Thiruvallikkeni Irapathu 5 - 2023; Enceladus ! .. ..விண்தனில் மன்னிய மாமதீ

Today 6.1.2023 is Pournami !  Moon has attracted humanity over the centuries ..   ever heard of this moon -  Enceladus, "one of the solar system's most scientifically interesting destinations."The icy moon is known to contain salty oceans which might harbor marine life. Researchers from the University of Arizona have revealed how the moon could be probed for signs of life by an orbiting space probe, without actually having to land on its surface.  !!! 

India will return to the moon! In June of this year, if everything goes as planned, Chandaryaan-3 could launch. This will see India reach another milestone.  ISRO needs Chandrayaan-3 to demonstrate India's ability to perform landings for upcoming otherworldly ventures. After numerous delays caused by coronavirus and a few critical tests that failed, one of ISRO's largest missions is likely  take off this year. 

Miles away, in the land of USA,  the first full moon of the new year, January's Wolf Moon, rises on Friday (Jan. 6). At the same time, the moon will be on the far side of Earth and close to its furthest from the Earth, making it a "micromoon," the opposite of a supermoon.  The full moon will rise around dusk and will set around dawn, meaning the Wolf Moon will be visible for most of the night.  This makes the Wolf Moon of 2023 a micromoon, in effect the opposite of a "supermoon", which occur during full moons when the moon is closer to the Earth. This situation arises because the moon's orbit around Earth is a flattened circle, or "elliptical." This means there are times when it is closer to Earth and further times when it is further away. 

South Korea's first moon mission is beaming back images of home from its position in low lunar orbit. Danuri, also known as the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in early August last year and arrived in lunar orbit four months later, in mid-December. The milestone adds South Korea to the exclusive club of nations with successful moon missions, which also includes Japan, China and India, among others. The Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) has now released images from the $180 million Danuri showing the crater and textured lunar surface in the foreground with the distant Earth behind. 

With the successful Artemis 1 test flight in December and 50 years after the final Apollo lunar mission in 1972, astronomers and space enthusiasts alike are buzzing with excitement about humanity's return to the moon. Planetary scientists, however, are particularly eager for the science will come from future crewed Artemis missions and complementary robotic explorers. At the 2022 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in December, lunar scientists shared some of the mysteries they're pursuing using data from the Apollo program and beyond, and how Artemis will offer a more comprehensive understanding of our moon. 

Although the Apollo missions were decades ago, the lunar samples returned from those voyages are still keeping scientists busy. From small glass beads to crystals formed in magma, the rocks and minerals in the Apollo samples are a prime target for geologists interested in the moon's volcanic history. The moon doesn't have active volcanoes now, but it was quite busy in its earlier years — the moon's famous "seas" known as mare are actually plains of hardened lava. 

இன்று  பௌர்ணமி .. விண்ணிலே நிலைபெற்ற முழுமதியே!  நிலா குளிர்ச்சியானது .. சந்திரன் அழகானவன்.  பெரியாழ்வார் கண்ணனது குழந்தை பருவத்தில் அம்புலியை விரைந்து ஓடி வருமாறு அழைத்தார். 

தண்டொடு சக்கரம் சார்ங்கம் ஏந்தும் தடக்கையன் .. ..

விண்தனில் மன்னிய மாமதீ விரைந்து ஓடி வா !! 

The one mentioned in para 1 – “Enceladus” is  one of the 83 moons of Saturn, and  is called "one of the solar system's most scientifically interesting destinations."The icy moon is known to contain salty oceans which might harbor marine life.Researchers from the University of Arizona have revealed how the moon could be probed for signs of life by an orbiting space probe, without actually having to land on its surface.  

        The search for life on another world other than Earth has been endless but scientists have uncovered promising leads in recent years, and one among them is Enceladus. It is a small, icy body measuring only about 500 kilometers wide. It is one of the brightest in the solar system and reflects almost all of the light that strikes it. For almost 200 years, little was known about Enceladus. Investigations began with NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft in the 1980s.  It was the space agency's Cassini spacecraft that voyaged around Saturn between 2015 to 2017 and revealed that beneath the moon's thick crust of ice is a vast and warm saltwater ocean that releases methane, a gas that typically originates from microbial life on Earth.  

              The other interesting aspect is - Enceladus spews plumes of water into space. Along with methane, the Cassini spacecraft also detected other life-supporting molecules on Enceladus. This  moon takes 33 hours to complete one orbit around Saturn. Along the moon's south pole, at least 100 massive water plumes erupt, like volcanoes, through the cracks of its icy surface.The immense gravitational forces of Saturn cause the moon's interior to heat up, resulting in giant plumes.  

Here is a photo of Pournami moon taken this evening during Irapathu day 5 purappadu, Sri Parthasarathi Emperuman in Rathnangi, Pandiyan kondai and silver sengoal .. .. and a photo of moon coming out to have darshan of Emperuman.  

adiyen Srinivasa dhasan
Mamandur Veeravalli Srinivasan Sampathkumar
6^th Jan 2023