A new model of the origin of asteroids suggests that in the beginning they weren’t rubble piles but “churning balls of mud.”
A new model of the origin of asteroids suggests that in the beginning they weren’t rubble piles but “churning balls of mud.”
Tag: science
Having lost its earmarked government funding in 2011, the Pan-STARRS telescope has now replaced those funds with a private donation.
We don’t need no stinking government: Having lost its earmarked government funding in 2011, the Pan-STARRS telescope has now replaced those funds with a private donation.
I find it interesting that while the lost government funds equaled $10 million, they are now able to achieve essentially the same goals with a private donation of only $3 million. This suggests, not surprisingly, that there was a lot of extra pork in the government funds that the facility could manage without.
Google Street View now includes views from four of the world’s seven largest mountain peaks.
Google Street View now includes views from four of the world’s seven largest mountain peaks.
More here.
Curiosity takes a panorama of Mount Sharp.
Curiosity takes a panorama of Mount Sharp.
A white balanced version, which isn’t as much like true color but looks better, can be found here.
The 6 most ridiculous science experiments ever funded
The 6 most ridiculous science experiments ever funded.
I especially like the one that definitively proved “there is absolutely no difference between a college student and a horny chicken.”
Water and carbon monoxide detected in the atmosphere of a super-sized exoplanet 129 light years away.
Water and carbon monoxide have been detected in the atmosphere of a super-sized exoplanet 129 light years away.
Europe today inked a partnership deal with Russia for its two spacecraft ExoMars mission, planned to launch in 2016 and 2018.
Europe today inked a partnership deal with Russia for its two spacecraft ExoMars mission, planned to launch in 2016 and 2018.
Russia essentially replaces the United States, which backed out of the deal last year when the Obama administration eliminated the funding for most of NASA’s planetary program.
Astronomers today celebrate the official turning-on of ALMA, the world’s largest telescope.
Astronomers today celebrate the official turning-on of ALMA, the world’s largest telescope.
ALMA is an array of 66 dishes tuned to wavelengths in the millimeter to submillimeter range of the electromagnetic spectrum, between the infrared and radio frequencies.
Computer simulations suggest that Pluto might have as many as ten undiscovered additional moons.
Computer simulations suggest that Pluto might have as many as ten undiscovered additional moons.
The planet already has five, so if this is true space is really crowded there, which might pose a problem for the New Horizons spacecraft that plans to fly past in 2015.
Hoyer told employees at the Goddard Space Flight Center yesterday that sequester might force some layoffs there.
My heart bleeds: Congressman Steny Hoyer (D-Maryland) told employees at the Goddard Space Flight Center yesterday that sequester might force some layoffs there.
So, who does Hoyer work for, the employees at Goddard or the taxpayer? He apparently thinks he is the union rep for government employees.
Curiosity’s first drilling sample has found that the ancient watery conditions in Gale Crater were especially suitable for life.
Curiosity’s first drilling sample has found that the ancient watery conditions in Gale Crater were especially suitable for life.
The budget battle at NASA
Two stories today highlight not only the budget problems at NASA, but also illustrate the apparent unwillingness of both Congress and Americans to face the terrible budget difficulties of the federal government. In both cases, the focus is instead on trying to fund NASA at levels comparable to 2012, before the Obama administration or sequestration had imposed any budget cuts on the agency.
It is as if we live in a fantasy world, where a $16 trillion dollar debt does not exist, and where money grows on trees and we can spend as much as we want on anything we want.
» Read more
Astronomers discover a trinary — of quasars.
Astronomers discover a trinary — of quasars.
WISE has uncovered a binary brown dwarf star system only 6.5 light years away
Data from WISE has uncovered a binary brown dwarf star system only 6.5 light years away, the closest found in almost a century and the third closest overall.
Four asteroids buzzed the Earth this past week.
Chicken Little Report: Four asteroids buzzed the Earth this past week.
I suspect that the increase in detected asteroids is not because there are more of them but because our ability to detect them continues to improve.
How to see Comet Pan-STARRS.
The key is for the next week to look to the western horizon just after sunset.
Seven sound recordings made before Thomas Edison.
Seven sound recordings made before Thomas Edison.
New computer models find that the tropical rain forests will not be harmed by increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
The uncertainty of science: New computer models find that the tropical rain forests will not be harmed by increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Tropical forests are unlikely to die off as a result of the predicted rise in atmospheric greenhouse gases this century, a new study finds. The analysis refutes previous work that predicted the catastrophic loss of the Amazon rainforest as one of the more startling potential outcomes of climate change.
In the most extensive study of its kind, an international team of scientists simulated the effect of business-as-usual emissions on the amounts of carbon locked up in tropical forests across Amazonia, Central America, Asia and Africa through to 2100. They compared the results from 22 different global climate models teamed with various models of land-surface processes. In all but one simulation, rainforests across the three regions retained their carbon stocks even as atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration increased throughout the century.
The study provides “robust evidence for the resilience of tropical rainforests”, says lead author Chris Huntingford, a climate modeller at the UK’s Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Wallingford. But uncertainties remain, he adds.
First, this prediction is based on a computer model, which is as likely to be as right as the previous pessimistic predictions. With that in mind, no one should start dancing for joy. The long term consequences of increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere remain unknown.
Second, I am baffled by the previous predictions that favored catastrophe for the tropical jungles because of increased levels of carbon dioxide. Plants breath CO2. They prosper from it. If you put more in the atmosphere they will thrive. Moreover, the tropical jungles are already hot, and the plant life there is adapted to that heat. Raising the global temperature should not hurt them significantly.
Finally, faced with a result that defuses all the crisis-mongering of the global warming crowd, the author of the article feels obliged at the end to emphasis their new bugaboo: extreme weather! It’s coming! Duck your heads!
But don’t worry. When weather extremes also fail to appear, they will find something else to scream about.
The Russians now say that they have not found any previously unknown life forms in the sample from Lake Vostok.
The uncertainty of science: The Russians now say that they have not found any previously unknown life forms in the sample from Lake Vostok.
Sergei Bulat of the genetics laboratory at the Saint Petersburg Institute of Nuclear Physics had said Thursday that samples obtained from the underground Lake Vostok in May 2012 contained a bacteria bearing no resemblance to existing types. But the head of the genetics laboratory at the same institute said on Saturday that the strange life forms were in fact nothing but contaminants.
It appears that the earlier announcement was either premature, or inappropriate.
Comet Pan-STARRS will likely be its brightest for northern hemisphere viewers this weekend.
Comet Pan-STARRS will likely be at its brightest for northern hemisphere viewers this weekend.
Look to the west low on the horizon at sunset to see it.