Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Where Is Water on Moon From--Volcanoes, Sun ... Earth?
Ker Than
for National Geographic News
November 17, 2009
For many, 2009 will be remembered as the year water on the moon was confirmed beyond any reasonable doubt.
"You're seeing the culmination of a whole bunch of missions that were instrumented specifically to address this question," said Paul Spudis of the NASA-funded Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) in Houston, Texas.
Earlier this year, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and India's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft detected possible chemical traces of lunar water. And just last week NASA announced that their LCROSS moon crashes had kicked up "significant" amounts of water from a crater.
But where did the moon's water come from?
"Was it deposited in a single big event that was recent? Or is this stuff that has been around for billions of years?" said Peter Schultz, an LCROSS scientist at Brown University in Rhode Island. "We don't know."
Right now there are three major scientific theories of how the moon got its water—and a "wildly speculative" fourth idea that can't be ruled out just yet.
THEORY ONE
Ancient Volcanoes Pushed Moon's Water to Surface
The moon's water was there from the start, one theory goes—water was an ingredient in the moon's creation, as it was for Earth's.
According to this idea, the water is concentrated in the moon's interior. In the distant past, when the now "dead" moon had a hot core, volcanic eruptions or gaseous "belches" slowly pushed water to the surface, where it's been frozen ever since, said LPI's Spudis, explaining the theory.
THEORY TWO
Water is "Home Brewed" on the Surface
Lunar water could be home-brewed, with some help from the sun, some scientists speculate.
The sun constantly emits a stream of particles called solar wind. Positively charged hydrogen ions, or protons, in the solar wind may strike the moon and interact with oxygen-rich minerals in lunar soil to form H2O, aka water, according to this theory.
(Find out how charged particles from Jupiter could be feeding enough oxygen into the "ocean moon" Europa to support fish-size life.)
Forming water via solar wind would be a slow process, Brown University's Schultz said. But "even if you're only accumulating a molecule [of water] a day this way, over billions of years you can do a lot of things."
THEORY THREE
Comets and Asteroids Delivered Water to the Moon
Some say the moon's water may be a gift from water-bearing comets and wet asteroids that struck the moon in the distant past. (Related: "Comet Swarm Delivered Earth's Oceans?")
Most of the water from such an impact would have been ejected into space, but some sluggish molecules could have been captured by the moon's gravity.
"The idea is that comets or water-bearing asteroids hit the moon and create a cloud of water vapor that hangs around the vicinity of the moon's surface," LPI's Spudis said.
"Some of the water eventually migrates to the polar areas, where it might find its way into a cold trap"—a permanently frigid area, such as a polar crater where sunlight never reaches.
A cold trap is too chilly to allow ice to sublimate—turn directly into gas—and the airless moon is inhospitable to liquid water. As a result, the water would theoretically remain frozen for eons.
THEORY FOUR
The Moon's Water Came From Earth
There are two ways Earth water could have ended up on the moon, and both would have been possible only when Earth and the moon were much closer, billions of years ago, Brown's Schultz said.
For starters, during prehistoric periods when Earth's magnetic field was absent or weak, solar wind could have stripped water vapor from our planet's atmosphere and deposited it on the moon.
Or perhaps catastrophic asteroid or comet impacts on Earth ejected seawater into space, and the orbiting moon passed through the vapor cloud, emerging somewhat soggier.
Both of these two scenarios are theoretically possible, though Schultz admits, "we're in speculation land." But then, that's exactly where lunar water lived until a few short days ago.
Water on the Moon article link
Article Review.
Speculations on whether water exists on the Moon were confirmed on 2009. Countries experimented and found traces of lunar water on the moon. There are four possible theories on where the lunar water came from. The first is that the moon's ancient volcanoes pushed lunar water to the surface. The volcanoes pushed water to the Moon's surface and froze. The second explanation is water was made on the Moon itself where ions from the sun stuck the Moon's surface where oxygen rich minerals are available in lunar soil. The third theory is that space objects brought water to the Moon where liquid water will instantly sublime into ice at the poles of the Moon. The fourth wild theory is that eons ago when the Earth's magnetic field was weak, the solar winds or some space bodies like asteroids had struck Earth and knocked water vapour into space which reached the Moon and became lunar water.
Comments on Article
This article is written for the general public to notify them of the discovery of water on the Moon. This article attracts the world's attention as it was always a mystery and all speculative on whether lunar water really exists. This article removed all doubts on lunar water and was achieved by countries experimenting on the Moon. They hope to illicit some exciting responses from the public and to be curious about the Moon whether life can exist on the Moon or can be supported. If there are suitable living conditions on the Moon, we might be able to migrate to the Moon and ease overcrowded areas on Earth. The readers will be intrigued about the Moon and think that is it possible for water to exist on the Moon and why is there water on the Moon. If there is lunar water on the moon and suitable living conditions are available for living things, countries might invest on making the Moon a place for building homes and to send people to the Moon. They will also be able to use the mineral rich Moon soil and probably discover more elements. We would not need to worry about the shortage of resources and land space. This article tells the world of the four possible theories of Luna’s water origins. So that they will understand how the water came about and originated. The people will wonder how will it be like to live on the Moon where everyday, we would see the Moon at night at look at the spectacular wonder of the night sky, the only noticeable light reflected from the Sun besides the stars. It will be a marvelous sight to be behold and maybe, in the near future, we would be living on the Moon and instead of looking at the Moon from Earth at night, we would watch Earth from the Moon. The moon has one sixth of the Earth's gravitational strength and there are more possibilities for sports. All sorts of sports will be faster, stronger and much more exciting. This will all be a reality soon.
Ker Than
for National Geographic News
November 17, 2009
For many, 2009 will be remembered as the year water on the moon was confirmed beyond any reasonable doubt.
"You're seeing the culmination of a whole bunch of missions that were instrumented specifically to address this question," said Paul Spudis of the NASA-funded Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) in Houston, Texas.
Earlier this year, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and India's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft detected possible chemical traces of lunar water. And just last week NASA announced that their LCROSS moon crashes had kicked up "significant" amounts of water from a crater.
But where did the moon's water come from?
"Was it deposited in a single big event that was recent? Or is this stuff that has been around for billions of years?" said Peter Schultz, an LCROSS scientist at Brown University in Rhode Island. "We don't know."
Right now there are three major scientific theories of how the moon got its water—and a "wildly speculative" fourth idea that can't be ruled out just yet.
THEORY ONE
Ancient Volcanoes Pushed Moon's Water to Surface
The moon's water was there from the start, one theory goes—water was an ingredient in the moon's creation, as it was for Earth's.
According to this idea, the water is concentrated in the moon's interior. In the distant past, when the now "dead" moon had a hot core, volcanic eruptions or gaseous "belches" slowly pushed water to the surface, where it's been frozen ever since, said LPI's Spudis, explaining the theory.
THEORY TWO
Water is "Home Brewed" on the Surface
Lunar water could be home-brewed, with some help from the sun, some scientists speculate.
The sun constantly emits a stream of particles called solar wind. Positively charged hydrogen ions, or protons, in the solar wind may strike the moon and interact with oxygen-rich minerals in lunar soil to form H2O, aka water, according to this theory.
(Find out how charged particles from Jupiter could be feeding enough oxygen into the "ocean moon" Europa to support fish-size life.)
Forming water via solar wind would be a slow process, Brown University's Schultz said. But "even if you're only accumulating a molecule [of water] a day this way, over billions of years you can do a lot of things."
THEORY THREE
Comets and Asteroids Delivered Water to the Moon
Some say the moon's water may be a gift from water-bearing comets and wet asteroids that struck the moon in the distant past. (Related: "Comet Swarm Delivered Earth's Oceans?")
Most of the water from such an impact would have been ejected into space, but some sluggish molecules could have been captured by the moon's gravity.
"The idea is that comets or water-bearing asteroids hit the moon and create a cloud of water vapor that hangs around the vicinity of the moon's surface," LPI's Spudis said.
"Some of the water eventually migrates to the polar areas, where it might find its way into a cold trap"—a permanently frigid area, such as a polar crater where sunlight never reaches.
A cold trap is too chilly to allow ice to sublimate—turn directly into gas—and the airless moon is inhospitable to liquid water. As a result, the water would theoretically remain frozen for eons.
THEORY FOUR
The Moon's Water Came From Earth
There are two ways Earth water could have ended up on the moon, and both would have been possible only when Earth and the moon were much closer, billions of years ago, Brown's Schultz said.
For starters, during prehistoric periods when Earth's magnetic field was absent or weak, solar wind could have stripped water vapor from our planet's atmosphere and deposited it on the moon.
Or perhaps catastrophic asteroid or comet impacts on Earth ejected seawater into space, and the orbiting moon passed through the vapor cloud, emerging somewhat soggier.
Both of these two scenarios are theoretically possible, though Schultz admits, "we're in speculation land." But then, that's exactly where lunar water lived until a few short days ago.
Water on the Moon article link
Article Review.
Speculations on whether water exists on the Moon were confirmed on 2009. Countries experimented and found traces of lunar water on the moon. There are four possible theories on where the lunar water came from. The first is that the moon's ancient volcanoes pushed lunar water to the surface. The volcanoes pushed water to the Moon's surface and froze. The second explanation is water was made on the Moon itself where ions from the sun stuck the Moon's surface where oxygen rich minerals are available in lunar soil. The third theory is that space objects brought water to the Moon where liquid water will instantly sublime into ice at the poles of the Moon. The fourth wild theory is that eons ago when the Earth's magnetic field was weak, the solar winds or some space bodies like asteroids had struck Earth and knocked water vapour into space which reached the Moon and became lunar water.
Comments on Article
This article is written for the general public to notify them of the discovery of water on the Moon. This article attracts the world's attention as it was always a mystery and all speculative on whether lunar water really exists. This article removed all doubts on lunar water and was achieved by countries experimenting on the Moon. They hope to illicit some exciting responses from the public and to be curious about the Moon whether life can exist on the Moon or can be supported. If there are suitable living conditions on the Moon, we might be able to migrate to the Moon and ease overcrowded areas on Earth. The readers will be intrigued about the Moon and think that is it possible for water to exist on the Moon and why is there water on the Moon. If there is lunar water on the moon and suitable living conditions are available for living things, countries might invest on making the Moon a place for building homes and to send people to the Moon. They will also be able to use the mineral rich Moon soil and probably discover more elements. We would not need to worry about the shortage of resources and land space. This article tells the world of the four possible theories of Luna’s water origins. So that they will understand how the water came about and originated. The people will wonder how will it be like to live on the Moon where everyday, we would see the Moon at night at look at the spectacular wonder of the night sky, the only noticeable light reflected from the Sun besides the stars. It will be a marvelous sight to be behold and maybe, in the near future, we would be living on the Moon and instead of looking at the Moon from Earth at night, we would watch Earth from the Moon. The moon has one sixth of the Earth's gravitational strength and there are more possibilities for sports. All sorts of sports will be faster, stronger and much more exciting. This will all be a reality soon.