September/October 2020 - These Curious Times

News
Rust Moon
Rust or iron oxide, is created when
iron comes into contact with water
and oxygen; two things the moon
does not have, or so we have been told.
This has left the researchers at Indian
Space Research Organization who
obtained the data puzzled as to how it
has been created.
A reddish-black mineral form
of iron called hematite has been
discovered to be forming, especially
near the Moon’s poles, which is giving
it this unique coloring. Lead author
of the paper detailing the discovery
is Shuai Li of the University of Hawaii,
who described the findings ‘very
puzzling’. He added that ‘the Moon is a
terrible environment for hematite to
form in’.
Li then turned to JPL scientists
Abigail Fraeman and Vivian Sun to see
if they could help.
Based on the conditions present
on the Moon, this should not exist.
But since water has been discovered
water on the Moon, people have
been speculating that there could
be a greater variety of minerals than
we realize. After taking a closer look,
Fraeman and Sun confirmed that Li’s
data did indeed indicate the presence
of hematite at the lunar poles.
Sun said, “In the end, the spectra
were convincingly hematite-bearing,
and there needed to be an explanation
for why it’s on the Moon”.
The data found that the Moon had
more hematite present on its Earthfacing
side, which Li believes could
be due to traces of Earth’s oxygen.
According to NASA, the Moon has been
moving away from Earth for billions
of years, so it could be possible that
some of Earth’s oxygen transferred
over when the two planets were closer
to each other.
In regards to the water needed
to form rust, while the majority of
the Moon is bone dry, there has been
ice discovered on it; however, this is
located on the opposite side to where
the hematite was found. With this in
mind, Li proposes that fast-moving
dust particles that regularly pelt the
Moon could release its surface-borne
water molecules that are present
across the whole planet, mixing them
with iron in the lunar soil.
9
Following his findings, Li has
dubbed it an exciting time for lunar
science.
Original article from UNILAD.
Niamh Shackleton
Good Year Blimp Stops New Jersey Traffic, Drivers Thought It Was Aliens
Andrew Perry
A Good Year blimp stopped freeway traffic
in New Jersey on the evening of September 14, as
numerous passers by thought it was some sort of
alien spacecraft.
Technically an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO)
at the time, it very quickly became an Identified
Flying Object when Good Year acknowledged that
they were flying in the area at the time.
One of the people recording said, “Look, the
whole street is stopped! There’s a flying spaceship!”
Sure enough, dozens of cars were pulled over
on the side of the freeway gazing at the UFO.
“I don’t know, but everybody is stopped to see
the aliens,” said another.
Good Year said that the blimp was flying in
the area for the New York Giants game at MetLife
stadium that night.
So how could hundreds of people see the same
thing and all think it was some unknown aircraft?
The answer can be found in psychology.
In an article from LiveScience, writer Benjamin
Radford explains, “It’s not hard to understand
why there are so many UFO sightings. After all,
the only criterion is for some “flying object” to be
“unidentified” by whoever is looking at it at the
time.”
Radford goes on to say that the human
perception is rather limited. While we might know
that a car in the distance isn’t really that small, in
the sky it is much more difficult to gauge things
like distance and size.
Psychologists have also noted that when there
is missing information, the brain fills it in. And
of course, the imagination might also fill in the
context.
Radford used the example of the planet Venus.
Venus is about 25 million miles away, but at night it
appears to be bright.
Over the years, numerous sightings have been
revealed to be Venus. Imagine - a planet 25 million
miles away was interpreted as aliens five miles
away.
This in no way dismisses the concept of
extraterrestrial life. Almost all astrophysicists
believe that in this vast universe, there has to be
other forms of life out there. Have they visited
Earth? Maybe. But if we can keep in mind our own
limitations, we’ll be better able to spot the real ones
if they ever decide to make an appearance.