Mars Meteorite Invades Earth!

A recent confirmation from scientists shared to the public that a random rock found in Morocco last July was indeed a chunk of the red planet falling to Earth!

The Morocco discovery is one of great excitement because this is only the 5th time scientists have confirmed alien meteorites along with witnesses of it falling from the sky. 6 months ago, the sudden burst of fire was spotted in the sky, however, the rocks were not discovered on the ground in North Africa until the end of December.

This is the inside of the first meteorite from Mars that was discovered.

The fallen rocks provide an opportunity for scientists to learn about the potential for life on Mars. Presently, no NASA or Russian spacecraft has returned samples from Mars, therefore the only samples scientists have are the random rocks that fell to Earth.

Scientists and other staff involving the fallen meteorites are excited because already, the meteorite is accumulating large sums of money because it is among the rarest items on Earth, more so than gold. Meteorite experts and NASA scientists confirmed that 15 pounds of rock have reently been collected from Mars. Astronomers believe that millions of years ago, something large collided with Mars, sending rocks into the solar system. After a long journey through space, one of the rocks got stuck in Earth's orbit and split into smaller pieces as it fell.

Many other meteorites stayed on the Earth's surface for several decades, even millions of years before they were discovered. At this point, they were contained with Earth materials and life. However with these recent rocks, although they were on our surface for several months, are purer than past discoveries. The last time a fresh meteorite fell to Earth was in 1962.

"It's incredibly fresh. It's highly valuable for that reason," said Carl Agee, director of the Institute of Meteoritics and curator at the University of New Mexico. "For someone who knows their Martian, this is a beauty. It's gorgeous."

In terms of martian meteorites that we know of, they only occur once every 50 years- 1815 in France, 1865 in India, 1911 in Egypt and 1962 in Nigeria. Therefore, this discovery is a once-in-a-career or even once-in-a-lifetime event.

Check out this Youtube video of the 2011 Moroccan meteorite!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mfsZ74T9ko

Youtube Videos

I decided to go on Youtube to find videos on Mars.  Below are some videos I found the most interesting and easy to understand.  Leave me a comment if anything spikes your interest!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=iv&src_vid=FlXuUxFTcLs&annotation_id=annotation_955787&v=JgMXPXdqJn8 -"The Asteroid That Flattened Mars"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe8ECk73-98&feature=plcp&context=C3a7c8ddUDOEgsToPDskJTqm22OLhe9DxtFBeCmk2q -Pictures of Mars

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCd3S4Yc8sU&feature=plcp&context=C38f5090UDOEgsToPDskLOXYYgi8mYc2utkwSyjxjw -"Mars Strange Volcano and Impact Features"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0bcRCCg01I -This is an orchestra, conducted by Gustav Holst, who created a song called "Mars, The Bringer of War".  IT'S SO COOL, HAVE A LISTEN! Check out his other songs for each planet!

Argentine Lake and Mars?

I found an article published back in 2010 about a possible connection involving an Argentine Lake and Mars.  Confused?  Take a quick read!

In Argentina, there is a lake found in a remote area in the northwest which is believed to have clues on how life started on Earth and how it could survive on other planets, according to scientists.

With many studies on this lake, researchers have found millions of "super bacteria" living inside Lake Diamante, which contains no oxygen because it is located in the center of a giant volcanic crater over 15,400 feet above sea level.

Lake Diamante, Argentina.

This lake's habitat contains similarities to early Earth, before living/ breathing organisms formed an oxygen-thriving atmosphere for our planet.  These conditions of high aresenic and akaline levels may lead to finalized theories about life on extraterrestrial planets.

"This is of great scientific interest as a window to look to our past and also for a science called astrobiology, the study of life on other planets," said Maria Eugenia Farias, part of the team that discovered the life-forms in Lake Diamante earlier this year.

Given the similarities between this lake and Mars, the theory states that the bacteria may also flourish on a planet such as Mars. 

Farias said this bacteria, called "polyextremophiles" are known as super bacteria because they can survive and flourish even in the most extreme circumstances.

A polyextremphile bacteria.

"What we have here is a series of extreme conditions all in one place. And this is what makes this place unique in the world," said Farias, a microbiologist at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council in Tucuman province.

The lake contains levels of arsenic 20,000 times higher than safe drinking water and a temperature often below freezing point.  However, because the water is so salty (five times saltier than sea water), ice is incapable of forming.

Farias believes that due to the mutation of the bacteria's DNA to survive in UV radiation and low oxygen levels, it could be of interest in the pharmaceuticals industry.  It has potential to future commercial applications in products such as sunlotions.

Farias and her team are looking for Argentine funding to produce a metagenome (an advanced study which provides a DNA sequence of the entire microbe colony) of the bacteria.  This would allow her team to continue studying the bacteria in Argentina and to keep hold of potential bacteria for new antioxidants or enzymes that can be made from it.

App Takes Photos of Mars

Need a new app for your iPhone but aren't sure which to download?  If you have an iPhone, iPad or an Android device, an app can now be used to see images taken by NASA of the surface of Mars as it is being currently explored!

Image taken from NASA.

Mark Powell of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the creator of the FREE app, allows users to look through the new pictures taken from the Opportunity Mars Exploration Rover, which has been on Mars since 2004.  This rover has been taking pictures and making discoveries since it arrived on the planet.

Opportunity's sister rover, The Spirit, is also on Mars therefore NASA plans to add pictures from her as well.  Both rovers were put on Mars in January 2004 for 90 days, however, the rovers stayed much later past their scheduled mission.  Spirit's mission ended in mid-2011, but Opportunity continues to explore Mars.
These six-wheeled vehicles, controlled by NASA employees, contains cameras and microscopic imager cameras to take pictures of small rocks and to take pictures of Mars.  The app will also send pictures directly to the app once new ones are available.

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Curiosity Adjusts Its Path to Mars

Previously, I spoke about a NASA spacecraft named Curiosity and its recent mission to the Red Planet.  Recent news has informed the public about a dramatic course adjustment so that Curiosity can reach its goal on Mars.

This is Curiosity inside NASA.

This recent correction is the most important task Curiosity will do during its mission to Mars.  This is very common for robotic explorers to perform several times so that landing turns into a success.

As I mentioned in my previous blog, a Russian probe was doomed unsuccessful as its launch backfired in November and got trapped in Earth's atmosphere.  Many attempts were made to put the probe back on track but pieces were lost and are expected to fall back to Earth this Sunday.

Over the next few weeks, NASA's team will be testing Curiosity's communication system along with other components to aid in making the mission successful.  A future path adjustment is planned to take place in March.

Surprisingly, if the space craft's path was not recently adjusted, it would miss Mars altogether because it was initially not aimed at the planet.  This aim was made purposely to ensure that the rocket that launched Curiosity would not hit Mars.

Since launch, the team will now be able to adjust its path several times before landing.  The space craft has a special outer covering that will protect it as it launches through the atmosphere of Mars.

This is what Curiosity would look like on the planet Mars.

Curiosity has not been idle yet since launching.  Its radiation detector has been activated so that it can monitor high- energy particles that come from the sun and other stars nearby.  Once at Mars, radiation levels on the surface will be measured.

So far, the mission is a success and no further problems have been announced.  Hopefully with further adjustments, Curiosity will reach the alien planet as it was intended.

See Mars Tonight Until April 15, 2012!

If you want to see Mars with your naked eye, be sure to stay up late TONIGHT!  This does not happen very often so take advantage of this opportunity!

Tonight, January 12, 2012, and tomorrow night, the moon can be used to find Mars as it orbits one step beyond Earth's orbit so that it can be seen.  Mars can be seen somewhere between 10-11p.m., on the eastern horizon.  Tonight, the moon will rise first, and an hour later, Mars will follow.  The opposite will happen tomorrow night- Mars will rise first, followed by the Moon.  The Red Planet will be easy to spot because it will be the brightest object shining in the night sky.  If you are an early bird instead of a night owl, Mars can be found by the Moon in the early morning hours before daybreak.  As you can see in the picture above, Mars and Regulus (the brightest star in the constellation Leo), are both bright, but Mars outshines Regulus.

Mars is easily distinguished from Regulus in terms of colour.  Mars looks orange, while Regulus looks blue-white.  Binoculars are a great tool to help spot them if you are having trouble distinguishing which colour is which.

This is a photo of Mars, showing the largest canyon in the solar system called Valles Marineris.

Currently, Mars is located at the border of the constellations Leo and Virgo, right by a star called Denebola in Leo's constellation and will remain there for the rest of January 2012.  Mars will move west starting January 24- April 15, 2012 and will be closer to Regulus by the end of this movement.  In early March 2012, Mars will shine the brightest during this movement.

If you know the Big Dipper constellation well, locate its pointer stars and draw an imaginary line to Leo and Mars, as shown on the below chart.  On June 21, 2912, Mars will leave Leo and enter Virgo.

The pointer stars of the Big Dipper directly point to Leo.  Mars will remain in front of Leo until June 21.

In conclusion, starting tonight and for the next consecutive nights, Mars will be the brightest light near the moon.  Mars can be seen late at night and early in the mornings, over the next few months as Mars turns the brightest in early March 2012!

Alien Mars Announced

I found an article  that was posted January 11, 2012, which contains many surprises! I think many people will find my summary extremely interesting and informative about a newly discovered planet!

An unknown planet, about 0.57 times the radius of Earth (slighty larger than Mars), has recently been found orbiting a red dwarf star along with 2 other companions, both smaller than Earth.  These planets were found by a spacecraft called the "Kepler Spacecaft" around a 130 light year red dwarf star named KOI-961 and with further investigation from Palomar Observatory and W.M. Keck Observatory, this planet was about 0.57-0.78 times the size of Earth.

Since these planets are so small, it is believed that they are rocky, just like Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. These planets orbit their star just half an earth day- two days away; with surface temperatures ranging from 200-500 degrees between the outermost and innermost planet, concluding them as unhabitable and too hot to support liquid water.

Not only are the planets small, but the dwarf star is as well.  KOI-961 contains a diameter one-sixth of our Sun's, concluding it just 70% larger than Jupiter.  Red dwarf stars are small and the most common kind of star in the Milky Way (approximately 8 out of 10 stars are red dwarfs), so this discovery is believed that this type of star may be the place to search for Earth-like planets.  Presently, only 85 out of 900 possible solar systems found by Kepler have been identified in red dwarf systems.

“When you combine that with the fact that these are some of the most numerous stars in the Galaxy, you realize this type of system could be common,” says Philip Muirhead, also from Caltech and lead author of the paper describing the discovery in the Astrophysical Journal. “There’s no question that it’s exciting.”

KOI-961 is almost exactly the same as the well- studied nearby red dwarf, Barnard's Star, which is located 6 light years away.Since the Kepler found this new discovery, if another dwarf planet is discovered, it increases the chance that Barnard's star may have planets that orbit it.

“If these planets are as common as they appear – and because red dwarfs themselves are so common – then the whole Galaxy must be just swarming with little habitable planets around faint red dwarfs,” adds Johnson.

NASA Spacecraft Aiming for August Landing

I just discovered an online news article about a recent NASA aircraft that recently launched in November and is on course for a landing on Mars.  Here is a brief summary.

The NASA spacecraft is named "Curiosity" and engineers are closely monitoring the ship's course since launching.  The total length of the flight is 352 million miles to Mars, therefore, the firing of Curiosity is the most crucial part of the procedure, due to its long distance to travel.  This mission is costing NASA $2.5 billion therefore it is important that Curiosity makes it safely to Mars.  Since launching, Curiosity travelled 80 million miles at a speed of 10,200 mph!  Wow!

Curiosity's mission is to land on a 96 mile wide crater near the equator of Mars which contains a towering muntain in the center.  The plan is to land in the lower parts of the crater to examine soil deposits in hopes of determining whether or not the area had/has living conditions for microbial life.  Curiosity includes many features and instruments, including a laser to zap into bedrock along with a jackhammer, making it more sophisticated than previous Mars spacecrafts.  Even though it has more tools, it will not be able to detect life.  As an alternative, it will search for the chemical building blocks that are responsible for sustaining life during the 2 years it will be on Mars.

In order for Curiosity to safely land on the planet's surface, NASA is testing out a new type of landing using a sky crane system because the spacecraft is too heavy to use airbags.  This method allows a parachute to detach while a rocket-powered platform fires its engines to lower it to the ground on a rope.  This is similar to a hovering helicopter lowering huge loads at the end of a cable.
Curiosity's trip sharply contrasts with another spacecraft, who's aim is at Phobos, the moon of Mars.  This Russian probe was launched weeks earlier than Curiosity but got stranded in Earth's orbit and pieces were expected to fall back to Earth this weekend.

Hopefully Curiosity's mission is successful and we can receive good news in the future!
Care to learn more about Curiosity? Click the link below, it's pretty epic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1coV7XqE1M&feature=plcp&context=C34c06fdUDOEgsToPDskLD71BH3obG7oFTd3hOwxn6

Water on Mars?

Although I briefly posted about Mars in my older posts, I found some more information regarding the possibility of water on Mars that I found rather interesting.

It is believed by scientists that 3.5 billion years ago, Mars experienced the largest flood ever known in the solar system.  This excess water was believed to have formed lakes and shallow oceans.  If there was so much water, where did it come from, how long did it last and where did it go?

Currently, Mars has extremely cold temperatures while the atmosphere is too thin to allow water to exist in a liquid state on the surface.  The only water on the surface of Mars is in a frozen state at the polar ice caps, however, the amount of water required to have formed the deep channels and flood plains does not currently exist on the surface.  Much more water was needed to do this, therefore concluding that more water was on the planet in the past.  NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft ponders about possible underground water reserves that may break the surface as springs.  The answer can only be found deep beneath the soil.

Polar ice caps on Mars.

Finalizing the discovery of water on Mars is important in regards to the past climate of Mars, which will help us understand how planets were formed, including Earth.  Since water is one of the main elements responsible for the existance of life, the evidence of water on the Red Planet will unlock the mystery about present or past life as well as possible life on other planets in the universe.  Before mankind can safely travel to Mars, there is still much to know about the environment of Mars, as well as how accessible resources, such as water, can be used.

Forceful abundance of water carved out channels along the planet's surface.

The below link is a short Youtube video about water on Mars for further information.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBam6B9wrdI

Unmasking the Face on Mars

In 1976, something interesting was discovered on the surface of the Red Planet.  A spacecraft called the Viking 1, owned by NASA, was orbiting the planet to take pictures in case a landing site for the Viking 2 ship was possible. Surprisingly, an enormous two mile human face seemed to stare back into the camera in the region of Mars called Cydonia.

A high degree of surprise fell upon the mission controllers in the Jet Propulsion Lab as the face appeared on their monitors back home.  However, the instant surprise soon came to an end when scientists found the true meaning of the human face.  This new found face was a common Martian mesa (similar to a plateau- flat and surrounded by cliffs) in Cydonia although this one had unique shadows, allowing the formation to resemble an Egyptian Pharaoh.

A few days after this unusual discovery, NASA revealed this image to engage the public's interest in Mars.  Since this discovery, the "Face on Mars" has become a pop icon in Hollywood movies, books, magazines and other publications. Some people (especially consipracy theorists) think this Face is evidence of life on Mars that NASA would rather keep a secret.  In the meantime, defenders of NASA want to believe there was an ancient civilization on Mars and not just a natural landform.

Very little scientists actually believe the Face is alien made, however, photographing Cydonia became an important task for NASA in hopes of getting a clear image of the Face.  Upon photogpahing Cydonia, it was discovered that there were many other mesas similar to the Face, however, none look like human faces.  These other mesas had similar height and width measurements therefore concluding that the Face is, in no way, exotic of any sort.