Date: Fri, 06 Mar 2015 21:23:47 -0500
From: mark <m.roth@5-cent.us>
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: [WSFA] The planet that lost an =?UTF-8?B?b2NlYW7igJlzIHdvcnRoIG9mIHdhdGU=?=
 =?UTF-8?B?cg==?=
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist@KeithLynch.net>

Excerpt:
A primitive ocean on Mars held more water than Earth\342\200\231s Arctic Ocean and
covered a greater portion of the planet\342\200\231s surface than the Atlantic Ocean
does on Earth, according to new results published today. An international
team of scientists used the European Southern Observatory\342\200\231s (ESO) Very
Large Telescope (VLT), along with instruments at the W. M. Keck
Observatory and the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility, to monitor the
atmosphere of the planet and map out the properties of the water in
different parts of Mars\342\200\231 atmosphere over a six-year period. These new maps
are the first of their kind.

About 4 billion years ago, the young planet would have had enough water to
cover its entire surface in a liquid layer about 460 feet (140 meters)
deep, but it is more likely that the liquid would have pooled to form an
ocean occupying almost half of Mars\342\200\231s northern hemisphere and in some
regions reaching depths greater than 1 mile (1.6 kilometers).

\342\200\234Our study provides a solid estimate of how much water Mars once had by
determining how much water was lost to space,\342\200\235 said Geronimo Villanueva
from NASA\342\200\231s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. \342\200\234With this
work, we can better understand the history of water on Mars.\342\200\235
<...>
As the deuterated form is heavier than normal water, it is less easily
lost into space through evaporation. So the greater the water loss from
the planet, the greater the ratio of HDO to H2O in the water that remains.

The researchers distinguished the chemical signatures of the two types of
water using ESO\342\200\231s VLT in Chile along with instruments at the W. M. Keck
Observatory and the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility in Hawaii. By
comparing the ratio of HDO to H2O, scientists can measure by how much the
fraction of HDO has increased and thus determine how much water has
escaped into space. This in turn allows the amount of water on Mars at
earlier times to be estimated.
--- end excerpt ---

<http://www.astronomy.com/news/2015/03/the-planet-that-lost-an-oceans-worth-of-water>

       mark "but where, on that ocean's edge, was Helium?"