Winter Olympics on the Moon?

This photo is a map of a potenial place for the Winter Olympics to be held on the Moon.

Winter Olympics on the Moon? Well why not? You get better "air", better flips, amazing tricks, and since the gravity is so low the crashes are in slow motion so they wont be nearly as painful. The moon has the perfect slopes covered in dust and powder.

A possible residencial area has been found at the crater Plato. The crater was named after a famous ancient Greek philosopher but not many know that he was also an Olympic Champion. Knowing the history this spot looks perfect for the Olympic athletes to stay. Plato is flat bottomed and close to the Alps also making it a good spot.
The Alps are a lunar mountain range similar to the alps in Europe. You can see these alps with a small telescope, the picture taken above was taken by a 10 inch telescope. The alps in Europe were formed by plate tectonics, taking millions of years; the alps on the moon were formed in less than a second in time, they formed from an asteroid collision. These alps are a bit shorter and a bit smoother than the ones on Earth but that makes them even more ideal for the winter Olympics.

NASA is researching the possibilities of the Olympics on the Moon and finding if it would really be possible. I personally don't think we could do it right now, humans cannot survive in that low of gravity, the athletes would come back being weak and in the worst shape of their lives. I think it is a good and creative idea but not a realistic one, unless they could create artificial gravity for the residencial area, then you never know the winter Olympics might be held on the moon in the future.

For more information and videos go to:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/exploration/mmb/08feb_lunaralps.html

Giant Stars Can't Have Planets....Or Can They?

Nasa's Spitze Space Telescope recently has found two huge "hypergiant" stars with what looks like planetary dust disks (dust from previous or future planets) circling them. Until now it was thought that stars this massive could not be a host to planets. These stars are tremendously hot, have very strong solar winds, and are very bright; these conditions make it very difficult for a planet to form.
The massive stars that these planetary dust disks were found are located in a galaxy close to our own, the Large Magellanic Cloud. These stars are called hypergiants and have a size of about 30 to 70 times the mass of our sun. The disks are very wide also, the farthest orbit of the disk is 60 times more distant then Pluto's orbit to the sun. These disks are estimated to have about 10 times as much mass as that of the Kuiper Belt. They also say that there may be much smaller companion stars located inside these disks.
The two massive hypergiant stars that these disks were found circling around are supernovae, that means they have very short life spans and leave with a bang. So if any planet could be formed in these disks they would soon be distroyed by the stars giant explotion or bang.
It should be interesting to observe these stars and see what happens.

For more information go to:
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/starsgalaxies/spitzer-20060208.html
or click on the picture above.