The asteroid that might hit the Earth in 2880.
The asteroid that might hit the Earth in 2880.
Tag: science
Turning off Planck.
Using archival Hubble images astronomers have rediscovered a moon of Neptune lost for twenty years.
Using archival Hubble images astronomers have rediscovered a moon of Neptune lost for twenty years.
Ramping down from solar maximum
Yesterday, despite the government shutdown, NOAA posted its monthly update of the solar cycle, and as I do every month, I am posting it here, below the fold, with annotations.
My interpretation of this data tells me that almost certainly the solar maximum has ended. We might see some later fluctuations whereby the sunspot number jumps, but the Sun is clearly beginning its ramp down to solar minimum.
» Read more
Making Martian clouds — on Earth.
Making Martian clouds — on Earth.
They’ve recreated Mars-like conditions within a three-story-tall cloud chamber in Germany, adjusting the chamber’s temperature and relative humidity to match conditions on Mars — essentially forming Martian clouds on Earth. While the researchers were able to create clouds at the frigid temperatures typically found on Mars, they discovered that cloud formation in such conditions required adjusting the chamber’s relative humidity to 190 percent — far greater than cloud formation requires on Earth. The finding should help improve conventional models of the Martian atmosphere, many of which assume that Martian clouds require humidity levels similar to those found on Earth.
The required high humidity seems very counter-intuitive, considering Mars’s presently dry environment. I suspect it implies that there are other unknown factors about the Martian atmosphere that the scientists have not yet considered.
New data suggests that Pluto’s atmosphere is thick enough to not freeze out during the planet’s decades-long winter.
New data suggests that Pluto’s atmosphere is thick enough to not freeze out during the planet’s decades-long winter.
The IPCC fixes the facts.
Key quote:
None of this portion of the IPCC assessment is drawn from peer-reviewed material. Nor is it consistent with the documents sent to external reviewers.
Apparently to hide the failure of models to predict the pause in temperature rise during the past fifteen years they tweaked their graphics aggressively, without explanation.
More negative reactions to the IPCC report here.
The weather on an exoplanet: Cloudy and clear.
The weather on an exoplanet: Cloudy and clear.
Astronomers using data from NASA’s Kepler and Spitzer space telescopes have created the first cloud map of a planet beyond our solar system, a sizzling, Jupiter-like world known as Kepler-7b. The planet is marked by high clouds in the west and clear skies in the east. Previous studies from Spitzer have resulted in temperature maps of planets orbiting other stars, but this is the first look at cloud structures on a distant world.
This result is cool, but no one should take it too seriously. They have detected evidence of that to the scientists “suggest” clouds, but no one really knows.
A good global warming scientists comments on the IPCC report: “The increase from 90-95% means that they are more certain. How they can justify this is beyond me.”
A good global warming scientists comments on the IPCC report: “The increase from 90-95% means that they are more certain. How they can justify this is beyond me.”
Read the whole post. Curry illustrates in blunt language how broken the IPCC process is, and how little it has to do with real science.
Divers have pulled fragments from the February 15 Chelyabinsk meteorite impact out of nearby Chebarkul Lake.
Divers have pulled fragments from the February 15 Chelyabinsk meteorite impact out of nearby Chebarkul Lake.
Posted from Gaitlinburg, Tennessee, the Coney Island of the Smoky Mountains. The drive today was sadly a lot longer than planned, as we hit bad traffic in Nashville.
Curiosity has found that water and other interesting things permeate the soil of Mars.
Curiosity has found that water and other interesting things permeate the soil of Mars.
When [a soil sample was] heated, the instrument detected the abundance of water [about 2% of the sample] plus significant quantities of carbon dioxide, oxygen and sulfur compounds, according to the researchers. Carbonate materials — compounds that form in the presence of water — were also identified. The experiment confirmed the presence of oxygen- and chlorine-containing compounds — likely chlorates or perchlorates. Originally discovered by NASA’s 2008 Phoenix Mars Lander (and likely detected by NASA’s Viking landers in 1976), perchlorates were found in the soil of high-latitude arctic regions. This indicates that perchlorates occur globally over Mars. Though highly toxic to human biology, some microbes are known to use the oxidizing chemical for energy. This finding intensified the debate over whether hypothetical microbes on Mars could metabolize perchlorates in a similar way.
Perchlorates were proposed as an explanation for the Viking results by scientists who did not believe those results suggested the presence of microbiological life. I find it interesting that now scientists are saying that the perchlorates might actually be evidence of life. Once again, the uncertainty of science rules the day!
Physicists have made Molecules out of light.
Physicists have made molecules out of light.
This is very cool, and could allow engineers to create something like the light sabers from Star Wars.
We are out of El Paso and heading into the barren wilds of western Texas.