Category: Space-Earth
Why Saturday’s ‘supermoon’ will be beautiful, but not super
Yes, it will be marginally brighter and larger, but Saturday’s so-called “supermoon” is not going to be noticeably different from the full moon of the month before or after. An astronomer explains that a “supermoon” typically happens once a year, when the moon’s elliptical orbit comes closest to Earth during a full moon. But the nickname makes it sound like a much bigger deal than it actually is.
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Why Saturday’s ‘supermoon’ will be beautiful, but not super
Life on mars? Mars Rover Opportunity finds some of the necessary conditions once existed
Late last year, the NASA Mars Rover Opportunity found what appeared to be veins of gypsum when examining the edge of the crater dubbed “Endeavour.” Gypsum is formed in water at a temperature lower than 60°C. Its presence on Mars indicates that conditions conducive to life have existed there at least temporarily. The rock of the crater edge is similar to suevite, a rock consisting partly of melted material which is typically found at meteor impact sites.
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Life on mars? Mars Rover Opportunity finds some of the necessary conditions once existed
Paydirt at 8-year-old Mars rover’s ‘new landing site’
A report details discoveries Opportunity made in its first four months at the rim of Endeavour Crater, including key findings reported at a geophysics conference in late 2011. Opportunity completed its original three-month mission on Mars eight years ago. It reached Endeavour last summer, three years after the rover’s science team chose Endeavour as a long-term destination. This crater is about 4 billion years old and 14 miles (22 kilometers) in diameter.
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Paydirt at 8-year-old Mars rover’s ‘new landing site’
Today’s Most Viable Energy Technologies
Alternative technologies of energy are those that are used
to obtain energy from the non-traditional sources such as petroleum. These technologies are many and most are considered to be viable alternative energy technologies available today. These energy technologies include solar energy, wind energy, hydrogen, biofuel, alcohol, geothermal energy, tidal energy, nuclear energy among others. These energy sources cannot be depleted are friendly to the environment as far as pollution is concerned.
Solar energy, usually harnessed using the solar panels is one among the most viable sources of alternative energy available today. The sun’s rays are free and can be harnessed by anyone to meet their daily energy needs. This energy can be stored in batteries and used at night when there is no sunshine.
Wind energy is a natural and clean energy source. Windmills connected to a generator can be used to convert electricity. The wind energy can also be used directly to do work such as pumping water from a well.
Geothermal energy involves the use of steam from the earth’s crusts to run turbines to generate electricity. This energy is reliable because cannot be depleted and it does not pollute the environment. That is why today most countries with geothermal potential are building geothermal power stations to be able to curb the energy crisis that is being experienced all over the world.
Turbines can be placed under the sea to capture the kinetic energy of the tidal waves for the generation of electricity. Tidal energy has not really been exploited though it is among the most viable alternative energy technologies available today.
Nuclear energy is emerging to be an alternative source of energy today and in the future. The nuclear reactors are used to generate heat energy from the reaction of radioactive materials that is used to generate stem to run turbines for the generation of electricity.
Hydrogen, alcohol and biofuels are also considered as the most viable alternative sources of energy available today. Hydrogen is a clean fuel that is used to power aeroplanes, vehicles and rockets. Alcohol can be used to run engines directly or can be burned to generate steam for production of electricity. The biofuels such as biogas can burned in households to provide heat energy or be used to run engines such as vehicles. Biofuels can also be burned to generate steam for production of electricity. These alternative sources have helped to reduce the overdependence on fossil fuel and to slow down the pollution rate.
The Antarctic ozone hole still remains
The ozone layer protects the earth from harmful ultra violet radiation entering its surface, exposure to which causes skin cancer in people. This protective layer is now in danger of depletion as a result of the many manmade chemicals which are released to the stratosphere every year. Although international intervention has seen a rapid decline in the production and emission of ozone destroying chemicals, they have already caused damage and the remaining chemicals continue to cause further damage.
50% -90% of the ozone layer over the Antarctic gets destroyed during the months of September to November as a result of a chemical reaction in the atmosphere. This decrease in the ozone layer is known as the “ozone hole”.
NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) use balloon-borne instruments and satellites to monitor the annual Antarctic ozone hole. They also monitor global levels of ozone in the stratosphere and the manmade chemicals that contribute to ozone depletion.
It has been revealed that this year has seen the ninth biggest ozone hole in recorded history stretching over 10.5 million square miles. The ozone hole usually begins to close by December when warmer weather comes in.
“Diamond” planet discovered
Astronomers have discovered a new planet in the Milky Way. The planet which is estimated to be five times the diameter of earth was found orbiting a millisecond pulsar, a fast spinning corpse of a large star that has died in a supernova.
The discovery was made by a team of astronomers doing a pulsar survey using a radio telescope at the Parke’s Observatory in Australia.
What is unique about this is that it is not made up of gases like hydrogen and helium as most stars are but of denser elements such as carbon and oxygen, making it more crystalline in nature like a diamond. Astronomers at the Swinburne Center for Astrophysics & Supercomputing in Melbourne, Australia say that they are very confident that the planet has a density about 18 times that of water.
This millisecond pulsar is located about 4,000 light years away in the southern constellation Serpens and beams powerful radio waves from its poles and spins more than 10,000 times a minute.
This planet is thought to be only the second orbital companion of a millisecond pulsar which is a planet, although 70% of pulsars have orbital companions, they are not planets since planets usually do not form around millisecond pulsars.
The future of solar energy
With the supply of fossil fuels dwindling rapidly, the world is looking at more sources of renewable energy and there has been a lot of importance stressed on solar energy as the energy source of the future. The ever increasing need for energy has seen rapid development in the sector of solar energy in recent years.
Some of the main problems with solar energy has been the high cost, the large size of the panels and the inefficiency of the solar panels in capturing sunlight with the panels only capturing 20% of the natural light available. However, scientists see a future of paper thin and paper light solar panels, which could be attached to any roof and window and would capture over 80% of the sunlight.
The future would see solar panels incorporated in to clothing which would allow you to recharge your i pod by simply plugging it onto your jacket.
The automobile industry will see a future of cars powered by solar panels. The new Hybrid cars all come with solar panels, which utilize the sunlight to charge the electric autos. With the rising cost of gas, we will see more and more of these cars on the roads in future.
24 hours in the air for Solar Plane
A Swiss project testing solar powered flight has met with overwhelming success. The experimental plane stayed aloft for 24 hours, proving that it can collect enough solar power to fly during the day and in the night. Andre Borschberg, the pilot, eased the plane in for a smooth landing amidst cheers at the Payerne airfield close to the Swiss capital Berne.
The craft had to be helped to a rest as the massive wings were in danger of dipping to the ground and damaging the aircraft. Borschberg was over the moon as he said that they had achieved more than they had set out to. Previously the aircraft had completed only brief flights which were designed to test out the solar cells and the plane’s structure. Today’s momentous event marks the culmination of seven years of meticulous planning.
What this means is that the single seat plane can stay aloft for indefinite periods of time, well at least theoretically. This means that the team can now concentrate on their next goal – circumnavigating the Earth using only solar power. It also proves that air travel can be emissions free. But the technology will not be evident in air travel any time soon, the team conceded.
The team hopes to have a larger and even more efficient plane ready by 2013. That aircraft is expected to have a larger cockpit which will facilitate international flights. It is that aircraft which is expected to take a shot at the round the world trip.
Artificial Butterfly Gives Insight to Flight Secrets
Researchers recently put together their own version of a butterfly – modeled after the swallowtail butterfly. The imitation flies exactly like real butterflies do.
A swallowtail butterfly has large wings, which beat slower than the normal rate, which means they fly differently when compared to other butterflies.
Researchers say that even though swallowtail butterflies are at a disadvantage due to their large wings, based on the model butterfly, the swallowtail seems able to fly forward using simple wing-flapping movements.
The artificial butterfly was recently presented in Bioinspiration & Biomimetics, a journal which is published by the Institute of Physics.
Modeling the artificial butterfly around the swallowtail butterfly had its reasons. One of them being that this kind of butterfly was unique due to the overlapping of their forewings over their hind wings. This makes this butterfly flap both sets of wings almost as one, which according to basic theory gives them very little control over the aerodynamics. This flapping motion also forces swallowtail butterflies’ bodies to undulate upwards and downwards while they fly, state the researchers on the project. They are Dr. Isao Shimoyana, University of Tokyo, Japan and Dr. Hiroto Tanaka, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
Titled ‘Ornithopter’, the artificial butterfly was made as monitoring and even measuring the forces acting on a butterfly’s body and wings are near impossible. Built from balsa wood, the wings on the Ornithopter work off a wire crank attached to a rubber band. The artificial wings are made out of a very thin layer of polymer, which is fabricated with the tiniest plastic veins, making it look almost like a real swallowtail butterfly.
April: Warmest Ever Recorded
The NOAA or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration stated in a recently released report that April was the warmest April ever recorded.
According to the NOAA report, the amalgamate temperature of both land and water surface across planet earth averaged at around 58.1 degrees.
Taking into consideration the temperatures recorded since 1880, this makes April 2010 the warmest since.
The temperature between January-April was also the warmest year-to-date period on record.
The average 20th century temperature for the month of April stood at 56.7 degrees, which was close to 1.4 degrees lower than that of last month.
United States – West, China, Russia and several areas in South America experienced weather colder than that compared to April, while above average temperatures were experienced by the rest of the country.
The NOAA report comes in the wake of climate change scientists pushing to put the issue of global warming back on the list of top priorities. Most the United States recorded the most amount of snowfall over the winter past, while other reports questioned the validity of some reports on influential global climate change.
The NOAA report results are sure to give climate change scientists new found blood – as opposed to being put down for continuing to highlight the global warming issue, urging authorities and the general public to tackle the issue at hand.
Over the last year, global warming has taken a significant backseat, and many a climate scientist has done his utmost to convince people otherwise.