3 questions after the discovery of water molecules on the sunlit moon

Anonymous — Fri, 30 Oct 2020 21:33:28 +0000

3 questions after the discovery of water molecules on the sunlit moon Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 10/30/2020 - 15:33

Isabella Isaacs-Thomas

From PBS News Hour: In 2018, astronomers directly confirmed for the first time that water, in the form of ice, is on the moon’s surface. Aptly named water ice resides in the coldest, darkest parts of our planet’s satellite, like the shadow-shrouded craters that dot its polar regions, the deepest parts of which never see sunlight.

But new research published Monday verified a suspicion that researchers had long been unable to confirm. A team of scientists who studied a slice of the moon aboard NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) — considered to be the world’s largest flying observatory — detected the first evidence that water molecules can exist on the unforgiving landscape of the sunlit lunar surface. That means that those molecules could be found across more parts of the moon than scientists previously imagined...

The presence of water on the moon is “an absolute game-changer” for both future exploration and paving the way toward a sustainable human presence there, said Jack Burns, a professor in the department of astrophysical and planetary sciences at the University of babyֱ��app Boulder. Read more...

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