This Week in Space News
October 1, 2015
Super Blood Moon Covers the Night Sky
An astronomical phenomenon known as a “super blood moon” graced the night sky on Sunday. At the right angle, the moon appeared larger in the night sky, thus creating a super moon. Combine that with a lunar eclipse, a “super blood moon” had occurred. The last one appeared in 1982 and another one would not appear until 2033. The eclipse was the last in a tetrad, or a series of four lunar eclipses in a two-year period.
Water on Mars Confirmed by NASA
At a news conference Monday, NASA scientists confirmed that there is salty water flowing on the surface of Mars. This was after the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter discovered dark streaks along mountains, canyons, and craters back in 2011. These streaks strengthen over the summer but disappeared during the winter months. This discovery brought up speculation about the possibility of life on Mars as water is considered a main ingredient for life.
New Photos of Dwarf Planet Ceres Released
On Wednesday of this past week, NASA released new photographs of the asteroid belt’s only dwarf planet Ceres thanks to the Dawn space probe. The images in question uses false colors as way to highlight the topography of the dwarf planet. One notable feature that was shown in the photographs is a cone-shaped mountain that towers 4 miles above the surface of the dwarf planet. The Dawn probe is currently orbiting the dwarf planet at an altitude of 915 miles and will be having its final orbit starting in December where it remain at an altitude of 230 miles until December.
