JPL: Hey, Kids, Want to Name our Lunar Orbiters?

Students are invited to name the JPL-managed GRAIL mission’s twin lunar orbiters in a contest aimed at promoting science and space exploration in the nation’s schools. The GRAIL orbiters carry cameras as part of the MoonKAM project, lead by the Sally Ride Science Center in San Diego, which allows students to task the equipment to capture close-up shots of the lunar surface. Kindergarten classes through high school seniors are invited to enter the contest before November 11, with a teacher submitting the online form. For rules and more information, visit the contest website.

In Other JPL News:

Arctic Ozone Loss

A NASA-led study has documented the amount of ozone destroyed in the Arctic in 2011 to be comparable to ozone depletion in the Antarctic. The ozone layer extends for about 10 to 20 miles above the surface of the Earth in the stratosphere, protecting life on the planet from the sun’s ultraviolet rays. The loss in Arctic ozone recorded is comparable to loss measured in the ozone hole that has formed each spring since the 1980s over Antarctica.

The South Pole hole forms when common extreme conditions of cold react with atmospheric chlorine from chemicals in human-created pollution. In the Arctic, conditions are generally warmer and therefore less affected by the chemical reactions and results in a lower loss of ozone. However, scientists have learned that at some Arctic altitudes, the 2011 cold period lasted more than 30 days longer than previously studied winters. This extended cold resulted in higher rates of ozone depletion.

Lead author Gloria Manney of noted in a press release, "the difference from previous winters is that temperatures were low enough to produce ozone-destroying forms of chlorine for a much longer time. This implies that if winter Arctic stratospheric temperatures drop just slightly in the future, for example as a result of climate change, then severe Arctic ozone loss may occur more frequently."

Data gathered for the study came from NASA’s Aura and CALIPSO spacecraft, as well as instrumented balloons and atmospheric models. Due to the long life of ozone-depleting chemicals in the atmosphere, the possibility of continued and severe Arctic ozone loss could last for decades.

To learn more about the findings and the NASA missions that participated, visit NASA’s Aura website and CALIPSO website.

More Miss than Hit

NASA’s asteroid hunting portion of its Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, NEOWISE, has surveyed the celestial skies and reduced the threat of giant asteroids near Earth. The WISE mission scanned the entire celestial sky twice between January 2010 and February 2011. NEOWISE found more than 100,000 asteroids in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. At least 585 of these asteroids are near Earth.

The WISE data showed scientists 93 percent of the estimated population of large asteroids – those 3,300 feet wide and larger – and revised their estimated numbers from 1,000 to 981, of which 911 have already been discovered. These asteroids do not pose a threat to Earth in the next few centuries, and asteroids as big as the one believed to have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs have all been found.

Astronomers also now estimate that there are about 19,500 mid-size asteroids near Earth rather than 35,000. Mid-size asteroids are between 330 feet and 3,300 feet wide. A mid-size asteroid could cause significant damage if collided with Earth, capable of taking out a metropolitan area. WISE has also allowed scientists to estimate that there are over a million smaller, unknown asteroids that could hit Earth. Scientists continue to track and monitor asteroids near our home planet.

To learn more about WISE and NEOWISE, visit NASA’s WISE webpage.