Solar Flares and You

Solar flares are pretty much known to cause aurorae, power outages, satellite problems, etc. But they can change how elements decay? Really? Apparently so. Go here to read more. So weird....

The Sun and You

Not surprisingly, activity of the Sun has a large impact on the properties of the Earth. The most prominent example are solar flares, which cause aurorae and can significantly damage satellites. A less prominent, but just as important example, is the uppermost atmosphere, which is ionized by UV radiation from the Sun. Not surprisingly, as UV radiation from the Sun drops, so does the thickness of this layer. To learn more, go here. Enjoy!

The origins of the Earth

Read more about it here. Interesting.

The Earth has an Atmosphere!

Well, you already knew that - but astronomers recently detected the absorptions lights associated with it from light reflected off the Earth, to the Moon, during a lunar eclipse. Go here to read why this is actually a very important result for the search of other Earth-like planets in the Milky Way.

Quakes in Space

While "earth quake" like events actually occur somewhat regularly on the surface of neutron stars and white dwarfs, something similar - for very different reasons - was also recently observed to occur in the Earth's magnetic field. Go here to read more, or listen to it here. Enjoy!

NASA's Search for Life

Is not confined to the stars, but also to the Earth. The reasoning is that, if life can survive in extreme environments (i.e, very hot, very cold, very dark, high pressure, etc.) on Earth, then maybe they can form in other examples of such environments. Read more about it here.

Chicken Little was right

The sky IS falling. In the loosest sense of the word. What am I talking about it? Read about it here or listen here (audio courtesy of NASA, not me).

Neutrinos they are very small.

They have no charge and have no mass
And do not interact at all.

Well, so said John Updike. They don't have no mass, but very very little mass, and it now appears that they have even less mass than people thought as you can read here. And while to them "The earth is just a silly ball," by detecting them deep underground you can learn quite about the Earth, which you can read about here. Enjoy, and my apologies for butchering that quite cute poem.

Archaeology from Space

Read this New York Times article how airplane and space imaging revealed massive Mayan cities long lost to the jungles. Enjoy!

Earthquakes and Earth Spin

When I first saw this headline "Did the Chilean Quake Shift Earth's Axis?", my first response was "Um, no." Turns out, not surprisingly, I was wrong. Go here to read more. Very interesting stuff. Enjoy!

Firefly is back!!!!

Not the TV show, unfortunately. But NASA is planning on launching a new satellite called Firefly to study flashed of gamma-rays - from the Earth! Where they are coming from (no, they are not from underground nuclear tests. Those would be absorbed by the ground and atmosphere and never make it out to space), no one really knows. Read more about it here.

Want to save the Earth?

It is an astronomical object, after all. Go here to learn more about how you can affect climate control.

California's Climate Educator Conference

NASA and JPL will be hosting a Climate Educator Conference May 1-2, 2010, not surprisingly, at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. In this conference, JPL and local scientists, geographers and planners will address the current climate, the historical record, long range trends and future forecasts in context. Special attention will be paid to the California science standards, especially key areas like fourth grade where California is a year-long theme. This is intended for all educators (including museum staff) and students (high school and above) interested in earth and space science and exploration. The objective of the conference is to tell the exciting tale of real-life exploration and new discovery in a way that will excite and inspire students. Students under 18 years of age must be accompanied by a registered adult. The bulk of the conference is presentations, not workshop-type activities, but instructional materials and resources will be shared.

Pre-registration is required. Walk-up registration will not be possible for this conference. To register for this conference please send a check postmarked by April 26, 2010, for $45.00 payable to "Jet Propulsion Laboratory" to:

California Educator Conference
Attn: Mary Kay Kuehn
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
M/S 180-109
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena CA 91109

Please provide the following information:

Name_______________________________
Title________________________________
Organization/School_______________________________________
Address________________________________ State___ Zip______
Citizenship_________________________ (Please bring a photo ID)
Grade(s) Taught__________________________________________
Subject(s) Taught_________________________________________
Contact info for confirmation & last minute changes:
E-mail: _____________________________
Phone: _____________________________

Please register by Monday, April 26, 2010. The $45 registration fee includes continental breakfast and breaks both days and a box lunch on Saturday. For registration questions please call the JPL Education Office at 818-393-0561. For other questions please call the JPL Educator Resource Center at 909-397-4420.

Colliding aurorae

That's right. Colliding aurorae. As in, stream of charged particles trapped in the Earth's atmosphere colliding together. And people caught it on video. Watch here! I personally think that is really awesome.

July 27th Radio Show: Venus, Earth, and the Moon

Continuing on the Solar System theme started two weeks ago, and the focus on the Moon from last week, finally available here is the July 27th episode of this radio, where I discuss recent scientific results pertaining to Venus, Earth, and the Moon. As always, please leave below or email me any questions, comments, or concerns you might have. Thank you for listening.

New Topographic Map of the Earth

NASA and the Japan Space Agency have teamed up to produce the most complete, detailed topographic map of the Earth to date use the Japanese instrumrent Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer, or ASTER, aboard the NASA spacecraft Terra. Go here to see the gorgeous pictures and here to download the data. Enjoy!

Description of November 19th Radio Show: Supernovae and Gamma-Ray Bursts

Long available here, below (finally) is the description of the November 19th episode of this radio show, devoted to supernovae and Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs). On this program I discussed:

• News: SHIMMER spacecraft observes second season of Polar Mesospheric Clouds, the highest clouds on Earth (link); Chandrayaan-1 Lunar Spacecraft reaches final orbit around the Moon, successfully impacts lunar surface with probe (link); Martian dust storm cuts energy supply on NASA's Mars Rover Spirit (link), but it is still communicating with the Earth (link); recent European conference discussed how life formed on Earth and maybe could have formed on Mars (link); Cassini discovers new, weird aurorae on Saturn (link); Hubble Space Telescope directly images planet around another star - first time ever done! (link), another extra solar planetary system similarly imaged using Keck Observatory (link); International Space Station celebrates 10th anniversary, receives payload of spiders and butterflies (link), a camera to observe crops in the Great Plains and Rockies, and a device to recycle human liquid waste (link); NASA design for new Ares rocket passes review, receives hardware for upcoming test flight of rocket's first stage; NASA restores historic picture of Earth rising above the Moon, available here; NASA tests new Lunar Rover concepts in Hawaii; rocket launched to study effect of Northern Lights on radio communications (link); NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory arrives at launch site; 'sun shield" designed for James Webb Space Telescope, NASA's successor to Hubble (link); first "pico satellites" (very small satellites) beign designed and built at University of Florida (link); ESA ministers meet to determine their objectives for upcoming years; Czech Republic becomes 18th member state of ESA; Doug Cooke appointed next NASA Associate Administrator for Exploration Systems; ESA sponsors development of "Health Early Warning System" in Africa; NASA introduces Endeavor Science Teaching Certificate program (link).
• Calendar of upcoming Science / Astronomy events in the greater Poughkeepsie / New York City area.
• Supernovae and Gamma-Ray Bursts: As massive stars age, they run out of lighter elements like Hydrogen and Helium to fuse together to produce energy, and end up with a core full of Iron. Since energy is not released when Iron fuses together, there is no energy source to prevent the core from collapse under its own gravity, so it collapses. As it does so, it releases a lot of energy (much much more energy than the Sun will release in its lifetime), creating a shock wave that moves through the outer part of the star - heating it up and eventually causing it to explode. Light from the hot gas behind this shock is trapped until the shock wave leaves the star, causing a flash of light called "shock breakout." This flash was observed for the first time from a supernova SN2008d (link 1, link 2), an important confirmation for how astronomers think massive stars explode. Analysis of archival data indicated that shock breakout was observed from another supernova (article, link). After this shock exits the star, the star explodes. The stellar material is initially so hot and dense that it forms heavy nuclei, like Nickel 56, whose radioactive decay powers optical light for days - months after the explosion. The spectrum of this light, and the way its brightness (luminosity) changes with time, provides pretty much the only available information on the type of star that exploded and how it did so. Thanks to dust clouds reflecting this light - through a process called "light echos", this emission has been seen from the supernova which created the Cas A supernova remnant (SNR) - confirmed that this explosion was from the core-collapse of a massive star (article, link), and maybe reflection emission from the shock breakout of this explosion has also been detected (link). Light echos from past supernova explosions have detected from many supernova remnants in the Large Magellanic Cloud (link), where they are actually easier to see than in the Milky Way due to the lack of dust in that dwarf galaxy. As I mentioned before, the light from these explosion is powered by the radioactive decay of Nickel-56, which scientists have made in the lab for the first time recently (link). Two clusters of Red Supergiant Stars, likely to produce lots of supernovae in the "near" future, discovered in the Galactic Bar of the Milky Way (link). By looking at "before" and "after" pictures of nearby galaxies which have supernovae, it is possible to identify the star that exploded. This was done for a supernova in NGC 6946, and the exploding star had a mass close to the minimum mass believed to be required for a core-collapse supernova, about 10 times that of the Sun. Stars can also explode if they come to close to a black hole, whose gravity will literally rip the star apart and cause it to explode (link). Similar to NGC 6946, an exploding star was identified in nearby galaxy NGC 2397, which also had a "low" mass for this type of event (link). A supernova similar to SN 1987a which occurred in the Large Magellanic Cloud and is, by far, the best observed supernova ever, is identified (SN 1996cr, link). It has been suggestsed that supernovae whose energy output is much higher than "normal" might produce an ultra-dense object called a "quark star" instead of a neutron star (link). By studying the spectrum of the optical light produced in these explosions, astronomers have found evidence that the explosions are not symmetric. It has also been speculated that SN 2008d, the supernova with the shock breakout, might be a gamma-ray burst (GRB) - a rare class of supernova which produced a narrow beam of gamma-rays - where the gamma-rays were not pointed towards the Earth, though this is highly controversial (article, link). One of these GRBs, GRB 080319B, produced a flash of visible light so bright it could be seen with the naked eye, believed to be the result of this jet of gamma-rays pointed directly towards the Earth (link). Integral satellite detects low-power GRBs. Current satellites are able to see GRBs from the time the first stars formed after the Big Bang, but don't, suggesting these stars when they exploded did not produce GRBs. The galaxies which host long GRBs (the ones produced by exploding stars) tend to be low mass, contain a relatively small amount of metals, while the host galaxies of short GRBs aren't as specific - suggesting two different of objects create these two different classes of GRBs. The properties of the stars that produce long GRBs can be estimated from the X-ray emission observed during and after these explosions (article). Origin of short GRBs still unknown, though there are several suspects.

Thank you very much for listening, and your patience, and hope you enjoyed this show. As always, please email or post below any comments, questions, or concerns you might have.

Antarctic Webcam

The European Space Agency's (ESA's) satellite Envisat is observing the Wilkins Ice Shelf in Antarctica on a daily basis since it is at risk of breaking off. To watch the resulting video, go here, and enjoy!

Are you worried...

... that the Large Hadron Collider is going to create a black hole which is going to swallow the Earth? Don't be.

If people are interesting in this, I can talk about it in more depth on a future program. Please let me know.

Description of September 24th radio show: The Sun and the Earth

I know, it's been available here for a while, but below is description of the September 24th edition of this radio show:

• Calendar of upcoming Astronomy/Science events in the greater Poughkeepsie/New York City area.
• Interview with Prof. Joseph Tanski (Vassar College) on Vassar's summer research program for undergraduates.
• News: Phoenix Mars Lander to attempt to take a soil sample from under a rock to determine the origin of sub-surface ice; Mars Rover Opportunity headed to Victoria crater; NASA's Swift satellite detects highest redshift gamma-ray burst to date (link 1, link 2); space shuttle Endeavour moves to launch pad to get ready in case it is needed to rescue crew on Atlantis (NOTE: since broadcast, Atlantis launched delayed until 2009 due to Hubble malfunction); IBEX spacecraft testing proceeding; NASA's Kepler spacecraft, designed to detect new classes of extra-solar planet, survives baking test enroute to 2009 launch (listen to my interview with Dr. Jennifer Wiseman for more information on the Kepler mission); developmental models for components of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) passes "shake and bake" tests (link, for more information on JWST, listen to my interview with Dr. Mark Clampin); optical interferometry instrument PRIMA installed on ESO's Very Large Telescope (link); gravitational wave interferometer Virgo suffers a vacuum failure due to glass viewport breaking; Dr. Roger Blandford chosen to head next Astronomy Decadal Survey; Senator McCain announces that, if elected president, he would freeze next year's science budget; International Astronomical Union names fifth dwarf planet in Solar System "Haumea" (link); NASA releases new educational tool called "eClips" available here or here; ESA releases new educational DVD and 3-D Teaching tool, available here, as well as announces a contest to design a t-shirt for astronaut Frank De Winne onboard the International Space Station; ESA satellite Artemis does emergency communications with Jules Verne ATV.
• Wednesday Morning Astronomer (my weekly take on the Astronomy content of this ESPN column): Google Earth (and Sky) are pretty awesome, it is funny that spy satellites also take pictures for Google, and the leak at LHC has nothing to do with black holes....
• The Sun and the Earth: Ulysses spacecraft determines that solar wind at 50 year low; Hinode records video of polar crown prominence in Sun's corona; TRACE satellite records a Coronal Mass Ejection doing a cartwheel!; nanoflares may be reason for keeping the Sun's corona so hot (link); Sun goes longer than normal without producing a sunspot (link); changes in Solar activity could account for only a very small amount of the climate change on Earth (link); radio emission from lower Earth magnetosphere "hiss" might be responsible for clearing out electrons from a section of the Earth's magnetosphere as well as "chorus" radio emission from outer magnetosphere; ESA's Cluster satellites record low-frequency radio emission from aurorae (link) and discovers that Earth's magnetosphere responsible for accelerating ions leaving Earth's atmosphere (link); NASA's THEMIS satellites observes "substorms" caused by reshaping of Earth's outer magnetosphere - related to aurorae (link 1, link 2, link 3); mineral content of glass from the Moon indicates presence of water in Moon's interior.

Hope you enjoy this program. Sorry for taking so long to post the description and, as always, any and all feedback is appreciated. Again, thank you.