Martian Water Still Elusive

Studying images of streaks that run down slopes on Mars during warmer periods, scientists are trying to establish that running water exists today on Mars, at least under certain circumstances.  So far, however, they haven't been able to close the deal.

The streaks could be the result of running water, or brine, but they could also be caused by something else.  Settling the matter may have to wait for the next generation of Mars probe.

Success By 2040?

Seth Shostak of the SETI Institute says we may well find intelligent alien life by 2040.

Shosttak notes that data from Kepler suggest that Earth-like worlds are abundant in the galaxy, and that by 2040 SETI could have surveyed one million star systems.   He thinks that could be enough to find neighbors.

Look Homeward, Rover

The Curiosity rover recently took its first images of the Earth and its Moon in the Martian sky.  Both seem to be simply bright stars, as Mars appears in our sky.

Since the Earth-Moon system is inside Mars' orbit, however, a capable telescope on Mars will show the Earth and Moon going through phases, just as Mercury and Venus do from Earth.

Shatner On Mars Rock

William Shatner, the legendary Captain Kirk in "Star Trek," twittered NASA recently about a rock that seemed to simply appear in an image taken by Curiosity.  Shatner asked if there are Martian rock throwers.

NASA can't explain the sudden appearance of the rock quite yet, but doubts there are rock throwers.

New Martian Crater

NASA has released images taken by its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter that show a new crater on Mars.  It cannot be more than about three years old.  The crater is about 100 feet across, has a prominent ray system, and material from the impact that blasted the crater was thrown at least nine miles away.

Mars is consistently hit by small objects, but the craters created are rarely as large as this one.

Polaris Brightening

Polaris has been the North Star for thousands of years, but for the past few centuries it's been getting brighter.

Astronomers have known for roughly one century that Polaris is a Cepheid variable.  It pulses in brightness over a cycle.  Using both current and historical data, however, a team has determined that Polaris is brighter now than it was centuries ago, and that it continues to brighten.  So do other Cepheids.  Since Cepheids are used to determine distances in the universe based on their reliability, understanding the unexpected brightening is important.

LADEE Extended

The mission of NASA's LADEE spacecraft, which studies lunar dust, has been extended another 28 days.  During that time it will drop into an extremely low lunar orbit to get even better data.

Understanding the characteristics and behavior of lunar dust will be crucial to planning future operations on the Moon.