PLEASE NOTE:
*
CCNet, 1 October 1999
---------------------
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Darwinian theory is correct in the
small but not in the
large. Rabbits come from other
slightly different rabbits, not from
either soup or potatoes. Where
they came from in the first place is a
problem yet to be solved...."
-- Sir Fred Hoyle, Mathematics of Evolution, 1999
(1) NANOROVER TO FETCH ASTEROID MATERIAL
Ron Baalke <baalke@ssd.jpl.nasa.gov>
(2) DIAMOND SHOWERS ON NEPTUNE & URANUS (AND STILL ONLY RAIN
IN
LIVERPOOL...)
Andrew Yee <ayee@nova.astro.utoronto.ca>
(3) TO BE OR NOT TO BE....
Malcolm Miller <stellar2@actonline.com.au>
(4) MATHEMATICS OF EVOLUTION
Brig Klyce <bklyce@panspermia.org>
(5) STELLAR DEBRIS COLLECTION
Andrew Yee <ayee@nova.astro.utoronto.ca>
(6) MANY MOONS
Andrew Yee <ayee@nova.astro.utoronto.ca>
(7) NEW LUNAR EVIDENCE STRENGTHENS GIANT IMPACT HYPOTHESIS
Larry Klaes <lklaes@bbn.com>
=============
(1) NANOROVER TO FETCH ASTEROID MATERIAL
From Ron Baalke <baalke@ssd.jpl.nasa.gov>
Nanorover to Help Fetch Asteroid Material
By Glen Golightly
Houston Bureau Chief
Sep 29 1999 20:35:15 ET
PASADENA, California - When Ross Jones wants to show off the
MUSES-CN
rover mock-up, he pulls it out of a briefcase-sized container.
"The usual reaction of people is that they say it's
'cute,'" said
Jones, the rover project manager.
Even the Mars Pathfinder Sojourner dwarfs the MUSES-CN
"nanorover."
Sojourner weighs in at a "hefty" 23 pounds and is about
2-feet long,
while its smaller successor weighs about two pounds and is the
size of
a cigar box.
With advances in technology and experience from the Sojourner,
the new
rover has better optics and computing power than the Mars rover.
In January 2002, the nanorover will fly aboard the Japanese
MUSES-C to
explore the near-Earth asteroid 4660 Nereus. If all goes well,
the
probe will return the first samples of an asteroid to Earth.
Full story here:
http://www.space.com/news/planetarymissions/nanorover_990929.html
========================
(2) DIAMOND SHOWERS ON NEPTUNE & URANUS (AND STILL ONLY RAIN
IN
LIVERPOOL...)
From Andrew Yee <ayee@nova.astro.utoronto.ca>
Public Information Office
University of California-Berkeley
Contact: Robert Sanders (510) 643-6998 rls@pa.urel.berkeley.edu
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 30, 1999
UC Berkeley researchers report experimental evidence for diamond
showers on Neptune and Uranus
BERKELEY -- If experiments at the University of California,
Berkeley,
are any indication, future explorers of our solar system may well
find diamonds hailing down through the atmospheres of Neptune and
Uranus.
These planets contain a high proportion of methane, which UC
Berkeley
researchers have now shown can turn into diamond at the high
temperatures and pressures found inside these planets.
"Once these diamonds form, they fall like raindrops or
hailstones
toward the center of the planet," said Laura Robin
Benedetti, a
graduate student in physics at UC Berkeley.
The team, led by Benedetti and Raymond Jeanloz, professor of
geology
and geophysics, produced these conditions inside a diamond anvil
cell, squeezing liquid methane to several hundred thousand times
atmospheric pressure. When they focused a laser beam on the
pressurized liquid, heating it to some 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit,
diamond dust appeared.
They report their experimental findings in a paper in the Oct. 1
issue of Science.
The demonstration that methane can convert to diamond as well as
other complex hydrocarbons in the interiors of giant planets like
Neptune hint at a complex chemistry inside gaseous planets and
even
brown dwarf stars. Brown dwarfs are small, dim stars barely
larger
than the largest gas giant planets.
"This is opening the door to study of the interesting types
of
chemical reactions taking place inside planets and brown
dwarfs,"
Jeanloz said. "Now that technology is able to reproduce the
high
pressures and temperatures found there, we are getting much
better
quality information on the chemical reactions taking place under
these conditions."
"It is not amazing that chemistry like this happens inside
planets,
it's just that most people haven't dealt with the chemical
reactions
that can occur," Benedetti said. "The interior of these
planets may
be much more complicated that our current picture."
A simple calculation, for example, shows that the energy released
by
diamonds settling to the planet's core could account for the
excess
heat radiated by Neptune, that is, the heat given off by Neptune
in
excess of what it receives from the sun.
"What's exciting to us is the application of this
high-pressure
chemistry to understanding the outer planets," Jeanloz said.
"As more planets are found in unexpected orbits around other
stars,
the effects of internal chemical processes will need to be
further
clarified in order to obtain a general understanding of planet
formation and evolution," the authors concluded in the
Science paper.
Our solar system's other gas giant planets -- Jupiter and Saturn
--
may also contain diamonds produced under such conditions, though
they
contain proportionately less methane than Neptune and Uranus.
Based
on theoretical calculations, Neptune and Uranus are estimated to
contain about 10 to 15 percent methane under an outer atmosphere
of
hydrogen and helium. (See graphic for presumed internal structure
of
Neptune,
http://www.urel.berkeley.edu/urel_1/CampusNews/PressReleases/releases/neptunephoto.jpg.)
Several groups of researchers have suggested that the methane in
these planets could conceivably turn into diamond at fairly
shallow
depths, about one tenth of the way to the center. Nearly two
decades
ago, a group at Lawrence Livermore National laboratory shocked
some
methane and reported the formation of diamond before the stuff
evaporated. That group was led by retired scientist Marvin Ross
and
researchers William Nellis and Francis Ree.
Recently some theorists in Italy also concluded that diamonds
were
likely.
Benedetti and Jeanloz decided to try the obvious experiment --
squeeze liquid methane and see if they could make diamond dust.
The liquid methane, cooled with liquid nitrogen, was placed in a
diamond anvil cell and squeezed to between 10 and 50 billion
pascals
(gigapascals), or about 100,000 - 500,000 times atmospheric
pressure.
The researchers then heated the compressed methane with an
infrared
laser to about 2,000 to 3,000 Kelvin (3600-5400 degrees
Fahrenheit).
"It's really cool to watch," said Benedetti. "When
you turn on the
laser the methane turns black because of all the diamonds
created.
The black diamond specks float in a clear hydrocarbon liquid
melted
by the laser."
Raman spectroscopy confirmed the identity of the suspended
specks, as
did subsequent analysis with X-ray crystallography. The flecks
were
diamonds interspersed with hydrocarbons.
Jeanloz said that the high temperature breaks up methane (CH4)
into
carbon and hydrogen, while high pressure condenses the carbon to
diamond. Other types of hydrocarbons -- doubly and triply bonded
carbon -- also were produced, apparently in the cooler areas
outside
that illuminated by the laser.
Jeanloz and his team plan next to see what happens to other
constituents of these planets -- ammonia and water -- at high
temperatures and pressures.
Coauthors of the paper with Benedetti and Jeanloz are
post-doctoral
researcher Jeffrey H. Nguyen, now a scientist at Lawrence
Livermore
National Laboratory; geology graduate student Wendell A.
Caldwell,
Chinese visiting scholar Hongjian Liu and Michael Kruger, a
former
graduate student now in the physics department at the University
of
Missouri, Kansas City.
======================
(3) TO BE OR NOT TO BE....
From Malcolm Miller <stellar2@actonline.com.au>
Dear Benny,
I was in too much of a hurry to get my latest poem off, and so
there
was an unfortunate repetition in one line which put the whole
thing
out, and which I only discovered when I read the CCNet this
evening -
that is, on the same day as I wrote and sent it. I was
mortified, but,
hell, these things happen, and the prime virtue of the CCNet is
its
speed of publication, often on the same day that the news
breaks. I
don't expect the revised version to appear in the CCNet, but if
anyone
queries the repetition of 'to be' in line 5 I am happy to admit
my
error and have the revised version right here, which I don't
expect you
to put in the CCNet, but show you out of a feeling of
embarrassment and
probably, vanity.....
The Shifting Earth (revised)
The world looks flat to most of us, and as well we think
that it's unchanging, too, its familiar features and its climate
there forever in the people's memory.
The rocks, the rivers, mountains andthe seas unchanged
since 'time immemorial', ordained by God to be for evermore our
home.
'Not so' these upstart scientists say, the ancient shorelines
and retreating glaciers only a small part of those clear signs
laid out for us to read. Faith in the constancy of Earth is
natural,
but those who've learned to see and understand the unambiguous
book of nature now know we live on shifting ground.
And as our numbers grow our vulnerability increases,
so earthquake, ice, impact and flood will target more of us,
unless we learn survival skills that might ensure our
footing
on this impermanent surface of a rocky sphere, with strategies
to minimise the harm from shaking ground or flaming skies.
I look forward to reading CCNet every time I open my Eudora. It's
so
rich in new ideas and interpretations that I wonder whether
textbooks
can ever again be thought 'definitive'. No textbook writer
could ever
keep up with the present rate of discovery, and who can scan all
the
journals? The links between oceanography and planetology are only
part
of the ever unfolding picture, and the thought of a 'prehistoric'
spacecraft detecting a new member of the Solar System, even if
only a
KBO of a couple of hundred kilometres is enough to make me say
'Wow!"
I hope you can keep the CCNet going for a long time - I really
appreciate and enjoy it.
Malcolm Miller
=========================
(4) MATHEMATICS OF EVOLUTION
From: Brig Klyce <bklyce@panspermia.org>
A new book by Fred Hoyle, "Mathematics of Evolution",
will be published
tomorrow by Acorn Enterprises LLC.
In a tradition begun by J.B.S. Haldane, renowned scientist Sir
Fred
Hoyle uses his prodigious mathematical skill to probe evolution.
He
concludes, "Darwinian theory is correct in the small but not
in the
large. Rabbits come from other slightly different rabbits,
not from
either soup or potatoes. Where they came from in the first
place is a
problem yet to be solved...."
Here Hoyle uses both skills. With powerful mathematical logic, he
exposes fundamental flaws in the Darwinian theory of evolution.
With
straightforward, smooth and simple prose, he explains to the
layman why
the theory cannot account for sustained evolutionary progress. If
the
book is widely read, perhaps science will look more closely at
the
flaws in Darwinian theory, instead of ignoring them. This outcome
would
be good for all of us.
Mathematics of Evolution by Fred Hoyle
163 pages, 6x9 hardcover, $36.00
ISBN 0-9669934-0-3
Published 1 October 1999, by Acorn Enterprises LLC, Memphis, TN
For further information, please contact
---
Brig Klyce
Acorn Enterprises LLC
1503 Union Ave #200
Memphis, TN 38104-3739
bklyce@panspermia.org
http://www.panspermia.org
====================
(5) STELLAR DEBRIS COLLECTION
From Andrew Yee <ayee@nova.astro.utoronto.ca>
[http://helix.nature.com/nsu/990930/990930-7.html]
Thursday, September 30, 1999
Stellar debris collection
By PAUL COOPER
Stars are formed when vast clouds of gas are disturbed and
collapse
through gravitational attraction. Much of the material in the
cloud
condenses into the star, but some forms a disc about the star,
from
which planets and comets arise. Such discs have been observed
around
young stars, but they are absent from older ones such as our own
Sun.
How long do these stellar discs persist? H. Habing of the Leiden
Obervatory, Leiden, the Netherlands and colleagues present new
evidence from infrared observations of 84 stars.
Writing in Nature (30 September 1999), Habing and colleagues
present
the results of a study using the ISOPHOT instrument on the
Infrared
Space Observatory (ISO) satellite. ISOPHOT measures the infrared
light
emitted from a star at different frequencies. Habing and
colleagues
studied stars that were as far as possible 'normal', avoiding any
that
were variable in brightness or were components of multiple-star
systems. By using observations at three wavelengths of infrared
light,
they determined which stars were circled by dust. Of the sample
of 84
stars, 14 had haloes of dust and gas. Combining these
determinations
with the age of the stars showed that 60% of stars less than 300
million years old had discs, but only 9% of older stars had them.
Therefore, most of these discs lasted about 300-400 million years
before fading away.
Calculations suggest that dust particles remain in stellar discs
for
less than one million years. Small dust particles are pushed away
by
the star's radiation, while larger ones are slowed down by the
impact
of solar wind particles and spiral into the star. So how do these
stellar discs persist for so long? The most likely explanation is
that
material is added to them during their lifetimes and that the
discs
dissipate when the source of material is exhausted. Habing and
colleagues calculate that a typical disc would require about 40
times
the mass of the earth to be added to it over its lifetime. Two
mechanisms could supply this dust -- collisions between larger
objects
and the evaporation of comets as they pass close to the star.
Habing and colleagues point out possible links with events in the
beginnings of our own Solar System. First, calculations suggest
that
the so-called Kuiper belt of asteroids beyond Neptune contained
more
material in the early history of the Solar System than it does
now.
Collisions in this zone could be one source of the dust. Second,
the
Oort cloud of comets -- a halo of material extending beyond the
Kuiper
belt -- probably formed very early from material ejected during
the
accretion of the giant planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and
Neptune.
This would have been a rich source of cometary material in the
early
Solar System.
Finally, Habing and colleagues point out that a very heavy
meteoric
bombardment of the inner planets took place at a time coinciding
with
the dissipation of the debris halo. They propose that the two
events
may be connected, although they do not suggest how.
In one in eleven cases, these discs may persist around stars of a
similar age to our own Sun. The debris haloes around these older
stars
remain a mystery. However, Habing and colleagues have shown that
discs
of debris are a common feature around young, normal stars. As
these
debris belts are closely linked with planet formation, it is
possible
that planets are very common around ordinary stars.
© Macmillan Magazines Ltd 1999 - NATURE NEWS SERVICE
======================
(6) MANY MOONS
From Andrew Yee <ayee@nova.astro.utoronto.ca>
[http://helix.nature.com/nsu/991007/991007-2.html]
Many moons
By PHILIP BALL
The Moon might have a whole clutch of hidden siblings, according
to
planetary scientists Carl Murray and colleagues of Queen Mary and
Westfield College in London, UK. In a paper published in the 27
September issue of Physical Review Letters[1] they show that
asteroids that pass close to the Earth can become trapped in
weird
orbits around our planet.
One such asteroidal companion to the Earth has already been
discovered. In 1997, scientists in Canada and Finland reported
that
the asteroid Cruithne, a chunk of rock wandering between the
orbits
of Mercury (the innermost planet) and Mars, is following a path
that
is linked to the motion of the Earth (see Nature 387, 685; 1997).
Cruithne does not go around the Earth, like the Moon itself --
its
trajectory is considerably more complex. Basically it travels in
loops shaped like a kidney bean, which lie beyond the Earth. As
the
Earth circles the Sun, it drags Cruithne's loopy path with it.
But
the motion is even more complicated than this, because the loop
runs
slightly ahead of the Earth, completing almost a full circle
until it
approaches the planet from the other side -- whereupon it changes
direction and creeps back again.
At its closest point (which it reaches every few hundred years),
Cruithne comes within just 10 million miles of the Earth. Its
path
actually overlaps the Earth's position, but there is no risk of
collision because the kidney-bean loops are tilted at an angle to
the
plane of the Earth's orbit -- so Cruithne passes over our head,
as it
were.
The only other known examples of such peculiar
"horseshoe" orbits are
those of two of Jupiter's satellites, Janus and Epimetheus. But
neither has such a complex relationship to its mother planet as
does
Cruithne does to the Earth, and Murray and colleagues have
examined
the theoretical aspects of the asteroid's motion to develop a
better
understanding of how it arises.
What they found was that Cruithne's strange dance represents just
one
manifestation of a whole class of "co-orbital motions"
-- that is, of
asteroids whose orbits are tied to those of a planet. These
motions
become possible if the asteroids pass by a planet on orbits that
are
very elongated (rather than circular) and tilted with respect to
the
plane of the Solar System.
Under these conditions, the planet can capture the asteroid,
forcing
it into co-orbital motion for periods of several thousand years.
But
because the motion of many-body gravitationally bound systems
like
the Solar System is intrinsically chaotic, these periods of
capture
don't last forever -- the asteroid might escape to drift at
random,
before perhaps then being recaptured in a different kind of
orbit.
The researchers identified at least one other known near-Earth
asteroid that might share Cruithne's fate, becoming temporarily
enslaved to the Earth. They say that both this asteroid, called
Khufu, and Cruithne itself could in the future adopt orbits that
do
actually circle the Earth, like the Moon -- but going
"backwards", in
the other direction. Their calculations predicted that, in the
past,
Khufu could already have behaved in this way for 35,000 years. It
may
be that our planet even now has such "retrograde"
moons, too small to
be easily spotted.
See the York University and Tuorla Observatory site
http://www.asteroid.yorku.ca/
to learn more about the asteroid Cruihne.
[1] Namouni. F, Christou A.A., & Murray C. D. Coorbital
Dynamics at Large
Eccentricity and Inclination. Physical Review Letters 83, 2506;
(1999)
© Macmillan Magazines Ltd 1999 - NATURE NEWS SERVICE
=====================
(7) NEW LUNAR EVIDENCE STRENGTHENS GIANT IMPACT HYPOTHESIS
From Larry Klaes <lklaes@bbn.com>
The Moon at its Core
Written by Linda M.V. Martel
Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology
http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/PSRdiscoveries/Sept99/MoonCore.html
Ever since Apollo astronauts picked up rock samples and started
to
collect geophysical data from the Moon, evidence has been growing
for a
small lunar core. The most recent news comes from the Lunar
Prospector
magnetometer team of Lon Hood (University of Arizona), David
Mitchell
and Robert Lin (University of California, Berkeley), Mario Acuna
(NASA
Goddard Space Flight Center), and Alan Binder (Lunar Research
Institute). Using the spacecraft's on-board instruments, they
measured
Earth's magnetic field paying particular attention to the slight
alterations caused by the Moon. The data were collected in April
1998
while the Moon swung through the north tail lobe of Earth's
magnetosphere. The spacecraft magnetometer detected changes in
Earth's
magnetic field thus giving the researchers the information they
needed
to estimate the size of the Moon's core. That size came out to be
very
small. Hood and his collaborators report a lunar core radius of
only
340 km ± 90 km. For an iron-rich composition, a core of this
size
represents merely 1 to 3% of the Moon's total mass. In contrast,
Earth's core is about 33% of our planet's total mass. This new
evidence
for a small lunar core strengthens the popular giant impact
hypothesis
which says that the Moon formed from hot, rocky debris after a
Mars-sized object smashed into the early Earth. Down to its very
core,
the Moon has a unique history in our Solar System.
Reference:
Hood, L. L., D. L. Mitchell, R. P. Lin, M. H. Acuna, A. B.
Binder, 1999, Initial
Measurements of the Lunar Induced Magnetic Dipole Moment Using
Lunar Prospector
Magnetometer Data, Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 26, no. 15,
p. 2327-2330.
Magnetometer Data from an Orbiting Spacecraft
The magnetometer onboard Lunar Prospector was designed to measure
the
magnetic field surrounding the spacecraft as it orbited the Moon.
In
order to eliminate the possibility that the instrument would
detect
magnetic fields generated by the spacecraft's own electronics,
the
magnetometer was mounted on a boom 2.6 meters away from the
drum-shaped
craft. The magnetometer was used by researchers to figure out the
magnetic field generated deep inside the Moon itself. In April of
1998,
the Moon spent 2 days moving through the near-vacuum environment
of the
relatively strong and steady magnetic field of the north tail
lobe of
Earth's magnetosphere (see schematic diagram below). Lunar
Prospector
was positioned perfectly to detect disturbances in Earth's
magnetic
field caused by the presence of the Moon, and estimate the
magnetic
field induced in the Moon.
This sketch shows Earth's magnetosphere, the region (in green)
dominated by Earth's magnetic field. Lines of force are drawn as
though
produced by a giant bar magnet inside the center of the planet.
Arrows
on the lines point in the direction of the magnetic force. The
area
shaded blue is the magnetosheath, the area between the
magnetosphere
and the bow shock. The long, stretched-out tail of the
magnetosphere
extends downstream in the solar wind and away from the Sun, which
is
off the left side of the diagram. The Moon's orbit intersects
Earth's
magnetic tail and is shown here in the north tail lobe.
While the Moon and orbiting spacecraft were passing through the
north
tail lobe, Hood and his colleagues used 21 orbits of Lunar
Prospector
magnetometer data to estimate the magnetic field induced in the
Moon.
Their calculations yield an amplitude of -2.4 ± 1.6 x 1022
Gauss-cm3
per Gauss of applied field. Such a negative value, in general, is
attributed to electrical currents flowing through the Moon's
interior
that create magnetic fields oriented opposite to the Earth's
magnetic
field. If this negative value is a result of a highly
electrically
conducting, iron-rich, lunar core, then it corresponds to a lunar
core
radius of 340 ± 90 km - representing only 1 to 3% of the total
mass of
the Moon.
Why a Small Lunar Core is Interesting
The size and electrical conductivity of the lunar core is
directly
related to the formation of the Moon, its magnetic history, and
ultimately, its relationship to Earth. These three issues are
briefly
considered below.
F O R M A T I O N
Earth rocks and Moon rocks have similar compositions so it's
natural to
conclude that they share a common origin. But, if Earth and Moon
had
simply formed together from the same material, then we'd expect
their
cores to be proportionately similar. They're not. The lunar core
is, by
latest accounts, 1 to 3% of the total mass, but Earth's core is
33% of
the total mass. The Moon's core is, in fact, proportionately
smaller
than the cores of any of the inner planets in the Solar System.
There
are many more arguments pointing to another origin for the Moon,
as
explained so eloquently by the giant impact hypothesis. For a
complete
discussion see PSRD article: Origin of the Earth and Moon.
Ultimately,
a small lunar core strengthens the giant impact hypothesis and
suggests
that the Moon's origin is unique.
M A G N E T I C H I S T O R Y
The Moon, as any conductor, has electrical currents induced in
its
interior when it is exposed to an external magnetic field change.
These
currents result in a lunar induced magnetic field. This does not
require the Moon to be capable of generating its own magnetic
field. In
fact, the Moon today does not have an internally-produced
magnetic
field the way the Earth does. But lunar rock samples show a
remnant
magnetism which suggests that three to four billion years ago,
the
lunar core was producing its own magnetic field. The question
lingers:
what shut off the Moon's magnetic field? The best guess is that
the
core, like the rest of the Moon, cooled enough to cause the core
to
solidfy, at least partway. The magnetic field would have shut
down when
the flow of molten metal in the core ceased.
R E L A T I O N S H I P T O E A R T H
The diagram below depicts what we know about the interiors of the
Moon
and Earth. The drastic differences in total size and in the
total
amount of metallic core in each is a manifestation of the origin
of the
Earth-Moon system. When the giant impact happened, Earth's iron
core
had already formed. The impactor itself also had an iron core
which
melted on impact and was added to Earth's core. Some of the
debris from
the rocky mantles of both Earth and the impactor was ejected into
orbit,
forming the much smaller Moon. Because so little metallic iron
was
blown out to orbit, the Moon ended up with a tiny core.
A related origin and partnership in space affect both the Moon
and
Earth. The more we understand the Moon, inside out, the more
we
understand our own planet. We also look to the Moon as a new
place for
people to live and work, as well as a place to mine natural
resources
to support future human space activities farther away.
Sizing the Lunar Core: In Search of Conclusive Evidence
The deployment of new seismometers on the Moon is anticipated
early in
the next decade. The Japanese mission, LUNAR-A, is currently
scheduled
for launch in 2003. It will carry a mapping camera and two
surface
penetrators equipped with seismometers. Each 13-kilogram,
missle-shaped
penetrator has been designed to withstand an impact force of
10,000 G
(10,000 times the force of gravity at Earth's surface) and is
expected
to pierce one to three meters into the surface. According to the
mission profile, one penetrator will hit the equatorial near side
(in
the vicinity of the Apollo 12 and 14 landing sites) and the other
one
is targeted at the equatorial far side. Key questions about the
Moon,
including its internal structure, origin, and relation to Earth,
are
being addressed now and will usher us into the 21st century.
Hood, L. L., D. L. Mitchell, R. P. Lin, M. H. Acuna, A. B.
Binder,
1999, Initial Measurements of the Lunar Induced Magnetic Dipole
Moment
Using Lunar Prospector Magnetometer Data, Geophysical Research
Letters,
vol. 26, no. 15, p. 2327-2330.
Lunar Prospector homepage from the NASA Ames Research Center.
Lunar-A Mission description of the Japanese mission planned for
launch
in 2003.
Taylor, G. J. "Origin of the Earth and Moon." Dec 1998.
<http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/PSRdiscoveries/Dec98/OriginEarthMoon.html>
The Apollo Manned Space Program, from the Smithsonian Air and
Space Museum.
The Exploration of Earth's Magnetosphere from NASA Goddard Space
Flight Center.
The Origin of the Moon website at the Planetary Science Research
Institute.
Plasma, Plasma, Everywhere story on the plasmasphere surrounding
Earth from NASA
Space Science News.
----------------------------------------
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