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HPR’s Dave Lawrence and Christopher Phillips hosted Stargazer on Mondays to discuss the latest developments in astronomy. Stargazer is no longer in production. The last episode aired on Oct. 16, 2023.

October 27 - November 2 2014 Stargazer: How Could There Be Ice On Mercury?

Courtesy of Shawn Laatsch

We’ve got Mars and Saturn at sunset, The ISS is headed back for multiple passes, and we learn about more ice discovered in our solar system -- in a sort of unusual spot -- as HPR’s Dave Lawrence speaks with Christopher Phillips from the Mauna Kea Astronomy Outreach Committee for this week’s Stargazer report.

Credit NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington
This image was released Oct. 15. The location in question, Kandinsky crater, is at Mercury's north pole, and at one time could have have water or water ice in it. It was spotted thanks to the Messenger spacecraft's Wide Angle Camera. Comparing to the image on the left, the view on the right is the same image, but has brightness and contrast enhanced to highlight the crater floor.

Dave Lawrence is the local host of All Things Considered, Road Stories (formerly Off the Road) and Stargazer.
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