Posted on by Ken Kremer

Amazing New View of the Mt. Everest of Vesta

Oblique View of Vesta's South Polar Region - Rheasilvia. This image of the asteroid Vesta, calculated from a shape model, shows a tilted view of the topography of the south polar region. The image has a resolution of about 1,000 feet (300 meters) per pixel, and the vertical scale is 1.5 times that of the horizontal scale. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA/PSI

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NASA has just released an amazing new view of the mysterious south pole of Vesta that offers an oblique perspective view of the central mountain peak which is three times as high as Mt Everest. This topographic view , shown above,is completely unique to viewers from Earth and is provided courtesy of NASA’s exotic Dawn Asteroid Orbiter – newly arrived in July 2011.

The mountain peak rises about 15 miles (22 km) above the average height of the surrounding pockmarked terrain at Vesta’s south polar region – formally named Rheasilvia – and is located in the foreground, left side of the new image. A portion of the crater rim with a rather steep slope – known as a scarp – is seen at the right and may show evidence of Vestan landslides.

This oblique image derived from the on board Framing Camera was created from a shape model of the 530 km diameter asteroid. It has been flattened to remove the curvature of Vesta and has a vertical scale adjusted to 1.5 times that of the horizontal scale.

The origin of Vesta’s south polar region is hotly debated among the mission’s science team who will reveal their current theories at a briefing set for October 12 – watch for my upcoming report.

Dawn will remain in orbit at Vesta for 1 year until July 2012 and then fire up its revolutionary ion propulsion system to depart for Ceres, the largest Asteroid in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Asteroid Vesta from Dawn
NASA's Dawn spacecraft obtained this image of the giant asteroid Vesta with its framing camera on July 24, 2011. It was taken from a distance of about 3,200 miles (5,200 kilometers). Dawn entered orbit around Vesta on July 15, and will spend a year orbiting the body. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA

Read Ken’s continuing features about Dawn and Vesta starting here
Dramatic 3 D Imagery Showcases Vesta’s Pockmarked, Mountainous and Groovy Terrain
Rheasilvia – Super Mysterious South Pole Basin at Vesta
Space Spectacular — Rotation Movies of Vesta
3 D Alien Snowman Graces Vesta
NASA Unveils Thrilling First Full Frame Images of Vesta from Dawn
Dawn Spirals Down Closer to Vesta’s South Pole Impact Basin
First Ever Vesta Vistas from Orbit – in 2D and 3D
Dawn Exceeds Wildest Expectations as First Ever Spacecraft to Orbit a Protoplanet – Vesta

Posted on by Jason Rhian

Behind The Scenes: United Launch Alliance’s Horizontal Integration Facility

The Horizontal Integration Facility or HIF, is where United Launch Alliance assembles the massive Delta IV rocket (all variants) for launch. Photo Credit: Jason Rhian

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla – While the Horizontal Integration Facility or HIF might sound similar to the Vertical Integration Facility or VIF – the buildings requirements and lay out could not be more different. Unlike the VIF, where the Atlas launch vehicle is lifted into the vertical position for launch, the launch vehicles remain on their sides in this structure.

Upon first entering the HIF, one sees what appears, upon first glance, to be a mundane warehouse type of structure. Those similarities cease when one enters the bays that contain the Delta IV rocket. The one resting within the facility now is destined to launch the Wideband Global SATCOM or WGS satellite, currently on track to lift off from Launch Complex-37 early next year.

For an idea of the size of the Delta IV, notice the two ULA technicians near the end of the launch vehicle. Photo Credit: Alan Walters awaltersphoto.com

In preparation for launch a rocket’s first and second stages are brought into the HIF along with any solid rocket boosters that will be needed for that mission. These components are then assembled and the fully-assembled launch vehicle is then ready for the move out to the launch pad.

“The HIF can actually hold three Delta IV’s at any one given time,” said Mike Woolley of United Launch Alliance. “Once the Delta IV leaves the HIF, it takes us about a half-hour to get it to Launch Complex 37. Once we get there we then lift the Delta IV from the horizontal in to the vertical position.”

Ladders on either side of the Delta IV launch vehicle provide one with a stunning look down the length of the rocket. Photo Credit: Alan Walters/awaltersphoto.com

Whereas the VIF’s many decks, shrouds and layers obstruct one’s view of the rocket – nothing is left to the imagination at the HIF. The Delta IV sits out in the open. Visitors are able to walk completely around the massive rocket.

“We use a similar spray-on foam insulation as the one that was used on the space shuttle’s external tank,” Woolley said. “It has that coloration because of the moisture in the air and the Florida heat as it interacts with the foam.”

The HIF is seven-stories tall, white and is comprised of two bays that measure about 250 square feet by 100 feet each. To ensure that the launch vehicles that are brought into the building are kept level – the floors of the HIF, at most, differentiate only about 3/8 inch. This makes the HIF’s floors the most-level in the U.S.

The sheer scale of the Delta IV rocket is seen here, as the rocket stretches out across the length of one of the HIF's bay. Photo Credit: Alan Walters/awaltersphoto.com

In both the VIF and the HIF, the one thing that was apparent was that these are places where work is occurring. At both sites, United Launch Alliance workers were actively working to ensure that the Atlas V at the Vertical Integration Facility and the Delta IV at the Horizontal Integration Facility were ready to lift their individual payloads to orbit.

The WGS is tentatively scheduled to launch early next year (no firm launch date has been announced). WGS 4, 5 and 6 are under construction by the Boeing Company, they will be deployed over the course of the coming years. Like WGS 3 was also launched atop a Delta IV. These satellites are the Block II version of the WGS.

The Delta IV rocket is just as impressive from the front as it is from the rear. Soon the rocket will be moved out to Space Launch Complex 37 in preparation for launch. Photo Credit: Alan Walters/awaltersphoto.com

To get a better idea of what it was like inside of United Launch Alliance’s Horizontal Integration Facility, please check out the video feature below. This package contains a large amount of information provided by United Launch Alliance’s Mike Woolley – including a funny story – that could only happen in Florida.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

A Rover’s 3-Year Drive Across Mars

Here’s a look at the Opportunity rover’s three-year trek across 20 km (13 miles) of Meridiani Planum on Mars, using the unique vantage point of the rover itself. During the drive from Victoria Crater to Endeavour Crater, rover planners captured a horizon photograph at the end of each drive. 309 images taken during the journey appear in this video.

Posted on by Jason Major

A Meteorite Visits the Comettes

This 88-gram (3.5 oz.) meteorite broke through the roof of the Comette family

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When your last name is Comette, I’m sure the occasional astronomy-themed joke is never far away. But it’s no joke that the Comette family living in Draveil, a suburb south of Paris, was paid a visit by a real extraterrestrial a couple of weeks ago – in the form of an 88-gram (3.5 oz.) meteorite that broke through their roof!

The Comettes were on vacation at the time, so didn’t realize their house had been struck by a space rock until they noticed a leak in the roof. When they called in a roofer it was discovered that a thick tile had been completely broken through.

The meteorite was found wedged in insulation.

Mineral scientist Alain Carion investigated the meteorite and determined that it’s an iron-rich chondrite, a 4.57-billion-year-old remnant of the early Solar System that most likely came from the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. About 3/4 of all meteorites that have been observed landing on Earth are chondrites.

While obviously not impossible, the odds of your home being hit my a meteorite are incredibly slim. Only 145 meteorites have been documented landing in the US in the past 200 years. On March 26, 2003, just before midnight, hundreds of fragments of a large meteorite fell in the Park Forest area of Chicago. Several fell through roofs of houses and one punched a hole in the roof of the fire station. One large piece weighing about 2.5 kg (5.5 lb) crashed into a bedroom, narrowly missing a boy who was asleep in his bed! On September 23, 2003, a 20 kg (44 lb) stone meteorite tore straight through a two-storey house in New Orleans and came to rest in the basement. (Source: University of New Mexico Institute of Meteoritics.)

Only about 50 meteorites have been found in France over the past four centuries, and none has ever before been discovered less than 80 km (50 miles) from Paris.

While they could attempt to sell the meteorite that struck their home, possibly fetching several hundred euros for it, the Comettes have decided to keep their otherworldly visitor.

“A piece of the history of space of which we know nothing, but which is fascinating, has fallen on us,” Mrs. Comette told the Le Parisien newspaper. “It’s like a fairytale, and less likely than winning the lottery, we’re told.”

Read more on The Guardian or on The Local.

Image found on Stargazers Lounge.

Posted on by Jason Rhian

Book Review: The Space Shuttle: Celebrating Thirty Years of NASA’s First Space Plane

The Space Shuttle: Celebating Thirty Years Of NASA's First Space Plane is chocked full of great imagery and works to cover each of the shuttle's 135 missions. Photo Credit: Zenith Press

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The space shuttle program is over. The orbiters are being decommissioned, stripped of the components that allowed them to travel in space. For those that followed the program, those that wished they did and those with only a passing interest in what the program accomplished a new book has been produced covering the entirety of the thirty years that comprised NASA’s longest human space flight program. The Space Shuttle: Celebrating Thirty Years of NASA’s First Space Plane is written by aerospace author Piers Bizony and weighs in at 300 pages in length.

Bizony is a prolific author who has focused a lot of his work on space flight. Some of the books that he has written include (but definitely are not limited to) include: One Giant Leap: Apollo 11 Remembered, Space 50, The Man Who Ran the Moon: James E. Webb, NASA, and the Secret History of Project Apollo and Island in the Sky: The International Space Station.

Bizony pulls out all the stops in detailing the shuttle era. From thunder and light - to tragedy, the full spectrum of the shuttle program is highlighted here. Photo Credit: NASA

The book contains 900 color images, detailing the entire history of NASA’s fleet of orbiters. From the first launches and the hope that those initial flights were rich in, to the Challenger tragedy and the subsequent realization that the space shuttles would never be what they were intended to be.

The next phase of the book deals with the post-Challenger period and how NASA worked to find a balance with its fleet of orbiters, while at the same time worked to regain the trust of the America public. The path was both hindered and helped by a single payload – the Hubble Space Telescope.

The Space Shuttle: Celebrating Thirty Years of NASA’s First Space Plane - has stunning imagery on every page, allowing the reader to once again view the majesty that the shuttle program provided. Photo Credit: NASA

When the images the orbiting telescope beamed back turned out fuzzy, NASA was a laughing stock. Hubble would become a sensation and NASA redeemed its name after the first servicing mission to Hubble corrected the problem with the telescope’s mirror.

Hubble was not the only telescope or probe that the shuttle placed in the heavens. It would however, be the only one that NASA’s fleet of orbiters would visit during several servicing missions. Besides Hubble the shuttle also sent the Chandra X-Ray telescope, Galileo probe to Jupiter and the Magellan probe to Venus during the course of the program’s history.

It is currently unknown when the U.S. will launch crews into orbit again. Some aerospace experts have even suggested that the shuttles be pulled out of retirement to help fill this gap - but this is highly unlikely to happen. Photo Credit: NASA

NASA was now on course to begin construction of the most ambitious engineering feat in human history – the International Space Station. The Space Shuttle: Celebrating Thirty Years of NASA’s First Space Plane details this period, as well as the tragic loss of the shuttle Columbia in 2003 with great care and attention to detail. Many never-before-seen images are contained within and Bizony uses them to punctuate the history that the space shuttle accomplished with every flight.

With a chance of catastrophic failure estimated by some as being as high as one chance in 53 - the shuttle was a risky endeavor. However, given all of the program's accomplishments - it is not a stretch to say that the shuttle made fact out of last century's science fiction. Photo Credit: NASA

The book also contains a detailed diagram of the orbiter (it is long and therefore was produced as a pull-out section. This element is included near the end and acts as a nice punctuation mark to the stream of imagery contained within.

While it required the combined effort of 16 different nations to make the International Space Station work - the space shuttle made the orbiting laboratory a reality. Photo Credit: NASA

The book is not perfect (but what book is). If one did not know better, upon reading this book one would assume that the Delta Clipper (both DC-X and DC-XA) flew once and upon landing caught fire. DC-X flew eight times – not once. Bizony also describes the lunar element of the Vision for Space Exploration (VSE) as being a repeat of Apollo. Apollo 17 was the longest duration that astronauts roamed the Moon’s surface – they were there for about three days. The VSE called for a permanent crewed presence on the moon.

For those out there that consider themselves “shuttle huggers” this book is simply a must-have. It is perfect to take to autograph shows to be signed by astronauts (as every mission is detailed, it is a simple matter to have crew members sign on the pages that contain their missions). It is also a perfect gift for space aficionados this holiday season. Published by Zenith Press and retailing for $40.00, The Space Shuttle: Celebrating Thirty Years of NASA’s First Space Plane is a welcome addition to your home library.

How will the shuttle be remebered? According to Bizony, given the technological restraints and the numerous accomplishments that the orbiter accomplished - it will be remembered in a positive light. Photo Credit: NASA
Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Suitable For Framing: Latest Eye Candy from Cassini

Enceladus and Tethys hang below Saturn's rings in this image from the Cassini spacecraft. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SS

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Another Cassini stunner! This gorgeous, suitable-for-framing image shows two of Saturn’s moons hanging below the planet’s rings, as if strung on a necklace. Beautiful! Enceladus (504 kilometers, 313 miles across) appears just below the rings, while Tethys (1062 kilometers, 660 miles across) appears below. In this shot, Cassini is also closer to Tethys than Enceladus: the spacecraft is 208,000 kilometers (139,000 miles) from Tethys and 272,000 kilometers (169,000 miles) from Enceladus. This image was taken on September 13, 2011.

See below for some raw images from Cassini’s October 1 close fly by of Enceladus, including a great shot of the moon hovering in front of Saturn’s rings, and a view of the geysers.


A closeup view of Enceladus with Saturn's rings in the background. This raw image was taken on Oct. 1, 2011. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

A view of Enceladus from farther away, with the rings slicing through the view of Saturn in the background. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
A view of the geysers on Enceladus, from Cassini's latest close flyby of the moon, on October 1, 2011.Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Posted on by Tammy Plotner

Welcome To The Heart Of The Milky Way…

The galactic core, observed using infrared light and X-ray light. Credit: NASA, ESA, SSC, CXC, and STScI

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When it comes to my job, I see a lot of astrophotography. I’ve contemplated innumerable nebulae, viewed myriad galaxies and dreamed over abounding star clusters. Each photo is a work of art in its own right – where the palette is a computer program and the canvas is a screen. These creations are stunning, showing us the true nature of what lay just beyond the visible perception of human sight. However, there are very few that when printed seem to have life of their own. This snapshot in time is one of them…

When this image was originally revealed on November 10, 2009, it was meant to commemorate Galileo’s 400th anniversary of turning a telescope towards the heavens. At the time, 150 prints were released to libraries, schools, planetariums, nature centers and observatories across the country. These massive six feet by three feet prints are a composite of a near-infrared view from the Hubble Space Telescope, an infrared view from the Spitzer Space Telescope and an X-ray view from the Chandra X-ray Observatory into one multi-wavelength picture.

What no one could prepare you for is the emotional impact such an image could have on you… If only you let it.

In this revelation of the heart of the Milky Way you’ll witness star birth – and death. You’ll travel along the effects of a supermassive black hole nearly four million times more massive than our Sun. You’ll walk into a complex web weaved from glowing gas clouds, dripping with globules, filaments and dark, dusty cocoons where neophyte stars await their turn to emerge. You’ll be swept away on the glowing blue stellar winds of X-ray light and dropped into the well of infra-red. You’ll feel yourself uplifted… Pulled into the “pillars of creation”. You’ll fly along hundreds of thousands of stars that could never be seen in visible light.

In short, you can’t walk away untouched.

Each telescope's contribution is presented in a different color: Yellow represents the near-infrared observations of Hubble. They outline the energetic regions where stars are being born as well as reveal hundreds of thousands of stars. Red represents the infrared observations of Spitzer. The radiation and winds from stars create glowing dust clouds that exhibit complex structures from compact, spherical globules to long, stringy filaments. Blue and violet represent the X-ray observations of Chandra. X-rays are emitted by gas heated to millions of degrees by stellar explosions and by outflows from the supermassive black hole in the galaxy's center. The bright blue blob on the left side is emission from a double star system containing either a neutron star or a black hole. Credit: NASA, ESA, SSC, CXC, and STScI

To see the full size image here on your screen is one thing, to see it accompanied by the individuals that make up the three by four feet composite is nice… But it’s the difference between looking up an image of the Mona Lisa and looking at the Mona Lisa as it hangs in the art gallery. I strongly urge you to investigate these NASA’s Great Observatories – Galactic Center Image Locations and take the time to visit in person.

You won’t regret the experience.

My many thanks go to Rich Ruggles of Astronomy 1 On 1 for opening my eyes to all the joy, wonder and mystery all over again.

Posted on by Jason Rhian

Behind the Scenes: Curiosity’s Rocket Prepared at Vertical Integration Facility

One of the most incredible things to see at United Launch Alliance's Vertical Integration Facility - is the surrounding area and the adjacent Space Launch Complex-41. Photo Credit: Alan Walters/awaltersphoto.com

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla — One of the more dramatic buildings operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida is the Vertical Integration Facility or VIF as it is more commonly known. It is in this facility that expendable launch vehicles are brought, lying on their sides – and then hoisted into the vertical position for launch. The current resident in the VIF is the Atlas V 541 (AV-028) that is slated to launch the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL).

At the top of the 292 –foot-tall structure is a 60 ton crane that initially is used to lift the Atlas’ first stage into the vertical position. The payload, ensconced in the protective fairing, is assembled elsewhere. Once it arrives at the VIF, it is hoisted high into the air using the same crane and then mated with the top of the launch vehicle. Given the delicate nature of this operation technicians take their time in lifting the precious cargo and maneuvering it over the rocket.

The U.S. flag and the interstage adapter are seen in the image to the left. The photo to the right helps to illustrate the scale needed to assemble the Atlas V. Photo Credits: Jason Rhian

“You get the most amazing view from the top of the VIF,” said Mike Woolley of United Launch Alliance. “From this level you can clearly see not just Launch Complex 41, but a great deal of Florida’s Space Coast.”

Once the fairing and its payload have been safely affixed to the top of the rocket, the doors are opened up and the Atlas V is then rolled out to the adjacent Space Launch Complex-41 (SLC-41).

At the Vertical Integration Facility's fifh level, the segment of the rocket where the payload (in this case the MSL rover) is attached is the only element of the rocket that is visible. Photo Credit: Alan Walters/awaltersphoto.com

“Once the Atlas V is fully assembled, the completed vehicle is rolled, in the vertical, out to the launch pad.” Woolley said.

Currently on the fifth level the upper part of the Centaur, the all-important rocket that will send the rover on its way to Mars, covered in a protective layer of white plastic, is visible.

One of the easiest ways to display the size of the Atlas - is to actually break up the images. To the left is the top portion, to the right the middle (note the Aerojet Solid Rocket Motors the the right). Photo Credit: Alan Walters/awaltersphoto.com

Descending down the length of the Atlas V, level by level one gains an appreciation for the sheer scale of the Atlas rocket, its solid rocket motors and the attention to detail needed to launch payloads out of Earth’s gravity well.

On Level One the top of the Atlas’ Solid Rocket Motors (SRMs) produced by Aerojet are visible. At the ground floor, one has the ability to look up (somewhat, platforms and rigging block your view) the length of the rocket. On the ground level, one can plainly see that the twin RD-180 engines are Russian-made – the Cyrillic lettering still grace the engines’ nozzles.

Just inside the VIF one can look up the side of the Atlas V, even though elements of the launch vehicle are obstructed - the sight is still impressive. Photo Credit: Jason Rhian

MSL is the next planetary mission on NASA’s docket, more commonly known as “Curiosity” is a nuclear-powered rover about the size of a compact automobile.

Curiosity is currently slated for a Nov. 25 launch date at 10:21 a.m. EDT from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41 (SLC-41). Members of the media (myself included) got to see the Atlas for this launch being lifted into the air in preparation for the November launch when we were being escorted back to the NASA/LSC press site after the GRAIL launch was scrubbed (GRAIL would go on to be launched two days later).

Posted on by Jason Major

What is Vision? (A Save The James Webb Support Video)

Promotional poster supporting the JWST

Do you love astronomy? Do you appreciate science? Do you have a curiosity about the nature of our Universe, how it came to be and what our place is within it? If you are even reading this I assume your answers to all of those questions is a resounding “yes!” and so I present to you an excellent video created by Brad Goodspeed in support of the James Webb Space Telescope:

“I made Vision because I thought the argument for science could benefit from a passionate delivery,” Brad told Universe Today. “Deep down we’re all moved by the stars, and that passion needs to be expressed by methods outside of science’s typical toolbox.”

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Funding for this next-generation telescope is currently on the line in Washington. While a markup bill was passed last month by the House of Representatives that allows for continued funding of the JWST through to launch, it has not yet been ratified by Congress. It’s still very important to maintain support for the JWST by contacting your state representatives and letting them know that the future of space exploration is of concern to you.

A petition against the defunding of the JWST is currently active on Change.org and needs your signature (if you haven’t signed it already.) Signing ends at midnight tonight so be sure to click here to sign and pass it along as well! (You can share this shortened link on Twitter, Facebook, etc.: http://chn.ge/oy4ibI)

You can also show your support and follow the JWST progress by following Save the James Webb Space Telescope on Facebook and on saveJWST.com.

The JWST will be the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It will study every phase in the history of our Universe, ranging from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of our own Solar System. It is currently aiming for a 2018 launch date.

“We don’t get to the future by yielding to our most current fears… by being shortsighted.”

Video courtesy of Brad Goodspeed.

Posted on by Tammy Plotner

Impact On Asteroid Scheila?

(Left to right): images of (596) Scheila corresponding to 2010 December 13, 14, 17, and 29. The upper row corresponds to the observations, while the lower row to the models. The tails clearly show a bifid pattern with a central spike in the sunward direction, although it is not detectable in the December 29 image. Except for this latter case, the modeled images are rendered using the same color code for the intensities as the corresponding observed images in the top row. Credit: Fernando Moreno

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On December 12, 2010, something very unusual happened to asteroid Scheila. For a short period of time, its appearance changed dramatically and it even developed a comet-like tail. Now a group of international scientists headed by Fernando Moreno of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía in Granada, Spain have created a computer model which may explain this weird activity… an impact.

In results revealed October 7th in Nantes, France at the joint meeting of the European Planetary Science Congress and the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences, the team explained their theory of how this innocent asteroid may have been crashed into by a smaller object. Moreno and his team plotted the brightness curve of Scheila’s newly developed “tail” – watching how it declined over a period of weeks. Their conclusion was that Scheila was either responsible for bumping into an uncatalogued object – or the object bumped into it causing a debris trail.

“The model we used involves a very large number of particles ejected from Scheila.” explains Moreno. “We took into account gravity from the Sun, pressure radiation on the ejected particles, and Scheila´s gravity, which has a strong effect on the particles in its vicinity owing to its large mass.”

Just when did this crash occur? The first indications placed the “asteroid accident” at a period of somewhere between November 11 and December 3, 2010. But, thanks to refined studies the team has placed the smash-up to on – or within – three days of November 27, 2010. With a size of about 110 kilometers across, Scheila isn’t very large and the impactor was estimated to be anywhere from 60 to 180 meters in diameter. That’s quite enough to send visible pieces flying into space!

“We applied a scaling law that uses impact velocity to indicate the mass of the impactor and ejected material.” concludes Moreno. “We know the impact should be about 5 kilometres per second because that’s the average velocity of asteroids in the Main Belt. Using this number we predicted both the ejection velocity of the particles (50 to 80 meters per second) and the size of the impactor.”

As for asteroid Scheila, she’s also a step off the beaten path, too. It belongs to a class known Main-Belt Comets – objects which have orbital characteristics of Main-Belt Asteroids – but sometimes behave like a comet. The reason why they have outbursts still isn’t clear. While these new modeling techniques may lend credence to the impact theory, there’s also a strong possibility of gaseous emissions. However, astronomers from the University of Maryland and Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii have ruled out venting in Scheila’s case.

Original Story Source: EuroPlanet News.