Water on the Moon, Data from multiple missions seems to indicate... |
Water on the Moon, Data from multiple missions seems to indicate... |
Sep 24 2009, 12:23 AM
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Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 2785 Joined: 10-November 06 From: Pasadena, CA Member No.: 1345 |
This probably deserves it's own thread. Seems the evidence is not specific to only one mission...
space.com article: http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/0909...-discovery.html -------------------- Some higher resolution images available at my photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31678681@N07/
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Sep 26 2009, 12:57 PM
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#2
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Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 2785 Joined: 10-November 06 From: Pasadena, CA Member No.: 1345 |
I wonder if MS analysis could help show where the water comes from?
If water is undergoing a diurnal cycle of desorption-vapor-redeposition then that process should favor the heavier H2(18O). Since the lighter molecule would have a better chance of escaping, so the 18O/16O ratio would be larger. If water is continually being destroyed by sunlight and reformed from solar hydrogen combining with oxygen species from lunar rock, and assuming lunar rock doesn't have any isotopic oxygen enrichment, then you'd expect a very light isotopic mixture (H2(16O)) with a 18O/16O ratio similar to that found in lunar rock. -------------------- Some higher resolution images available at my photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31678681@N07/
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