Source - ScienceAtNASA on Aug 25, 2011
The same kind of oxygen humans breath on Earth has been found in deep space. It's a breath of fresh air for astronomers who have been searching for cosmic "O2" until now without success.
Visit http://science.nasa.gov/ for more.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Big Picture Science for 08/29/11 - Into the Unknown
Big Picture Science - Into the Unknown
During the great age of exploration men risked their lives to set foot upon unknown lands, whether in the humid jungles of Peru or on the barren ice cap of the South Pole. We’ll hear those dramatic tales…
… but also where modern exploration is taking us. Could it be to the deepest, darkest part of the sea?
Or to space? Discover how to build a space suit that will let you move like an athlete on Mars. Also, why some say that the ultimate frontier requires no packing and no travel: voyages into the human brain.
Guests:
- Dava Newman – Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics Engineering Systems, MIT
- David Eagleman – Neuroscientist, Baylor College of Medicine and author of Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain
- Mark Adams – Author of An Empire of Ice: Scott, Shackleton and the Heroic Age of Antarctic Science
- Edward Larson – Author of An Empire of Ice: Scott, Shackleton and the Heroic Age of Antarctic Science
- Liz Taylor – President, Deep Ocean Exploration and Research, Alameda, CA
Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Into_the_Unknown
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.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Sunspot Breakthrough
Source - NASA Science News for August 25, 2011
A new breakthrough in sunspot detection could provide days of extra early warning for strong solar storms.
FULL STORY at
http://science.nasa.gov/
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Discovered: Stars as Cool as the Human Body
Source - NASA Science News for August 24, 2011
Stars as cool as the human body? Believe it. A NASA spacecraft has discovered a half-dozen "Y dwarfs" with atmospheric temperatures as low as 80 F.
FULL STORY at: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/23aug_coldeststars/
Below is an image and text from the article:
(Image copyright NASA)
"WISE 1828+2650, the coldest brown dwarf known so far, is denoted by a green dot in very center of this infrared image. The chilly star-like body isn't even as warm as a human body, at less than about 80 degrees Fahrenheit. [more]"
For more information about WISE, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/wise
Stars as cool as the human body? Believe it. A NASA spacecraft has discovered a half-dozen "Y dwarfs" with atmospheric temperatures as low as 80 F.
FULL STORY at: http://science.nasa.gov/
Below is an image and text from the article:
(Image copyright NASA)
"WISE 1828+2650, the coldest brown dwarf known so far, is denoted by a green dot in very center of this infrared image. The chilly star-like body isn't even as warm as a human body, at less than about 80 degrees Fahrenheit. [more]"
For more information about WISE, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/wise
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Big Picture Science for 08/22/11 - Swarm in Here... or Is It Just Me?
Big Picture Science - Swarm in Here... or Is It Just Me?
ENCORE: An ant … can’t … move a rubber tree plant… but the colony can. As a group, ants are an efficient, organized, can-do bunch. And a model for humans trying to manage complex systems.
Find out about the eerie collective intelligence of animals, and how an MIT researcher is hoping to put humans to work collaboratively to solve problems like climate change.
Also … hear how research into flocking behavior helps Hollywood film a herd of stampeding dinosaurs.
Guests:
- Steve Strogatz – Applied mathematician at Cornell University and author of Sync: How Order Emerges From Chaos In the Universe, Nature, and Daily Life
- Craig Reynolds – Senior researcher for Sony Computer Entertainment
- Thomas Malone – Director of the Center for Collective Intelligence at MIT
- Iain Couzin – Biologist at Princeton University
Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Swarm_in_Here_or_Is_It_Just_Me_
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.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
ScienceCasts: Space Station Meteor
Source - ScienceAtNASA on Aug 18, 2011:
On August 13th, space station astronaut Ron Garan photographed a centimeter-sized chunk of comet debris disintegrating in Earth's atmosphere. His rare photo of a meteor from Earth orbit is a must-see.
Visit http://science.nasa.gov/ for more.
On August 13th, space station astronaut Ron Garan photographed a centimeter-sized chunk of comet debris disintegrating in Earth's atmosphere. His rare photo of a meteor from Earth orbit is a must-see.
Visit http://science.nasa.gov/ for more.
Spacecraft Sees Solar Storm Engulf Earth
Source - NASA Science News for August 18, 2011
Below is a companion video to the article - Source NASAexplorer on Aug 18, 2011
NASA | Spacecraft Track Solar Storms From Sun To Earth
(Text below is from the original post on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kSx7AOwEco)
NASA's STEREO spacecraft and new data processing techniques have succeeded in tracking space weather events from their origin in the Sun's ultrahot corona to impact with the Earth 96 million miles away, resolving a 40-year mystery about the structure of the structures that cause space weather: how the structures that impact the Earth relate to the corresponding structures in the solar corona.
Despite many instruments that monitor the Sun and a fleet of near-earth probes, the connection between near-Earth disturbances and their counterparts on the Sun has been obscure, because CMEs and the solar wind evolve and change during the 96,000,000 mile journey from the Sun to the Earth.
STEREO includes "heliospheric imager" cameras that monitor the sky at large angles from the Sun, but the starfield and galaxy are 1,000 times brighter than the faint rays of sunlight reflected by free-floating electron clouds inside CMEs and the solar wind; this has made direct imaging of these important structures difficult or impossible, and limited understanding of the connection between space storms and the coronal structures that cause them.
Newly released imagery reveals absolute brightness of detailed features in a large geoeffective CME in late 2008, connecting the original magnetized structure in the Sun's corona to the intricate anatomy of an interplanetary storm as it impacted the Earth three days later. At the time the data were collected, in late 2008, STEREO-A was nearly 45 degrees ahead of the Earth in its orbit, affording a very clear view of the Earth-Sun line.
This video is public domain and can be downloaded at: : http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/goto?10809
Like our videos? Subscribe to NASA's Goddard Shorts HD podcast: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/iTunes/f0004_index.html
Or find NASA Goddard Space Flight Center on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NASA.GSFC
Or find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/NASAGoddard
For the first time, a spacecraft far from Earth has turned and watched a solar storm engulf our planet. The movie, released today during a NASA press conference, has galvanized solar physicists, who say it could lead to important advances in space weather forecasting.
FULL STORY at
http://science.nasa.gov/
Below is a companion video to the article - Source NASAexplorer on Aug 18, 2011
NASA | Spacecraft Track Solar Storms From Sun To Earth
(Text below is from the original post on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kSx7AOwEco)
NASA's STEREO spacecraft and new data processing techniques have succeeded in tracking space weather events from their origin in the Sun's ultrahot corona to impact with the Earth 96 million miles away, resolving a 40-year mystery about the structure of the structures that cause space weather: how the structures that impact the Earth relate to the corresponding structures in the solar corona.
Despite many instruments that monitor the Sun and a fleet of near-earth probes, the connection between near-Earth disturbances and their counterparts on the Sun has been obscure, because CMEs and the solar wind evolve and change during the 96,000,000 mile journey from the Sun to the Earth.
STEREO includes "heliospheric imager" cameras that monitor the sky at large angles from the Sun, but the starfield and galaxy are 1,000 times brighter than the faint rays of sunlight reflected by free-floating electron clouds inside CMEs and the solar wind; this has made direct imaging of these important structures difficult or impossible, and limited understanding of the connection between space storms and the coronal structures that cause them.
Newly released imagery reveals absolute brightness of detailed features in a large geoeffective CME in late 2008, connecting the original magnetized structure in the Sun's corona to the intricate anatomy of an interplanetary storm as it impacted the Earth three days later. At the time the data were collected, in late 2008, STEREO-A was nearly 45 degrees ahead of the Earth in its orbit, affording a very clear view of the Earth-Sun line.
This video is public domain and can be downloaded at: : http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/goto?10809
Like our videos? Subscribe to NASA's Goddard Shorts HD podcast: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/iTunes/f0004_index.html
Or find NASA Goddard Space Flight Center on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NASA.GSFC
Or find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/NASAGoddard
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
ScienceCast: Dawn's Smooth Move
Source: NASAtelevision on Aug 12, 2011 (This is an update to a previous entry posted on August 01, 2011)
"NASA's Dawn spacecraft doesn't do things like other missions. In July it slipped into orbit around asteroid Vesta using a smooth move that made mission planners want to get up and dance."
Visit http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/01aug_smoothmove/ for the full story.
And be sure to check out the
"NASA's Dawn spacecraft doesn't do things like other missions. In July it slipped into orbit around asteroid Vesta using a smooth move that made mission planners want to get up and dance."
Visit http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/01aug_smoothmove/ for the full story.
And be sure to check out the
NASA Plans to Visit a Near-Earth Asteroid
Source - NASA Science News for August 16, 2011
NASA is planning a daring new mission to visit a near-Earth asteroid. The spacecraft, named OSIRIS-REx, will orbit 1999 RQ36 for a year before gathering samples for return to Earth.
FULL STORY at:
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/16aug_osirisrex/
Companion video for the article: NASA | NASA selects OSIRIS-REx as New Frontiers Mission
Source NASAexplorer on May 25, 2011
"OSIRIS-Rex will visit asteroid 1999 RQ36 and return with samples that may hold clues to the origin of the solar system and life on Earth. For the mission, NASA has selected the team led by Principal Investigator Dr. Michael Drake from the University of Arizona. NASA GSFC will manage the mission. Lockheed Martin will build the spacecraft."
This video is public domain and can be downloaded at: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov
Original YouTube URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6XbYLGWmOs
NASA is planning a daring new mission to visit a near-Earth asteroid. The spacecraft, named OSIRIS-REx, will orbit 1999 RQ36 for a year before gathering samples for return to Earth.
FULL STORY at:
http://science.nasa.gov/
Companion video for the article: NASA | NASA selects OSIRIS-REx as New Frontiers Mission
Source NASAexplorer on May 25, 2011
"OSIRIS-Rex will visit asteroid 1999 RQ36 and return with samples that may hold clues to the origin of the solar system and life on Earth. For the mission, NASA has selected the team led by Principal Investigator Dr. Michael Drake from the University of Arizona. NASA GSFC will manage the mission. Lockheed Martin will build the spacecraft."
This video is public domain and can be downloaded at: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov
Original YouTube URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6XbYLGWmOs
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Big Picture Science for 08/15/11 - Skeptic Check: Plotting Along
Big Picture Science - Skeptic Check: Plotting Along
It’s been ten years since the fall of the Twin Towers, but some still believe that the attack was an inside job. They’re not the only ones to buy into a conspiratorial view of world events. Others deny
President Obama’s American birth… link autism with vaccines… and even claim that the fluo
ride in our drinking water is there to control our minds. Is it the truth – or the fringe groups – that are “out there?”
Find out why some tinfoil hat ideas never go away. Also, the roots of rational argument: did our brains evolve to seek the truth… or just win arguments?
It’s Skeptic Check… but don’t take our word for it!
Guests:
- Jonathan Kay – Managing editor of National Post in Canada and author of Among the Truthers: A Journey Through America’s Growing Conspiracist Underground
- Michael Shermer – Founding Publisher of Skeptic Magazine and author of The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies – How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them As Truths
- Phil Plait – Skeptic and keeper of Discover Magazine’s blog, badastronomy.com
- Hugo Mercier – Postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pennsylvania
- Darcia Narvaez – Psychologist at the University of Notre Dame
- Ben Recht – Computer Scientist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and author of the paper “On the Effectiveness of Tinfoil Hats”
Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Skeptic_Check_Plotting_Along
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.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Perseid Meteor Shower
Source - Space Weather News for Aug. 12, 2011: http://spaceweather.com
METEOR SHOWER: The Perseid meteor shower is underway. International observers are now reporting more than 20 meteors per hour as Earth passes through a stream of debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle. Forecasters expect the shower to peak on the night of Aug. 12-13. The best time to look is during the hours before dawn on Saturday morning, August 13th, when the glaring Moon is relatively low and meteor rates are highest. Visit http://spaceweather.com for full coverage.
WATCH OUT FOR THE SPACE STATION, TOO: Consider it a cosmic coincidence. During the peak of the Perseid meteor shower, the International Space Station will fly over many US towns and cities. The behemoth spacecraft is easy to see if you know when to look. Check SpaceWeather.com's Simple Satellite Tracker for flyby times: http://spaceweather.com/flybys/
METEOR SHOWER: The Perseid meteor shower is underway. International observers are now reporting more than 20 meteors per hour as Earth passes through a stream of debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle. Forecasters expect the shower to peak on the night of Aug. 12-13. The best time to look is during the hours before dawn on Saturday morning, August 13th, when the glaring Moon is relatively low and meteor rates are highest. Visit http://spaceweather.com for full coverage.
WATCH OUT FOR THE SPACE STATION, TOO: Consider it a cosmic coincidence. During the peak of the Perseid meteor shower, the International Space Station will fly over many US towns and cities. The behemoth spacecraft is easy to see if you know when to look. Check SpaceWeather.com's Simple Satellite Tracker for flyby times: http://spaceweather.com/
Tuesday, August 09, 2011
ISS-Perseid Sky Show This Weekend
Source - NASA Science News for August 9, 2011
The Perseid meteor shower peaks this weekend, and the International Space Station is joining the show. Sky watchers in many US towns and cities are favored with ISS flybys on August 12-13 just when Perseid meteor activity is expected to crest under full moonlight.
FULL STORY at
http://science.nasa.gov/
Major Solar Flare on August 9th
Source - Space Weather News for August 9, 2011: http://spaceweather.com
X-FLARE: This morning at 0805 UT, sunspot 1263 produced an X7-class solar flare--so far the most powerful flare of new Solar Cycle 24. The brunt of the explosion was not Earth directed. Even so, a minor solar proton storm is in progress around our planet, and the flare also created waves of ionization in Earth's upper atmosphere. Visit http://spaceweather.com for images and more information.
SOLAR FLARE ALERTS: Did you miss the eruption? Next time get a solar flare alert: http://spaceweathertext.com (text) or http://spaceweatherpone.com (voice).
X-FLARE: This morning at 0805 UT, sunspot 1263 produced an X7-class solar flare--so far the most powerful flare of new Solar Cycle 24. The brunt of the explosion was not Earth directed. Even so, a minor solar proton storm is in progress around our planet, and the flare also created waves of ionization in Earth's upper atmosphere. Visit http://spaceweather.com for images and more information.
SOLAR FLARE ALERTS: Did you miss the eruption? Next time get a solar flare alert: http://spaceweathertext.com (text) or http://spaceweatherpone.com (voice).
Sunday, August 07, 2011
Big Picture Science for 08/08/11 - Written in Code
Big Picture Science - Written in Code
ENCORE Genes – what are they good for? Absolutely… something. But not everything. Your “genius” genes need to be turned on – and your environment determines that. Find out how to unleash your inner-Einstein, and what scientists learned from studying the famous physicist’s brain.
Also, the bizarre notion that your children inherit not just your genes, but also the consequences of your habits – smoking, stress, diet, and other behaviors that turn the genes on.
Plus Francis Collins on affordable personal genomes, and a man who decoded his own DNA in under a week.
Guests:
- Francis Collins – Geneticist, Director of the National Institutes of Health
- David Shenk – Journalist, and author of The Genius in All of Us: Why Everything You’ve Been Told About Genetics, Talent and IQ is Wrong
- Stephen Quake – Biophysicist, Stanford University
- Dean Falk – Anthropologist and Senior Scholar at the School For Advanced Research in Santa Fe, New Mexico
Permalink: http://radio.seti.org/episodes/Written_in_Code
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.
Friday, August 05, 2011
Geomagnetic Storm Warning
Source - Space Weather News for August 5, 2011: http://spaceweather.com
CME IMPACT: A coronal mass ejection (CME) hit Earth's magnetic field on August 5th around 1800 UT, setting the stage for possible geomagnetic storms on August 5th and 6th. Analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab report that the impact may have compressed Earth's magnetosphere enough to directly expose some satellites in geosynchronous orbit to solar wind plasma. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras after nightfall. Check http://spaceweather.com for more information and updates.
DON'T MISS THE STORM: Would you like a call when geomagnetic storms are in progress? Storm alerts are available from http://spaceweathertext.com (text) and http://spaceweatherphone.com (voice).
CME IMPACT: A coronal mass ejection (CME) hit Earth's magnetic field on August 5th around 1800 UT, setting the stage for possible geomagnetic storms on August 5th and 6th. Analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab report that the impact may have compressed Earth's magnetosphere enough to directly expose some satellites in geosynchronous orbit to solar wind plasma. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras after nightfall. Check http://spaceweather.com for more information and updates.
DON'T MISS THE STORM: Would you like a call when geomagnetic storms are in progress? Storm alerts are available from http://spaceweathertext.com (text) and http://spaceweatherphone.com (voice).
Salt Water May Flow on Mars
Source - NASA Science News for August 4, 2011
A new study of images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter suggests that salt water may be actively flowing across the surface of the Red Planet.
FULL STORY at
http://science.nasa.gov/
Thursday, August 04, 2011
Significant Solar Activity in Progress
Source - Space Weather News for August 4, 2011: http://spaceweather.com
SOLAR ACTIVITY: For the third day in a row, sunspot 1261 has unleashed a significant M-class solar flare. The latest blast at 0357 UT on August 4th registered M9.3 on the Richter Scale of Flares, almost crossing the threshold into X-territory (X-flares are the most powerful kind). Also, at least two coronal mass ejections are en route to Earth, and they could provoke mild to moderate geomagnetic storms when they arrive on August 4th through 6th. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras. Check http://spaceweather.com for details and updates.
DON'T MISS THE STORM: Would you like a call when geomagnetic storms are in progress? Space weather alerts are available from http://spaceweathertext.com (text) and http://spaceweatherphone.com (voice).
SOLAR ACTIVITY: For the third day in a row, sunspot 1261 has unleashed a significant M-class solar flare. The latest blast at 0357 UT on August 4th registered M9.3 on the Richter Scale of Flares, almost crossing the threshold into X-territory (X-flares are the most powerful kind). Also, at least two coronal mass ejections are en route to Earth, and they could provoke mild to moderate geomagnetic storms when they arrive on August 4th through 6th. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras. Check http://spaceweather.com for details and updates.
DON'T MISS THE STORM: Would you like a call when geomagnetic storms are in progress? Space weather alerts are available from http://spaceweathertext.com (text) and http://spaceweatherphone.com (voice).
Tuesday, August 02, 2011
Incoming CME could spark polar geomagnetic storms
Source - Space Weather News for August 3, 2011: http://spaceweather.com
MINOR STORM WARNING: On August 2nd, the sun hurled a cloud of plasma (CME) toward Earth when magnetic fields above sunspot 1261 erupted. Analysts expect the CME to arrive during the early hours of August 5th, possibly sparking geomagnetic storms around the poles. This is not a big event; the eruption that propelled the cloud in our direction registered only "M1" (for medium) on the Richter Scale of Flares. Nevertheless, sky watchers at high latitudes should be alert for auroras. Movies of the eruption and 3D models of the incoming cloud are featured on today's edition of http://spaceweather.com.
SUNSPOT TELESCOPE: Several large sunspots are currently transiting the solar disk. Would you like to see them? Explore Scientific's White Light Solar Observing System is now available in the Space Weather Store:
http://www.shopspaceweather.com/explore-scientific-white-light-solar-observer-system.aspx
MINOR STORM WARNING: On August 2nd, the sun hurled a cloud of plasma (CME) toward Earth when magnetic fields above sunspot 1261 erupted. Analysts expect the CME to arrive during the early hours of August 5th, possibly sparking geomagnetic storms around the poles. This is not a big event; the eruption that propelled the cloud in our direction registered only "M1" (for medium) on the Richter Scale of Flares. Nevertheless, sky watchers at high latitudes should be alert for auroras. Movies of the eruption and 3D models of the incoming cloud are featured on today's edition of http://spaceweather.com.
SUNSPOT TELESCOPE: Several large sunspots are currently transiting the solar disk. Would you like to see them? Explore Scientific's White Light Solar Observing System is now available in the Space Weather Store:
http://www.shopspaceweather.
Monday, August 01, 2011
Dawn's Smooth Move
Source - NASA Science News for August 1, 2011
Today's story from Science@NASA unveils Dawn's first full-frame image of Vesta and describes the unique way Dawn entered orbit around the giant asteroid.
FULL STORY at: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/01aug_smoothmove/
In addition to the article above NASA also posted today the "Vesta Full Rotation Movie" below:
(Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA)
"In this movie, strung together from a series of images provided by the framing camera on NASA's Dawn spacecraft, we see a full rotation of Vesta, which occurs over the course of roughly five hours."
Here is the original URL for the video: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/index.cfm?id=1009
Many thanks to djxatlanta for posting this video to Youtube.
Today's story from Science@NASA unveils Dawn's first full-frame image of Vesta and describes the unique way Dawn entered orbit around the giant asteroid.
FULL STORY at: http://science.nasa.gov/
In addition to the article above NASA also posted today the "Vesta Full Rotation Movie" below:
(Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA)
"In this movie, strung together from a series of images provided by the framing camera on NASA's Dawn spacecraft, we see a full rotation of Vesta, which occurs over the course of roughly five hours."
Here is the original URL for the video: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/video/index.cfm?id=1009
Many thanks to djxatlanta for posting this video to Youtube.
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