Exogeology ROCKS!

Image credit: NASA

Tomorrow, you’ll have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to actually see a planet cross over a star. Venus transits our sun for the last time in over a century at 22:09 UTC, June 5th, so find a way to watch.

Why is this so special?

If you have any astronomer friends, they’ve probably been blabbering on for months about orbital periods this, first contact that. Why won’t we shut up? Because this is literally once in a lifetime, and it’s kinda cool.

Venus, the next planet inward, will cross directly over the visible disc of the sun. It will appear as a tiny black dot, about one arcminute, covering a minuscule fraction of the disk. This isn’t a lot, but it’s enough to see with the naked eye—not the recommended way to view it, of course.

Venus’ orbit is slightly skewed compared to Earth’s, so Earth, Venus, and the sun only line up this way every 121.5 or 105.5 years. After this much time, Venus gets in the way of the sun twice, each time eight years apart. The last transit was eight years ago. The next, after tomorrow’s, will be in the year 2117.

Transits of Venus were historically used to calculate solar parallax. This eventually led to the astronomical unit, the distance from here to the sun, giving us a way to measure the solar system. Today, scientists’ observations of the transit will help in studying exoplanets.

Do you have a way to live 105.5+ more years or own a time machine? If so, I take back what I said about this being once-in-a-lifetime. Maybe it’s not so special. Even still, what’s the harm in watching?

How can I watch?

If you have vision and plan to keep it, then just going outside and staring at the sun isn’t the method for you. Consider these options instead:

• Try making a pinhole projector.
• Use eclipse glasses. These can be bought online or possibly at your local science museum gift shop. Don’t count on the museum shop though—they might have sold out with all the solar viewing going on lately.
• If you have a telescope, use a filter on the front end (not the eyepiece) to protect your eyes and your telescope. Having a bit of magnification will help turn Venus from a tiny speck to a slightly less tiny speck.
• Do you or a friend weld? No? Huh. Well, for those who do, wear #14 welder’s goggles to safely view the transit.
• Do you have access to a device such as a computer, phone, or tablet which can connect to the internet? If not, can you please explain to me why somebody printed my website? If you do have access, check out NASA’s webcast from Mauna Kea, Hawaii.

Have fun, view safely, and keep me in the loop about that time machine!

Hello, Petra Stone here with news about the Mars Science Laboratory, better known as Curiosity or the MSL. Today, this new rover finally launches on its journey to Mars.

Image from NASA

It’s been over eight years now since the last Mars rover launch, Opportunity’s in 2003. Now, Curiosity will set off on a mission to determine if life could have ever arisen on Mars, characterize the climate of Mars, characterize the geology of Mars, and prepare for human exploration. Those are the four main goals, but this newest and largest rover has eight more specific scientific objectives. There’s a lot in store for the MSL!

JPL cleanroom where Curiosity was built. Image credit Zoe Bentley.

Curiosity’s equipment ROCKS! It’s taking a drill, several cameras for steering and gathering data, a robotic arm, and even a tool called SAM with a laser in it which vaporizes rocks. No, I’m not kidding. The MSL is also powered by plutonium. This means dust buildups won’t keep Curiosity from getting the energy to explore. Even the way it lands is pretty cool. I can’t wait until Curiosity reaches Gale Crater in August next year.

Curiosity is scheduled to launch today at 10:02 EST from Cape Canaveral on board an Atlas V rocket. I can’t wait for this ROCKIN’ rover to get on its way!

Check out these webpages to learn more about Curiosity:
The Mars Science Laboratory’s website
NASA’s MSL Mission Page
Watch Curiosity Launch Live!

Round 1 of Zoe’s Geo Party! is complete! That means we’re halfway through the first game. Now you can watch the entire first round, which has thirty clues split into these six categories:

The Sonoran Desert:

Clue 1, Clue 2, Clue 3, Clue 4, Clue 5.

Riding the Rails Across the USA on Amtrak’s Southwest Chief Line:

Clue 1, Clue 2, Clue 3, Clue 4, Clue 5.

NASA’s Plum Brook Station in Sandusky, Ohio:

Clue 1, Clue 2, Clue 3, Clue 4, Clue 5.

The Girl Scouts of the America:

Clue 1, Clue 2, Clue 3, Clue 4, Clue 5.

The Franconia Sculpture Park:

Clue 1, Clue 2, Clue 3, Clue 4, Clue 5.

Burlington, Iowa:

Clue 1, Clue 2, Clue 3, Clue 4, Clue 5.

Which category was your favorite? Which clues did you know the response to? Which clues were your favorites? I’d love to hear your thoughts, so send feedback and keep responding to clues on my Exogeology ROCKS! Facebook page. Tomorrow marks the beginning of the second round, so keep coming back for more of Zoe’s Geo Party!

Exogeology ROCKS! presents the fifteenth clue of Zoe’s Geo Party! , a 61 clue long trivia game. Look for a new video clue every weekday! This is the fifth clue of the third category. Last week you saw me traveling across the USA on Amtrak’s Southwest Chief line. One of my many goals is to visit all 50 US states before I turn eighteen. What are some of your goals? Please post your response on my Exogeology ROCKS! Facebook page along with your response to the clue. This is the last clue in the Plum Brook Station category, but you can always go back and watch previous episodes here. Remember to phrase your response to each clue in the form of a question!

Exogeology ROCKS! presents the fourteenth clue of Zoe’s Geo Party! , a 61 clue long trivia game. Look for a new video clue every weekday! This is the fourth clue of the third category. Last week you saw me traveling across the USA on Amtrak’s Southwest Chief line. One of my many goals is to visit all 50 US states before I turn eighteen. What are some of your goals? Please post your response on my Exogeology ROCKS! Facebook page along with your response to the clue. Remember to phrase your response to each clue in the form of a question!

Exogeology ROCKS! presents the thirteenth clue of Zoe’s Geo Party! , a 61 clue long trivia game. Look for a new video clue every weekday! This is the third clue of the third category. Last week you saw me traveling across the USA on Amtrak’s Southwest Chief line. One of my many goals is to visit all 50 US states before I turn eighteen. What are some of your goals? Please post your response on my Exogeology ROCKS! Facebook page along with your response to the clue. Remember to phrase your response to each clue in the form of a question!

Exogeology ROCKS! presents the twelfth clue of Zoe’s Geo Party! , a 61 clue long trivia game. Look for a new video clue every weekday! This is the second clue of the third category. Last week you saw me traveling across the USA on Amtrak’s Southwest Chief line. One of my many goals is to visit all 50 US states before I turn eighteen. What are some of your goals? Please post your response on my Exogeology ROCKS! Facebook page along with your response to the clue. Remember to phrase your response to each clue in the form of a question!

Exogeology ROCKS! presents the eleventh clue of Zoe’s Geo Party! , a 61 clue long trivia game. Look for a new video clue every weekday! This is the first clue of the third category. Last week you saw me traveling across the USA on Amtrak’s Southwest Chief line. One of my many goals is to visit all 50 US states before I turn eighteen. What are some of your goals? Please post your response on my Exogeology ROCKS! Facebook page along with your response to the clue. Remember to phrase your response to each clue in the form of a question!

MESSENGER was inserted into orbit around Mercury yesterday, March 17th. Launched on August 13th, 2004, MESSENGER has been in interplanetary flight for over six and a half years! I bet that after this long waiting, the MESSENGER team is thrilled to finally be in orbit. As for me, I think visiting Mercury ROCKS!

MESSENGER is a NASA Mercury orbiter. It’s name is an acronym for MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging. One of its goals is to learn about the topography of Mercury’s surface, and another is to find out the composition of its atmosphere.

On its way to Mercury, MESSENGER has had one Earth flyby, two Venus flybys, and three Mercury flybys. In one of these Mercury flybys, volcanism on the surface and water in the exosphere were discovered. Also on the way to Mercury, MESSENGER took this ROCKIN’ “family portrait” of our Solar System:

There’s a lot about Mercury we’ve found because of MESSENGER. For example, could you imagine seeing a whole side of a planet which you’ve never seen before? MESSENGER gave us just that in this picture:

The instruments on board will be turned on and checked on the 23rd of March, and on the 4th of April the mission’s primary science phase begins. I look forward to seeing what new discoveries are made about our amazing innermost planet!

Exogeology ROCKS!

-Petra Stone

What if someone found a creature that wasn’t like any other, a creature which wasn’t made of the same chemicals as anything else on Earth? Wouldn’t it ROCK to find something so different? That’s exactly what geomicrobiologist Felisa Wolfe-Simon discovered in California’s Mono Lake.

Extremophiles are organisms which can survive in extreme environments, such as intense heat or lack of light. An extremophile bacteria was found recently in California’s salty, alkaline Mono Lake. This extremophile, known as GFAJ-1, can survive high amounts of normally poisonous arsenic.

By weight, the human body contains 65% oxygen, 18.5% carbon, 9.5% hydrogen, 3.3% nitrogen, 1% phosphorus, 0.3% sulfur, and small amounts of several other elements. Even though there is so much oxygen in the human body, most of that is in the form of water, so we say that humans are carbon based. Most life on Earth has a similar composition. While GFAJ-1 is tolerant of arsenic, it’s not exactly an arsenic based life form. However, it does replace one of the basic ingredients for life. This unusual microbe is not only tolerant of arsenic, but is able to incorporate it into its cells.

Yesterday, NASA held a press conference explaining this surprising extremophile. Among the presenters was astrobiologist Pan Conrad, interviewee in Exogeology ROCKS! Episode 3.

Science fiction and real science have often considered replacing important elements with chemically similar ones, but until now, there haven’t been any real life examples. When given no phosphorus and a lot of arsenic, GFAJ-1 replaces the phosphorus in its body with arsenic and continues to grow. None of the bacteria have yet entirely gotten rid of the phosphorus originally in them, but I personally think that replacing most of it is exciting enough.

This discovery changes what we know about life. There are so many possible places a life form can survive on Earth alone. Maybe life on other worlds is more common than previously thought. I sure hope so.

Exogeology ROCKS! Episode 3 is now complete. Woo hoo! That’s three episodes of my Exogeology ROCKS! series done. Episode 3 features an interview with Pan Conrad, a NASA astrobiologist at JPL.

You can watch Exogeology ROCKS! Episode 3 on YouTube. It’s in two parts, so make sure to watch both part one and part two. Episode 3 will soon be up on Exogeology ROCKS! in the Meet Real Exogeologists section.

If you haven’t seen the first two yet, you can watch them here on my website, as well as a bonus track for Episode 1.

Yay! My second article is on the NASA website! You can read it here on the JPL website and here on the NASA website. In the article I wrote about my great experience visiting  NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

I recently posted on Exogeology ROCKS! about my first article for NASA, How I Became Interested in Exogeology.

Blogging for NASA really ROCKS!

During my visit to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in June, I was asked to write two articles to put on the JPL website: one about how I got interested in exogeology, another about my visit to JPL. This article was also posted on the main NASA website in the “For Students” section. It ROCKED to see something I wrote on the NASA website!

You can read about how I became interested in exogeology here on the JPL website and here on the NASA website.

My second article will be up soon.