NO WATER ON MOON?

Radar observations made by the giant Arecibo radio telescope show no indication of water ice at the lunar South Pole. Lunar colonization advocates had hoped that the region could have harbored at least a small amount of H2O. Some researchers won't be completely convinced of this until boots hit the lunar regolith once again.




Shackleton crater pictured in this close-up image taken by the European Space Agency's SMART-1 lunar probe lies almost dead center on the lunar South Pole.

For more info:
www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Oct06/campbell.lunarice.html

Image: courtesy ESA

2009 IS INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF ASTRONOMY

The International Astronomical Union is organizing 2009 as the International Year of Astronomy.

Could this be a harbinger of a new global astronomical awareness? Stay tuned.

For more info:

http://www.iau.org/INTERNATIONAL_YEAR_OF_ASTRONOM.403.0.html

Image: IAU/Lars Holm Nielsen

LUNAR FORMATION

Whether waxing, waning or at its fullest, our moon affects everyone who gazes skyward. It's been a fixture of our imaginations since time immemorial.

But the question of just how it formed remains in dispute.

The first edition of Cosmic Cast explores the possibilities.



Image courtesy:
NASA Johnson Space Center