NASA is hoping for a 'miracle from Mars' as mission controllers wait to hear from Spirit. The rover is trying to survive its toughest winter yet, and may never phone home again.
FULL STORY at
http://science.nasa.gov/
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Silent Mars Rover Might Never Phone Home Again
Source - NASA Science News for July 30, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Solar Activity and the Southern Delta Aquarid Meteor Shower
Source - Space Weather News for July 28, 2010: http://spaceweather.com
SOLAR ACTIVITY PICKS UP: Earlier today, magnetic fields looping over the sun's southeastern limb became unstable and erupted. The blast produced a bright, towering prominence that attracted the attention of amateur astronomers around the world. Meanwhile, on the sun's northeastern limb, a big new sunspot is emerging and it is crackling with C-class solar flares. Visit http://spaceweather.com for images and movies.
METEOR SHOWER: The University of Western Ontario meteor radar is picking up strong returns from the Southern Delta Aquarid meteor shower, which peaks on July 28th. Sky watchers (particularly in the southern hemisphere) should be alert for meteors between about 10 pm and dawn. "Visual rates could be as high as 20 per hour," notes Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office, "although glare from the nearly full Moon will make many of the fainter meteors difficult to see."
SPACE WEATHER ALERTS: Did you miss the last big solar flare or geomagnetic storm? Don't let that happen again. Turn your cell phone into a full-featured space weather alert system: http://spaceweatherphone.com
SOLAR ACTIVITY PICKS UP: Earlier today, magnetic fields looping over the sun's southeastern limb became unstable and erupted. The blast produced a bright, towering prominence that attracted the attention of amateur astronomers around the world. Meanwhile, on the sun's northeastern limb, a big new sunspot is emerging and it is crackling with C-class solar flares. Visit http://spaceweather.com for images and movies.
METEOR SHOWER: The University of Western Ontario meteor radar is picking up strong returns from the Southern Delta Aquarid meteor shower, which peaks on July 28th. Sky watchers (particularly in the southern hemisphere) should be alert for meteors between about 10 pm and dawn. "Visual rates could be as high as 20 per hour," notes Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office, "although glare from the nearly full Moon will make many of the fainter meteors difficult to see."
SPACE WEATHER ALERTS: Did you miss the last big solar flare or geomagnetic storm? Don't let that happen again. Turn your cell phone into a full-featured space weather alert system: http://spaceweatherphone.com
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Spacequakes Rumble near Earth
Source - NASA Science News for July 27, 2010
Researchers using NASA's THEMIS spacecraft have discovered a form of space weather that packs the punch of an earthquake and plays a key role in sparking bright Northern Lights.
FULL STORY at
http://science.nasa.gov/
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Are We Alone for 07/26/10 - What's Your Poison
Are We Alone - What's Your Poison
“Aspirin and Old Lace?” Okay, it would take a bottle full of pills in a glass of elderberry wine to really harm you, but aspirin can be deadly. So can too much of anything, including water. Dose is key in toxicology, after all, but there are some poisons that can do deadly work in tiny amounts.
Hear about the chemistry of poisons … why Botox may freeze your emotions as well as your face… which animal is most lethal to humans… and how 19th-century poisoners got away with murder – until the birth of forensic science.
Guests:
- Deborah Blum – Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer, author of The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York
- Martyn Smith – Toxicologist, University of California, Berkeley
- Joshua Ian Davis – Psychologist, Barnard College, New York
- Jamie Seymour – Venom biologist, director of The Tropical Australian Stinger Research Unit, School of Marine Tropical Biology, James Cook University, Cairns, Australia
Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/What_s_Your_Poison_
You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Are We A Blog?, the companion blog to the radio show.
And be sure to check out the Are We Alone iPhone/iPad app: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/are-we-alone-make-contact/id374968004?mt=8
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Are We Alone for 07/19/10 - Grave Matters
Are We Alone - Grave Matters
ENCORE We could choose not to pay income tax and suffer the consequences. But we can’t avoid death. The biological functions of all organisms eventually cease. But why should this be? Find out why animals die and meet one creature that is biologically immortal.
Plus, a trip to the Body Farm where decaying bodies help science…how we might cheat the Big Sleep with drugs… why Mexican cemeteries look like villages… and a doctor’s fight against one of the world’s deadliest diseases.
Guests:
- Bill Bass – Forensic Anthropologist, founder of the University of Tennessee Forensic Research Facility. Author of Beyond the Body Farm: A Legendary Bone Detective Explores Murders, Mysteries, and the Revolution in Forensic Science
and fiction, written under the pen name, Jefferson Bass. The latest: Bones of Betrayal: A Body Farm Novel
.
- Stanley Brandes – Cultural Anthropologist, University of California, Berkeley, author of Skulls to the Living, Bread to the Dead: The Day of the Dead in Mexico and Beyond
- Matt Kaeberlein – Pathologist, University of Washington
- Ross Donaldson – Doctor and author of The Lassa Ward
Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Grave_Matters
You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Are We A Blog?, the companion blog to the radio show.
And be sure to check out the Are We Alone iPhone/iPad app: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/are-we-alone-make-contact/id374968004?mt=8
Seattle Astronomical Society meeting - Wednesday, July 21, 2010
The next SAS meeting which will be on Wednesday, July 21, so that all can plan ahead for attendance. SAS membership is unnecessary to attend the meeting, so all of our group members who are not SAS members will be welcome. The topic promises to be really fascinating.
Topic: Real Time Spectroscopy with RSpec
Presented by: Tom Field
At the next meeting, Tom Field will give a presentation of his new program "RSpec" that does real-time astronomical spectroscopy. He will review a bit of the history and science around spectroscopy and then discuss various projects that amateurs can undertake. As many members know, spectroscopy is one of the primary tools that are used in astronomical research. If you've got a DSLR, webcam, or classical CCD and a even a small telescope, RSpec and a simple grating is all you need to get into this interesting aspect of astronomy.
Tom says, "Spectroscopy isn't rocket science, but it is one of the last frontiers for amateurs to get involved in on a large scale. It's exciting to be able to actually see the composition of stars with some simple backyard gear. And, once you have some hands-on spectroscopy experience, you'll find that a lot of the articles in Sky & Telescope and on the web take on a whole new meaning in light of your new understanding of the field."
Topic: Real Time Spectroscopy with RSpec
Presented by: Tom Field
At the next meeting, Tom Field will give a presentation of his new program "RSpec" that does real-time astronomical spectroscopy. He will review a bit of the history and science around spectroscopy and then discuss various projects that amateurs can undertake. As many members know, spectroscopy is one of the primary tools that are used in astronomical research. If you've got a DSLR, webcam, or classical CCD and a even a small telescope, RSpec and a simple grating is all you need to get into this interesting aspect of astronomy.
Tom says, "Spectroscopy isn't rocket science, but it is one of the last frontiers for amateurs to get involved in on a large scale. It's exciting to be able to actually see the composition of stars with some simple backyard gear. And, once you have some hands-on spectroscopy experience, you'll find that a lot of the articles in Sky & Telescope and on the web take on a whole new meaning in light of your new understanding of the field."
Friday, July 16, 2010
Space Weather Turns into an International Problem
Source - NASA Science News for July 16, 2010
Representatives from more than 25 of the world's most technologically-advanced nations have gathered in Germany today to hear about a problem that may be too big for any one country to handle alone: solar storms.
FULL STORY at
http://science.nasa.gov/
Thursday, July 15, 2010
A Puzzling Collapse of Earth's Upper Atmosphere
Source - NASA Science News for July 15, 2010
Researchers are puzzling over a sharper-than-expected collapse of Earth's upper atmosphere during the deep solar minimum of 2008-09.
FULL STORY at: http://science.nasa.gov/
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Rosetta Discovers Haunting Beauty in Deep Space
Source - NASA Science News for July 14, 2010
The European Space Agency's Rosetta probe is beaming back hauntingly beautiful images of mysterious asteroid Lutetia. Researchers discuss what the photos might mean in today's story from Science@NASA.
FULL STORY at
http://science.nasa.gov/
Monday, July 12, 2010
Lunar Pits Could Lead to a Geologic Wonderland
Source- NASA Science News for July 12, 2010
Newly-discovered pits on the Moon could be entrances to a geologic wonderland of underground caves and tunnels. Researchers discuss the possibilities in today's story from Science@NASA.
FULL STORY at
http://science.nasa.gov/
Are We Alone for 07/12/10 - Skeptic Check: Playing Doctor
Are We Alone - Skeptic Check: Playing Doctor
ENCORE A new herbal supplements is on the shelf, and it claims to improve memory. Should you take it? It’s not easy to sort through the firehose of health and nutrition advice that comes at us daily. Find out how to get healthy about health advice, plus hear the story of Bernarr Macfadden, the eccentric who kicked off America’s fitness craze; he believed that eating less was good for you, but he didn’t believe germ theory.
Plus, our Hollywood skeptic spills his guts and other entrails for a phony class for nurses and Phil Plait gives us the latest lapse in critically-thinking brains.
It’s Skeptic Check… but don’t take our word for it.
Guests:
- Phil Plait - Author, badastronomy.com and Death from the Skies!: These Are the Ways the World Will End . . .
- Mark Adams - writer and editor, and author of Mr. America: How Muscular Millionaire Bernarr Macfadden Transformed the Nation Through Sex, Salad, and the Ultimate Starvation Diet
- Jim Underdown - Executive Director, Center for Inquiry, West - Los Angeles
- Steven Novella - Assistant professor of neurology at Yale School of Medicine
Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Skeptic_Check_Playing_Doctor
You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Are We A Blog?, the companion blog to the radio show.
And be sure to check out the Are We Alone iPhone/iPad app: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/are-we-alone-make-contact/id374968004?mt=8
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Solar Activity Surges on the Eve of South Pacific Eclipse
Source - Space Weather News for July 10, 2010: http://spaceweather.com
A LIVELY SOLAR ECLIPSE: Fast-growing sunspot 1087 is crackling with C-class solar flares. A spectacular eruption recorded by the Solar Dynamics Observatory is featured on today's edition of Spaceweather.com. This surge in activity comes on the eve of a total eclipse of the sun over the South Pacific. Will eclipse chasers see material blasting away from the sun when the Moon hides the blinding stellar surface? It's a possibility. Stay tuned to http://spaceweather.com for updates and pictures from the path of totality.
SUNSET CONJUNCTION: Look west at sunset. Venus is passing by 1st magnitude star Regulus. They're only a little more than a degree apart. Bright Venus catches the eye first. As the glow of sunset fades, Regulus pops out of the twilight a little below Venus. The view through binoculars is superb.
SPACE WEATHER ALERTS: Did you miss the last big solar flare or geomagnetic storm? Don't let that happen again. Turn your cell phone into a full-featured space weather alert system: http://spaceweatherphone.com
A LIVELY SOLAR ECLIPSE: Fast-growing sunspot 1087 is crackling with C-class solar flares. A spectacular eruption recorded by the Solar Dynamics Observatory is featured on today's edition of Spaceweather.com. This surge in activity comes on the eve of a total eclipse of the sun over the South Pacific. Will eclipse chasers see material blasting away from the sun when the Moon hides the blinding stellar surface? It's a possibility. Stay tuned to http://spaceweather.com for updates and pictures from the path of totality.
SUNSET CONJUNCTION: Look west at sunset. Venus is passing by 1st magnitude star Regulus. They're only a little more than a degree apart. Bright Venus catches the eye first. As the glow of sunset fades, Regulus pops out of the twilight a little below Venus. The view through binoculars is superb.
SPACE WEATHER ALERTS: Did you miss the last big solar flare or geomagnetic storm? Don't let that happen again. Turn your cell phone into a full-featured space weather alert system: http://spaceweatherphone.com
Friday, July 09, 2010
South Pacific Eclipse
Source - NASA Science News for July 9, 2010
On Sunday, July 11th, a total eclipse of rare beauty will sweep across the South Pacific.
FULL STORY at
http://science.nasa.gov/
Monday, July 05, 2010
Are We Alone for 07/05/10 - Rend Me Your Ears
Are We Alone - Rend Me Your Ears
Shh - can you keep it down? Nope. Not unless you want to do away with civilization. Our buzzing, humming, whirling, machine-driven world is a poster child for technological progress, right? As is hearing loss. It’s driven one man to search the world for silence. We’ll hear what he didn’t hear, and what Einstein predicted we should hear in deep space, where gravitational waves may reveal the hidden sounds of the universe, including the birth of black holes.
Guests:
- George Foy - Author of Zero Decibels: The Quest for Absolute Silence
- Garret Keizer - Author of The Unwanted Sound of Everything We Want: A Book About Noise
- Craig Hogan - Director for Particle Astrophysics at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Permalink: http://radio.seti.org:80/episodes/Rend_Me_Your_Ears
You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Are We A Blog?, the companion blog to the radio show.
And be sure to check out the Are We Alone iPhone/iPad app: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/are-we-alone-make-contact/id374968004?mt=8
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