WASHINGTON — Astronomers have found the coldest spot in our solar system and it may be a little close for comfort. It's on our moon, right nearby.
NASA is making the first ever temperature map of the moon. They found that at the moon's south pole, it's colder than far away Pluto. The area is inside craters that are permanently shadowed so they never see sun.
Temperatures there were measured at 397 degrees (minus 238 Celsius) below zero. That's just 35 degrees (2 Celsius) higher than the lowest temperature possible.
It is also about a degree chillier than what's been found on Pluto.
The information is from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter which started its science mission last week.
On the Net:
NASA Puts Lunar Electric Rover to Desert Test
Source: Technology Review
Class: SYNDICATED NEWS
SYNOPSIS: On the moon, the 12-wheeled, battery-powered LER would have a range of about 150 miles.
If NASA astronauts return to the moon in the next decade, they'll get to cruise the lunar surface in style.
The space agency's current plan is to send humans back to the moon by 2020, and this includes using a new exploration vehicle called Lunar Electric Rover (LER). About the size of a small pickup truck, LER has 12 pivoting wheels that enable the rover to move in any direction and turn on a dime; it features a tilting cockpit for close-up views of the terrain; and it runs on batteries and fuel cells.
Monday 21 September 2009
Forget Pluto, NASA probe finds darkest parts of moon are coldest places in the solar system
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