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American Morning

Celestial Spotlight

Aired February 24, 2004 - 07:44   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Mars may have the rovers, but Venus is getting its moment to shine. The view is spectacular. If you saw it last night, Venus could be easily seen growing so brightly next to the moon.
And here's the really good news. The show is not over.

Denton Ebel of the American Museum of Natural History here in New York, back with us to talk about this and what's happening on Mars.

Nice to see you.

DENTON EBEL, AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: Good morning, Bill.

HEMMER: You saw the sight last night.

EBEL: It was great. It's just a fantastic sight. The moon is waxing. It's getting bigger, but that crescent will grow and grow until, of course, we get eventually a full moon.

HEMMER: And the symbol of Islam in the sky, too...

EBEL: Its' beautiful.

HEMMER: ... in the western sky.

EBEL: Actually, the Islam symbol is for the waning moon, and, of course, it brings on the month of Ramadan.

HEMMER: How significant is that for astronomers?

EBEL: It's just a beautiful sight, and it makes people excited. It keeps them looking up.

HEMMER: Yes, and that it does.

Let's talk about Mars and the rover moving again on the Red Planet.

EBEL: More fantastic news.

HEMMER: We have some pictures we can show our viewers, and I know you've seen the photos. Tell us what we're seeing in these photos from Mars now? If we can see them, there we go.

EBEL: Well, here you're seeing the rover's mechanical arm reaching out to do rock analysis. You're seeing the instrument package on the end of the rover's arm. The wrap, a rock abrasion tool, designed and built here in New York City. And you're seeing here little spherules that are quite small, millimeter scale, that are embedded in the rock, and the rock is cemented around them. And what are these spherules? How did they get there? This is the kind of question we're asking.

HEMMER: Here is the -- somebody from NASA said they are very beautiful things. It's just not clear that we understand what we're looking at.

EBEL: Well, I brought in some...

HEMMER: So, clear it up.

EBEL: These are terrestrial spherules. These are tektites. This is a small one, kind of like a button. And it's a splash form. It flew through the air as a molten droplet of rock from an impact on Earth long, long ago. The impact or crater is no longer with us. It's been subducted (ph) in the ocean floor, but these tektites -- and here are some larger ones -- are found in the Philippines, and others are found throughout the world in various places. And they are spherical, rounded objects. They have cracks in them from when they cooled. These are quite large. They formed on Earth.

On the moon, the astronauts found many of these from lunar impacts, but they are much smaller. These are glassy, so they're shiny. And these objects that are seen on Mars are reminiscent of tektites. I'm not saying they are tektites.

HEMMER: Right.

EBEL: But I'm saying that's an educated guess.

HEMMER: We have one more here, too. Same thing?

EBEL: This is a great, big one, and these are specimens from our collection at the Museum of Natural History. And this has very deep fractures caused again by the cooling of the rock as it came through the air. Now, of course, Martian air is .6 percent as dense near the surface as Earth's. So, the pressure is less -- that much less.

So, you can see these vitreous or glassy surfaces. And the way that these would form on Mars would be slightly different, but this is an idea of what they could be.

HEMMER: Maybe the clues from there are right here.

EBEL: Perhaps they are.

HEMMER: Denton Ebel, thanks for talking.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.







Aired February 24, 2004 - 07:44   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Mars may have the rovers, but Venus is getting its moment to shine. The view is spectacular. If you saw it last night, Venus could be easily seen growing so brightly next to the moon.
And here's the really good news. The show is not over.

Denton Ebel of the American Museum of Natural History here in New York, back with us to talk about this and what's happening on Mars.

Nice to see you.

DENTON EBEL, AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: Good morning, Bill.

HEMMER: You saw the sight last night.

EBEL: It was great. It's just a fantastic sight. The moon is waxing. It's getting bigger, but that crescent will grow and grow until, of course, we get eventually a full moon.

HEMMER: And the symbol of Islam in the sky, too...

EBEL: Its' beautiful.

HEMMER: ... in the western sky.

EBEL: Actually, the Islam symbol is for the waning moon, and, of course, it brings on the month of Ramadan.

HEMMER: How significant is that for astronomers?

EBEL: It's just a beautiful sight, and it makes people excited. It keeps them looking up.

HEMMER: Yes, and that it does.

Let's talk about Mars and the rover moving again on the Red Planet.

EBEL: More fantastic news.

HEMMER: We have some pictures we can show our viewers, and I know you've seen the photos. Tell us what we're seeing in these photos from Mars now? If we can see them, there we go.

EBEL: Well, here you're seeing the rover's mechanical arm reaching out to do rock analysis. You're seeing the instrument package on the end of the rover's arm. The wrap, a rock abrasion tool, designed and built here in New York City. And you're seeing here little spherules that are quite small, millimeter scale, that are embedded in the rock, and the rock is cemented around them. And what are these spherules? How did they get there? This is the kind of question we're asking.

HEMMER: Here is the -- somebody from NASA said they are very beautiful things. It's just not clear that we understand what we're looking at.

EBEL: Well, I brought in some...

HEMMER: So, clear it up.

EBEL: These are terrestrial spherules. These are tektites. This is a small one, kind of like a button. And it's a splash form. It flew through the air as a molten droplet of rock from an impact on Earth long, long ago. The impact or crater is no longer with us. It's been subducted (ph) in the ocean floor, but these tektites -- and here are some larger ones -- are found in the Philippines, and others are found throughout the world in various places. And they are spherical, rounded objects. They have cracks in them from when they cooled. These are quite large. They formed on Earth.

On the moon, the astronauts found many of these from lunar impacts, but they are much smaller. These are glassy, so they're shiny. And these objects that are seen on Mars are reminiscent of tektites. I'm not saying they are tektites.

HEMMER: Right.

EBEL: But I'm saying that's an educated guess.

HEMMER: We have one more here, too. Same thing?

EBEL: This is a great, big one, and these are specimens from our collection at the Museum of Natural History. And this has very deep fractures caused again by the cooling of the rock as it came through the air. Now, of course, Martian air is .6 percent as dense near the surface as Earth's. So, the pressure is less -- that much less.

So, you can see these vitreous or glassy surfaces. And the way that these would form on Mars would be slightly different, but this is an idea of what they could be.

HEMMER: Maybe the clues from there are right here.

EBEL: Perhaps they are.

HEMMER: Denton Ebel, thanks for talking.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.