Monday, August 4, 2008

Video: flying through an eclipse

Wow! Watch this video (2 minutes in length) of a plane flying through the shadow of a solar eclipse last Friday, over the Canadian Arctic. The video came from this website, which offers this description: "Raw video:August 01/08:The total eclipse of the Sun, seen over the Canadian Arctic, August 1, 2008. Photographed from altitude of 27,000 feet from a location 140 km east of Cambridge Bay, Nunavut."

Thanks to Nicole for the link!

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Examining life in extreme environments

A quick note here, just for the sake of completeness, on my final MSSE class of the summer: "Examining Life in Extreme Environments." This was a cool class, but structured in a different way from my other MSSE courses: it was set up more like a conference, with a variety of different speakers on different topics, interspersed with activities. The organizers, Susan Kelly and Monica Brelsford used a grant from NASA to help fund the course, which meant they had the money to fly speakers in from NASA Ames, the University of New Mexico, and the Wrigley Marine Science Center on Catalina Island, California. We also had a presentation piped in from Woods Hole. The goal of the class was to look at living organisms that manage to survive in 'extreme' environments, like really salty, really hot, really cold, really acidic, and so forth. Why study these bacteria and archaea? We're hoping they will give us insights into (a) the origins of life on Earth, and (b) the possibility of life on other planets or moons elsewhere in the universe. We had a field trip to Yellowstone National Park to look at microbial mats; we looked at cultures of hyperthermophiles; we listened to excellent talks by Mark Young (viruses as a source of genetic diversity), Ed Adams (new subzero lab tour), and Robert Szilagyi (thermodynamics of the origin of life). As you can see, it was pretty diverse -- all week long, always something new and interesting. I really enjoyed it!

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Sunday, January 27, 2008

Asteroid news

A couple of near misses are predicted in the coming days: tomorrow, an asteroid about 150 meters long is expected to zoom by Earth at a distance half again as far as the Moon. The next day, Mars is supposed to get a near miss. This was originally reported as a "possible collision," but detailed study of the trajectory since that announcement suggests it's merely going to be close. National Geographic has more details.

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Saturday, January 5, 2008

NOVA: Origins

I just got through watching the four-episode "Origins" series on PBS's show NOVA (not to be confused with NOVA, as in Northern Virginia Community College!). Hosted by the genial and enthusiastic director of the Hayden Planetarium, Neil deGrasse Tyson, the series explores how the Earth came to be, how life evolved, whether we're alone in the Universe, and evidence for the Big Bang. It's pretty comprehensive for just four hours of watching, and quite well produced. The graphics are excellent, and they offer casual interviews with top scientists like Frank Drake and Andy Knoll. The series is out on DVD, and I got it through Netflix, though it looks like PBS is going to keep broadcasting it in the future. Recommended!

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Monday, December 24, 2007

Astronomy picture of the day

The "Astronomy Picture of the Day" web site showcases a different image of the Cosmos every day. Nice! I've got it on my RSS feed, so everyday when I log into my Google account, I've got an image like this one greeting me. Clicking on the image takes you to a larger version and a more detailed description of the pic.
Here, for instance, is what they have to say about this shot: "Sprawling across hundreds of light-years, emission nebula IC 1396 mixes glowing cosmic gas and dark dust clouds. Stars are forming in this area, only about 3,000 light-years from Earth. This detailed view was created in light primarily emitted by hydrogen gas, recorded through a filter that narrowly transmits a wavelength characteristic of glowing hydrogen atoms in the nebula." Check it out!

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Saturday, December 22, 2007

Mars may get an asteroid impact next month

January 30 may be a bad day on Mars. A space rock discovered in November of this year has a 1-in-75 chance of smacking into the red planet on that day. The rock is about the same size as the one inferred to have leveled the forest in a big swath of Siberia in 1908 (in what is called the Tunguska Event.) The amount of energy released then is estimated to be approximately the equivalent of a 15 megaton nuclear bomb. More details here.

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