Curiosity has turned up something very curious in the Martian soil that mission scientists are dying to share with the world but can’t until whatever-it-is is confirmed. The discovery was made by the rover’s Sample Analysis at Mars instrument or SAM. SAM is the rover’s mini-chemistry lab capable of identifying organic or carbon-containing compounds in Martian soil and air.
“This data is gonna be one for the history books,” Curiosity chief scientist John Grotzinger told MPR this week. Grotzinger confirmed to SPACE.com that the news will be revealed at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union, which takes place Dec. 3-7 in San Francisco.
Before the Internet conspiracy theorists get to work, consider the nature of discovery. Especially a big one. The last thing you want to do is shout it to the world before you’re absolutely sure you’re right. If you do do and are later proven wrong, humiliation and damage to your reputation follow. Not to mention the long climb back to being taken seriously again.
Scientists are rightfully being cautious about the results. After all, Grotzinger and colleagues were nearly burned earlier this month when SAM apparently found methane in Mars air. Here on Earth the gas is connected to living organisms, and while methane’s has been detected on Mars from orbit, it may or may not be related to life. Grotzinger held up the results until further tests could be done to determine if a noseful of earthly methane from the state of Florida had gone along for the ride to Mars. Further tests showed no methane in the sample.
Caution is the way of good science; it will make the forthcoming announcement that much more exciting. I can’t wait.
In other news, astronomers have used three telescopes at the European Southern Observatory’s mountaintop facility in Chile to observe the dwarf planet Makemake (MAH-kay MAH-kay) pass in front of a star. As the 870-mile-diameter icy asteroid blocked the star, astronomers hoped to see gradual dimming of the star’s light. If Makemake had an atmosphere, starlight passing along its edge would gradually fade as it penetrated through ever thicker air before disappearing behind the the solid disk. Instead, the star abruptly disappeared and then reappear seconds later – sure signs that the dwarf planet lacks a significant atmosphere unlike its relative Pluto, which is surrounded by a thin envelope of nitrogen and methane.
Astronomers want to know as much as they can about impossibly distant worlds like Makemake. Rare stellar occultations – when nearby solar system bodies block the light of distant stars – are an important tool to probe an object’s atmosphere, determine an accurate size and shape and from that data its density and how reflective it is.
Thanks to the recent stellar passage, we know Makemake’s surface reflects light similar to dirty snow, making it slightly brighter than Pluto. It’s also shaped like a slightly squashed sphere. Makemake is one of five dwarf planets, a category of large, asteroid-like solar system bodies recently created by the International Astronomical Union. The others are Pluto, Ceres, Haumea and Eris.