LCROSS will impact the Cabeus A crater on the Moon.

The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission is designed to determine whether water ice is present on the Moon. Water is always an issue for future lunar exploration. LCROSS has two components — a rocket that will impact a shadowy Moon crater and excavate it, and a satellite that will sample the plume produced by the impact. If ancient ice lies buried on the Moon, it may be ejected and then detected by specialized instruments.

• Video of the LCROSS launch.
• The LCROSS Web site.

Meteor Crater in Arizona, caused by an 80-foot meteor 20,000 to 50,000 years ago.

NASA says that without more funding, it will not meet the asteroid tracking goals mandated by Congress. NASA hopes to spot 90% of potentially dangerous objects by 2020. Large asteroids could cause global catastrophe if they strike Earth, and the U.S. is the only country with an asteroid-detection program.

• The Planetary Society on Near-Earth Objects.
• Near Earth Asteroid Tracking Web site.

A map of debris in a low-Earth orbit, the most concentrated area of debris.

Leftover pieces of satellites orbit the earth as debris. Some of this debris has been hazardous for the International Space Station and the Space Shuttle, as well as orbiting satellites. The debris re-enters Earth’s atmosphere at the rate of about one piece per day. One of the most famous pieces of orbital debris, a tool box dropped by an astronaut while performing a space walk, re-entered the atmosphere on August 3, 2009.

• NASA's Debris Web Site.
• Space debris in Google Earth.
• Video of the lost tool bag, recorded by an amateur astronomer.

Canyons on Titan

Saturn’s moon Titan is far from Earth, but both worlds have some things in common — wind, rain, volcanoes and tectonics. These forces sculpt features on Titan, as on Earth, but in an environment more frigid than Antarctica. Titan looks more like Earth than any other body in the solar system, despite the huge differences in temperature and environment.

• Space.com on the Titan-Earth similarities.
• The Cassini Mission studies Titan.

New research may help predict temperature and precipitation. Credit: NCAR

A new link has been established between the Sun’s 11-year cycle and global climate. It shows that solar activity has effects on Earth resembling La Niña and El Niño events in the Pacific Ocean. We’ve known for years that long-term solar variations affect certain weather patterns, including droughts and regional temperatures, but establishing a real connection between solar cycles and global climate patterns has proven elusive.

• National Science Foundation news release.
• Wikipedia solar cycle entry.
• Science Daily on the solar cycle-weather link.

The newly upgraded and repaired Hubble Space Telescope has released its first showcase images, spotlighting galaxies drawn together by gravity, star clusters, dying stars and more. For the first time, Hubble will circle the Earth with a full set of five instruments, opening new horizons for scientific study.

• Hubble Opens New Eyes on the Universe

An astronaut photograph of the Earth as seen from the Moon.

Was the solar system always the organized clockwork system envisioned by Isaac Newton? According to a computer model of the early epoch of the solar system, the answer is “no.” The large outer planets may have been closer to the Sun and migrated outwards while encountering small bodies called planetesimals. As the big planets moved outward, small objects cascaded toward the inner solar system, bombarding the four small, rocky planets. The model also predicts other oddities of the solar system that have gone unexplained.

• Science Magazine summary describing the new model.

Munch's "Girls on a Pier" Credit: The Munch Museum

Researchers at Texas State University have found more interesting conclusions about Edvard Munch’s paintings in Norway. Previously they had found that the vivid colors in Munch’s painting, The Scream, could be attributable to dust spewed into the atmosphere by the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa.

In new findings, the group has concluded that a mysterious orb in the sky that Munch painted in “Girls on the Pier” depicts the Moon rather than the Sun. The group also explains why Munch didn’t paint the reflection of the Moon in the water.

• Sky & Telescope on the research into the painting.