NASA Briefs Preliminary Plume Findings from Moon Mission |
NASA Briefs Preliminary Plume Findings from Moon Mission |
Nov 10 2009, 09:26 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 239 Joined: 18-December 07 From: New York Member No.: 3982 |
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Nov 13 2009, 10:23 PM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3516 Joined: 4-November 05 From: North Wales Member No.: 542 |
Before the specific mention of methane as a 'possibility' there was a comment about having found substance(s) that would evaporate at temperatures just 20-30 degrees warmer than ambient ground temperatures of -220C or -230C, possibly sublimed off a wider area around the crater by falling warm debris. Methane has a boiling point in this range - but are there other candidates?
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Nov 13 2009, 10:55 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 813 Joined: 8-February 04 From: Arabia Terra Member No.: 12 |
Before the specific mention of methane as a 'possibility' there was a comment about having found substance(s) that would evaporate at temperatures just 20-30 degrees warmer than ambient ground temperatures of -220C or -230C They certainly seemed to hint at there being a lot of highly volatile materials down there. Makes me wonder whether we could get brief, regular bursts of cometary style activity by putting a huge reflective surface in lunar polar orbit. It would make boring old Luna look a bit like Enceladus! (entirely different mechanism, of course) |
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