The Building Blocks of Water, Water Everywhere

Scientists have long known that the moon has hydrogen and oxygen. Now they have more clarity on the subject. When solar wind hits the moon, its ions interact with electrons on the surface and create hydrogen atoms. Once this hydrogen interacts with oxygen in the lunar soil (like in this unnamed, mile-wide crater), the result is a molecule called hydroxyl, or OH.NASA's NuSTAR mission caught some high-energy x-rays, seen here in Ghostbusters-ish green hues. The larger spiral galaxy in the center is the Whirlpool galaxy, and its companion above is called M51. Energy from supermassive black holes at the cores of both galaxies gives off a bright glow. The green orb to the left of the Whirlpool is an ultraluminous neutron star, making its own mark in this bizarre galactic show.In December, a comet called 46P/Wirtanen made its closest approach to Earth, coming within 1 million miles of our planet. Astronomers were eager to check it out, since these astral objects are relics from the earliest days of the solar system. This photo from the ALMA telescope array highlights 46P's coma—the haze surrounding the comet’s nucleus. But don’t get too warm and fuzzy: It's made of hydrogen cyanide gas.This week, the Hubble Space Telescope found evidence of a newborn star about 1,000 light years from Earth in a nebula called NGC 1333. The bright blue regions in the upper part of the photo are called Herbig-Haro objects, which are created when ionized jets of gas from a baby star mix at high speed with dust from a nearby nebula. They are traveling away from their host nebula at 150,000 miles per hour, and in tens of thousands of years they will disappear completely—making Hubble’s work here rather remarkable.NASA’s Solar Dynamic Observatory has the hots for our home star. Courtship can be tricky, though: During certain periods, the spacecraft orbits behind Earth and sees the sun in partial eclipse. This blurry edge of our planet in the photo reveals the distortive effects of Earth’s atmosphere.Welcome to Mawrth Vallis, an actual place on Mars and not in the Star Wars universe. (Mawrth means “Mars” in the Welsh language.) A massive flood carved out this long feature, from the southern highlands to the northern lowlands. Because water flowed here during Mars’s ancient past, its rocks are rich in clay minerals, similar to what we would find on Earth.

The scale of space is unfathomable, spanning distances we cannot truly comprehend. But we have designed telescopes and instruments that can peer not only beyond our own solar system and home galaxy, but back in time as well.

This week, before playing among the stars, we make a stop at the moon, where scientists eagerly thirst for water from the lunar rock. Turns out our shiny satellite’s surface contains hydroxyl molecules (OH), which are made up of hydrogen and oxygen, the building blocks of life-sustaining water. (Hydroxyl can be found around the solar system as well.) At some point in the future, scientists could find a way to turn the stuff into H ₂ O, to create a reliable source material for human exploration and habitation in space. And we’re not just talking about survival: The elements can also be used to make rocket fuel.

Then off we go to witness the birth of a star in a distant nebula. Sometimes when stars are born, they enter the universe with such violent force that the jets of gas affect other materials and set off a pretty rare cosmic phenomenon, such as Herbig-Haro objects.

Finally, we’re fortunate to catch the flyby of comet 46P/Wirtanen during its closest approach to Earth in December. Most comets are on extremely long orbits; it takes them thousands or even tens of thousands of years to swoop around our sun, which means having them close by can be quite the occasion. Many comets bear a haze surrounding their nucleus, called a coma, made of poisonous gases, and 46P is no exception. Its coma is composed of hydrogen cyanide, so let's not get too well acquainted, shall we?

Nevertheless, this hydrogen cyanide in comets (and also in stars and dust clouds) plays very well with other chemicals and compounds. Scientists think it may have had a part in hatching life on Earth . That’s space for you: a mind-blowing trip.

Want to be a part of something much, much bigger? Set off on a mission to discover WIRED’s full collection of space photos here.

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The Building Blocks of Water, Water Everywhere

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