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Category Archives: Cosmos
Martian Swamp Gas
According to recent reports, space scientists using infrared spectrometers at observatories in Hawaii and Chile have detected low levels of methane in the Martian atmosphere. This finding is consistent with results from as far back as 2003 when several studies reported methane at approximately 45 ppb. Observers performing the latest work conclude that the observed methane must be of recent origin, given the short half-life of atmospheric methane due to photodegradation.
The connection of these findings with the possibility of past or present life on Mars has proven irresistable. I’m sure there are group leaders beavering away at mission proposals this very moment based upon these findings.
An explanation that is much less exciting and much more challenging in regard to grant proposals is the abiotic explanation. Here on earth there we have a lesser known and widely overlooked abiotic theory of hydrocarbon origin. Abiotic hydrocarbons are often referred to as primordial and are known to exist in planetary atmospheres elsewhere.
According to John S. Lewis, Physics and Chemistry of the Solar System, 2nd edition, 2004, Elsevier, Inc., p. 159, the mole fraction of methane in the atmosphere of Jupiter is 0.001 and for Saturn it is 0.002. The mole fractions of water are 0.001 and 0.002 respectively. Among heavy atom species, only ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, neon, and argon approach these levels within a factor of 0.5 to 0.1.
Oxygen and carbon are two of the most highly abundant heavy atoms and to see them richly represented as their respective hydrogen compounds isn’t so surprising.
At some point in the formation of the solar system, atomic carbon and atomic hydrogen were cool enough to collide and form molecular methane. Hydrogen with its larger mole fraction would be expected to dominate bond forming interactions with carbon atoms, forming H-saturated methane.
Given the abundance of methane in the gas giants (and don’t forget the methane atmosphere of Titan) it is hard to discount that Mars has trapped methane in the vast interstitial spaces of the interior of the planet. Methane is known to form clathrate structures with water, so perhaps the proposed underground reservoir of Martian water is comingled with methane.
I believe we should be exploring Mars. But I am increasingly uncomfortable with this stream of “Entertainment Tonight” titillation coming from NASA in regard to the possibility of life on Mars. Perhaps our culture isn’t as advanced as we assume. Space exploration has always had a large political prestige component to it. Contractors need new contracts and politicians are always keen to bring funding to their districts. If it takes our lesser angels to make it work, then so be it.
Link-O-Rama
Interested in building an astronomical observatory in your hometown? Have a look at Observatory 101. No pictures, but because I know the parties in the article, I can certify that there are excellent bits of advice for those keen on building a community observatory. Remember, square buildings are easier to construct than round buildings. It’s a rectilinear world.
What does it take to be in the upper few percentile in life? No, really. What does it take? See what Malcom Gladwell thinks about it. Plan to set aside 10,000 hours.
Tired of people incessantly humping your leg wanting this or that? Check out this USB accessory. If this is too much for your puritanical sensibilities, try the USB aroma therapy gadget and chill out. Check out ThinkGeek. Lots of cool stuff.
Are you torqued about the Lieberman situation? I know I am. So yell at somebody about it.
Quit whinin’ about yer pathetic cell phone coverage and get ta buildin’ yerself sumkinda antenna to boost the gal’ durn signal.
Blanchard sells gold coinage for those flush with cash. Load up on Krugerrands.
Need the straight dope on radioisotopes? Check out the list of monograph at the link.
Cosmodrome Photos
Check out this link to photos from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. See how cozy the Soyuz Capsule is.
Thanks to Les for the link.
CERN to Light Up Large Hadron Collider
CERN has announced that the first injection of particles into the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will occur between 9:00 and 10:00 Wednesday, September 10th, 2008. Fears of spurious black hole formation have been discounted. The final synchronization was a success. Safety has been reiterated.
This is big time science, man. While in Geneva you won’t be able to spit without hitting a particle physicist.
How do they keep the superconducting magnets chilled? Air Liquide was selected to provide the liquid helium supply to maintain the 1.8 K operating temperature of the magnets over the 27 km length of the LHC.
According to CERN, the cool down phase of LHC preparation required 10,000 tonnes of liquid nitrogen and 130 tonnes of liquid helium to fill the 8 magnet sectors.
The peak beam parameters are quite interesting. Check out this link to PhD Comics.
Scotty and Gordo Lost in Their Second Launch Disaster Together
August 2, 2008. Kwajalein Atoll. In the third failure in the fledgeling commercial SpaceX launch program, a Falcon 1 lifter failed to achieve orbit shortly after liftoff. The payload package consisted of two NASA packages, one DoD package, and one package for Celestis, Inc. The Celestis payload consisted of ca 208 vials of the cremated remains of customers who paid to have their ashes delivered into orbit.
Among those disappointed customers were the late actor James Doohan (“Scotty” from Star Trek) and astronaut Gordon Cooper. Curiously, this was their second successive space disaster together. The package of remains previously fell to earth and landed in the White Sands area in May of 2007 following an earlier failure of a launch vehicle.
Wende Doohan, James Doohan’s widow, told the Associated Press news agency her late husband “probably wished he could have stayed [in orbit]”. -BBC
Internet mogul Elon Musk said, “It was obviously a big disappointment not to reach orbit”. Musk is a founder of SpaceX and PayPal. According to SpaceX, the failure occured when a thrust transient during first stage shutdown caused it to recontact the second stage soon after separation. This contact perturbation caused the vehicle to fail to reach orbit.
“Laddy! Would ya be needin’ a little somethun’ to wash that doon with?”
-Cmdr Montgomery Scott
Organic and Inorganic Carbon??
Thanks to a friend in Grand Rapids, I was linked to a blog hosted by the NY Times called Tierneylab.com. The writer of the post was sounding off about a pet peeve relating to the use of the term “Organic”. It seems that there is some confusion as to the use of the adjective organic in relation to certain carbon-containing substances. Tempest in a teapot, you ask? Let the chemistry community decide.
The problem begins to show itself when astronomers and planetary scientists start describing carbon containing materials found in planetary exploration as organic. Back on earth, the word organic is burdened with both common and scientific usage. So, when descriptions of organic materials found on other worlds begin to arise in discourse, the intent of the usage becomes unclear.
For instance, it could suggest to people that such discovered materials were put in place by some kind of life form. It could suggest to nondiscriminating audiences that the presence of carbon implies life, past, present, or future. Or it might well suggest to higher level audiences that biology-ready raw materials are in place.
The scientists working with the Phoenix Lander have an interesting analytical chore in front of them. Using a robotic platform on Mars, they want to distinguish the presence of organic vs inorganic carbon. What is meant by organic and inorganic is less than clear. But it seems that organic refers to something other than CO2 and carbonate.
In the relatively few journal articles I’ve seen relating to this, the authors are not always precise about the kinds of molecules they are referring to as organic. Irrespective of what is said in the articles, when this work gets to a public forum, the meaning behind the word organic becomes even less clear.
The TierneyLab post does bring up an interesting question about what is necessary for a substance to be considered organic. Do graphite, diamond, Buckyball, or soot forms of carbon qualify as organic? What about CO2, CS2, carbonates, CO, HCN, or calcium carbide? Does it make more sense to refer to organic and inorganic carbon, where inorganic carbon is defined as … well, what?
Seriously, what would it be? CO2? Carbon dioxide is incorporated into glucose by plants and this seems quite organic. Carbonate? This anion is used to balance our blood pH. Our own metabolic CO2 helps to provide carbonate. This product of metabolism should qualify as organic. CO? Well, Carbon monoxide undergoes Fischer-Tropsch reactions to produce aldehydes. This seems very organic as well. Perhaps the target is a substance with C-H bonds?
There is nothing inherently biological about the C-H bond. The Saturnian moon Titan is blanketed with a thick layer of CH4 (methane) and it seems unlikely that it is of biological origin. Indeed, hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe and carbon the 4th. That hydrogen and carbon atoms could find each other to form trace methane in a proto solar system isn’t too much of a stretch.
Organic and Inorganic Carbon. How about we just leave it all as organic?
Here is what I think. It does matter if a scientist or writer is using language in an imprecise way. If writing or speech implies, for instance, that Mars is rich in life giving organic nutrients when in fact Martian organic matter is really carbonate and CO2, then I believe the language must be altered to reflect that condition. A writer should not leave an impression of past or incipient planetary fecundity when in fact the planet may be an inert ball of metal silicates dusted with a bit of carbonate when the 6 torr CO2 atmosphere kicks up a breeze.
Vatican Astronomer Approves Belief in Aliens
Vatican Astronomer, Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, stated in an interview that, essentially, belief in aliens was not incompatible with Catholic Doctrine.
“How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere?” Funes said. “Just as we consider earthly creatures as ‘a brother,’ and ‘sister,’ why should we not talk about an ‘extraterrestrial brother’? It would still be part of creation.”
In the interview by the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, Funes said that such a notion “doesn’t contradict our faith” because aliens would still be God’s creatures. Ruling out the existence of aliens would be like “putting limits” on God’s creative freedom, he said.
This is quite a thing to hear from the Vatican. Rev. Funes stated that he felt that the big bang theory seemed quite reasonable to him, provided that the universe was an act of creation rather than chance. The Vatican has come a long way from the trial of Galileo, resulting in what John Paul II called a “tragic mutual incomprehension.”
Photo pilfered from Collegehumor.com.
A Fly in the Ointment. A Chemist Among the Astronomers.
This is a re-post of a 2008 seminar I attended by speaker Dr. Carolyn Porco.
28 April, 2008. University of Colorado at Boulder. Dr. Carolyn Porco of the Space Science Institute gave a public lecture at CU Boulder on the highlights of the Cassini Mission to Saturn. Porco gives a lively presentation and- dare I say it- is mildly charismatic. The website of the imaging group, ciclops.org, is quite well done and even includes downloads of many of the papers from the team. The paper on Enceladus is particularly interesting.
As a chemist sitting anonymously in a crowd of space science enthusiasts and professionals, I cannot help but compare the tenor of the experience to my own field of chemistry.
Space science people are funded in proportion to the general public enthusiasm for space. The universe is big. Really, really big. And it is full of breathtaking scenery and wondrous objects. Space science almost always causes people to experience a deeply emotional sense of awe and wonder. This has not been lost on the space science community. The display of majestic photos with a bit of space music in the background goes a long way to rally public support.
Chemistry on the other hand, rarely induces this kind of raw response from the limbic system. Whereas chemistry induces shock, astronomy induces awe.
The most common exhortation made on exposure to the chemical sciences is “How in the hell am I going to pass this course?”
Students take intro to astronomy classes as an enjoyable way to get their science credits. Students take chemistry because they have to. We all know this. Science aversion is even more extreme for the poor sots in physics.
The SI unit for humility is the “sagan”. Public astronomy talks usually have a high sagan factor. I would estimate last nights talk was 8.5 out of 10 sagans.
Of particular interest to Porco was the Saturnian moon Enceladus. This moon has substantial water on it with evidence of “tectonic” activity on the uncratered surface. On closer inspection, it is apparent that this body is spewing water into space with fair vigor. Indeed, a vapor torus of water tracing the orbit can be seen on some of the images. The suggestion is that there may be liquid water under a water ice crust. IR images show hot spots that coincide with surface fissures on Enceladus. This moon would be a good place to land some drilling equipment.
Porco spoke of the hope of eventually finding life on Enceladus or on Jupiter’s Europa. She suggested that this would finally “break the spell” and allow the assumption that life may be relatively common on worlds with liquid water.
What this kind of planetary exploration affords are insights into the evolution of planets and ultimately, what circumstances are likely and necessary for the ignition of life. But the circumstances that promote life formation are chemical in nature. The origin of life is not an astronomical problem. It is a chemical network problem and for that we need the involvement of chemists.
Good Morning, NOLA. Pass Me Some Advil.
The math of Bourbon Street is painfully evident this morning. 1 Hurricane = 1 hangover. The sliders with the hot peppers didn’t help, either. I should probably start thinking about chemistry again. Bourbon Street is a very naughty place. The prospect of beads can cause ordinarily prudent people to expose their anatomy. A fellow can get into serious trouble here.
Speaking of pain, I’m reminded of a recent dinner conversation with an astrophysicist. This fellow is a senior player in the astrophysics circuit. He has been involved in the development and use of many “science packages” that are now hurtling through the vacuum of space.
Like physicists often do, he took delight in reminding me that chemistry is derived from physics. When asked why a chemist was interested in astronomy, I blurted out that I thought there was a goodly bit of chemistry happening in the universe and much for a chemist to try to understand. Between bites of beef medallions and the chomping of his bearded jowls, he shot a patronizing glance over his glasses at me and suggested that it was all ultimately physics.
Ah, a reductionist! Not wanting to make a scene, I let this comment float into the ether where it belonged. But I would offer that if one had a headache and needed to wait for a physicist to invent and make some aspirin, you’d still be waiting.
Lamentations on Chemistry 