Friday, March 30, 2012

1st Student Selected MoonKAM Pictures Look Inspiringly Home to Earth

1st Student Selected MoonKAM Pictures Look Inspiringly Home to Earth:

Student-run MoonKAM Imager Looks Homeward - You are Here !
This image of the far side of the lunar surface, with Earth in the background, was taken by the MoonKAM system aboard the Ebb spacecraft as part of the first image set taken from lunar orbit from March 15 – 18, 2012 by NASA's GRAIL mission. The target was selected by 4th grade students at Emily Dickinson Elementary School in Montana who had the honor of choosing the first MoonKAM images after winning a nationwide contest. A little more than half-way up and on the left side of the image is the crater De Forest. Due to its proximity to the southern pole, DeForest receives sunlight at an oblique angle when it is on the illuminated half of the Moon. NASA/Caltech-JPL/MIT/SRS
See below 1st Full View of the Earth from the Moon -
taken 1966 and compare
The first student selected photos of the Moon’s surface snapped by NASA’s new pair of student named Lunar Mapping orbiters – Ebb & Flow - have just been beamed back and show an eerie view looking back to the Home Planet – and all of Humanity – barely rising above the pockmarked terrain of the mysterious far side of our nearest neighbor in space.
Congratulations to Americas’ Youth on an outstanding and inspiring choice !!
The student photo is reminiscent of one of the iconic images of Space Exploration – the first full view of the Earth from the Moon taken by NASA’s Lunar Orbiter 1 back in August 1966 (see below).
The images were taken in the past few days by the MoonKAM camera system aboard NASA’s twin GRAIL spacecraft currently circling overhead in polar lunar orbit, and previously known as GRAIL A and B. (...)
Read the rest of 1st Student Selected MoonKAM Pictures Look Inspiringly Home to Earth (1,003 words)



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Robotics Refueling Research Scores Huge Leap at Space Station

Robotics Refueling Research Scores Huge Leap at Space Station:

Canada’s Dextre robot (highlight) and NASA’s Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM) experiment jointly performed groundbreaking robotics research aboard the ISS in March 2012. Dextre used its hands to grasp specialized work tools on the RRM for first-of-its-kind precision motion experiments to demonstrate remotely controlled repair and refueling of orbiting satellites. Credit: NASA
Videos and Ops Photos below
A combined team of American and Canadian engineers has taken a major first step forward by successfully applying new, first-of-its-kind robotics research conducted aboard the International Space Station (ISS) to the eventual repair and refueling of high value orbiting space satellites, and which has the potential to one day bring about billions of dollars in cost savings for the government and commercial space sectors.
Gleeful researchers from both nations shouted “Yeah !!!” – after successfully using the Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM) experiment – bolted outside the ISS- as a technology test bed to demonstrate that a remotely controlled robot in the vacuum of space could accomplish delicate work tasks requiring extremely precise motion control. The revolutionary robotics experiment could extend the usable operating life of satellites already in Earth orbit that were never even intended to be worked upon.
“After dedicating many months of professional and personal time to RRM, it was a great emotional rush and a reassurance for me to see the first video stream from an RRM tool,” said Justin Cassidy in an exclusive in-depth interview with Universe Today. Cassidy is RRM Hardware Manager at the NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.(...)


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Can “Warp Speed” Planets Zoom Through Interstellar Space?

Can “Warp Speed” Planets Zoom Through Interstellar Space?:

Artist’s conception of a runaway planet zooming through interstellar space. A glowing volcano on the planet’s surface hints at active plate tectonics that may keep the planet warm.
Image Credit: David A. Aguilar (CfA)
Nearly ten years ago, astronomers were stunned to discover a star that had been apparently flung from its own system and travelling at over a million kilometers per hour. Over the years, a question was brought up: If stars can be ejected at a high velocity, what about planets?
Avi Loeb (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) states, “These warp-speed planets would be some of the fastest objects in our Galaxy. If you lived on one of them, you’d be in for a wild ride from the center of the galaxy to the Universe at large.”
Idan Ginsburg (Dartmouth College) adds, “Other than subatomic particles, I don’t know of anything leaving our galaxy as fast as these runaway planets.”


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Weekly SkyWatcher’s Forecast – March 26 to April 1, 2012

Weekly SkyWatcher’s Forecast – March 26 to April 1, 2012:
Supernova in M95 - Credit: Larry McNish - RASC
Greetings, fellow SkyWatchers! Have you been following the supernova in M95 (R.A. = 10 43 53.76, Decl. = +11 40 17.9)? Who would have ever believed Mars could be considered “light pollution”? Take advantage of darker skies and catch it now! It’s another planetary showdown as the week begins with Jupiter, Venus, the Moon and the Pleiades lighting up the western twilight sky. Right now is an awesome time to study lunar features and to go asteroid hunting! Get out those telescopes and binoculars and I’ll meet you in the back yard… (...)


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Rare Rain on Titan; Once Every 1,000 Years

Rare Rain on Titan; Once Every 1,000 Years:
Lakes on Titan. Image credit: NASA/JPL/SSI
Lakes on Titan. Image credit: NASA/JPL/SSI

Even though there are lakes and rivers of liquid hydrocarbons on the surface of Saturn’s moon Titan, the rains that feed them may come few and far between. According to data gathered by NASA’s Cassini mission, parts of Titan might not see rain for more than 1,000 years.
And according to Dr. Ralph Lorenz, from the John Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUALP), a new mission to Titan is exactly what’s needed to get to the bottom of this.


Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:51 AM 0 comments
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You’ll Only See This Landform on Mars, Nowhere on Earth

You’ll Only See This Landform on Mars, Nowhere on Earth:
Periodic Bedrock Ridges on Mars. Image credit: University of Washington
Periodic Bedrock Ridges on Mars. Image credit: University of Washington

Geologists are often surprised to find features on Earth replicated on other worlds; ancient riverbeds on Mars, lakes on Titan, and volcanic eruptions on Io. But researchers from the University of Washington have identified a geologic feature that exists on Mars…
But not on Earth.


Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:50 AM 0 comments
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An Ultraviolet, Ultraviolent Supernova Shockwave

An Ultraviolet, Ultraviolent Supernova Shockwave:
The Cygnus Loop in Ultraviolet. Captured by Galex. Image credit: NASA
The Cygnus Loop in Ultraviolet. Captured by Galex. Image credit: NASA

You’re looking at an insanely beautiful image of the Cygnus Loop nebula captured by NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) mission. Furthermore, this isn’t viewed in plain old visible light, this is high-energy ultraviolet light, revealing regions of hot gas remaining after a supernova detonated here 5,000 to 8,000 years ago.
In fact, the original supernova would have been bright enough to be visible with the unaided eye.


Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:49 AM 0 comments
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One Night, Dozens of Triple Conjunctions

One Night, Dozens of Triple Conjunctions:

Mosiac of the conjunction of Jupiter, the Moon and Venus on March 25, 2012. Credit: Rick Ellis
Last night (March 25, 2012), Jupiter, Venus and the Moon put on quite a show, and Rick Ellis from Toronto, Canada captured it — over two dozen times. This composite image was created from 31 frames taken five minutes apart, each with an exposure time of 5 seconds. Thanks to Rick for creating this image “just for the gang at UT.” Check out his earlier image of the Venus-Jupiter conjunction from March 13
Want to get your astrophoto featured on Universe Today? Join our Flickr group, post in our Forum or send us your images by email (this means you’re giving us permission to post them). Please explain what’s in the picture, when you took it, the equipment you used, etc.



Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:48 AM 0 comments
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What ? Carnival of Space ?

Carnival of Space #242:

Carnival of Space. Image by Jason Major.
This week’s Carnival of Space is hosted by Ray Sanders at his Dear Astronomer blog.
Click here to read the Carnival of Space #242

And if you’re interested in looking back, here’s an archive to all the past Carnivals of Space. If you’ve got a space-related blog, you should really join the carnival. Just email an entry to carnivalofspace@gmail.com, and the next host will link to it. It will help get awareness out there about your writing, help you meet others in the space community – and community is what blogging is all about. And if you really want to help out, sign up to be a host. Send an email to the above address.



Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:47 AM 0 comments
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Psychedelics in the Sky: NASA Launches 5 Rockets in 5 Minutes

Psychedelics in the Sky: NASA Launches 5 Rockets in 5 Minutes:

Sounding rockets released chemical tracers that created strange milky, white clouds at the edge of space. Credit: NASA
After several days of delays due to weather and technical issues, NASA has now successfully launched five suborbital sounding rockets in five minutes from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia as part of a study of the upper level jet stream.
The first rocket was launched at 4:58 a.m. EDT and each subsequent rocket was launched 80 seconds apart.
Each of the rockets released a chemical tracer that created psychedelic-looking clouds at the edge of space, which were reported to be seen from as far south as Wilmington, N.C.; west to Charlestown, W. Va.; and north to Buffalo, N.Y.
The above image was taken from one of the official viewing sites by a NASA photographer; below is an image taken by John Anton from New Jersey, as well as more images from NASA, the video showing all the launches and time-lapse video from twolf1 on Vimeo.


Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:46 AM 0 comments
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“Snowing Microbes” On Saturn’s Moon?

“Snowing Microbes” On Saturn’s Moon?:

Cassini image of Enceladus from Dec. 2010 showing the moon's icy jets and the hazy E-ring (NASA/JPL/SSI)
Enceladus, Saturn’s 318-mile-wide moon that’s become famous for its ice-spraying southern jets, is on astronomers’ short list of places in our own solar system where extraterrestrial life could be hiding — and NASA’s Cassini spacecraft is in just the right place to try and sniff it out.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:44 AM 0 comments
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Billions of Habitable Worlds Likely in the Milky Way

Billions of Habitable Worlds Likely in the Milky Way:

Artist’s impression of sunset on the super-Earth world Gliese 667 Cc. Credit: ESO/L. Calçada
Could there be ‘tens of billions’ of habitable worlds in our own galaxy? That’s the results from a new study that searched for rocky planets in the habitable zones around red dwarf stars. An international team of astronomers using ESO’s HARPS spectrograph now estimates that there are tens of billions of such planets in the Milky Way galaxy, with probably about one hundred in the Sun’s immediate neighborhood, less than 30 light years away.
“Our new observations with HARPS mean that about 40% of all red dwarf stars have a super-Earth orbiting in the habitable zone where liquid water can exist on the surface of the planet,” said Xavier Bonfils, from IPAG, Observatoire des Sciences de l’Univers de Grenoble, France, and the leader of the team. “Because red dwarfs are so common — there are about 160 billion of them in the Milky Way — this leads us to the astonishing result that there are tens of billions of these planets in our galaxy alone.”


Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:43 AM 0 comments
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Astronomers Discover Ancient Planetary System

Astronomers Discover Ancient Planetary System:

Artist’s impression of HIP 11952 and its two Jupiter-like planets. Image credit: Timotheos Samartzidis
From a press release from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy:

A group of European astronomers has discovered an ancient planetary system that is likely to be a survivor from one of the earliest cosmic eras, 13 billion years ago. The system consists of the star HIP 11952 and two planets, which have orbital periods of 290 and 7 days, respectively. Whereas planets usually form within clouds that include heavier chemical elements, the star HIP 11952 contains very little other than hydrogen and helium. The system promises to shed light on planet formation in the early universe – under conditions quite different from those of later planetary systems, such as our own.


Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:43 AM 0 comments
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“Tidal Venuses” May Have Been Wrung Out To Dry

“Tidal Venuses” May Have Been Wrung Out To Dry:

Extreme heating from tidal stresses may render a "Tidal Venus" planet inhabitable
Earth-sized exoplanets within a distant star’s habitable zone could still be very much uninhabitable, depending on potential tidal stresses — either past or present — that could have “squeezed out” all the water, leaving behind a bone-dry ball of rock.

Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:41 AM 0 comments
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Apollo 11′s Rocket Engines Found on the Bottom of the Ocean

Apollo 11′s Rocket Engines Found on the Bottom of the Ocean:
Apollo 11 Launch
Apollo 11 Launch
Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos has located the Apollo 11 F-1 rocket engines and plans to recover them. “I’m excited to report that, using state-of-the-art deep sea sonar, the team has found the Apollo 11 engines lying 14,000 feet below the surface, and we’re making plans to attempt to raise one or more of them from the ocean floor,” Bezos wrote on the Bezos Expeditions website. “We don’t know yet what condition these engines might be in – they hit the ocean at high velocity and have been in salt water for more than 40 years. On the other hand, they’re made of tough stuff, so we’ll see.”


Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:41 AM 0 comments
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Huge ‘Tornado’ on the Sun

Huge ‘Tornado’ on the Sun:

Spectacular rotation of material from solar prominences and the coronal cavities on September 25, 2011. Credit: NASA/Dr. Xing Li, Dr. Huw Morgan and Mr. Drew Leonard.
The Solar Dynamics Observatory captured images and video of a spectacular rotation of material from the Sun in a solar prominence. The whirling, dancing prominence created a massive tornado-like feature on the Sun, five times bigger than the Earth. “This is perhaps the first time that such a huge solar tornado is filmed by an imager,” said Dr. Xing Li of Aberystwyth University, presenting his team’s work at the National Astronomy Meeting this week in the UK. “The superb spatial and temporal resolution of SDO allows us to observe the solar atmosphere in great detail.”


Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:40 AM 0 comments
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Hubble Gets Best Look Yet At Messier 9

Hubble Gets Best Look Yet At Messier 9:

New Hubble image of Messier 9 cluster resolves individual stars (NASA/ESA)
First discovered by Charles Messier in 1764, the globular cluster Messier 9 is a vast swarm of ancient stars located 25,000 light-years away, close to the center of the galaxy. Too distant to be seen with the naked eye, the cluster’s innermost stars have never been individually resolved… until now.


Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:38 AM 0 comments
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Postcards From Saturn

Postcards From Saturn:

Saturn's second-largest moon Rhea, in front of the rings and a blurred Epimetheus (or Janus) whizzing behind. Acquired March 29, 2012.
Over the past few days NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has performed flybys of several of Saturn’s moons. From the ostentatious Enceladus with its icy geysers to the rugged relief of Rhea, the sharp peaks of Dione’s frigid craters and even diminutive Janus, Cassini has once again returned a stack of stunning views from the Saturnian system, nearly 815 million miles from home.
Check out some of the images, and wish you were there!


Posted by Nelio Inacio at 10:37 AM 0 comments
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Saturday, March 17, 2012

Twin NASA Science Probes Start Lunar Gravity Mapping

Twin NASA Science Probes Start Lunar Gravity Mapping:

Twin GRAIL Moon Probes Ebb and Flow Start Lunar Gravity Science Mission
The twin GRAIL probes have just begun their science mission and will use a precision formation-flying technique to map Lunar Gravity, as depicted in this artist's rendering. Radio signals traveling between the two spacecraft provide scientists with exact measurements which will result in the most accurate gravity map of the moon ever made. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s twin lunar orbiting GRAIL (Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory) spacecraft christened Ebb and Flow have kicked off their science collection phase aimed at precisely mapping our Moon’s gravity field, interior composition and evolution, the science team informed Universe Today.
“GRAIL’s science mapping phase officially began Tuesday (March 6) and we are collecting science data,” said Maria Zuber, GRAIL principal investigator of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, to Universe Today.
“It is impossible to overstate how thrilled and excited we are !”(...)


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Giant Sunspot Seen Through Dusty Skies

Giant Sunspot Seen Through Dusty Skies:

Sunspot region 1429 photographed from New Mexico. © David Tremblay.
The enormous sunspot region responsible for all the recent fuss and flares was easily visible from Earth yesterday… easily visible, that is, with the help of a natural filter provided by a New Mexico dust storm!


Posted by Nelio Inacio at 12:09 PM 0 comments
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Radar Prototype Begins Tracking Down Space Junk

Radar Prototype Begins Tracking Down Space Junk:

Simulation of how Space Fence will track orbital space debris. Image courtesy Lockheed Martin
Several times a year, the International Space Station needs to perform Debris Avoidance Maneuvers to dodge the ever-growing amount of space junk hurtling around in Earth orbit. Additionally, our increased dependence on satellites for communications and navigation is threatened by the risk of potential collisions with space debris. The existing system for finding and tracking objects, the Air Force Space Surveillance System, or VHF Fence, has been in service since the early 1960s, and is sorely out of date. But a prototype system called Space Fence has now been tested in a series of demonstrations, and successfully tracked more and smaller pieces of debris than the current system.
“The current system has the ability to track about 20,000 objects,” Lockheed Martin spokesperson Chip Eschenfelder told Universe Today, “but there millions of objects out there, many of which are not being tracked. Space Fence will find and catalog smaller objects than what are not being tracked now.”


Posted by Nelio Inacio at 12:09 PM 0 comments
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Astrophoto: Stunning Detailed Look at the Whirlpool Galaxy by John Chumack

Astrophoto: Stunning Detailed Look at the Whirlpool Galaxy by John Chumack:

A 17.5 hour exposure of M51, The Whirlpool Spiral Galaxy also known as NGC-5194. Credit: John Chumack
Wow! Astrophotographer John Chumack has done it again with a spectacular, long exposure view of the Whirlpool Galaxy, M51. “This is my best and most detailed image of M51 to date, and now my longest exposure on a single object,” John said. “Definitely a lot of work, but I now feel it was worth all the processing time, which actually exceeded the 17.5 hours of imaging time!”
Visible are faint tidal tail structure details. “I can see several dust lane structures running through the tidal tail as well as faint background galaxies behind the tidal tail!” John said.
This long exposure image was taken over seven separate nights in early 2010, 2011 with John’s homemade 16″ F4.5 Newtonian Scope. See more details below, or on Flickr. You should also check out John’s website, Galactic Images, where you can see all his beautiful handiwork.


Posted by Nelio Inacio at 12:06 PM 0 comments
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Active Region Is Still Active!

Active Region Is Still Active!:

Aurora over Faskrudsfjordur, Iceland on March 8, 2012. © Jónína Óskarsdóttir.
Even though the CME unleashed by active region 1429 initially hit Earth a bit softer than expected yesterday (read why here), it ended up gaining some extra “oomph” once the magnetic fields lined up right… enough to ignite some amazing displays of aurorae like the one shown above over Iceland, photographed by Jónína Óskarsdóttir!
And that wasn’t the last we’d hear from AR1429 either; at around 10:30 pm EST on March 8, the region lit up again with an M6.3 flare… although smaller than the previous X5.4-class flare, it produced a temporary radio blackout and released another Earth-directed CME, which is expected to arrive in the coming hours.


Posted by Nelio Inacio at 12:03 PM 0 comments
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ALPHA Closes in on Antimatter

ALPHA Closes in on Antimatter:

What matter and antimatter might look like annihilating one another. Credit: NASA/CXC/M. Weiss
We live in a universe made of matter. But at the moment of the Big Bang, matter and antimatter existed in equal amounts. That antimatter has all but disappeared suggests that nature, for some reason, has a strong preference for matter. Physicists want to know why matter has replaced its antimatter twin, and this week the ALPHA collaboration at CERN got a step closer to unraveling the mystery. (...)


Posted by Nelio Inacio at 12:01 PM 0 comments
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Valuable Space Rock Crashes Into Oslo Cabin

Valuable Space Rock Crashes Into Oslo Cabin:

This meteorite struck the Thomassen family's cabin in Oslo. (Photo: Rune Thomassen)
A family in Oslo got a surprise when they visited their allotment garden cabin for the first time this season and found that a 585-gram (20 oz.) meteorite had ripped a hole through the roof. The space rock was discovered “lying five or six metres away,” the cabin’s owner, Rune Thomassen, told the local newspaper VG.
Such an event is rare in Norway; since 1848 the country has noted only 14 meteorite discoveries.


Posted by Nelio Inacio at 11:59 AM 0 comments
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Does Mars Still Shake, Rattle and Roll?

Does Mars Still Shake, Rattle and Roll?:

Boulders on the floor of Cerberus Fossae. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Compared to Earth, Mars is a relatively quiet planet, geologically speaking. Actually, very quiet, as in pretty much dead. While it has volcanoes much larger than any here, they have been inactive for a very long time; the latest studies suggest however that volcanic activity may have continued until only a matter of millions of years ago. That seems like an eternity to our human sense of time, but geologically, it is quite recent.
There is also the massive canyon system Valles Marineris, much larger than the Grand Canyon here on Earth, and evidence for ancient hot springs, glaciers, etc. which also show that Mars was once much more active than it is today.
Now, there is also evidence that marsquakes (as in earthquakes here) continued to shake the planet until only a few million years ago, and may even still happen today.


Posted by Nelio Inacio at 11:58 AM 0 comments
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Why Does the “Man in the Moon” Face Earth?

Why Does the “Man in the Moon” Face Earth?:
The two sides of the Moon. Image credit: LRO
The two sides of the Moon. Image credit: LRO

When we look at the Moon, we see these amazing variations of light and dark. And depending on your orientation on Earth, you might see the famous “Man in the Moon”, or maybe the “Rabbit in the Moon”. The darker areas are known as maria, smooth lava fields created by ancient volcanic eruptions on the Moon.
But why do we see this face of the Moon, and not a different side?


Posted by Nelio Inacio at 11:57 AM 0 comments
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Next Chinese Mission Might Include Some Women

Next Chinese Mission Might Include Some Women:

Long March rocket launching the Shenzhou 5. Credit: Wikimedia


Officials from the Chinese Space Agency announced today that they’ve completed crew selection for their next team of spacefarers – called taikonauts – and this time, the team includes some women.
The next major mission for China will be the first manned docking mission to the Tiangong-1 space station. This station was launched in September 2011, and was successfully docked with the unmanned Shenzhou-8 spacecraft back in November.
And so the next major step in the Chinese plans is for Shenzhou-9 to perform a manned docking with the station. Three taikonauts will be on board, and that crew might include some women – the first time the Chinese will have sent women to space.
This mission is already progressing nicely. The Shenzhou-9 spacecraft and its Long March-2F rocket have been completed. And if everything goes as planned, they’ll launch and perform the manned docking some time between June and August 2012.
The final composition of the Shenzhou-9 crew hasn’t been announced yet, so it might still be a few more years before the Chinese women finally get their chance to fly to space.
Original Source: Xinhua



Posted by Nelio Inacio at 11:56 AM 0 comments
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Venus-Jupiter Conjunction, March 15th, 2012

Venus-Jupiter Conjunction, March 15th, 2012:
The two conjunctions. Image credit: Stellarium
The two conjunctions. Image credit: Stellarium

In case you’re the only person on Earth who hasn’t heard about it yet, Venus and Jupiter will be in conjunction on March 15th, 2012, passing within 3° of each other. The two planets have been getting closer and closer in the sky for the last month, and now it’s time to see them side-by-side. Venus is the higher, brighter object, and Jupiter is the lower dimmer one.
Of course, Venus and Jupiter aren’t actually close to one another in the sky. They’re really separated by millions of kilometres. But from our perspective here on Earth, we see the two objects closely lined up. That’s a conjunction.
On March 15th, 2012 at 10:37 UTC, Venus and Jupiter reach 3° distance from one another. That’s approximately 6 times the width of the full Moon.


Posted by Nelio Inacio at 11:55 AM 0 comments
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Those Rings in Rocket Exhaust are Shock Diamonds

Those Rings in Rocket Exhaust are Shock Diamonds:
Shock diamonds in an exhaust plume.
Shock diamonds in an exhaust plume.

I recently reported on Chinese plans to launch Shenzhou-9, and used a stock image of a Long March-2F rocket blasting off the launch pad. Nafin wanted to know what that diamond pattern trailing behind the rocket was, and ivan3man_at_large posted the answer: they’re called shock diamonds.
Shock diamonds? That term had somehow slipped past me, so I thought I’d dig into it some more.


Posted by Nelio Inacio at 11:54 AM 0 comments
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Jupiter’s Jet Streams Get Thrown Off Course

Jupiter’s Jet Streams Get Thrown Off Course:
Jupiter's jet streams. Image credit: NASA/JPL/SSI
Jupiter's jet streams. Image credit: NASA/JPL/SSI
Both Earth and Jupiter have jet streams; fast-moving winds that circle the globe. On Jupiter, those jet streams are constrained to very specific bands of the planet, while they meander around the Earth. We can see huge variations of weather when Earth’s jet streams move around – like unusually cold weather in Florida.
These strange weather patterns can occur on Earth when the jet streams interact with another atmospheric phenomenon called Rossby waves. We have them here on Earth, and they were first identified on Jupiter about 20 years ago.


Posted by Nelio Inacio at 11:53 AM 0 comments
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Huge Coronal Hole Is Sending Solar Wind Our Way

Huge Coronal Hole Is Sending Solar Wind Our Way:

SDO AIA 211 image showing a large triangular hole in the Sun's corona on March 13
An enormous triangular hole in the Sun’s corona was captured earlier today by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, seen above from the AIA 211 imaging assembly. This gap in the Sun’s atmosphere is allowing more charged solar particles to stream out into the Solar System… and toward Earth as well.


Posted by Nelio Inacio at 11:52 AM 0 comments
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3D Printer Make a Microscopic Car

Watch This 3D Printer Make a Microscopic Car:
3D printing of a microscopic race car. Image credit: TU Vienna
3D printing of a microscopic race car. Image credit: TU Vienna

3D printers let you manufacture any 3-dimensional object out of plastic. You just download the design, fire up the old 3D printer, fill the hopper with plastic, and it’ll slowly print out the object. It sounds cool, and hackers are having a great time playing around with them, but it still doesn’t compare to the scale, quality and cost of traditional manufacturing. It’s still a toy for hackers… right?
As you know, technology has a way of creeping up and then dramatically changing everything. And once you watch this mind-bending video of an ultra-high-resolution 3D printer creating a tiny race car, I think you’ll agree with me that 3D printing technology is improving in leaps and bounds.


Posted by Nelio Inacio at 11:50 AM 0 comments
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Satellite Photo of Vancouver and the Fraser River

Satellite Photo of Vancouver and the Fraser River:
Fraser River seen from space
Fraser River seen from space

I just had to post this satellite photograph of Vancouver with the sediment plume streaming out of the Fraser River. Not just because it’s beautiful, which it is, but also because so much of my life is tied together with that city and river.
I was born in Vancouver, and spent half my time there and half my time over on Vancouver Island which is on the left-hand side of this image. I currently live on Vancouver Island, but I have to commute to Vancouver quite a bit, which involves taking a ferry ride across the Straight of Georgia. When you take the route that carries you from Nanaimo (on the island) over to Tsawassen (the ferry terminal that juts out), you have to cross this plume.


Posted by Nelio Inacio at 11:48 AM 0 comments
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How Did Comet Lovejoy Survive Its Trip Around The Sun?

How Did Comet Lovejoy Survive Its Trip Around The Sun?:

Comet C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy) re-emerging from behind the Sun on Dec. 15, 2011. (NASA/SDO)
It was just about three months ago that the astronomy world watched in awe as the recently-discovered comet Lovejoy plummeted toward the Sun on what was expected to be its final voyage, only to reappear on the other side seemingly unscathed! Surviving its solar visit, Lovejoy headed back out into the solar system, displaying a brand-new tail for skywatchers in southern parts of the world (and for a few select viewers above the world as well.)
How did a loosely-packed ball of ice and rock manage to withstand such a close pass through the Sun’s blazing corona, when all expectations were that it would disintegrate and fizzle away? A few researchers from Germany have an idea.


Posted by Nelio Inacio at 11:45 AM 0 comments
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The Care And Feeding Of Teenage Galaxies

The Care And Feeding Of Teenage Galaxies… And By The Way, They Need Gas:

Teenage Galaxies - Credit: ESO/VLT
Got a teenager? Then you know the story. Go to look for your favorite bag of chips and they’re gone. You eat one portion of meat and they need three. If you like those cookies, then you better have a darn good place to stash them. And, while you’re at it, their car needs gas. Apparently there’s a reason for the word “universal”, because teenage galaxies aren’t much different. Thanks to some new studies done by ESO’s Very Large Telescope, astronomers have been able to take a much closer look at adolescent galaxies and their “feeding habits” during their evolution. Some 3 to 5 billion years after the Big Bang they were happiest when just provided with gas, but later on they developed a voracious appetite… for smaller galaxies! (...)


Posted by Nelio Inacio at 11:43 AM 0 comments
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A New Comet’s SWAN Dive Into the Sun

A New Comet’s SWAN Dive Into the Sun:

SOHO animation of the latest sun-diving comet (LASCO/NRL SOHO team)
A new comet has been discovered by the SOHO team, and it — like Lovejoy before it, almost three months to the day — is headed directly toward the Sun. Discovered by SOHO’s SWAN instrument, the comet has been dubbed Comet SWAN… making this a real swan dive (or, perhaps more appropriately, its swan song.)
The animation above has a lot of random noise in it from recent solar outbursts… can you spot the comet? If not, read on…


Posted by Nelio Inacio at 11:41 AM 0 comments
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Space Travel Is Bad For Your Eyes

Space Travel Is Bad For Your Eyes:

From "Mars Attacks" © 1996 Warner Brothers. All rights reserved.
Microgravity — or “zero-g” as it’s sometimes called — is not a natural state for the human body to live in for prolonged periods of time. But that is what today’s astronauts are often expected to do, whether while on expedition aboard Space Station or during a future voyage to the Moon or Mars. A host of physical issues can result from the space environment, from bone loss and muscle atrophy to the risks associated from increased exposure to radiation.
Now, there’s another downside to long-term life in orbit: eye and brain damage.


Posted by Nelio Inacio at 11:39 AM 0 comments
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