The Moon keeps getting more interesting all the time! But now comes "shocking" news that exploring polar craters could be much harder and more dangerous than originally thought. New research shows that as the solar wind flows over natural obstructions on the moon , such as the rims of craters at the poles, the craters could be charged to hundreds of volts. "In a nutshell, what we're finding is that the polar craters are very unusual electrical environments, and in particular there can be large surface charging at the bottom of these craters," said William Farrell from Goddard Space Flight Center, lead author of a new research on the Moon's environment.
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Incredible Images of Iceland Volcano from Just a Few Kilometers Away
Lightning visible in the plume of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland on April 17, 2010. Image courtesy of and copyright Snaevarr Gudmundsson.
Astronomer Snaevarr Gudmundsson from Iceland was able to travel to within just a few kilometers from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano , and shared his incredible close-up images with Universe Today . "I stayed near the volcano from about 16:00 hours to 22:00 hours on Saturday and watched its impressive eruption ," Gudmundsson said in an email to me. "Amazing event, awesome explosions of 1200 °C hot magma reaching ice and water. I shot more than 550 images during these hours of continuous enjoyment. Sounds ridiculous but its ever changing appearance was never boring."
The massive plume put on an impressive display – from lightning forming within the plume to an incredible amount of spewing ash . On one of following pictures you can see helicopter for size comparison of the plume
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"Seeing this lightning crackle among the exploding lava and ash was the experience of a lifetime," says Olivier Vandeginste, who took the picture on April 18th from Hvolsvollur, Iceland.
It is well known that volcanoes produce lightning , but scientists aren't sure why. The underlying mechanism is likely to be some form of triboelectric charging--that is, things bumping or rubbing together (like socks rubbing on carpet) to create a build-up of static electricity. That's how it works in sand storms and even ordinary thunderstorms . In a volcano, the "rubbing things" may be bits of ash and droplets of lava, although no one is certain.
To investigate, a team of researchers from New Mexico Tech has arrived in Iceland to study the phenomenon. Photography is not their primary method, however. Cameras are limited to what they can see through the heavy clouds of ash. Radio receivers can do a better job. Lightning emits impulsive radio bursts which can be measured and counted, day or night, even through clouds of ash. "We are deploying a six-station lightning mapping array around the Eyjafjallajokull volcano," says team member Harald Edens. Their analysis of the radio "crackles" could reveal much about the inner workings of volcanic lightning.
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