Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Ice on the Moon

India's moon orbiter Chandrayaan-1 has detected clear signals of water ice on the Moon hidden in dark corners of craters never reached by sunlight.

From this BBC report:
"Temperatures on the Moon can reach a searing 100C in daytime, which doesn't provide the best conditions for the survival of surface ice.
But because the Moon is tilted on its axis by about 1.54 degrees, there are places at the lunar poles that never see daylight.
Scientists estimate that temperatures in permanently shadowed craters at the Moon's poles do not rise above -157C (-250F). This would create an environment where deposits of water-ice could remain stable for long periods."

Is this a physics story? It does contain some good physics. And I don't always come across a great physics story every month so it will suffice. I like to keep up this blog even though it has been a few years since I have taught physics! Month-end approaches and time is running out...