Mars, Uwingu, Uwingu Fund

Craters on Mars

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Name a Crater on Uwingu’s Mars Map

Imagine the first Mars explorers setting foot on its rusty, sandy surface, using the Mars maps with names supplied by people from back home on Earth! Courtesy NASA/JPL
Imagine the first Mars explorers setting foot on its rusty, sandy surface, using the Mars maps with names supplied by people from back home on Earth! Courtesy NASA/JPL

The first human missions to Mars are not far away. Depending on which mission you’ve read about, and what you think of the current plans by NASA, SpaceX, Mars One, and others, those first Marsnauts could be setting foot on the Red Planet in the next decade or so. When they do that, they’re landing on virgin territory, a place where no one has walked before. It’s exciting. It’s exhilirating. And, it’s going to require a LOT of planning in advance.

Of course, the mission specifics are important. No matter which group or country sends a mission first, they’re going to have to plan for infrastructure — places for people to live, work, dig out the natural resources they  need to survive. And, the first Mars explorers will need more mundane things, like maps with place names on them. They aren’t really going to have time to rush out and name every single rill and crater. Of course, there ARE names for the large regions, craters, and mountains on the planet. But, the smaller ones don’t really have names.

Mars Needs Names!

It would be good if they did, if for no other reason than to facilitate accurate and up-to-date communication about a team’s whereabouts to the mother base and back to Earth. That’s where the Uwingu Mars maps — and you — come in.  Uwingu is a group I’ve written about before; its members are raising funds through the sale of crater names on their Mars maps to help fund science research and education. They’ve been successful at this project for more than a year, and a lot of really cool people have bought the name of a crater on Mars for themselves or a friend or loved one. I have a crater on Mars, and I’m pleased that my contribution has gone to help fund a good cause.

Last year, thousands of people named craters on Mars to celebrate Mother’s and Father’s Day, and many others contributed money to name craters for birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays. Father’s Day is coming up, and as they did for this past Mother’s Day, Uwingu is offering you a chance to name a crater for Dad, and commemorate it with a certificate you can download electronically or have framed. If you name one of the 50 largest craters on the map, you’ll get a special bonus gift certificate. It’s a great way to donate to worthy cause, and maybe even put a smile on Dad’s face!

You can get more information on the special offer and check out Uwingu’s maps on their Web site.

comet, Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, comet dust, rosetta, rosetta spacecraft

Snake Eyes on a Comet

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Weird-looking Jets from Comet 67P Tell Tales of Interior Activity

This image of Rosetta’s comet taken on April 25, 2015 from a distance of approximately 93 kilometers (57 miles) shows clearly distinguishable dust jets persisting after nightfall. (Click image for a larger view.) ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA

The Rosetta Mission’s OSIRIS camera team released an image of jets blasting out from beneath the dusty surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The instant I saw the image, the jets reminded me of fangs on an alien snake or laser-like eyes on some strange sci-fi monster (how’s that for some Monday-morning pareidolia?). Actually, the truth is far more interesting than fiction.

What we’re looking at here is what happens when the Sun warms a comet. It’s a view of two jets on the side of the comet that will shortly be in darkness. And therein lies an interesting suggestion about jet activity on 67P. All along, since Rosetta arrived at the comet, we’ve been getting treated to increasing amounts of jet activity as 67P gets closer to the Sun and gets heated up. But, until recently, the jets were only active on the daylight side of the comet. Now, they’re persisting after sunset, and showing up prior to sunrise. So, what has changed?

The answer is pretty simple: as the comet gets closer to the Sun, its activity is increasing. The OSIRIS team suggests that the comet can store heat beneath the dusty crust, and the deeper layers remain warm quite a while after sunset and after the surface cools. This isn’t a new idea, since other comets have shown similar post-sunset activity, but this is the first time that astronomers have been able to get a good, high-resolution look at post-sunset jets on a comet. It’s the kind of detail that will help comet scientists understand their targets better.

Comet 67P has its closest approach to the Sun on August 13, 2015, and the Rosetta spacecraft will be tracking right along with it through this incredibly busy (and somewhat dangerous) time. For some comets, perihelion passage can break them apart. Comet 67P may not face as much danger as sun-grazing comets that come too close to the Sun. That’s because the closest it will come to the Sun is 186 million kilometers (115 million miles). Earth is 150 million kilometers (93 million miles) away, so that puts the comet’s perihelion distance at outside the orbit of Earth. Still, the comet should show quite a bit more activity, which the spacecraft will be documenting along the way. Stay tuned!

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