curiosity among scientists. The only spacecraft that have been farther away from Earth are the twin probes Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, launched in the 1970s to study the outer-planets and the edges of our solar system. One passed by Jupiter and Saturn, only to slingshot up out of our solar system in a vertical vector, while the other followed its curve out, passing by Uranus and Neptune before wandering out into that massive abyss. The two are still transmitting data by radio.

New Horizon’s mission upon arrival is to investigate the unknown surface of Pluto, supplying more data with which to hopefully quell the decades-long debate about the categorical status of the little planet (many scientists believe Pluto to be too small, and with too little mass to qualify as a planet).

WHAT CAN WE LOOK AT NOW

We have been informed that the newest photos reveal a bright spot on Pluto’s polar cap. The meaning of this luminescence is still under investigation. Hopefully, the Plutonians are not alerted to New Horizons’ presence.

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NEW HORIZONS ON FINAL APPROACH TO PLUTO