science
Kepler Detects an Exoplanet Atmosphere
Submitted by shehal on Fri, 2009-08-07 18:10"As NASA's first exoplanets mission, Kepler has made a dramatic entrance on the planet-hunting scene," said Jon Morse, director of the Science Mission Directorate's Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Detecting this planet's atmosphere in just the first 10 days of data is only a taste of things to come. The planet hunt is on!"
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What Hit Jupiter?
Submitted by shehal on Mon, 2009-08-03 14:28"We just don't know," says Yeomans. "No one saw the object prior to impact."
Indeed, there was no warning. The object emerged from darkness, unknown and uncatalogued, and—wham!—before anyone could photograph the body intact, it had become a cloud of debris.
The cloud's chemical composition holds clues to the nature of the impactor. Orton says ground-based observers are now analyzing light reflected from the cloud to figure out what it is made of. "If the spectra contain signs of water, that would suggest an icy comet. Otherwise, it's probably a rocky or metallic asteroid."
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A new bright spot on Venus
Submitted by shehal on Sun, 2009-08-02 12:39An intense bright spot has appeared in the clouds of Venus. Could it be associated with volcanic activity on the surface?
The Solar System is breaking out in spots. First Jupiter took a smack from a passing asteroid or comet, manifesting as a dark scar in the Jovian atmosphere, and now Venus is sporting a brilliant white spot in its southern polar region.
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French Nobel Laureate turns back clock: Marshall's global experiment, von Braun memories evoked during August 11 solar eclipse
Submitted by shehal on Sun, 2009-08-02 11:20At any given spot along its path, the Aug. 11, 1999, total eclipse offered up to 2-1/2 spectacular minutes of total lunar coverage of the sun. But for two NASA researchers, the show's not over. They're just getting started probing a 50-year-old mystery.
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Decrypting the Eclipse - A Solar Eclipse, Global Measurements and a Mystery
Submitted by shehal on Sun, 2009-08-02 11:17"During the total eclipses of the sun on June 30, 1954, and October 22, 1959, quite analogous deviations of the plane of oscillation of the paraconical pendulum were observed..." - Maurice Allais, 1988 Nobel autobiographical lecture.
August 6, 1999: The natural phenomenon of a solar eclipse has historically brought kings to assemble armies and, in the modern era, brought camera-toting astronomers to remote locations around the world. On August 11, a solar eclipse will bring scientists together in an effort to solve a 45-year mystery.
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Hubble Finds 'Tenth Planet' Slightly Larger Than Pluto
Submitted by shehal on Sun, 2009-08-02 10:55For the first time, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has seen distinctly the "tenth planet," currently nicknamed "Xena," and found that it's only slightly larger than Pluto.
Though previous ground-based observations suggested that Xena's diameter was about 30 percent greater than Pluto, Hubble observations taken Dec. 9 and 10, 2005, showed Xena's diameter as 1,490 miles (with an uncertainty of 60 miles).
Pluto's diameter, as measured by Hubble, is 1,422 miles.
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Ozone, Nitrogen Change the Way Rising CO2 Affects Earth's Water
Submitted by shehal on Sun, 2009-08-02 10:45"Failure to consider the effects of nitrogen limitation and ozone on photosynthesis can lead us to underestimate regional runoff," said Benjamin Felzer, an ecosystem modeler at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa. "More runoff could mean more contamination and flooding of our waterways. It could also mean fewer droughts than predicted for some areas and more water available for human consumption and farming. Either way, water resource managers need more accurate runoff estimates to plan better for the changes."
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Longest Solar Eclipse of the 21st Century
Submitted by shehal on Sun, 2009-08-02 10:38Most solar eclipses produce this sort of surreal experience for a few minutes at most. The eclipse of July 22, 2009, however, will last as long as 6 minutes and 39 seconds in some places, not far short of the 7 and a half minute theoretical maximum. It won't be surpassed in duration until the eclipse of June 13, 2132.
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Pictures of the Solar Eclipse on 22 July 2009
Submitted by shehal on Sun, 2009-08-02 10:33ජූලි මස 22 දින හිරු මුදුන්වන්නේ වෙනදාට වඩා වෙනස් විදයකට. මුලු ජූලි මාසයේම කොළඹ සහ අවට නගර සියල්ලම වලාකුලු වලින් වැසී තිබුනා. උදෑසන සූර්ය ග්රහනය දැක බලා එක ඡයා රූපගත කරන්න අාරුගම් බොක්කට අප ගියා.
On 22 July 2009 Sunrise in Sri Lanka was different to other days. It was partially eclipsed. I've never observed a Sunrise-Eclipse. We traveled to Arugam Bay to photograph this Eclipse.
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Dengue Fever Outbreak Far Worse Than Swine Flu
Submitted by Romayne on Thu, 2009-06-18 14:07While the world quivers over a potential Swine Flu pandemic, a far deadlier outbreak of dengue fever has gone comparatively under-reported in South America and Australia.
Hundreds of thousands have been infected in South America, and in Australia the outbreak is being called the worst seen in 50 years. While the swine flu scare may be an overreaction in comparison, both outbreaks do highlight a clear link between environmental degradation and the spread of disease.
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