Moon / en Over the moon: 老司机直播 student lands 'dream' placement making next-gen space robots /news/over-moon-u-t-student-lands-dream-placement-making-next-gen-space-robots <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Over the moon: 老司机直播 student lands 'dream' placement making next-gen space robots</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/Richardson_fullres.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=GYS25PNy 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/Richardson_fullres.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=r8Ah2J32 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/Richardson_fullres.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Ko6S65RY 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/Richardson_fullres.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=GYS25PNy" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2021-03-17T11:40:54-04:00" title="Wednesday, March 17, 2021 - 11:40" class="datetime">Wed, 03/17/2021 - 11:40</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">老司机直播 Engineering student Erin Richardson is spending 16 months at Canadian space engineering firm MDA, where she is working on a new generation of autonomous robots for the forthcoming Lunar Gateway space station (photo courtesy of MDA)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/tyler-irving" hreflang="en">Tyler Irving</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/alumni" hreflang="en">老司机直播</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/co-op" hreflang="en">Co-op</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-applied-science-engineering" hreflang="en">Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/moon" hreflang="en">Moon</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/space" hreflang="en">Space</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/undergraduate-students" hreflang="en">Undergraduate Students</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/undergraduate-education" hreflang="en">Undergraduate Education</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p style="margin-left:auto;"><strong>Erin Richardson</strong>&nbsp;was in Grade 9 when she decided she wanted to be an astronaut.</p> <p style="margin-left:auto;">鈥淲e had a science unit on outer space, and I remember being completely fascinated by the vast scale of it all,鈥 says the third-year engineering science student in the University of Toronto鈥檚 Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering. 鈥淭hinking about how big the universe is, and how we鈥檙e just a tiny speck on a tiny planet, I knew I wanted to be part of exploring it.鈥</p> <p style="margin-left:auto;">Richardson started following Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield on social media and watching videos of his daily life on the International Space Station. She also started reading about aerospace and doing everything she could to break into the industry, including getting her student pilot permit.</p> <p style="margin-left:auto;">It was in a&nbsp;<em>Forbes</em>&nbsp;magazine article about women in STEM that she first heard about&nbsp;<strong>Kristen Facciol</strong>,&nbsp;a 老司机直播 Engineering alumna who had worked as a systems engineer at Canadian space engineering firm MDA before moving on to the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). At the time,&nbsp;Facciol was an Engineering Support Lead that provided&nbsp;real-time flight support during on-orbit operations and teaching courses to introduce astronauts and flight controllers to the ISS robotic systems.&nbsp;</p> <p style="margin-left:auto;">Today,&nbsp;<a href="https://news.engineering.utoronto.ca/completely-surreal-kristen-facciol-earns-csa-nasa-robotics-flight-controller-certification/">Facciol is a flight controller</a>&nbsp;for CSA/NASA.</p> <p style="margin-left:auto;">鈥淚 found her contact information and reached out to her,鈥 says Richardson. 鈥淪he鈥檚 been an amazing mentor to me over the last five years. We鈥檙e still close friends, and she鈥檚 really helped influence my career path.鈥</p> <p style="margin-left:auto;">With Facciol鈥檚 encouragement, Richardson applied to 老司机直播鈥檚 engineering science program, eventually choosing the aerospace major. After her first year, she landed a summer research position in the lab of&nbsp;<strong>Jonathan Kelly</strong>, an assistant professor at the 老司机直播 Institute of Aerospace Studies (UTIAS) who&nbsp;works on simulation tools for a robotic mobile manipulator platform.</p> <p style="margin-left:auto;">鈥淲orking in Kelly鈥檚 lab piqued my interest in robotics as they could be applied in space,鈥 Richardson says. 鈥淩esearching collaborative manipulation in dynamic environments will push the boundaries of human spaceflight 鈥 during spacewalks, astronauts work right alongside robots all the time.鈥</p> <p style="margin-left:auto;">After her second year, Richardson travelled to Tasmania for a research placement facilitated by EngSci鈥檚&nbsp;<a href="https://engsci.utoronto.ca/research-and-work/summer-research/esrop-global/">ESROP Global</a>&nbsp;program. Working with researchers at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia鈥檚 national science agency, Richardson created tools to analyze data collected during scientific mooring deployments, which help researchers learn more about oceans over long periods of time. This work informs the design of next-generation mooring systems which, like space systems, must survive harsh and constrained environments.</p> <p style="margin-left:auto;">Richardson was sitting in a second-year lecture when she heard the news that Canada had joined&nbsp;NASA鈥檚 Lunar Gateway project, a new international space station set to be constructed between 2023 and 2026. Unlike the ISS, which currently orbits Earth, the Lunar Gateway will orbit the moon and will serve both as a waypoint for future crewed missions to the lunar surface and as preparation for missions to even more distant worlds, such as Mars.</p> <p style="margin-left:auto;">Energized, Richardson searched for a way to get involved. Her opportunity came in the fall of 2019&nbsp;when she saw a posting on MDA鈥檚 job board. She immediately applied through 老司机直播 Engineering鈥檚&nbsp;<a href="https://engineeringcareers.utoronto.ca/work-experience-programs/professional-experience-year-co-op-program-pey-co-op/">Professional Experience Year Co-op program</a>, which enables undergraduate students to spend up to 16 months working for leading firms worldwide before returning to finish their degree programs.</p> <p style="margin-left:auto;">Richardson started her placement in May 2020, well into the COVID-19 pandemic. She and her employer quickly adapted.</p> <p style="margin-left:auto;">鈥淚 was working from home through the summer, but for my latest project I was able to go on site to operate this robotic arm,鈥 she says.</p> <p style="margin-left:auto;">The robotic arm in question is a model of Dextre, a versatile robot that maintains the International Space Station. Richardson used it as a prototype part for the Canadarm3, which will be installed on Lunar Gateway.</p> <p style="margin-left:auto;">Because the Lunar Gateway will be so far from Earth, Canadarm3 will be designed to execute certain tasks without supervision from a remote control station. Part of Richardson鈥檚 job is to create the dataset that will eventually be used to train the artificial intelligence algorithms that will make this possible.</p> <p style="margin-left:auto;">In MDA鈥檚 DREAMR lab, Richardson guided the robotic arm through a series of movements and scenarios, with a suite of video cameras tracking its every move. She then tagged each series of images with metadata that will teach the robot whether the movements it saw were desirable ones to emulate, or dangerous ones to avoid.</p> <p style="margin-left:auto;">鈥淲e had to capture different lighting conditions and obstacles of various sizes and colours,鈥 she says. 鈥淢y colleagues pointed out to me that because it鈥檚 me deciding which scenarios count as collisions and which ones don鈥檛, the AI that we eventually create will be a reflection of my own brain.鈥</p> <p style="margin-left:auto;">Apart from the opportunity to contribute to the next generation of space robots, Richardson says she鈥檚 enjoyed the chance to apply what she鈥檚 learned in her 老司机直播 classes, as well as the professional connections she鈥檚 made.</p> <p style="margin-left:auto;">鈥淚t鈥檚 my dream job,鈥 she says. 鈥淚 use what I learned in engineering design courses every day. I鈥檓 treated as a full engineer and a member of the team. The people I work with are extremely supportive and they talk to me about my dreams and goals. I love being surrounded by a team of talented and motivated people 鈥 all so passionate about what they do and about advancing space exploration.</p> <p style="margin-left:auto;">鈥淚t鈥檚 an awesome opportunity for any student.鈥</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Wed, 17 Mar 2021 15:40:54 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 168794 at A suitcase full of moon rocks: Working with NASA, 老司机直播's David Strangway brought a piece of Apollo 11 to Toronto /news/suitcase-full-moon-rocks-working-nasa-u-t-s-david-strangway-brought-piece-apollo-11-toronto <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">A suitcase full of moon rocks: Working with NASA, 老司机直播's David Strangway brought a piece of Apollo 11 to Toronto</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/0J5A0762-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=qTkZQDuT 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/0J5A0762-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=QhHqI5MU 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/0J5A0762-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=6Ji6NNmG 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/0J5A0762-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=qTkZQDuT" alt="photo of boy looking at lunar samples"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2019-07-19T13:24:58-04:00" title="Friday, July 19, 2019 - 13:24" class="datetime">Fri, 07/19/2019 - 13:24</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">More than 3,000 people lined up for a peek at a moon rock and a thimbleful of moon dust when they went on display on campus (photo courtesy of 老司机直播 Mississauga)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/geoffrey-vendeville" hreflang="en">Geoffrey Vendeville</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/global-lens" hreflang="en">Global Lens</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/alumni" hreflang="en">老司机直播</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/earth-sciences" hreflang="en">Earth Sciences</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/moon" hreflang="en">Moon</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/space" hreflang="en">Space</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/u-t-mississauga" hreflang="en">老司机直播 Mississauga</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>For at least one day in Grade 2, Susan Strangway was unquestionably the most popular girl in school.&nbsp;</p> <p>Her dad,&nbsp;<strong>David Strangway,&nbsp;</strong>was a University of Toronto geophysicist who worked for NASA beginning in the mid-to-late 1960s&nbsp;鈥 just&nbsp;as the space agency worked toward the first manned trips to the moon.&nbsp;</p> <p>Strangway, who would go on to serve as 老司机直播鈥檚 president,&nbsp;was part of the team that organized and oversaw the preservation of moon rocks, and he brought some to Susan鈥檚 school for a day of show-and-tell that made the local papers in the fall of 1969.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淗e was like a movie star,鈥 Susan told <em>老司机直播 News</em>.</p> <p>A local newspaper reported the 老司机直播 professor brought the moon samples to the school under police guard. 鈥淒r. Strangway told us that the questions asked by his son鈥檚 Grade 5 classmates were as fine a group of questions as he鈥檚 ever been asked by adults,鈥 the then-principal Donald Cooper was quoted as saying.&nbsp;</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/DavidStrangwayApolloclass.jpg" alt></p> <p><em>Fan mail from children to David Strangway after he visited his daughter鈥檚 Toronto elementary school with samples of moon rocks and dust (photo courtesy of Susan Strangway)</em></p> <p>With the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11&nbsp;moon landing this weekend, Susan and her sister Patricia, who both live&nbsp;in B.C., spoke to <em>老司机直播 News</em> about their father鈥檚 role at NASA and his time at 老司机直播.</p> <p>Strangway grew up in Angola with his Canadian missionary parents, but later returned to Canada to&nbsp;earn a bachelor's, master's and PhD at 老司机直播. He taught at the University of Colorado and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before being enticed&nbsp;back to Toronto to take charge of 老司机直播鈥檚 geology department.</p> <p>On the night of July 20, 1969, Strangway watched on TV&nbsp;鈥 with more than 500 million people around the globe&nbsp;鈥 as astronaut Neil Armstrong took his first steps on the moon.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淚t was tremendously exciting to realize that the whole world was sitting rooted on this particular event and that before very long, I was actually going to have a piece of that stuff sitting right there; being able to measure something I鈥檇 always dreamed about being able to measure,鈥 Strangway recalled in an interview with the <em>Toronto Star</em> in 1994.</p> <p>After the historic moon landing, Armstrong, Edwin 鈥淏uzz鈥 Aldrin and Michael Collins returned to Earth with about 21.5 kilograms of moon rocks and dust 鈥 some of which eventually came to Canada in Strangway鈥檚 luggage.</p> <p>His daughters say their father packed the moon samples in his suitcase, the dust kept in glass jars and the rocks wrapped in dirty laundry.&nbsp;</p> <p><em><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/family.photo_.jpg" alt><br> The Strangway family at NASA in Houston, Tex. From left: Richard, Alice, David, Patricia, David's mom Alice and Susan (photo courtesy of Susan Strangway)</em></p> <p>The extraterrestrial material presented Canadian customs agents&nbsp;with a conundrum. His daughters say that Strangway answered honestly when asked if he had anything to declare. 鈥淗e said, 鈥業鈥檝e got a bunch of moon rocks&nbsp;and they waved him through,鈥 Patricia said. His declaration form apparently read, in part: 鈥淣o. of packages: one; Contents: moondust; Appraised value: NCV (no commercial value) ... Place of Origin: Moon.鈥</p> <p>When customs officials later realized Strangway was telling the truth, they visited him at home. The government eventually issued him a 鈥渃ertificate of importation of foreign soil,鈥 he told the <em>Star</em>.</p> <p>Strangway鈥檚 involvement with NASA didn鈥檛 end there. In 1970, he became&nbsp;head of the geophysics branch of NASA during the peak years of the Apollo program. He was involved in designing experiments, training astronauts to collect samples and helping choose a landing site for lunar modules. He received NASA's medal for exceptional scientific achievement two years later.</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/2001-77-202MS.jpg" alt></p> <p><em>Left to right: Associate Dean Irving Spiegel, geophysicist David Strangway, Principal J. Tuzo Wilson, and Dean E.A. Robinson (photo by Robert Lansdale/University of Toronto Archives)</em></p> <p>When he became chair of 老司机直播鈥檚 geology department after his years with&nbsp;NASA,&nbsp;Strangway helped land a $1-million federal grant and an expansion of the department鈥檚 faculty and equipment. He established a Physical Properties Laboratory at Erindale College, now 老司机直播 Mississauga, where researchers investigated&nbsp;magnetic and electromagnetic properties of rocks 鈥 including moon rocks.&nbsp;</p> <p>He brought back $500,000 worth of NASA equipment on a long-term loan that was later entirely forgiven, according to the <em>Vancouver Sun</em>.&nbsp;</p> <p>When the first lunar samples arrived in Canada and were exhibited on campus, more than 3,000 people lined up for a peek at a moon rock that was smaller than a golf ball and a thimbleful of moondust. The samples were encased in a glass receptacle designed by the jeweller, Birks.&nbsp;</p> <p><img class="migrated-asset" src="/sites/default/files/0J5A0765.jpg" alt></p> <p><em>A moon rock and vial of moon dust&nbsp;on display at 老司机直播 in a glass orb designed by the jeweller Birks&nbsp;(photo courtesy of 老司机直播 Mississauga)</em></p> <p>Strangway went on to serve as 老司机直播 President from 1983 to 1984 before taking the reins at the University of British Columbia for 12 years.&nbsp;</p> <p>His work on the Apollo program earned him celebrity status 鈥渆verywhere he went for the rest of his life,鈥 according to daughter Patricia.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淒espite all his illustrious accomplishments, people really are fascinated by the Apollo missions, as you can see 50 years later.鈥&nbsp;</p> <p>Strangway鈥檚&nbsp;work with NASA remains a source of pride for his children, whose own kids have read about his accomplishments in textbooks. Earlier this week when Susan looked at the full moon, she thought of her dad.</p> <p>鈥淵ou brought me some of that.鈥&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Fri, 19 Jul 2019 17:24:58 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 157322 at Mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing with these words from 老司机直播鈥檚 Marshall McLuhan /news/mark-50th-anniversary-apollo-11-moon-landing-these-words-u-t-s-marshall-mcluhan <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing with these words from 老司机直播鈥檚 Marshall McLuhan</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/GettyImages-1155904513.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=S3sujBnJ 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/GettyImages-1155904513.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=NPCk0hsz 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/GettyImages-1155904513.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=VrPgORXY 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/GettyImages-1155904513.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=S3sujBnJ" alt="Photo of Neil Armstrong's Apollo 11 spacesuit "> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Romi Levine</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2019-07-18T14:27:07-04:00" title="Thursday, July 18, 2019 - 14:27" class="datetime">Thu, 07/18/2019 - 14:27</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Visitors admire Neil Armstrong's Apollo 11 spacesuit this week after it was unveiled for the first time in 13 years at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Alastair Pike/AFP/Getty Images)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/global-lens" hreflang="en">Global Lens</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/global" hreflang="en">Global</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/marshall-mcluhan" hreflang="en">Marshall McLuhan</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/moon" hreflang="en">Moon</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/space" hreflang="en">Space</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>On July 21, 1969, people around the world crowded around their televisions to witness history in the making:&nbsp;astronaut Neil Armstrong taking his first steps on the moon.</p> <p>The United States鈥 Apollo 11 spacecraft landed on the moon the day before&nbsp;鈥&nbsp;becoming the first crewed vessel to do so.</p> <p>The momentous occasion sparked a lively conversation on U.S. television network ABC鈥檚 <em>As it Happens</em> between 老司机直播 Professor and famed media theorist <strong>Marshall McLuhan</strong>, Scottish landscape architect and writer Ian McHarg,<strong> </strong><em>Newsday</em> publisher&nbsp;Bill Moyers&nbsp;and journalist Howard K. Smith.</p> <h4><strong>Watch the full conversation here:</strong></h4> <p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="422" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qT2sN7Oe7JA?start=6533" width="750"></iframe></p> <p>The panel discussed the significance of the moon landing 鈥 from debating whether it was a conquest versus an exploratory mission to the space race with Russia.</p> <p>McLuhan was looking to the future in order to gauge the long-term benefits of the moon landing.</p> <p>鈥淟et鈥檚 ask ourselves in long-term projects about the meteorological possibilities of the conquest of moon space,鈥 he said. 鈥淐an we consider the possibility of space platforms that might serve the control of climatic conditions eventually on Earth?鈥</p> <p>He also predicted that&nbsp;transportation 鈥 from space travel to cars 鈥 will soon become obsolete in their current forms.</p> <p>鈥淲e can tell by saturation and pollution that we鈥檙e reaching a terminus in many areas of use of materials,鈥 he said.</p> <p>And the biggest shift that will take place once man has explored the moon?</p> <p>鈥淭he hidden change created by moonshot is a totally new environment for human knowledge,鈥 he said.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Thu, 18 Jul 2019 18:27:07 +0000 Romi Levine 157310 at What the moon's craters reveal about the Earth's history: 老司机直播 expert and lead author of new study /news/what-moon-s-craters-reveal-about-earth-s-history-u-t-expert-and-lead-author-new-study <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">What the moon's craters reveal about the Earth's history: 老司机直播 expert and lead author of new study</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2019-01-18-moon-shot-resized.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=96REdx51 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2019-01-18-moon-shot-resized.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=YdtyENxC 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2019-01-18-moon-shot-resized.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=s4lKHx2i 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2019-01-18-moon-shot-resized.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=96REdx51" alt="Photo of moon shot"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>noreen.rasbach</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2019-01-18T12:36:40-05:00" title="Friday, January 18, 2019 - 12:36" class="datetime">Fri, 01/18/2019 - 12:36</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">A look at the southern rim of the Copernicus crater on the moon (photo by NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/sara-mazrouei" hreflang="en">Sara Mazrouei</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/global-lens" hreflang="en">Global Lens</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/earth-sciences" hreflang="en">Earth Sciences</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/global" hreflang="en">Global</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/moon" hreflang="en">Moon</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Most scientists believe the rate at which the moon and Earth have been bombarded by meteorites has remained constant for the past two to three billion years. Understanding the age of craters on the moon can help us better understand the age of our own planet because the Earth would have received similar numbers of impacts.</p> <p>It鈥檚 been assumed that the rarity of young craters on Earth (those created 300 to 600 million years ago) is attributed to preservation bias 鈥 craters have been erased over the years by erosion and the movement of the Earth鈥檚 plates. Since then, however, using a new method to date craters on the moon, my colleagues and I have determined that the rarity of craters 300 to 600 million years old is due to a lower bombardment rate. In fact, the bombardment rate has increased by a factor of two to three in the past 300 million years.</p> <p>To test this idea, we compared the Earth鈥檚 crater record to the moon鈥檚 in an <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/363/6424/253">article published in the journal <em>Science</em> </a>. We suggest that the scarcity of terrestrial craters that are 300 to 650 million years old is simply due to a lower bombardment rate during that period 鈥 and not due to preservation bias.</p> <figure class="align-center zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/254265/original/file-20190117-24625-blbp95.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/254265/original/file-20190117-24625-blbp95.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/254265/original/file-20190117-24625-blbp95.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=451&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254265/original/file-20190117-24625-blbp95.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=451&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254265/original/file-20190117-24625-blbp95.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=451&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254265/original/file-20190117-24625-blbp95.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=567&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254265/original/file-20190117-24625-blbp95.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=567&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/254265/original/file-20190117-24625-blbp95.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=567&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w"></a> <figcaption><em><span class="caption">Using rock abundance data from the Lunar Reconnaisance Orbiter to determine ages for lunar craters (image by </span><span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rebecca Ghent, University of Toronto, and Thomas Gernon, University of Southampton)</span></span></em></figcaption> </figure> <h3>Dating craters</h3> <p>The moon鈥檚 surface serves as a time capsule, helping us to detangle Earth鈥檚 history. There are tens of thousands of <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2108929-the-moon-has-hundreds-more-craters-than-we-thought/">craters on the moon</a> and the only way to see if the bombardment rate has changed is to have an age for every single crater.</p> <h3><a href="/news/team-scientists-led-u-t-identify-period-increased-asteroid-impacts-ancient-earth-studying-moon">Read more about the research at <em>老司机直播 News</em></a></h3> <p>Traditionally, dating craters is done by recording the number and size of superimposed craters on the ejecta 鈥 the material displaced by impact 鈥 of each crater. However, these methods are extremely time-consuming and limited by image quality and availability.</p> <p>In our work, we use a new method to determine the ages of lunar craters, employing temperature data from the <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/diviner-lunar-radiometer-experiment-dlre/">Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter鈥檚 Diviner</a> instrument. This innovative method uses the rockiness of large craters鈥 ejecta as an alternative means for estimating the ages of Copernican craters (those younger than one billion years old).</p> <p>This method works on the assumption that large lunar rocks have high thermal inertia and remain warm through the night, whereas the fine sand particles, called <a href="https://www.universetoday.com/20360/lunar-regolith/">regolith</a>, lose heat quickly.</p> <p>A simple analogy for the concept of thermal inertia is rocks and sand at the beach. During the day both large rocks and the sand are warm. However, as soon as the sun sets, the sand gets cold. The large rocks which have a higher thermal inertia, however, stay warm for longer.</p> <h3>Stable terrain and crater erosion</h3> <p>Analysis shows young craters with numerous metre-sized fragments are easy to pick out from older craters with eroded fragments. As time goes by, these large rocks get broken down by future small impactors. Eventually, over the course of about a billion years, all of the rocks form into lunar <a href="https://www.universetoday.com/20360/lunar-regolith/">regolith</a> (a fine layer of dust covering the moon鈥檚 surface), providing an inverse relationship between rock abundance (the rockiness of a crater鈥檚 ejecta) and crater age. As craters get older, they become less rocky.</p> <p>Using measured rock abundance values, we computed ages for 111 lunar rocky craters larger than 10 kilometres in diameter that formed between 80掳N and 80掳S over the last billion years. Using the ages of these young craters, we determined that the production rate of large lunar craters (more than 10 kilometres in diameter) increased by a factor of two to three in the past ~300 million years. Thus, the <a href="https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/">near-Earth objects</a> population has increased over the last billion years.</p> <p>The size and age distributions of lunar and terrestrial craters larger than 20 kilometres over the last 650 million years have similar shapes. This implies that large crater erasure must be limited on stable terrestrial terrains. It also implies that the observed deficit of large terrestrial craters between 290 and 650 million years is not preservation bias, but a reflection of a distinctly lower impact rate. If we had observed more dominant erosion, the age distribution of terrestrial craters would be strongly skewed toward younger ages.</p> <figure><iframe allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ANYxkwvb8pc?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" width="440"></iframe> <figcaption><span class="caption">Using data from the recent study on moon craters, SYSTEM Sounds created this video and accompanying soundtrack</span></figcaption> </figure> <p>Support for limited erosion on cratered terrains also comes from records of kimberlite pipes on Earth. Kimberlite pipes are carrot-shaped pipes that extend a couple of kilometres below the surface and are often located on the same stable regions where we would find preserved impact craters. These underground pipes have been widely mined for diamonds, providing scientists with plentiful information about their location and erosion state.</p> <p>Records show that kimberlite pipes have not experienced much erosion since forming around 650 million years ago. Therefore, the large young impact craters found on the same stable terrains must also be intact, providing us with a complete record.</p> <h3>Asteroid breakup?</h3> <p>The cause of this increase in the bombardment rate is still unknown. However, a hypothesis is that an asteroid family breakup caused a larger amount of debris to leave the asteroid belt and head towards our region of the Solar System. The loss of most craters older than 650 million years could be due to erosion from <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2018/12/part-earths-crust-went-missing-glaciers-may-be-why-geology/">Snowball Earth</a>, when most of Earth鈥檚 surface was frozen around 650 million years ago.</p> <p>We predict that the rare extinction-level event type craters like <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/chicxulub-crater">Chicxulub</a>, which may have lead to the extinction of the dinosaurs, were a byproduct of the current high bombardment rate. These new findings could have implications for the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/phanerozoic">evolution of Phanerozoic</a> life 鈥 our current geologic era 鈥 and the history of life including extinction events and evolution of new species.</p> <p><em><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/sara-mazrouei-663909">Sara Mazrouei</a>&nbsp;is a sessional lecturer and planetary scientist at the&nbsp;<a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-toronto-1281">University of Toronto</a>.</span></em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-moons-craters-reveal-about-the-earths-history-109692">original article</a>.</em></p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Fri, 18 Jan 2019 17:36:40 +0000 noreen.rasbach 151427 at Team of scientists led by 老司机直播 identify period of increased asteroid impacts on ancient Earth by studying the moon /news/team-scientists-led-u-t-identify-period-increased-asteroid-impacts-ancient-earth-studying-moon <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Team of scientists led by 老司机直播 identify period of increased asteroid impacts on ancient Earth by studying the moon</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2010-01-17-moon-craters-main-resized_0.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=TMmP-Ewe 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2010-01-17-moon-craters-main-resized_0.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=ZX9neg-B 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2010-01-17-moon-craters-main-resized_0.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=cKtz0Pn8 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2010-01-17-moon-craters-main-resized_0.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=TMmP-Ewe" alt> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>noreen.rasbach</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2019-01-17T11:22:25-05:00" title="Thursday, January 17, 2019 - 11:22" class="datetime">Thu, 01/17/2019 - 11:22</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">The image shows a map of all the lunar craters included in this study, with small images showing the study craters at their respective sizes relative to Copernicus, pictured at the top (data from NASA GSFC / LRO / USGS; image by Alex Parker)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/arts-science-news-staff" hreflang="en">Arts &amp; Science news staff</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/global-lens" hreflang="en">Global Lens</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/earth-sciences" hreflang="en">Earth Sciences</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/global" hreflang="en">Global</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/graduate-students" hreflang="en">Graduate Students</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/moon" hreflang="en">Moon</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>An international team of scientists is challenging our understanding of a part of Earth鈥檚 history by looking at the moon, the most complete and accessible chronicle of the asteroid collisions that carved our solar system.</p> <p><a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/363/6424/253">In a study published today in <em>Science</em></a>, the team shows the number of asteroid impacts on the moon and Earth increased by two to three times starting around 290 million years ago.</p> <p>鈥淥ur research provides evidence for a dramatic change in the rate of asteroid impacts on both Earth and the moon that occurred around the end of the Paleozoic era,鈥 said lead author <strong>Sara Mazrouei</strong>, who recently earned her PhD in the department of Earth sciences in the University of Toronto鈥檚 Faculty of Arts &amp; Science.</p> <p>鈥淭he implication is that since that time we have been in a period of relatively high rate of asteroid impacts that is 2.6 times higher than it was prior to 290 million years ago.鈥</p> <p>It had previously been assumed that most asteroid-produced craters on the Earth older than 290 million years had been erased by erosion and other geologic processes. But the new research shows otherwise.</p> <p>鈥淭he relative rarity of large craters on Earth older than 290 million years and younger than 650 million years is not because we lost the craters, but because the impact rate during that time was lower than it is now,鈥 said <strong>Rebecca Ghent</strong>, an associate professor in 老司机直播鈥檚 department of Earth sciences and one of the paper鈥檚 co-authors. 鈥淲e expect this to be of interest to anyone interested in the impact history of both Earth and the moon, and the role that it might have played in the history of life on Earth.鈥</p> <p>Scientists have for decades tried to understand the rate that asteroids hit Earth by using radiometric dating of the rocks around craters to determine their ages. But because it was believed erosion caused some craters to disappear, it was difficult to find an accurate impact rate and determine whether it had changed over time.</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__9990 img__view_mode__media_large attr__format__media_large" height="453" src="/sites/default/files/2019-01-17-craters-diagram-resized.jpg" typeof="foaf:Image" width="602" loading="lazy"></p> <p><em>This image depicts the method by which the Diviner instrument on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter senses the heat emanating from the lunar surface, which allows scientists to map the abundance of rocks around young impact craters. The team used this information to estimate ages for lunar craters larger than 10 kilometres in diameter. Young craters have lots of rocks near their rims, and those rocks break down into smaller particles over time, disappearing from the Diviner thermal data (data plots by Rebecca Ghent; illustration by Thomas Gernon)</em></p> <p><em>&nbsp;</em>A way to sidestep this problem is to examine the moon, which is hit by asteroids in the same proportions over time as Earth. But there was no way to determine the ages of lunar craters until NASA鈥檚 Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) started circling the moon a decade ago and studying its surface.</p> <p>鈥淭he LRO鈥檚 instruments have allowed scientists to peer back in time at the forces that shaped the moon,鈥 said Noah Petro, an LRO project scientist based at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.</p> <p>Using LRO data, the team was able to assemble a list of the ages of all lunar craters younger than about a billion years. They did this by using data from LRO鈥檚 Diviner instrument, a radiometer that measures the heat radiating from the moon鈥檚 surface, to monitor the rate of degradation of young craters.</p> <p>During the lunar night, rocks radiate much more heat than fine-grained soil called regolith. This allows scientists to distinguish rocks from fine particles in thermal images. Ghent had previously used this information to calculate the rate at which large rocks around the moon鈥檚 young craters 鈥 ejected onto the surface during asteroid impact 鈥 break down into soil over tens of millions of years. By applying this idea, the team was able to calculate ages for previously undated lunar craters.</p> <p>When compared to a similar timeline of Earth鈥檚 craters, they found the two bodies had recorded the same history of asteroid bombardment.</p> <p>鈥淚t became clear that the reason why Earth has fewer older craters on its most stable regions is because the impact rate was lower up until about 290 million years ago,鈥 said William Bottke, an asteroid expert at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., and another of the paper鈥檚 co-authors. 鈥淭he answer to Earth鈥檚 impact rate was staring everyone right in the face.鈥</p> <p>The reason for the jump in the impact rate is unknown, though the researchers speculate it might be related to large collisions taking place more than 300 million years ago in the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Such events can create debris that can reach the inner solar system.</p> <p>Ghent and her colleagues found strong supporting evidence for their findings through a collaboration with Thomas Gernon, an Earth scientist based at the University of Southampton in England who works on a terrestrial feature called kimberlite pipes. These underground pipes are long-extinct volcanoes that stretch, in a carrot shape, a couple of kilometres below the surface, and are found on some of the least eroded regions of Earth in the same places that preserved impact craters are found.</p> <p>鈥淭he Canadian Shield hosts some of the best-preserved and best-studied of this terrain 鈥 and also some of the best-studied large impact craters,鈥 said Mazrouei.</p> <p>Gernon showed that kimberlite pipes formed over the past 650 million years had not experienced much erosion, indicating that large impact craters younger than this on stable terrains must also be intact.</p> <p>鈥淭his is how we know those craters represent a near-complete record,鈥 Ghent said.</p> <p>While the researchers weren鈥檛 the first to propose that the rate of asteroid strikes to Earth has fluctuated over the past billion years, they are the first to show it statistically and to quantify the rate.</p> <p>鈥淭he findings may also have implications for the history of life on Earth, which is punctuated by extinction events and rapid evolution of new species,鈥 said Ghent. 鈥淭hough the forces driving these events are complicated and may include other geologic causes, such as large volcanic eruptions, combined with biological factors, asteroid impacts have surely played a role in this ongoing saga.</p> <p>鈥淭he question is whether the predicted change in asteroid impacts can be directly linked to events that occurred long ago on Earth.鈥</p> <p>The findings are described in the study 鈥淓arth and Moon impact flux increased at the end of the Paleozoic,鈥&nbsp;published in <em>Science</em>. Support for the research was provided by the National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada, NASA鈥檚 Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute, and the Natural Environment Research Council of the United Kingdom.</p> <p><em>With files from NASA</em></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Thu, 17 Jan 2019 16:22:25 +0000 noreen.rasbach 151355 at Cool while it lasted: 老司机直播 astronomer explains science behind "supermoon" /news/cool-while-it-lasted-u-t-astronomer-explains-science-behind-supermoon <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Cool while it lasted: 老司机直播 astronomer explains science behind "supermoon"</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2016-11-15-supermoon_0.jpg?h=fcdc9906&amp;itok=WKdjOy02 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2016-11-15-supermoon_0.jpg?h=fcdc9906&amp;itok=mJxtStj7 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2016-11-15-supermoon_0.jpg?h=fcdc9906&amp;itok=EPrIBMPk 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2016-11-15-supermoon_0.jpg?h=fcdc9906&amp;itok=WKdjOy02" alt="Photo of supermoon"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>ullahnor</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2016-11-15T15:02:05-05:00" title="Tuesday, November 15, 2016 - 15:02" class="datetime">Tue, 11/15/2016 - 15:02</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">The supermoon is seen rising behind the Soyuz rocket at the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch pad in Kazakhstan Nov. 14 (photo credit Bill Ingalls/NASA via Flickr)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/noreen-ahmed-ullah" hreflang="en">Noreen Ahmed-Ullah</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Noreen Ahmed-Ullah</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/global-lens" hreflang="en">Global Lens</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/astronomy" hreflang="en">Astronomy</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/dunlap-institute-astronomy-astrophysics" hreflang="en">Dunlap Institute for Astronomy &amp; Astrophysics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/moon" hreflang="en">Moon</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/science" hreflang="en">Science</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>If you had&nbsp;a chance to look to the skies this week and take in the magnificent 鈥渟upermoon,鈥 you may have wondered about the science behind the phenomenon.</p> <p><em>老司机直播 News</em> spoke to <strong>Ren茅e Hlo啪ek</strong>, an assistant professor of astronomy in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science. Hlo啪ek, who is also appointed to the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy &amp; Astrophysics, is a TED expert&nbsp;who reaches thousands of people with her videos, making science accessible and fun for the average person.</p> <p>She thinks the supermoon is a bit overhyped. But, for those of us who usually just gaze in awe, she&nbsp;broke down the science behind it.</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__2526 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" height="500" src="/sites/default/files/2016-11-15-supermoon-embed.jpg" typeof="foaf:Image" width="750" loading="lazy"><br> <em>The "supermoon" over Toronto Monday (photo by mark.watmough via Flickr)</em></p> <hr> <p><strong>What is the 鈥渟upermoon鈥?</strong></p> <p>The term "supermoon" just describes the fact that the moon is both a full moon, and is at the point in its orbit that is closest to us.&nbsp;It appears a bit bigger and brighter in the sky, but only around 10 per cent.</p> <p>It is lovely to see the moon in the sky, but it is sometimes the case that the supermoon is overhyped. For example, the tides will be higher because the moon is closer to us, but lots of questions that I'm getting are about things like the moon and the New Zealand earthquake, which are definitely not related!</p> <p>The moon will appear a little more orange around sunset as it catches the last of the sun's rays. One of the cool things is that the Earth-moon orbit is actually very close to circular, but it is closer at different times in its orbit. The reason why it is "super" is because it is reasonably rare that the Earth is close and full at the same time 鈥&nbsp;which is why we won't see another moon this close during a full moon until 2048.</p> <p><strong>What's creating the&nbsp;phenomenon?</strong></p> <p>The phenomenon is due to the orbit of the moon around the Earth, which changes its distance to us ever so slightly and generates the phase of the moon, which now is full.</p> <p>The moon looks the brightest near sunset. It always appears bigger when it is near the horizon.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Any other celestial phenomena we should be looking out for in the coming weeks/months?</strong></p> <p>The Leonid meteor shower is coming up on Nov. 17/18, so that is something to look out for late on the 17th and in the early hours of the 18th. It's fun to see how many shooting stars you can see that night, and to take the chance to enjoy the night sky more generally. &nbsp;</p> <h3><a href="/news/popular-science-u-t-new-astronomer-astrophysicist-brings-science-people">Read more about Hlo啪ek</a></h3> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Tue, 15 Nov 2016 20:02:05 +0000 ullahnor 102426 at