craters

now you can use their photos to write your name with rivers and craters

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Since they were launched in 1972, NASA’s Landsat satellites have continually taken images of the earth’s surfaceproviding an uninterrupted data archive that helps managers, planners and policy makers make more informed decisions about natural resources and the environment. But there is also a playful part. 50 years goes a long way. Enough to form a complete alphabet with which you can write your name, thanks to a tool designed by NASA for Earth Day. Your name in landscapes. The tool in question It’s very simple. You simply have to write your name or the word you want to transform into Landsat images. Then, after pressing enter, an image appears on the screen for each letter of your name. You can download the full image or place your cursor over each letter to see the exact coordinates and a brief description of the place that appears in them. For example, a tangled river could form the first letter of your name, while the last letter could be a path of volcanic lava surrounded by mountains. The complete alphabet. In case you are curious, you can visit the complete alphabet and check all the possible photographs that NASA has for a particular letter. Some, like A, have many options. On the other hand, others that are somewhat rarer, such as the G, have only one landscape available that evokes their specific shape. LILY An appointed date. This tool was made public on April 22, when Earth Day is celebrated. It is an anniversary created to raise awareness among the population about the problems facing our planet at an environmental level. The images taken by Landsat are very useful both for raising public awareness and for providing useful data to scientists. More about Landsat. According to NASAresearchers have used the Landsat archive, for example, to study how cities, coastlines, crop cycles, and forests have grown. This is a program in which scientific quality instruments and data are prioritized, so that it can be known with certainty that changes in subsequent Landsat images reflect real changes on Earth. And the best thing is that all the information is free and open access, so that anyone, scientist or not, can access them. After all, the Earth belongs to all of us. Just as any human being must be responsible and avoid destroying it, we also have the right to be participants in what is done to take care of it. Even if it is writing our name with rivers, boulevards or lava paths. Images | NASA tool In Xataka | So much ice has melted in Greenland that plankton has grown by 40%. It’s not good news

We knew there was water on the Moon, but not why some craters were empty. Finally we have the answer

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It’s been a while since It is known that there is water on the Moon. However, accessing it is quite complicated. To begin with, so far only water in the form of ice has been detected. But also, it’s not clear what the best places to look are. There are some clues, but exceptions keep appearing that baffle scientists. That’s why, the study recently carried out by scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder It has been very illuminating. Frozen water hidden in the shadows. The missions that have detected ice on the Moon have located it in the depths of the craters of the lunar south pole. Mostly, in something known as cold traps. These are places that are permanently in shadow, so that the very high temperatures that are reached during the day, of more than 120ºCthey cannot evaporate the water. An essential resource for lunar colonization. The detection of water on the Moon was a great milestone at the time, since it would make it easier for lunar colonizers to use water to cover basic needs in the future. They could use it for drinking, but also, for example, it would be possible separate hydrogen from oxygen through hydrolysis and use it as fuel. Let us remember that the formula of water is H2O, two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. It’s not that easy. Some craters containing ice have already been detected, like the Cabeus. We could think that all the craters of the south pole that are found in cold traps, like this one, will serve as water sources. Unfortunately, the task is not so simple. It is known that several craters in this situation do not contain water, so another pattern must be sought to help future lunar colonizers know where to look. A question of orientation. The authors of the study just published relied on two types of data. On the one hand, the surface temperature data provided by the Diviner instrument of NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). On the other hand, the results of a series of computer simulations on lunar evolution. Studying all of this together revealed something interesting. That the orientation of the Moon has not always been the same. Its relative inclination with respect to the Earth has changed slightly over billions of years, so that what is in shadow today may not have been in the past. That’s why there are craters in cold traps that don’t have water. The older the better. Something that these scientists have also observed when reviewing previous studies is that the oldest craters at the lunar south pole are more likely to house water. Therefore, the ideal is to look for ancient craters that are located at the south pole and in cold traps. The number of likely places to search is greatly reduced. In fact, there is already a candidate following this premise: the Haworth crater. According to the models, it has been in shadow for 3 billion years. We will have to check it. The authors of this study are already designing an instrument, called Lunar Compact Infrared Imaging System (L-CIRiS), to analyze this and other candidate craters for water ice. NASA plans to deploy it near the lunar South Pole at the end of 2027. It will be a good way to detect the best lunar water sources with an eye on future long-term missions on our satellite. The more the ground is prepared, the better. Image | Xataka | The “hidden” side of the Moon has been a mystery for decades: China already has a chemical map to shed light

The burning is one of the most mysterious sites in Mexico. And their fire craters continue to baffle archaeologists

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Mexico is a archaeological treasure And, although the Yucatan Peninsula be the one that usually monopolizes All eyes due to Mayan ruins and initiatives such as Mayan train for enhance tourismthe central area of Mesoamerica It is home to other relevant archaeological sites. One is the burned one, which is said to be the original place of The Aztecsand, although there are several mysteries associated with the place, a study He has focused on analyzing the enigmatic fire pits. It is not known if it is where the Mexicans were born, but they have discovered when they lit and ventured to decipher for what they served. Chicomóztoc. Located in a privileged central area of ​​Mexico, it seems clear that, due to its location, natural resources were abundant, being able to be a strategic area for nomadic peoples to supply. At some point in 300 AD A town settled in the placewhere what would later know as “the burned one” was founded. The site reached its peak towards the 800 AD, when it began to fortify strongly to compete against nearby locations, and took place until 1200 AD It is estimated that it was then when a progressive abandonment and, When the Spaniards arrivedthey found ruins with numerous fire traces. Legend has it that, because of this, they baptized the site as “The burned”And it was Francisco Javier Clavijeroin 1780, who associated the site with the mythological original place of the Mexica: Chicomóztoc. Part of the citadel and pyramid The patio of columns Archaeological zone. Located on a hill, the burned one has numerous architectural remains. Using mortar, stone and vegetable fiber, its inhabitants built a series of buildings whose purpose does not differ from that of many others Archaeological sites from Mexico. Thus, we have defensive structures such as a wall of four meters wide and up to six high, or one 70 -meter long ball courtbeing of the Longer Mexico. Also ceremonial buildingslike the votive pyramid About 12 meters high, the Hall of Columns or an Observatory that would serve to monitor and that could also have had astronomical functions. The function of the different elements is more or less clear, but there is something that has confined archaeologists for a long time: huge holes. The holes. The inhabitants of the burned were built in phases about the old structures, but something that stands out is that the recent analysis performed by archaeologists points out that the holes were used at all times. There are several, but they focused on five of them called from LQ1 to LQ5 and, through the Archeomagnetism techniqueThey have been able to identify when they were active. This technique is like reading a fossil compass that allows you to know how many years a clay or stone material has been very heated. When this occurs, internal minerals are oriented according to the Earth’s magnetic field At that time, being “recorded” the orientation forever. It is something that allows the rocks to be dated and find out when it was the last time that element was heated. Thus, they identified that the LQ4 and LQ5 holes were used in the apogee era, between 675 AD and 903 of the LQ1 was lit between 927 AD and 1101 AD and the LQ2 showed more confusing data, but they estimate that it can be the oldest. And from LQ3 no data were obtained. Mystery. Several theories have been established on their use, some pointing to harvesting ceremoniesothers linked to change of stations and also those that suggest that they were torches for night ceremonies. This mystery will be difficult to solve, but as we read in The green compassLQ1 is the one that has caught the attention of researchers. “Its date coincides with the collapse of the site, so perhaps the rituals persisted until the end, as a symbolic farewell,” they say. In addition, it is the closest to the votive pyramid. The different dates of use of the holes, however, reinforce that theory that abandonment was gradual and that, even in the last moments, “the fire could be a way to keep the memory of the place alive.” As we say, it will be difficult to clarify What kind of ceremonies were celebrated In them, but the next step of the project is to study the rest of holes that have not yet been excavated. Images | Google Maps, Tianiser, Javierdo In Xataka | We have just found a 1,700 -year -old Mayan treasure. The problem is that it should be 1,000 kilometers from there

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