Space Stories: Earth’s Second Moon, Organic Molecules on Enceladus, and Mysterious Gullies on Mars

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Earth as observed by the Apollo 11 spacecraft. (NASA/JSC)

Here are some recent space-related stories of interest.

—The Economic Times: “NASA Confirms Earth Has a Second Moon, And It Will Stay With Us Until 2083“

Earth has received a new cosmic partner, a small asteroid designated as 2025 PN7. NASA confirmed this week that the object, initially found by the University of Hawaii, qualifies as a “quasi-moon” , an uncommon type of celestial body that moves almost similarly in sync with Earth. While not a real moon, it has a similar orbit surrounding the Sun, seeming to shadow our planet as it travels through space. Researchers estimate the asteroid measures 18 to 36 meters wide, approximately the height of a small building, making it small by cosmic standards but noteworthy for Earth’s extended neighborhood.

—Sky&Telescope: “New Study Identifies Organic Molecules Spewing from Saturn’s Icy Moon Enceladus“

Twenty years after the Cassini spacecraft discovered an ocean under the icy surface of Saturn’s moon Enceladus, a new study of previously collected data hints at a much better chance for habitability. The change comes from recording how a plume of ice grains hit Cassini just minutes after it erupted from the moon. The close encounter exposed organic compounds not previously seen on Enceladus.

—Utrecht University: “Mysterious Gullies on Mars Appear to Have Been Dug, But by Whom or What?“

Did life really exist on Mars after all? Unfortunately, there is no conclusive evidence for this yet. Nevertheless, it would seem that some form of life was the driving force behind the mysterious Martian dune gullies. Earth scientist Dr Lonneke Roelofs from Utrecht University has investigated how these gullies were formed. In a test setup, she observed that blocks of CO2 ice ‘dug’ these gullies in a unique way. “It felt like I was watching the sandworms in the film Dune.”