MIT – Page 3 – Astronomy Now

Early Moon’s far-side crust shattered by barrage of small asteroids

11 September 2015 Astronomy Now

Scientists at MIT and elsewhere have identified regions on the far side of the Moon, called the lunar highlands, that may have been so heavily pelted by small asteroids during a period called the Late Heavy Bombardment 4 billion years ago that the impacts completely shattered the upper crust, leaving these regions essentially as fractured and porous as they could be.

SOFIA in the right place at the right time for Pluto observations

4 July 2015 Astronomy Now

Currently operating out of Christchurch, New Zealand, the NASA/DLR SOFIA airborne 2.5-metre infrared telescope had to make last-minute flight path corrections to successfully secure observations of Pluto’s atmosphere as it occulted a distant star.

Chiron may be second minor planet to possess Saturn-like rings

17 March 2015 Astronomy Now

Five bodies in our Solar System are known to bear rings — Saturn, and to a lesser extent, rings of gas and dust also encircle Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune; then Chariklo was added this haloed group last year, one of a class of minor planets called centaurs — now the progenitor of the centaurs, Chiron, most likely has rings too.

Earth’s ‘plasmaspheric hiss’ protects against a harmful radiation belt

27 November 2014 Astronomy Now

Researchers at MIT, the University of Colorado and elsewhere have found that very low-frequency electromagnetic waves in the Earth’s upper atmosphere form a shield, protecting the planet’s surface from the Van Allen belt’s high-energy radiation.