Mars is unlikely to sport beachfront property anytime soon, but the planet has enough water ice at its south pole to blanket the entire planet in more than 30 feet of water if everything thawed out.
With a radar technique, astronomers have penetrated for the first time about 2.5 miles (nearly four kilometers) beneath the south pole's frozen surface. The data showed that nearly pure water ice lies beneath.
Discovered in the early 1970s, layered deposits of ice and dust cap the North and South Poles of Mars. Until now, the deposits have been difficult to study closely with existing telescopes and satellites. The current advance comes from a probe of the deposits using an instrument aboard the Mars Express orbiter.
"This is the first time that a ground-penetrating system has ever been used on Mars," said the new radar study's lead author, Jeffrey Plaut of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "All the other instruments used to study the surface of Mars in the past really have only been sensitive to what occurs at the very surface."
(NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft also carries instruments designed, among other things, to probe beneath icy polar surfaces.)
Deep probe
Plaut and his colleagues probed the deposits with radar echo sounding, typically used on Earth to study the interiors of glaciers. The instrument, called the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding, or MARSIS, beams radio waves which penetrate the planet's surface and bounce off features having different electrical properties.
The reflected beams revealed that 90 percent or more of the frozen polar material is pure water ice, sprinkled with dust particles. The scientists calculated that the water would form a 36-foot-deep ocean of sorts if spread over the Martian globe.
"It's the best evidence that's been obtained to date for that thickness," said Ken Herkenhoff, a planetary geologist at the U.S. Geological Survey in Flagstaff, Ariz., who studies the Martian polar regions. He was not involved in the current study.
Scientists have long known that Mars' north polar cap is a massive storehouse of water ice, and the current research team says they will use their radar technique to refine past estimates of its thickness and make-up.
Missing water
"These polar ice deposits are by far the largest reservoir of water or water ice that we know of on Mars," Plaut said.
That's a lot of water, but not enough to account for the flowing streams thought to meander along Mars' surface in the past.
"There's evidence that about 10 times or maybe even 100 times that much water has flowed across the surface of Mars to carve the various channels, the outflow valleys and other features we see in the images and topography data," Plaut told SPACE.com.
So where's the rest of the water? One idea is that a subterranean plumbing system once ferried loads of water beneath the Martian surface. Plaut said his team also will search for underground pools with the radar technique.
Underground Plumbing System Discovered on Mars
New View of Ancient Mars Water System
Martian beach
A Martian water-world is unlikely in the near future, but astronomers have solid evidence that billions of years ago water flowed over the Martian surface. And recently, evidence has pointed to a warming trend as Mars emerges from an "ice age."
Scientists think variations in Mars' orbit and tilt drive the planet's climate over time, though a few astronomers have speculated about how the Sun's activity could be partly to blame for warming on several planets.
Sun Blamed for Warming of Earth and Other Worlds
In addition to warming from the atmosphere, ice-thawing heat could come from the core of Mars, analogous to the plumes of heat that cause volcanic eruptions on Earth. But evidence from the new radar study suggests the Martian crust is icy cold and rigid.
Mars Madness: A Multimedia Adventure
Top 10 Best Mars Images Ever
Video: A Wet Modern Mars?
Images: Ice on Mars
All About Mars
Original Story: Giant Pool of Water Ice at Mars' South Pole
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Jeanna BrynerStaff WriterSPACE.com
Sunday, March 18, 2007
EU site to offer extreme weather data
VIENNA, Austria - It looks like a color-coded terror alert scale — and meteorologically speaking, that's exactly what it is. With climate change making conditions more unpredictable, national weather services from across the European Union have joined forces to create http://www.meteoalarm.eu — a new Web site providing up-to-the-minute information on "extreme weather" across the continent.
The initiative, managed by Austria's Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics, is designed to give Europeans a single source for details on flash floods, severe thunderstorms, gale-force winds, heat waves, blizzards and other violent weather that poses a threat to life or property.
It also issues 24- and 48-hour warnings for heavy fog, extreme cold, forest fires and "coastal events" such as high waves or severe tides.
"In one glance you will be able to see where in Europe the weather might become dangerous," organizers said Saturday in a statement.
The service is similar to the United States' National Weather Service, which posts on its Web site conditions, warnings and forecasts for all 50 states.
Although the European site officially will launch in Madrid, Spain, on March 23 — World Meteorological Day — it is already live on the Web in test form.
Under the new pan-European warning system, white means missing or insufficient data; green means no imminent threat; yellow signifies potentially dangerous weather; orange warns of dangerous conditions; and red means very dangerous, "exceptionally intense" weather.
Pictograms and photographs showing lightning bolts, churning floodwaters and other catastrophic scenes also pop up "to make the general public more conscious or aware" of a particular threat, the organizers said.
Users click on maps to get details on current conditions or forecasts of violent weather for the next day. There are also links to a country's national weather service.
The Network of European Meteorological Services includes 20 countries and covers land stretching from Portugal to Sweden. Not every nation in the region is contributing, but the site hopes to bring others online eventually.
The Web site "pulls together all the warnings from the official national weather services," said Michael Staudinger of the Vienna weather institute.
It seemed to be accurate on Saturday, at least for Vienna, which was buffeted by gale-force winds gusting to 50 mph. The system churned out a yellow high-wind warning for the area and provided details in German and English.
By WILLIAM J. KOLE, Associated Press Writer
The initiative, managed by Austria's Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics, is designed to give Europeans a single source for details on flash floods, severe thunderstorms, gale-force winds, heat waves, blizzards and other violent weather that poses a threat to life or property.
It also issues 24- and 48-hour warnings for heavy fog, extreme cold, forest fires and "coastal events" such as high waves or severe tides.
"In one glance you will be able to see where in Europe the weather might become dangerous," organizers said Saturday in a statement.
The service is similar to the United States' National Weather Service, which posts on its Web site conditions, warnings and forecasts for all 50 states.
Although the European site officially will launch in Madrid, Spain, on March 23 — World Meteorological Day — it is already live on the Web in test form.
Under the new pan-European warning system, white means missing or insufficient data; green means no imminent threat; yellow signifies potentially dangerous weather; orange warns of dangerous conditions; and red means very dangerous, "exceptionally intense" weather.
Pictograms and photographs showing lightning bolts, churning floodwaters and other catastrophic scenes also pop up "to make the general public more conscious or aware" of a particular threat, the organizers said.
Users click on maps to get details on current conditions or forecasts of violent weather for the next day. There are also links to a country's national weather service.
The Network of European Meteorological Services includes 20 countries and covers land stretching from Portugal to Sweden. Not every nation in the region is contributing, but the site hopes to bring others online eventually.
The Web site "pulls together all the warnings from the official national weather services," said Michael Staudinger of the Vienna weather institute.
It seemed to be accurate on Saturday, at least for Vienna, which was buffeted by gale-force winds gusting to 50 mph. The system churned out a yellow high-wind warning for the area and provided details in German and English.
By WILLIAM J. KOLE, Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Scientists study Earth's missing crust
SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Canary Islands - British scientists have embarked on a mission to study a huge area on the Atlantic seabed where the Earth's crust is mysteriously missing and instead is covered with dark green rock from deep inside the planet.
The 12-member expedition to take an unprecedented peek at Earth's mantle left the Canary Islands on Monday with a new high-tech vessel and a robotic device named Toby that will dig up rock samples at the site and film what it sees.
The main site — there is at least one other in roughly the same area and a third is suspected — is about three miles below the surface of the Atlantic and located about 2,000 nautical miles southwest of the Canaries.
It is part of a globe-spanning ridge of undersea volcanos, the kind of structure that forms when Atlantic tectonic plates separate and lava surges upward to fill the gap in the Earth's crust.
But that apparently did not happen this time. Where there should be a four-mile-thick layer of crust, there is instead that much mantle — the very dense, dark green rock that makes up the deep inner layer of the Earth.
Scientists have seen chunks of mantle that have been spewed up with lava, but never such a large, exposed stretch.
"It is like a window into the interior of the Earth," Bramley Murton, a geophysicist who is taking part in the six-week mission, said Tuesday from the research ship RRS James Cook as it headed to the site, still five days away.
This exposed layer is irregularly shaped, about 30 miles long and perhaps that distance or more at its widest. It was detected about five years ago with sonar from a surface vessel.
There are two main theories as to what happened, Murton said: A fault ripped away huge chunks of crust, or in an area of crust-forming volcanoes, this area was mysteriously devoid of that outer material, Murton said.
Roger Searle of Durham University, one of the lead researchers, said the study aims to provide insight on everything from the chemistry of oceans to the mechanisms of how the Earth behaves under so much water.
The robotic device will land on the exposed mantle, deploy a drill, and dig into the rock to bring back samples.
The project is being financed by Britain's National Environment Research Council and the Department of trade and Industry's Large Scientific Facilities Fund.
By JUAN MANUEL PARDELLAS, Associated Press Writer
The 12-member expedition to take an unprecedented peek at Earth's mantle left the Canary Islands on Monday with a new high-tech vessel and a robotic device named Toby that will dig up rock samples at the site and film what it sees.
The main site — there is at least one other in roughly the same area and a third is suspected — is about three miles below the surface of the Atlantic and located about 2,000 nautical miles southwest of the Canaries.
It is part of a globe-spanning ridge of undersea volcanos, the kind of structure that forms when Atlantic tectonic plates separate and lava surges upward to fill the gap in the Earth's crust.
But that apparently did not happen this time. Where there should be a four-mile-thick layer of crust, there is instead that much mantle — the very dense, dark green rock that makes up the deep inner layer of the Earth.
Scientists have seen chunks of mantle that have been spewed up with lava, but never such a large, exposed stretch.
"It is like a window into the interior of the Earth," Bramley Murton, a geophysicist who is taking part in the six-week mission, said Tuesday from the research ship RRS James Cook as it headed to the site, still five days away.
This exposed layer is irregularly shaped, about 30 miles long and perhaps that distance or more at its widest. It was detected about five years ago with sonar from a surface vessel.
There are two main theories as to what happened, Murton said: A fault ripped away huge chunks of crust, or in an area of crust-forming volcanoes, this area was mysteriously devoid of that outer material, Murton said.
Roger Searle of Durham University, one of the lead researchers, said the study aims to provide insight on everything from the chemistry of oceans to the mechanisms of how the Earth behaves under so much water.
The robotic device will land on the exposed mantle, deploy a drill, and dig into the rock to bring back samples.
The project is being financed by Britain's National Environment Research Council and the Department of trade and Industry's Large Scientific Facilities Fund.
By JUAN MANUEL PARDELLAS, Associated Press Writer
Sunday, March 04, 2007
World watches 1st total lunar eclipse in 3 years
LONDON - The moon darkened, reddened, and turned shades of gray and orange Saturday night during the first total lunar eclipse in nearly three years, thrilling stargazers and astronomers around the world.
The Earth’s shadow took over six hours to crawl across the moon’s surface, eating it into a crescent shape before engulfing it completely in a spectacle at least partly visible on every continent.
About a dozen amateur astronomers braved the cold and mud outside the Croydon Observatory in southeast London to watch the start of the eclipse.
“It’s starting to go!” said Alex Gikas, 8, a Cub Scout who was studying for his astronomy badge. “I’ve never seen anything like it before. I’m really excited.”
By the time greatest eclipse, shortly after 5:44 p.m. EST, the light of the full moon was replaced by near-total obscurity.
“It was really very dark,” said Paul Harper, Chairman of the Croydon Astronomical Society, who estimated that moon had lost over four-fifths of its luminosity. “It was quite a nice one.”
Lunar eclipses occur when Earth passes between the sun and the moon, an uncommon event because the moon spends most of its time either above or below the plane of Earth’s orbit.
Sunlight still reaches the moon during total eclipses, but it is refracted through Earth’s atmosphere, bathing the moon in an eerie crimson light.
Mike Ealay, a 60-year-old architect who wandered over to the observatory to watch the eclipse, said the red color of the moon made it look like a close-up version of Mars.
“I think it’s quite exciting. It’s like having the red planet on your doorstep,” he said.
Despite cloudy conditions over much of Europe, a variety of Webcasts carried the event live, and astronomers urged the public not to miss out on the spectacle.
“It’s not an event that has any scientific value, but it’s something everybody can enjoy,” said Robert Massey, of Britain’s Royal Astronomical Society.
The moon’s red blush faded as it began moving out of Earth’s shadow just after 8 p.m. EST. The eclipse ended a little more than hour later.
Residents of east Asia saw the eclipse cut short by moonset, while those in the eastern parts of North and South America had the moon already partially or totally eclipsed by the time it rose over the horizon in the evening.
While eastern Australia, Alaska and New Zealand missed Saturday’s show, they will have front row seats to the next total lunar eclipse, on Aug. 28.
© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The Earth’s shadow took over six hours to crawl across the moon’s surface, eating it into a crescent shape before engulfing it completely in a spectacle at least partly visible on every continent.
About a dozen amateur astronomers braved the cold and mud outside the Croydon Observatory in southeast London to watch the start of the eclipse.
“It’s starting to go!” said Alex Gikas, 8, a Cub Scout who was studying for his astronomy badge. “I’ve never seen anything like it before. I’m really excited.”
By the time greatest eclipse, shortly after 5:44 p.m. EST, the light of the full moon was replaced by near-total obscurity.
“It was really very dark,” said Paul Harper, Chairman of the Croydon Astronomical Society, who estimated that moon had lost over four-fifths of its luminosity. “It was quite a nice one.”
Lunar eclipses occur when Earth passes between the sun and the moon, an uncommon event because the moon spends most of its time either above or below the plane of Earth’s orbit.
Sunlight still reaches the moon during total eclipses, but it is refracted through Earth’s atmosphere, bathing the moon in an eerie crimson light.
Mike Ealay, a 60-year-old architect who wandered over to the observatory to watch the eclipse, said the red color of the moon made it look like a close-up version of Mars.
“I think it’s quite exciting. It’s like having the red planet on your doorstep,” he said.
Despite cloudy conditions over much of Europe, a variety of Webcasts carried the event live, and astronomers urged the public not to miss out on the spectacle.
“It’s not an event that has any scientific value, but it’s something everybody can enjoy,” said Robert Massey, of Britain’s Royal Astronomical Society.
The moon’s red blush faded as it began moving out of Earth’s shadow just after 8 p.m. EST. The eclipse ended a little more than hour later.
Residents of east Asia saw the eclipse cut short by moonset, while those in the eastern parts of North and South America had the moon already partially or totally eclipsed by the time it rose over the horizon in the evening.
While eastern Australia, Alaska and New Zealand missed Saturday’s show, they will have front row seats to the next total lunar eclipse, on Aug. 28.
© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Population Density of Madagascar
Source: UNOSAT
Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.
Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.
Tropical Cyclone Gamede Track As of 26 February 2007 This map illustrates the approximate population density (2004) for Madagascar, which is currently threatened by tropical cyclone Gamede. Map Scale 1:4,200,000 for A3 Print Projection: Lambert Conformal Conic Datum: WGS-84 Population Data: Landscan 2004 Storm Data: GDACS, WMO GIS Data: SALB, NGA, UNEP, GEBCO Map Production: UNOSAT (26 February 2007)
Madagascar - Tropical Cyclone Gamede Track As of 26 February 2007
This map illustrates the approximate population density (2004) for Madagascar, which is currently threatened by tropical cyclone Gamede. Map Scale 1:4,200,000 for A3 Print Projection: Lambert Conformal Conic Datum: WGS-84
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Distant planets: Warm, weird, waterless
WASHINGTON - The first "sniffs of air" of two huge far-away planets reveal that they seem to be missing water, a surprising finding amid weather unlike any planets in our solar system with blast furnace-like gusts amid supersonic winds.
The absence of water from the atmosphere of both these Jupiter-sized gaseous bodies upsets one of the most basic assumptions of astronomy.
One of the researchers, Harvard University astronomy professor David Charbonneau, called the planets "very different beasts ... unlike any other planets in the solar system."
So far, scientists have found 213 planets outside our solar system — they are called exoplanets. But only eight or nine are in the right orbit and location for the type of study reported by three teams using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
The closest of the two planets studied, HD 189733b, is 360 trillion miles from Earth in the constellation Vulpecula. The other planet, HD 209458b, is about 900 trillion miles away in the constellation Pegasus and it has a strange cloud of fine silicate particles. Two different research teams studied it.
The two suns the planets orbit closely have hydrogen and oxygen, the stable building blocks of water. The planets' atmospheres — examined for the first time using light spectra to determine the air's chemical composition — are supposed to be made up of the same thing, good old H2O.
"We had expected this tremendous signature of water ... and it wasn't there," said Carl Grillmair of the California Institute of Technology and Spitzer Science Center. He and Charbonneau studied the closer of the two planets, and their work is being published online in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Our own solar system has two planets without water in the atmosphere, Grillmair noted: Mercury, which doesn't have an atmosphere, and Venus, which is a different type of planet from the huge gaseous ones that would be expected to have the components of water in the air.
But consider the atmosphere on the second of the two exoplanets, the one 900 trillion miles away: "Weather today on 209458 is hot, dry, probably cloudy with a chance of wind," study team leader Mark Swain of NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab said in a Wednesday teleconference.
How hot? Try 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit. How windy? Somewhere between 500 and 2,000 mph.
Another research team found indications that the atmosphere has grains of silicon-oxygen compounds. That team, led by L. Jeremy Richardson of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, is reporting its research in Thursday's issue of Nature.
But the key finding is dry.
"In NASA's search for life beyond Earth, the mantra has been to follow the water," said Carnegie Institution of Washington astronomer Alan Boss, who wasn't involved in any of the research.
Scientists say it's possible the water is hiding beneath dust clouds or that all the airborne water molecules are the same temperature, making it impossible to see using an infrared spectrograph. Or maybe it's just not there and astronomers have to go back to the drawing board when it comes to these alien planets.
"The very fact that we've been surprised here is a wake-up call. We obviously need to do some more work," Grillmair said.
Charbonneau said these surprising "sniffs of air from an alien world" tell astronomers not to be so Earth-centric in thinking about other planets. "We're limited by our imagination in thinking about the different avenues that these atmospheres take place in," he said.
Swain called the results "a very important stepping stone for our ultimate goal of characterizing planets around other stars where life could exist."
___
On the Net:
Spitzer Space Telescope: http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/
Nature: http://www.nature.com.
The Astrophysical Journal Letters: http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/ApJ/rapid.html
By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer
The absence of water from the atmosphere of both these Jupiter-sized gaseous bodies upsets one of the most basic assumptions of astronomy.
One of the researchers, Harvard University astronomy professor David Charbonneau, called the planets "very different beasts ... unlike any other planets in the solar system."
So far, scientists have found 213 planets outside our solar system — they are called exoplanets. But only eight or nine are in the right orbit and location for the type of study reported by three teams using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
The closest of the two planets studied, HD 189733b, is 360 trillion miles from Earth in the constellation Vulpecula. The other planet, HD 209458b, is about 900 trillion miles away in the constellation Pegasus and it has a strange cloud of fine silicate particles. Two different research teams studied it.
The two suns the planets orbit closely have hydrogen and oxygen, the stable building blocks of water. The planets' atmospheres — examined for the first time using light spectra to determine the air's chemical composition — are supposed to be made up of the same thing, good old H2O.
"We had expected this tremendous signature of water ... and it wasn't there," said Carl Grillmair of the California Institute of Technology and Spitzer Science Center. He and Charbonneau studied the closer of the two planets, and their work is being published online in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
Our own solar system has two planets without water in the atmosphere, Grillmair noted: Mercury, which doesn't have an atmosphere, and Venus, which is a different type of planet from the huge gaseous ones that would be expected to have the components of water in the air.
But consider the atmosphere on the second of the two exoplanets, the one 900 trillion miles away: "Weather today on 209458 is hot, dry, probably cloudy with a chance of wind," study team leader Mark Swain of NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab said in a Wednesday teleconference.
How hot? Try 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit. How windy? Somewhere between 500 and 2,000 mph.
Another research team found indications that the atmosphere has grains of silicon-oxygen compounds. That team, led by L. Jeremy Richardson of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, is reporting its research in Thursday's issue of Nature.
But the key finding is dry.
"In NASA's search for life beyond Earth, the mantra has been to follow the water," said Carnegie Institution of Washington astronomer Alan Boss, who wasn't involved in any of the research.
Scientists say it's possible the water is hiding beneath dust clouds or that all the airborne water molecules are the same temperature, making it impossible to see using an infrared spectrograph. Or maybe it's just not there and astronomers have to go back to the drawing board when it comes to these alien planets.
"The very fact that we've been surprised here is a wake-up call. We obviously need to do some more work," Grillmair said.
Charbonneau said these surprising "sniffs of air from an alien world" tell astronomers not to be so Earth-centric in thinking about other planets. "We're limited by our imagination in thinking about the different avenues that these atmospheres take place in," he said.
Swain called the results "a very important stepping stone for our ultimate goal of characterizing planets around other stars where life could exist."
___
On the Net:
Spitzer Space Telescope: http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/
Nature: http://www.nature.com.
The Astrophysical Journal Letters: http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/ApJ/rapid.html
By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer
Monday, February 19, 2007
U.N. urged to take action on asteroid threat
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - An asteroid may come uncomfortably close to Earth in 2036 and the
United Nations' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> United Nations should assume responsibility for a space mission to deflect it, a group of astronauts, engineers and scientists said on Saturday.
Astronomers are monitoring an asteroid named Apophis, which has a 1 in 45,000 chance of striking Earth on April 13, 2036.
Although the odds of an impact by this particular asteroid are low, a recent congressional mandate for
NASA' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> NASA to upgrade its tracking of near-Earth asteroids is expected to uncover hundreds, if not thousands of threatening space rocks in the near future, former astronaut Rusty Schweickart said.
"It's not just Apophis we're looking at. Every country is at risk. We need a set of general principles to deal with this issue," Schweickart, a member of the Apollo 9 crew that orbited the earth in March 1969, told an American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in San Francisco.
Schweickart plans to present an update next week to the U.N. Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space on plans to develop a blueprint for a global response to an asteroid threat.
The Association of Space Explorers, a group of former astronauts and cosmonauts, intends to host a series of high-level workshops this year to flesh out the plan and will make a formal proposal to the U.N. in 2009, he said.
Schweickart wants to see the United Nations adopt procedures for assessing asteroid threats and deciding if and when to take action.
The favored approach to dealing with a potentially deadly space rock is to dispatch a spacecraft that would use gravity to alter the asteroid's course so it no longer threatens Earth, said astronaut Ed Lu, a veteran of the
International Space Station' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> International Space Station.
The so-called Gravity Tractor could maintain a position near the threatening asteroid, exerting a gentle tug that, over time, would deflect the asteroid.
An asteroid the size of Apophis, which is about 460 feet
long, would take about 12 days of gravity-tugging, Lu added.
Mission costs are estimated at $300 million.
Launching an asteroid deflection mission early would reduce the amount of energy needed to alter its course and increase the chances of a successful outcome, Schweickart said.
NASA says the precise effect of a 460-foot (140-meter) object hitting the Earth would depend on what the asteroid was made of and the angle of impact.
Paul Slovic, president of Oregon-based Decision Research, which studies judgment, decision-making and risk analysis, said the asteroid could take out an entire city or region.
By Irene Klotz
United Nations' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> United Nations should assume responsibility for a space mission to deflect it, a group of astronauts, engineers and scientists said on Saturday.
Astronomers are monitoring an asteroid named Apophis, which has a 1 in 45,000 chance of striking Earth on April 13, 2036.
Although the odds of an impact by this particular asteroid are low, a recent congressional mandate for
NASA' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> NASA to upgrade its tracking of near-Earth asteroids is expected to uncover hundreds, if not thousands of threatening space rocks in the near future, former astronaut Rusty Schweickart said.
"It's not just Apophis we're looking at. Every country is at risk. We need a set of general principles to deal with this issue," Schweickart, a member of the Apollo 9 crew that orbited the earth in March 1969, told an American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in San Francisco.
Schweickart plans to present an update next week to the U.N. Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space on plans to develop a blueprint for a global response to an asteroid threat.
The Association of Space Explorers, a group of former astronauts and cosmonauts, intends to host a series of high-level workshops this year to flesh out the plan and will make a formal proposal to the U.N. in 2009, he said.
Schweickart wants to see the United Nations adopt procedures for assessing asteroid threats and deciding if and when to take action.
The favored approach to dealing with a potentially deadly space rock is to dispatch a spacecraft that would use gravity to alter the asteroid's course so it no longer threatens Earth, said astronaut Ed Lu, a veteran of the
International Space Station' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> International Space Station.
The so-called Gravity Tractor could maintain a position near the threatening asteroid, exerting a gentle tug that, over time, would deflect the asteroid.
An asteroid the size of Apophis, which is about 460 feet
long, would take about 12 days of gravity-tugging, Lu added.
Mission costs are estimated at $300 million.
Launching an asteroid deflection mission early would reduce the amount of energy needed to alter its course and increase the chances of a successful outcome, Schweickart said.
NASA says the precise effect of a 460-foot (140-meter) object hitting the Earth would depend on what the asteroid was made of and the angle of impact.
Paul Slovic, president of Oregon-based Decision Research, which studies judgment, decision-making and risk analysis, said the asteroid could take out an entire city or region.
By Irene Klotz
Monday, February 12, 2007
Dark Matter's Link to Brilliant Galaxies Confirmed
A new cosmic map confirms a close relationship between galaxies with supermassive black holes at their centers and the distribution of the invisible dark matter in the early universe.
Video: Black Holes: Warping Time & Space
Quasars are incredibly bright objects located at the center of galaxies and thought to be powered by gas falling into enormous black holes up to a billion times the mass of the sun. Although smaller than our solar system, a single quasar can outshine an entire galaxy of a hundred billion stars.
Compared to normal galaxies, quasars are extremely rare, about 200 million light years or more apart from one another on average. The new map was created using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-II) and includes more than 4,000 quasars, some as far as 11 billion light years away. The universe is estimated to be only about 14 billion years old.
The new map [image] reveals a close relationship between quasars and dark matter, as predicted from theory.
'By measuring the clustering of quasars, we can learn about the dark matter halos in which they sit, and we find that they live in these very rare and very massive dark matter halos in the early universe,' said study team member Michael Strauss of Princeton University.
The new map will be detailed in an upcoming issue of The Astronomical Journal.
Dark matter is a mysterious hypothetical substance that does not interact with light photons and is thus invisible to current detection instruments. Scientists estimate that only about one-sixth of the matter in the universe is visible, while the rest is dark matter.Current theories predict that matter-both the dark and visible variety-was smoothly distributed in the early universe, and that over time, it became more concentrated.
'Dark matter halos are a dime a dozen in the present day universe, but in the young universe, they were really quite rare,' Strauss said.
It was in these rare spots of concentrated dark matter that the first massive galaxies and quasars formed.
'The quasars themselves are sort of a signpost to those very massive [dark matter] halos, and our work makes that a little more clear,' Strauss told SPACE.com.
Avi Loeb, an astronomer at Harvard University who was not involved in the study, says the new findings could help answer a major question in cosmology: How did the first quasars form at all?
'How did black holes grow to a billion times the mass of the sun when the universe was only a tenth of its current age?' Loeb said. 'The SDSS measurements will help us answer this question.'
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Quasar
Understanding Dark Matter and Light Energy
Astronomers Create 3D Map of Dark Matter
Dark Matter Exposed: Animation Offers Clues to Cosmic Mystery
Original Story: Dark Matter's Link to Brilliant Galaxies Confirmed
Visit SPACE.com and explore our huge collection of Space Pictures, Space Videos, Space Image of the Day, Hot Topics, Top 10s, Multimedia, Trivia, Voting and Amazing Images. Follow the latest developments in the search for life in our universe in our SETI: Search for Life section. Join the community, sign up for our free daily email newsletter, listen to our Podcasts, check out our RSS feeds and other Reader Favorites today!
Ker ThanStaff WriterSPACE.com
Video: Black Holes: Warping Time & Space
Quasars are incredibly bright objects located at the center of galaxies and thought to be powered by gas falling into enormous black holes up to a billion times the mass of the sun. Although smaller than our solar system, a single quasar can outshine an entire galaxy of a hundred billion stars.
Compared to normal galaxies, quasars are extremely rare, about 200 million light years or more apart from one another on average. The new map was created using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-II) and includes more than 4,000 quasars, some as far as 11 billion light years away. The universe is estimated to be only about 14 billion years old.
The new map [image] reveals a close relationship between quasars and dark matter, as predicted from theory.
'By measuring the clustering of quasars, we can learn about the dark matter halos in which they sit, and we find that they live in these very rare and very massive dark matter halos in the early universe,' said study team member Michael Strauss of Princeton University.
The new map will be detailed in an upcoming issue of The Astronomical Journal.
Dark matter is a mysterious hypothetical substance that does not interact with light photons and is thus invisible to current detection instruments. Scientists estimate that only about one-sixth of the matter in the universe is visible, while the rest is dark matter.Current theories predict that matter-both the dark and visible variety-was smoothly distributed in the early universe, and that over time, it became more concentrated.
'Dark matter halos are a dime a dozen in the present day universe, but in the young universe, they were really quite rare,' Strauss said.
It was in these rare spots of concentrated dark matter that the first massive galaxies and quasars formed.
'The quasars themselves are sort of a signpost to those very massive [dark matter] halos, and our work makes that a little more clear,' Strauss told SPACE.com.
Avi Loeb, an astronomer at Harvard University who was not involved in the study, says the new findings could help answer a major question in cosmology: How did the first quasars form at all?
'How did black holes grow to a billion times the mass of the sun when the universe was only a tenth of its current age?' Loeb said. 'The SDSS measurements will help us answer this question.'
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Quasar
Understanding Dark Matter and Light Energy
Astronomers Create 3D Map of Dark Matter
Dark Matter Exposed: Animation Offers Clues to Cosmic Mystery
Original Story: Dark Matter's Link to Brilliant Galaxies Confirmed
Visit SPACE.com and explore our huge collection of Space Pictures, Space Videos, Space Image of the Day, Hot Topics, Top 10s, Multimedia, Trivia, Voting and Amazing Images. Follow the latest developments in the search for life in our universe in our SETI: Search for Life section. Join the community, sign up for our free daily email newsletter, listen to our Podcasts, check out our RSS feeds and other Reader Favorites today!
Ker ThanStaff WriterSPACE.com
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Eternal embrace? Couple still hugging 5,000 years on
Archaeologists in Italy have discovered a couple buried 5,000 to 6,000 years ago, hugging each other.
ROME (Reuters) - Call it the eternal embrace.
ROME (Reuters) - Call it the eternal embrace.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Nuclear, climate perils push Doomsday Clock ahead
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The scientists who mind the Doomsday Clock moved it two minutes closer to midnight on Wednesday -- symbolizing the annihilation of civilization and adding the perils of global warming for the first time.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which created the Doomsday Clock in 1947 to warn the world of the dangers of nuclear weapons, advanced the clock to five minutes until midnight. It was the first adjustment of the clock since 2002.
"We stand at the brink of a second nuclear age," the bulletin's board of directors said in a statement.
They pointed North Korea's first nuclear test, Iran's nuclear ambitions, U.S. flirtation with "bunker buster" nuclear bombs, the continued presence of 26,000 American and Russian nuclear weapons and inadequate security for nuclear materials.
But the scientists also said destruction of human habitats wreaked by climate change brought on by human activities is a growing danger.
"Global warming poses a dire threat to human civilization that is second only to nuclear weapons," they said.
The announcement was made in news conferences in London and Washington.
"We foresee great peril if governments and societies do not take action now to render nuclear weapons obsolete and to prevent further climate change," theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking of the University of Cambridge, a member of the bulletin's board of sponsors, told reporters in London.
'VILLAGE IDIOTS'
Cambridge astrophysicist Martin Rees added that while the Cold War confrontation between two nuclear-armed superpowers is over, the world is closer than ever to having nuclear bombs used in a localized war or by terrorists in a city center.
"A global village will have its village idiots," Rees said.
Kennette Benedict, the bulletin's executive director, dismissed the notion that by touting the threat posed by global warming, the scientists had diluted their message about the nuclear peril.
Many scientists predict dire consequences from global warming, including higher sea levels that over time could swamp coastal regions, more severe storms and worse wildfires. Human activities like burning of fossil fuels contribute to warming, they contend.
Physicist Lawrence Krauss of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland said if humankind fails to change course on global warming, "there's a great possibility that the Earth in the year 2100 will only dimly resemble our planet today -- and as it has existed over the past 500,000 years."
The bulletin's scientists moved the clock two minutes forward in 2002, to seven minutes until midnight, following the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
The bulletin was founded in 1945 by University of Chicago scientists who had worked on developing the first nuclear bomb, and it is now overseen by some of the world's most prominent scientists.
The bulletin created the clock in 1947, two years after the United States ushered in the nuclear age by dropping atomic bombs on two Japanese cities at the end of World War Two, to symbolize the urgent nuclear dangers confronting the world.
It now stands at the closest to midnight since 1984, when it was three minutes to midnight amid a deepening Cold War.
It has been adjusted 18 times in 60 years. It was set as close as two minutes to midnight in 1953 after the United States and Soviet Union tested hydrogen bombs, and as far as 17 minutes to midnight in 1991 at the Cold War's end.
By Will Dunham Wed Jan 17, 2:22 PM ET
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which created the Doomsday Clock in 1947 to warn the world of the dangers of nuclear weapons, advanced the clock to five minutes until midnight. It was the first adjustment of the clock since 2002.
"We stand at the brink of a second nuclear age," the bulletin's board of directors said in a statement.
They pointed North Korea's first nuclear test, Iran's nuclear ambitions, U.S. flirtation with "bunker buster" nuclear bombs, the continued presence of 26,000 American and Russian nuclear weapons and inadequate security for nuclear materials.
But the scientists also said destruction of human habitats wreaked by climate change brought on by human activities is a growing danger.
"Global warming poses a dire threat to human civilization that is second only to nuclear weapons," they said.
The announcement was made in news conferences in London and Washington.
"We foresee great peril if governments and societies do not take action now to render nuclear weapons obsolete and to prevent further climate change," theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking of the University of Cambridge, a member of the bulletin's board of sponsors, told reporters in London.
'VILLAGE IDIOTS'
Cambridge astrophysicist Martin Rees added that while the Cold War confrontation between two nuclear-armed superpowers is over, the world is closer than ever to having nuclear bombs used in a localized war or by terrorists in a city center.
"A global village will have its village idiots," Rees said.
Kennette Benedict, the bulletin's executive director, dismissed the notion that by touting the threat posed by global warming, the scientists had diluted their message about the nuclear peril.
Many scientists predict dire consequences from global warming, including higher sea levels that over time could swamp coastal regions, more severe storms and worse wildfires. Human activities like burning of fossil fuels contribute to warming, they contend.
Physicist Lawrence Krauss of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland said if humankind fails to change course on global warming, "there's a great possibility that the Earth in the year 2100 will only dimly resemble our planet today -- and as it has existed over the past 500,000 years."
The bulletin's scientists moved the clock two minutes forward in 2002, to seven minutes until midnight, following the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
The bulletin was founded in 1945 by University of Chicago scientists who had worked on developing the first nuclear bomb, and it is now overseen by some of the world's most prominent scientists.
The bulletin created the clock in 1947, two years after the United States ushered in the nuclear age by dropping atomic bombs on two Japanese cities at the end of World War Two, to symbolize the urgent nuclear dangers confronting the world.
It now stands at the closest to midnight since 1984, when it was three minutes to midnight amid a deepening Cold War.
It has been adjusted 18 times in 60 years. It was set as close as two minutes to midnight in 1953 after the United States and Soviet Union tested hydrogen bombs, and as far as 17 minutes to midnight in 1991 at the Cold War's end.
By Will Dunham Wed Jan 17, 2:22 PM ET
Friday, January 05, 2007
Lost lakes of Titan are found at last
Lakes of methane have been spotted on Saturn's largest moon, Titan, boosting the theory that this strange, distant world bears beguiling similarities to Earth, according to a new study.
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Titan has long intrigued space scientists, as it is the only moon in the Solar System to have a dense atmosphere -- and its atmosphere, like Earth's, mainly comprises nitrogen.
Titan's atmosphere is also rich in methane, although the source for this vast store of hydrocarbons is unclear.
Methane, on the geological scale, has a relatively limited life. A molecule of the compound lasts several tens of millions of years before it is broken up by sunlight.
Given that Titan is billions of years old, the question is how this atmospheric methane gets to be renewed. Without replenishment, it should have disappeared long ago.
A popular hypothesis is that it comes from a vast ocean of hydrocarbons.
But when the US spacecraft Cassini sent down a European lander, Huygens, to Titan in 2005, the images sent back were of a rugged landscape veiled in an orange haze.
There were indeed signs of methane flows and methane precipitation, but nothing at all that pointed to any sea of the stuff.
But a flyby by Cassini on July 22 last year has revealed, thanks to a radar scan, 75 large, smooth, dark patches between three and 70 kilometers across (two and 42 miles) across that appear to be lakes of liquid methane, scientists report on Thursday.
They believe the lakes prove that Titan has a "methane cycle" -- a system that is like the water cycle on Earth, in which the liquid evaporates, cools and condenses and then falls as rain, replenishing the surface liquid.
As on Earth, Titan's surface methane may well be supplemented by a "table" of liquid methane that seeps through the rock, the paper suggests.
Some of the methane lakes seem only partly filled, and other depressions are dry, which suggests that, given the high northerly latitudes where they were spotted, the methane cycle follows Titan's seasons.
In winter, the lakes expand, while in summer, they shrink or dry up completely -- again, another parallel with Earth's hydrological cycle.
The study, which appears on Thursday in the British weekly journal Nature, is headed by Ellen Stofan of Proxemy Research in Virginia and University College London.
Titan and Earth are of course very different, especially in their potential for nurturing life. Titan is frigid, dark and, as far as is known, waterless, where as Earth is warm, light and has lots of liquid water.
But French astrophysicist Christophe Sotin says both our planet and Titan have been sculpted by processes that, fundamentally, are quite similar.
The findings "add to the weight of evidence that Titan is a complex world in which the interaction between the inner and outer layers is controlled by processes similar to those that must have dominated the evolution of any Earth-like planet," Sotin said in a commentary.
"Indeed, as far as we know," Sotin added, "there is only one planetary body that displays more dynamism than Titan. Its name is Earth."
ADVERTISEMENT
Titan has long intrigued space scientists, as it is the only moon in the Solar System to have a dense atmosphere -- and its atmosphere, like Earth's, mainly comprises nitrogen.
Titan's atmosphere is also rich in methane, although the source for this vast store of hydrocarbons is unclear.
Methane, on the geological scale, has a relatively limited life. A molecule of the compound lasts several tens of millions of years before it is broken up by sunlight.
Given that Titan is billions of years old, the question is how this atmospheric methane gets to be renewed. Without replenishment, it should have disappeared long ago.
A popular hypothesis is that it comes from a vast ocean of hydrocarbons.
But when the US spacecraft Cassini sent down a European lander, Huygens, to Titan in 2005, the images sent back were of a rugged landscape veiled in an orange haze.
There were indeed signs of methane flows and methane precipitation, but nothing at all that pointed to any sea of the stuff.
But a flyby by Cassini on July 22 last year has revealed, thanks to a radar scan, 75 large, smooth, dark patches between three and 70 kilometers across (two and 42 miles) across that appear to be lakes of liquid methane, scientists report on Thursday.
They believe the lakes prove that Titan has a "methane cycle" -- a system that is like the water cycle on Earth, in which the liquid evaporates, cools and condenses and then falls as rain, replenishing the surface liquid.
As on Earth, Titan's surface methane may well be supplemented by a "table" of liquid methane that seeps through the rock, the paper suggests.
Some of the methane lakes seem only partly filled, and other depressions are dry, which suggests that, given the high northerly latitudes where they were spotted, the methane cycle follows Titan's seasons.
In winter, the lakes expand, while in summer, they shrink or dry up completely -- again, another parallel with Earth's hydrological cycle.
The study, which appears on Thursday in the British weekly journal Nature, is headed by Ellen Stofan of Proxemy Research in Virginia and University College London.
Titan and Earth are of course very different, especially in their potential for nurturing life. Titan is frigid, dark and, as far as is known, waterless, where as Earth is warm, light and has lots of liquid water.
But French astrophysicist Christophe Sotin says both our planet and Titan have been sculpted by processes that, fundamentally, are quite similar.
The findings "add to the weight of evidence that Titan is a complex world in which the interaction between the inner and outer layers is controlled by processes similar to those that must have dominated the evolution of any Earth-like planet," Sotin said in a commentary.
"Indeed, as far as we know," Sotin added, "there is only one planetary body that displays more dynamism than Titan. Its name is Earth."
Sunday, December 31, 2006
French space agency to publish UFO archive online
PARIS (Reuters) - The French space agency is to publish its archive of UFO sightings and other phenomena online, but will keep the names of those who reported them off the site to protect them from pestering by space fanatics.
Jacques Arnould, an official at the National Space Studies Center (CNES), said the French database of around 1,600 incidents would go live in late January or mid-February.
He said the CNES had been collecting statements and documents for almost 30 years to archive and study them.
"Often they are made to the Gendarmerie, which provides an official witness statement ... and some come from airline pilots," he said by telephone.
Given the success of films about visitations from outer space like "E.T.," "Close Encounters of The Third Kind" and "Independence Day," the CNES archive is likely to prove a hit.
It consists of around 6,000 reports, many relating to the same incident, filed by the public and airline professionals. Their names would not be published to protect their privacy, Anould said.
Advances in technology over the past three decades had prompted the decision to put the archive online, he said, adding it would likely be available via the CNES website www.cnes.fr.
Jacques Arnould, an official at the National Space Studies Center (CNES), said the French database of around 1,600 incidents would go live in late January or mid-February.
He said the CNES had been collecting statements and documents for almost 30 years to archive and study them.
"Often they are made to the Gendarmerie, which provides an official witness statement ... and some come from airline pilots," he said by telephone.
Given the success of films about visitations from outer space like "E.T.," "Close Encounters of The Third Kind" and "Independence Day," the CNES archive is likely to prove a hit.
It consists of around 6,000 reports, many relating to the same incident, filed by the public and airline professionals. Their names would not be published to protect their privacy, Anould said.
Advances in technology over the past three decades had prompted the decision to put the archive online, he said, adding it would likely be available via the CNES website www.cnes.fr.
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Full Moon Names for 2007
Full Moon names date back to Native Americans, of what is now the northern and eastern United States. Those tribes of a few hundred years ago kept track of the seasons by giving distinctive names to each recurring full Moon. Their names were applied to the entire month in which each occurred.
There were some variations in the Moon names, but in general the same ones were current throughout the Algonquin tribes from New England on west to Lake Superior. European settlers followed their own customs and created some of their own names. Since the lunar ("synodic") month is roughly 29.5 days in length on average, the dates of the full Moon shift from year to year.
Here is a listing of all the full Moon names, as well as the dates and times for 2007. Unless otherwise noted, all times are for the Eastern Time Zone.
Jan. 3, 8:57 a.m. EST - The Full Wolf Moon. Amid the zero cold and deep snows of midwinter, the wolf packs howled hungrily outside Indian villages. It was also known as the Old Moon or the "Moon After Yule." In some tribes this was the Full Snow Moon; most applied that name to the next Moon.
Feb. 2, 12:45 a.m. EST - The Full Snow Moon. Usually the heaviest snows fall in this month. Hunting becomes very difficult, and hence to some tribes this was the Full Hunger Moon.
March 3, 6:17 p.m. EST - The Full Worm Moon. In this month the ground softens and the earthworm casts reappear, inviting the return of the robins. The more northern tribes knew this as the Full Crow Moon, when the cawing of crows signals the end of winter, or the Full Crust Moon because the snow cover becomes crusted from thawing by day and freezing at night. The Full Sap Moon, marking the time of tapping maple trees, is another variation. A total lunar eclipse will take place on this night; the Moon will appear to rise will totally immersed (or nearly so) in the Earth's shadow over the eastern United States. The rising Moon will be emerging from the shadow over the central United States, while over the Western U.S. the eclipse will be all but over by the time the Moon rises.
April 2, 1:15 p.m. EDT - The Full Pink Moon. The grass pink or wild ground phlox is one of the earliest widespread flowers of the spring. Other names were the Full Sprouting Grass Moon, the Egg Moon, and -- among coastal tribes -- the Full Fish Moon, when the shad came upstream to spawn. This is also the Paschal Full Moon; the first full Moon of the spring season. The first Sunday following the Paschal Moon is Easter Sunday, which indeed will be observed six days later on Sunday, April 8.
May 2, 6:09 a.m. EDT - The Full Flower Moon. Flowers are abundant everywhere. It was also known as the Full Corn Planting Moon or the Milk Moon.
May 31, 9:04 p.m. EDT - The Blue Moon. The second full Moon occurring within a calendar month is usually bestowed this title.
Although the name suggests that to have two Full Moons in a single month is a rather rare occurrence (happening "just once in a . . . "), it actually occurs once about every three years on average.
June 30, 9:49 a.m. EDT - The Full Strawberry Moon. Known to every Algonquin tribe. Europeans called it the Rose Moon.
July 29, 8:48 p.m. EDT - The Full Buck Moon, when the new antlers of buck deer push out from their foreheads in coatings of velvety fur. It was also often called the Full Thunder Moon, thunderstorms being now most frequent. Sometimes also called the Full Hay Moon.
Aug. 28, 6:35 a.m. EDT - The Full Sturgeon Moon, when this large fish of the Great Lakes and other major bodies of water like Lake Champlain is most readily caught. A few tribes knew it as the Full Red Moon because the moon rises looking reddish through sultry haze, or the Green Corn Moon or Grain Moon. A total lunar eclipse will coincide with moonset for the eastern United States. The Central and Mountain Time Zones will see the Moon's emergence coincide with moonset, while the western United States will see the entire eclipse.
Sept. 26, 3:45 p.m. EDT - The Full Harvest Moon. Always the full Moon occurring nearest to the Autumnal Equinox. Corn, pumpkins, squash, beans, and wild rice-- the chief Indian staples--are now ready for gathering.
Oct. 26, 12:52 a.m. EDT - The Full Hunter's Moon. With the leaves falling and the deer fattened, it is time to hunt. Since the fields have been reaped, hunters can ride over the stubble, and can more easily see the fox, also other animals that have come out to glean and can be caught for a thanksgiving banquet after the harvest. The Moon will also be at perigee later this day, at 7:00 a.m., at a distance of 221,676 miles from Earth. Very high tides can be expected from the coincidence of perigee with full Moon.
Nov. 24, 9:30 a.m. EST - The Full Beaver Moon. Time to set beaver traps before the swamps freeze to ensure a supply of warm winter furs. Another interpretation suggests that the name Beaver Full Moon comes from the fact that the beavers are now active in their preparation for winter. Also called the Frosty Moon.
Dec. 23, 2:51 a.m. EST - The Full Cold Moon; among some tribes, the Full Long Nights Moon. In this month the winter cold fastens its grip, and the nights are at their longest and darkest. Also sometimes called the "Moon before Yule" (Yule is Christmas, and this time the Moon is only just before it). The term Long Night Moon is a doubly appropriate name because the midwinter night is indeed long and the Moon is above the horizon a long time. The midwinter full Moon takes a high trajectory across the sky because it is opposite to the low Sun.
Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for The New York Times and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for News 12 Westchester, New York.
Joe Rao
SPACE.com Skywatching Columnist
There were some variations in the Moon names, but in general the same ones were current throughout the Algonquin tribes from New England on west to Lake Superior. European settlers followed their own customs and created some of their own names. Since the lunar ("synodic") month is roughly 29.5 days in length on average, the dates of the full Moon shift from year to year.
Here is a listing of all the full Moon names, as well as the dates and times for 2007. Unless otherwise noted, all times are for the Eastern Time Zone.
Jan. 3, 8:57 a.m. EST - The Full Wolf Moon. Amid the zero cold and deep snows of midwinter, the wolf packs howled hungrily outside Indian villages. It was also known as the Old Moon or the "Moon After Yule." In some tribes this was the Full Snow Moon; most applied that name to the next Moon.
Feb. 2, 12:45 a.m. EST - The Full Snow Moon. Usually the heaviest snows fall in this month. Hunting becomes very difficult, and hence to some tribes this was the Full Hunger Moon.
March 3, 6:17 p.m. EST - The Full Worm Moon. In this month the ground softens and the earthworm casts reappear, inviting the return of the robins. The more northern tribes knew this as the Full Crow Moon, when the cawing of crows signals the end of winter, or the Full Crust Moon because the snow cover becomes crusted from thawing by day and freezing at night. The Full Sap Moon, marking the time of tapping maple trees, is another variation. A total lunar eclipse will take place on this night; the Moon will appear to rise will totally immersed (or nearly so) in the Earth's shadow over the eastern United States. The rising Moon will be emerging from the shadow over the central United States, while over the Western U.S. the eclipse will be all but over by the time the Moon rises.
April 2, 1:15 p.m. EDT - The Full Pink Moon. The grass pink or wild ground phlox is one of the earliest widespread flowers of the spring. Other names were the Full Sprouting Grass Moon, the Egg Moon, and -- among coastal tribes -- the Full Fish Moon, when the shad came upstream to spawn. This is also the Paschal Full Moon; the first full Moon of the spring season. The first Sunday following the Paschal Moon is Easter Sunday, which indeed will be observed six days later on Sunday, April 8.
May 2, 6:09 a.m. EDT - The Full Flower Moon. Flowers are abundant everywhere. It was also known as the Full Corn Planting Moon or the Milk Moon.
May 31, 9:04 p.m. EDT - The Blue Moon. The second full Moon occurring within a calendar month is usually bestowed this title.
Although the name suggests that to have two Full Moons in a single month is a rather rare occurrence (happening "just once in a . . . "), it actually occurs once about every three years on average.
June 30, 9:49 a.m. EDT - The Full Strawberry Moon. Known to every Algonquin tribe. Europeans called it the Rose Moon.
July 29, 8:48 p.m. EDT - The Full Buck Moon, when the new antlers of buck deer push out from their foreheads in coatings of velvety fur. It was also often called the Full Thunder Moon, thunderstorms being now most frequent. Sometimes also called the Full Hay Moon.
Aug. 28, 6:35 a.m. EDT - The Full Sturgeon Moon, when this large fish of the Great Lakes and other major bodies of water like Lake Champlain is most readily caught. A few tribes knew it as the Full Red Moon because the moon rises looking reddish through sultry haze, or the Green Corn Moon or Grain Moon. A total lunar eclipse will coincide with moonset for the eastern United States. The Central and Mountain Time Zones will see the Moon's emergence coincide with moonset, while the western United States will see the entire eclipse.
Sept. 26, 3:45 p.m. EDT - The Full Harvest Moon. Always the full Moon occurring nearest to the Autumnal Equinox. Corn, pumpkins, squash, beans, and wild rice-- the chief Indian staples--are now ready for gathering.
Oct. 26, 12:52 a.m. EDT - The Full Hunter's Moon. With the leaves falling and the deer fattened, it is time to hunt. Since the fields have been reaped, hunters can ride over the stubble, and can more easily see the fox, also other animals that have come out to glean and can be caught for a thanksgiving banquet after the harvest. The Moon will also be at perigee later this day, at 7:00 a.m., at a distance of 221,676 miles from Earth. Very high tides can be expected from the coincidence of perigee with full Moon.
Nov. 24, 9:30 a.m. EST - The Full Beaver Moon. Time to set beaver traps before the swamps freeze to ensure a supply of warm winter furs. Another interpretation suggests that the name Beaver Full Moon comes from the fact that the beavers are now active in their preparation for winter. Also called the Frosty Moon.
Dec. 23, 2:51 a.m. EST - The Full Cold Moon; among some tribes, the Full Long Nights Moon. In this month the winter cold fastens its grip, and the nights are at their longest and darkest. Also sometimes called the "Moon before Yule" (Yule is Christmas, and this time the Moon is only just before it). The term Long Night Moon is a doubly appropriate name because the midwinter night is indeed long and the Moon is above the horizon a long time. The midwinter full Moon takes a high trajectory across the sky because it is opposite to the low Sun.
Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for The New York Times and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for News 12 Westchester, New York.
Joe Rao
SPACE.com Skywatching Columnist
Friday, December 22, 2006
Space Shuttel Discovery Landing: Mission STS 116
6:10 p.m. - Capcom Ken Ham just announced to the STS-116 crew, "Discovery, your mission is done. See you back at the ranch." Commander Polanksy thanked everyone for their hard work and wished them all "Happy Holidays."
5:53 p.m. - Just about 20 minutes after touchdown at Kennedy Space Center, the crew of Discovery has been given the "go" to climb out of their orange launch and entry suits.
5:49 p.m. - Discovery received the go-ahead for APU shutdown. The external tank umbilical doors have been opened.
5:47 p.m. - Discovery has been given the "go" for GPS powerdown.
5:46 p.m. - The side hatch is safed as well.
5:42 p.m.- The Discovery crew reports that the drag chutes are safed.
5:39 p.m. - Here are some official times for this evening's landing: Main gear touchdown took place at 5:32:00 p.m. at a mission elapsed time of 12 days, 20 hours, 44 minutes and 24 seconds. Nose gear touchdown followed 12 seconds later at 5:32:12 p.m. at a mission elapsed time of 12 days, 20 hours, 44 minutes and 36 seconds. Discovery's wheels stopped on the runway at 5:32:52 p.m. at a mission elapsed time of 12 days, 20 hours, 45 minutes and 16 seconds. Discovery and the STS-116 crew traveled 5,330,000 miles during this mission and landed on the 204th orbit.
5:34 p.m. - Comm checks are being performed between Discovery and the landing support convoy at Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility. Post-landing safing is under way.
This convoy consists of about 25 specifically designed vehicles or units and a team of about 150 trained personnel who assist the crew in leaving the orbiter, and who "safe" the orbiter, prepare it for towing and then tow the vehicle to the Orbiter Processing Facility. The team that recovers the orbiter is primarily composed of Kennedy Space Center personnel, whether the landing takes place at Kennedy, Edwards Air Force Base or elsewhere.
5:33 p.m. - Wheel stop. Welcome home, Discovery! "Congratulations on what was probably the most complex mission to date," Mission Control said to Commander Mark Polansky for the entire crew.
5:32 p.m. - Main gear is down and locked. ...Main gear touchdown. ...Chute deployed. ...Nose gear touchdown. Discovery is rolling out at sunset on Runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center after a 5.3 million mile mission to the International Space Station.
5:31 p.m. - Altitude 6,000 feet.
5:30 p.m. - Discovery reports that the landing field is in site. Altitutude 11,300 feet.
5:29 p.m. - The shuttle's trademark twin sonic booms just echoed across Kennedy Space Center as we await the return of Discovery on this 13 day mission to the International Space Station.
5:28 p.m. - Commander Mark Polansky is flying Discovery, taking the orbiter out over the water and setting up for the final approach to Runway 15.
5:26 p.m. - Discovery is 86 miles from home.
5:24 p.m. - The crew of the International Space Station is tracking the return of Discovery from a signal sent up from Houston.
5:23 p.m. - There are no issues with weather. So far it's a smooth entry for Discovery, which is now at 104,000 feet. Range to Kennedy Space Center is 120 miles.
5:22 p.m. - Discovery is 125 statute miles from Kennedy and only a little more than nine minutes until touchdown.
5:20 p.m. - During reentry and landing, the orbiter is not powered by engines but instead flies like a high-tech glider, relying first on its steering jets and aerosurfaces to control the airflow around it.
5:19 p.m. - The MILA Tracking station at Kennedy Space Center acquires Discovery about 13 minutes before landing and begins supplying controllers in Houston with voice, data and telemetry communications starting about one minute later. At 11 minutes before touchdown, the orbiter begins receiving navigation signals from the TACAN, the homing beacon and navigation signal at the Shuttle Landing Facility. As Discovery intercepts the heading alignment circle, the first video should become available from the pilot's point-of-view video camera and the orbiter will begin following the curved approach path of the microwave scanning beam landing system. As Discovery crosses directly overhead of the landing facility and out over the Atlantic Ocean, it makes a gradual right turn toward a 7-mile final approach to Runway 15.
5:18 p.m. - Having served its purpose, Discovery's reaction control system has been turned off.
5:17 p.m. - Discovery is now 190,000 feet above Louisiana. Range to Kennedy Space Center is 800 miles.
5:16 p.m. - Discovery is now traveling 11,200 miles per hour and tracking due north of Houston at an altitude of 195,000 feet.
5:15 p.m. - Discovery's atltitude is now 39 statute miles. The spacecraft is traveling 12,600 miles per hour as it crosses into Texas. It's 1,100 statute miles from home at the Kennedy Space Center.
5:12 p.m. - Twenty minutes to touchdown. Discovery will touch down right at sunset at 5:32 p.m.
5:11 p.m. - Discovery is skirting along the edge of the Baja Penninsula. It will continue on a northeasterly course across west Texas. The orbiter is expected to pass about within about 34 miles of Houston, swinging down the Gulf Coast of Mexico, heading toward Kennedy Space Center.
5:06 p.m. - Discovery is traveling 16,300 miles per hour, 25 minutes to touchdown.
5:03 p.m. - The orbiter will perform a series of roll maneuvers, banking first to the right and then to the left to help slow down its speed as it descends toward landing. The first roll is under way now, with the first roll reversal due at about 5:22 p.m.
5:00 p.m. - Discovery has reached entry interface.
4:58 p.m. - The orbiter is approaching the southern tip of the Baja Penninsula from the southwest. Discovery's altitude is 78 statute miles.
4:57 p.m. - In addition to the traditional runway edge and approach light system, the Shuttle Landing Facility has 16 xenon lights that produce 1 billion candlepower with an effective range of 6.2 miles. These are being turned on to light the way for Commander Mark Polansky as he brings Discovery in for a landing.
4:50 p.m. - Discovery is traveling over 16,500 miles per hour and approaching entry interface about nine and a half minutes from now. At entry interface, the orbiter begins to encounter the first effects of the Earth's atmosphere, usually at an altitude of roughly 400,000 feet.
Did You Know?
The first Kennedy Space Center landing was for mission 41-B on Feb. 11, 1984. + Read More
4:42 p.m. - The convey of landing support vehicles is moving to the staging point at the Shuttle Landing Facility.
4:39 p.m. - Surface winds are predicted to be a direct headwind of 16 knots peaking up to 24 knots, but wind from this direction is not considered an issue for landing. The propellant dump took approximately 60 seconds.
4:35 p.m. - The Discovery crew is now maneuvering the shuttle to the best position for landing on Runway 15 at Kennedy. We're less than an hour from touchdown.
4:30 p.m. - And Mission Control confirms a good burn of Discovery's two orbital maneuvering system engines, with no trim required. After nearly two weeks in space, Discovery and crew are headed home to Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
4:26 p.m. - DEORBIT BURN! We have two good engines burning as Discovery begins its descent toward home. The burn will last for three minutes and 46 seconds.
4:20 p.m. - In Mission Control, Houston, the poll has been conducted and the Flight Team has given the go for deorbit burn.
"Believe it or not, we're going to give you the go for the deorbit burn," said Capcom Ken Ham to Mark Polansky and his crew aboard Discovery. "We have worked this one as hard as we can and we are pretty confident we are going to keep you clear of clouds and rain."
+ View Video
So after an afternoon of very dynamic weather conditions, Discovery will indeed be returning home to Kennedy Space Center. Deorbit burn will take place at 4:26 p.m. and landing is set for 5:32 p.m.
4:19 p.m. - We are standing by to hear the "go/no-go" decision for the deorbit burn. The burn is coming up at 4:26 p.m., so we should find out shortly if Discovery's crew receives the go-ahead.
4:16 p.m. - Time to deorbit burn: 10 minutes 20 seconds. Flight control is receiving one final weather report. Stay tuned.
4:12 p.m. - The flight control team is continuing to look at the radar, which reveals showers moving towards the Kennedy Space Center. The showers are dissipating as it comes closer to the landing circle, so the discussion centers on whether or not the showers will still be there in an hour and 20 minutes when Discovery would be approaching for landing.
4:10 p.m. - With under 17 minutes left to go before deorbit burn for the Kennedy Space Center, Mission Control is in constant communication with astronaut Steve Lindsey regarding the weather at "the Cape."
4:06 p.m. - The Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy has been cleared of all non-essential personnel.
4:00 p.m. - The runway of choice would be Runway 15 at Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility, with an approach from the northwest and a high overhead left hand turn over the water. The landing time for this opportunity, which would come on orbit 203 for the STS-116 mission, would be 5:32 p.m.
3:54 p.m. - Capcom Ken Ham just informed the Discovery crew that they are no-go for Edwards due to winds. New coordinates will be given to the crew shortly for a possible Kennedy landing. Stay tuned.
3:50 p.m. - Pilot Bill Oefelein has been given the "go" for APU (auxiliary power unit) prestart.
3:47 p.m. - At Edwards Air Force Base in California, the landing convoy is beginning to move into position for the possible arrival of shuttle Discovery. Meanwhile, the entry team in Houston is still evaluating the weather at Edwards and at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The main issue with the Florida landing opportunity are the showers within the area, and where they will be at landing time.
3:44 p.m. - As the crew steps through the entry checklist, Mission Control just gave the go-ahead to do a gimble check of Discovery's two orbital maneuvering system engines, which will fire during the deorbit burn.
Did You Know?
If the orbiter lands anywhere other than Kennedy Space Center, it must be ferried back atop the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft to the Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy. The mate/demate device at the facility enables the orbiter to be lifted off the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft and placed on the runway.
+ Read More
3:24 p.m. - Mission Control is advising the Discovery crew of the preliminary advisory data, or "PAD," for a landing at Edwards. The update includes specific information regarding the engine burn, APU start and mission elapsed time.
3:13 p.m. - In Mission Control, Capcom Ken Ham is giving the crew a weather briefing. The winds at Edwards are becoming more favorable, so they may be able to land there after all. They've also been given the "go" for fluid loading, in which they drink large amounts of fluids to help them re-acclimate to Earth's gravity after landing. Each crew member drinks approximately 32 ounces of fluid -- about eight ounces every fifteen minutes -- and takes salt pills to help increase their fluid volume. Crew members can choose to drink chicken consomme, orange-aid or water.
3:05 p.m. - If we land at Edwards Air Force Base, a ferry flight could take place after about 7 days. A ferry flight from White Sands could result in a turnaround time of 25-45 days.
2:50 p.m. - Out at Edwards, astronaut Dom Gorie is taking off in the Shuttle Training Aircraft to guage the turbulence in the area. He will fly the aircraft, which mimics the flying quality of the space shuttle, to both ends of the runway -- but the anticipation is that the approach to Runway 04 will be the preference for today's landing due to the sun angle at that time.
2:40 p.m. - Yesterday during their final press conference from orbit, Commander Mark Polansky was asked about the possibility of landing in New Mexico. He said, "My wife cares where we land. I believe she and the other families will be going to Florida, and on a personal note it's always nice to go where the families are. And for processing, Florida is best, but besides that, we don't care. There are a lot of things they're supposed to control on the mission, but the weather is one that they can't."
Did You Know
There are six main events in the landing sequence: deorbit burn, entry interface, maximum heating, exit blackout, terminal area and approach and landing.
2:18 p.m. - Here at Kennedy Space Center, astronaut Steve Lindsey is refueling the Shuttle Training Aircraft and will be back in the air shortly, continuing to monitor the weather conditions at the spaceport.
2:04 p.m. - Ken Ham just informed the crew that we've officially waved off the first landing opportunity at Kennedy Space Center, and the second opportunity isn't looking much better, although they haven't ruled it out yet.
+ View Video
"We are going to stay in the deorbit prep check list at this time," Ham explained. "We will likely be setting up our TIG for Edwards," he said, referring to the deorbit burn time for the first Edwards landing opportunity. (TIG stands for "time of ignition.") Of course, this is just for planning; the "go/no-go" decision for the burn won't come for a while. Stay tuned.
2:00 p.m. - Good afternoon. Thanks for joining today's coverage, coming to you from the NASA News Center at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Discovery is set to land today after a complex but successful mission to the International Space Station. There are several landing opportunities today at Kennedy, Edwards Air Force Base in California, and White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. Kennedy is the preferred landing site, but weather is a major concern here this afternoon, with low cloud ceilings, high winds and possible showers threatening to prevent a Florida landing. The forecast for Edwards calls for high winds. So far, White Sands has the best outlook for today's landing. Only one other shuttle flight has landed there, and that was STS-3 on March 30, 1982.
At this time, the Mission Control team in Houston and the crew aboard Discovery are preparing for a deorbit burn at 2:49 p.m., which would bring the spacecraft home to Kennedy at 3:56 p.m., but the final "go/no-go" decision for the burn has not yet been made.
Capcom Ken Ham recently told the crew that the new word to describe the weather situation at Kennedy is "unstable." An area of showers has popped up to the south and is heading north, and could potentially be within the 30-mile landing circle.
Although the forecast is certainly not promising, "we'd like to keep the hope alive for now," Ham said, adding that the crew should hold off on fluid loading for the time being.
The following events took place prior to the start of today's landing coverage:
This afternoon at 12:30 p.m., Discovery's payload bay doors were closed and locked in preparation for landing. Mission Control gave the crew a "go" to transition to the onboard computers' software package that is used for entry and landing.
The crew members began climbing into their orange launch and entry suits at 1:14 p.m. Commander Mark Polansky and Pilot Bill Oefelein were first, followed by Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter of the European Space Agency, and Mission Specialists Robert Curbeam, Joan Higginbotham, Nicholas Patrick and Christer Fuglesang, also of the European Space Agency.
After getting suited up, they took their seats. + View Seating Assignments
Astronaut Steve Lindsey is flying weather reconnaissance at Kennedy in the Shuttle Training Aircraft and relaying weather information in real time to Mission Control. There are astronauts flying weather reconnaissance at the other possible landing sites as well: Dom Gorie at Edwards and Brent Jett at Northrup Strip in White Sands.
5:53 p.m. - Just about 20 minutes after touchdown at Kennedy Space Center, the crew of Discovery has been given the "go" to climb out of their orange launch and entry suits.
5:49 p.m. - Discovery received the go-ahead for APU shutdown. The external tank umbilical doors have been opened.
5:47 p.m. - Discovery has been given the "go" for GPS powerdown.
5:46 p.m. - The side hatch is safed as well.
5:42 p.m.- The Discovery crew reports that the drag chutes are safed.
5:39 p.m. - Here are some official times for this evening's landing: Main gear touchdown took place at 5:32:00 p.m. at a mission elapsed time of 12 days, 20 hours, 44 minutes and 24 seconds. Nose gear touchdown followed 12 seconds later at 5:32:12 p.m. at a mission elapsed time of 12 days, 20 hours, 44 minutes and 36 seconds. Discovery's wheels stopped on the runway at 5:32:52 p.m. at a mission elapsed time of 12 days, 20 hours, 45 minutes and 16 seconds. Discovery and the STS-116 crew traveled 5,330,000 miles during this mission and landed on the 204th orbit.
5:34 p.m. - Comm checks are being performed between Discovery and the landing support convoy at Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility. Post-landing safing is under way.
This convoy consists of about 25 specifically designed vehicles or units and a team of about 150 trained personnel who assist the crew in leaving the orbiter, and who "safe" the orbiter, prepare it for towing and then tow the vehicle to the Orbiter Processing Facility. The team that recovers the orbiter is primarily composed of Kennedy Space Center personnel, whether the landing takes place at Kennedy, Edwards Air Force Base or elsewhere.
5:33 p.m. - Wheel stop. Welcome home, Discovery! "Congratulations on what was probably the most complex mission to date," Mission Control said to Commander Mark Polansky for the entire crew.
5:32 p.m. - Main gear is down and locked. ...Main gear touchdown. ...Chute deployed. ...Nose gear touchdown. Discovery is rolling out at sunset on Runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center after a 5.3 million mile mission to the International Space Station.
5:31 p.m. - Altitude 6,000 feet.
5:30 p.m. - Discovery reports that the landing field is in site. Altitutude 11,300 feet.
5:29 p.m. - The shuttle's trademark twin sonic booms just echoed across Kennedy Space Center as we await the return of Discovery on this 13 day mission to the International Space Station.
5:28 p.m. - Commander Mark Polansky is flying Discovery, taking the orbiter out over the water and setting up for the final approach to Runway 15.
5:26 p.m. - Discovery is 86 miles from home.
5:24 p.m. - The crew of the International Space Station is tracking the return of Discovery from a signal sent up from Houston.
5:23 p.m. - There are no issues with weather. So far it's a smooth entry for Discovery, which is now at 104,000 feet. Range to Kennedy Space Center is 120 miles.
5:22 p.m. - Discovery is 125 statute miles from Kennedy and only a little more than nine minutes until touchdown.
5:20 p.m. - During reentry and landing, the orbiter is not powered by engines but instead flies like a high-tech glider, relying first on its steering jets and aerosurfaces to control the airflow around it.
5:19 p.m. - The MILA Tracking station at Kennedy Space Center acquires Discovery about 13 minutes before landing and begins supplying controllers in Houston with voice, data and telemetry communications starting about one minute later. At 11 minutes before touchdown, the orbiter begins receiving navigation signals from the TACAN, the homing beacon and navigation signal at the Shuttle Landing Facility. As Discovery intercepts the heading alignment circle, the first video should become available from the pilot's point-of-view video camera and the orbiter will begin following the curved approach path of the microwave scanning beam landing system. As Discovery crosses directly overhead of the landing facility and out over the Atlantic Ocean, it makes a gradual right turn toward a 7-mile final approach to Runway 15.
5:18 p.m. - Having served its purpose, Discovery's reaction control system has been turned off.
5:17 p.m. - Discovery is now 190,000 feet above Louisiana. Range to Kennedy Space Center is 800 miles.
5:16 p.m. - Discovery is now traveling 11,200 miles per hour and tracking due north of Houston at an altitude of 195,000 feet.
5:15 p.m. - Discovery's atltitude is now 39 statute miles. The spacecraft is traveling 12,600 miles per hour as it crosses into Texas. It's 1,100 statute miles from home at the Kennedy Space Center.
5:12 p.m. - Twenty minutes to touchdown. Discovery will touch down right at sunset at 5:32 p.m.
5:11 p.m. - Discovery is skirting along the edge of the Baja Penninsula. It will continue on a northeasterly course across west Texas. The orbiter is expected to pass about within about 34 miles of Houston, swinging down the Gulf Coast of Mexico, heading toward Kennedy Space Center.
5:06 p.m. - Discovery is traveling 16,300 miles per hour, 25 minutes to touchdown.
5:03 p.m. - The orbiter will perform a series of roll maneuvers, banking first to the right and then to the left to help slow down its speed as it descends toward landing. The first roll is under way now, with the first roll reversal due at about 5:22 p.m.
5:00 p.m. - Discovery has reached entry interface.
4:58 p.m. - The orbiter is approaching the southern tip of the Baja Penninsula from the southwest. Discovery's altitude is 78 statute miles.
4:57 p.m. - In addition to the traditional runway edge and approach light system, the Shuttle Landing Facility has 16 xenon lights that produce 1 billion candlepower with an effective range of 6.2 miles. These are being turned on to light the way for Commander Mark Polansky as he brings Discovery in for a landing.
4:50 p.m. - Discovery is traveling over 16,500 miles per hour and approaching entry interface about nine and a half minutes from now. At entry interface, the orbiter begins to encounter the first effects of the Earth's atmosphere, usually at an altitude of roughly 400,000 feet.
Did You Know?
The first Kennedy Space Center landing was for mission 41-B on Feb. 11, 1984. + Read More
4:42 p.m. - The convey of landing support vehicles is moving to the staging point at the Shuttle Landing Facility.
4:39 p.m. - Surface winds are predicted to be a direct headwind of 16 knots peaking up to 24 knots, but wind from this direction is not considered an issue for landing. The propellant dump took approximately 60 seconds.
4:35 p.m. - The Discovery crew is now maneuvering the shuttle to the best position for landing on Runway 15 at Kennedy. We're less than an hour from touchdown.
4:30 p.m. - And Mission Control confirms a good burn of Discovery's two orbital maneuvering system engines, with no trim required. After nearly two weeks in space, Discovery and crew are headed home to Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
4:26 p.m. - DEORBIT BURN! We have two good engines burning as Discovery begins its descent toward home. The burn will last for three minutes and 46 seconds.
4:20 p.m. - In Mission Control, Houston, the poll has been conducted and the Flight Team has given the go for deorbit burn.
"Believe it or not, we're going to give you the go for the deorbit burn," said Capcom Ken Ham to Mark Polansky and his crew aboard Discovery. "We have worked this one as hard as we can and we are pretty confident we are going to keep you clear of clouds and rain."
+ View Video
So after an afternoon of very dynamic weather conditions, Discovery will indeed be returning home to Kennedy Space Center. Deorbit burn will take place at 4:26 p.m. and landing is set for 5:32 p.m.
4:19 p.m. - We are standing by to hear the "go/no-go" decision for the deorbit burn. The burn is coming up at 4:26 p.m., so we should find out shortly if Discovery's crew receives the go-ahead.
4:16 p.m. - Time to deorbit burn: 10 minutes 20 seconds. Flight control is receiving one final weather report. Stay tuned.
4:12 p.m. - The flight control team is continuing to look at the radar, which reveals showers moving towards the Kennedy Space Center. The showers are dissipating as it comes closer to the landing circle, so the discussion centers on whether or not the showers will still be there in an hour and 20 minutes when Discovery would be approaching for landing.
4:10 p.m. - With under 17 minutes left to go before deorbit burn for the Kennedy Space Center, Mission Control is in constant communication with astronaut Steve Lindsey regarding the weather at "the Cape."
4:06 p.m. - The Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy has been cleared of all non-essential personnel.
4:00 p.m. - The runway of choice would be Runway 15 at Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility, with an approach from the northwest and a high overhead left hand turn over the water. The landing time for this opportunity, which would come on orbit 203 for the STS-116 mission, would be 5:32 p.m.
3:54 p.m. - Capcom Ken Ham just informed the Discovery crew that they are no-go for Edwards due to winds. New coordinates will be given to the crew shortly for a possible Kennedy landing. Stay tuned.
3:50 p.m. - Pilot Bill Oefelein has been given the "go" for APU (auxiliary power unit) prestart.
3:47 p.m. - At Edwards Air Force Base in California, the landing convoy is beginning to move into position for the possible arrival of shuttle Discovery. Meanwhile, the entry team in Houston is still evaluating the weather at Edwards and at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The main issue with the Florida landing opportunity are the showers within the area, and where they will be at landing time.
3:44 p.m. - As the crew steps through the entry checklist, Mission Control just gave the go-ahead to do a gimble check of Discovery's two orbital maneuvering system engines, which will fire during the deorbit burn.
Did You Know?
If the orbiter lands anywhere other than Kennedy Space Center, it must be ferried back atop the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft to the Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy. The mate/demate device at the facility enables the orbiter to be lifted off the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft and placed on the runway.
+ Read More
3:24 p.m. - Mission Control is advising the Discovery crew of the preliminary advisory data, or "PAD," for a landing at Edwards. The update includes specific information regarding the engine burn, APU start and mission elapsed time.
3:13 p.m. - In Mission Control, Capcom Ken Ham is giving the crew a weather briefing. The winds at Edwards are becoming more favorable, so they may be able to land there after all. They've also been given the "go" for fluid loading, in which they drink large amounts of fluids to help them re-acclimate to Earth's gravity after landing. Each crew member drinks approximately 32 ounces of fluid -- about eight ounces every fifteen minutes -- and takes salt pills to help increase their fluid volume. Crew members can choose to drink chicken consomme, orange-aid or water.
3:05 p.m. - If we land at Edwards Air Force Base, a ferry flight could take place after about 7 days. A ferry flight from White Sands could result in a turnaround time of 25-45 days.
2:50 p.m. - Out at Edwards, astronaut Dom Gorie is taking off in the Shuttle Training Aircraft to guage the turbulence in the area. He will fly the aircraft, which mimics the flying quality of the space shuttle, to both ends of the runway -- but the anticipation is that the approach to Runway 04 will be the preference for today's landing due to the sun angle at that time.
2:40 p.m. - Yesterday during their final press conference from orbit, Commander Mark Polansky was asked about the possibility of landing in New Mexico. He said, "My wife cares where we land. I believe she and the other families will be going to Florida, and on a personal note it's always nice to go where the families are. And for processing, Florida is best, but besides that, we don't care. There are a lot of things they're supposed to control on the mission, but the weather is one that they can't."
Did You Know
There are six main events in the landing sequence: deorbit burn, entry interface, maximum heating, exit blackout, terminal area and approach and landing.
2:18 p.m. - Here at Kennedy Space Center, astronaut Steve Lindsey is refueling the Shuttle Training Aircraft and will be back in the air shortly, continuing to monitor the weather conditions at the spaceport.
2:04 p.m. - Ken Ham just informed the crew that we've officially waved off the first landing opportunity at Kennedy Space Center, and the second opportunity isn't looking much better, although they haven't ruled it out yet.
+ View Video
"We are going to stay in the deorbit prep check list at this time," Ham explained. "We will likely be setting up our TIG for Edwards," he said, referring to the deorbit burn time for the first Edwards landing opportunity. (TIG stands for "time of ignition.") Of course, this is just for planning; the "go/no-go" decision for the burn won't come for a while. Stay tuned.
2:00 p.m. - Good afternoon. Thanks for joining today's coverage, coming to you from the NASA News Center at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Discovery is set to land today after a complex but successful mission to the International Space Station. There are several landing opportunities today at Kennedy, Edwards Air Force Base in California, and White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. Kennedy is the preferred landing site, but weather is a major concern here this afternoon, with low cloud ceilings, high winds and possible showers threatening to prevent a Florida landing. The forecast for Edwards calls for high winds. So far, White Sands has the best outlook for today's landing. Only one other shuttle flight has landed there, and that was STS-3 on March 30, 1982.
At this time, the Mission Control team in Houston and the crew aboard Discovery are preparing for a deorbit burn at 2:49 p.m., which would bring the spacecraft home to Kennedy at 3:56 p.m., but the final "go/no-go" decision for the burn has not yet been made.
Capcom Ken Ham recently told the crew that the new word to describe the weather situation at Kennedy is "unstable." An area of showers has popped up to the south and is heading north, and could potentially be within the 30-mile landing circle.
Although the forecast is certainly not promising, "we'd like to keep the hope alive for now," Ham said, adding that the crew should hold off on fluid loading for the time being.
The following events took place prior to the start of today's landing coverage:
This afternoon at 12:30 p.m., Discovery's payload bay doors were closed and locked in preparation for landing. Mission Control gave the crew a "go" to transition to the onboard computers' software package that is used for entry and landing.
The crew members began climbing into their orange launch and entry suits at 1:14 p.m. Commander Mark Polansky and Pilot Bill Oefelein were first, followed by Flight Engineer Thomas Reiter of the European Space Agency, and Mission Specialists Robert Curbeam, Joan Higginbotham, Nicholas Patrick and Christer Fuglesang, also of the European Space Agency.
After getting suited up, they took their seats. + View Seating Assignments
Astronaut Steve Lindsey is flying weather reconnaissance at Kennedy in the Shuttle Training Aircraft and relaying weather information in real time to Mission Control. There are astronauts flying weather reconnaissance at the other possible landing sites as well: Dom Gorie at Edwards and Brent Jett at Northrup Strip in White Sands.
Friday, December 01, 2006
Single massive asteroid wiped out dinosaurs: study
A single, gigantic asteroid slammed into Earth 65 million years ago, dooming the dinosaurs and many other species, scientists said on Thursday in a new study rebutting theories that multiple impacts did the deed.
ADVERTISEMENT
An examination of rock sediments drilled from five sites at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean strongly supports the notion that one massive hunk of space rock caused the mass extinction, a research team led by University of Missouri-Columbia geology professor Ken MacLeod found.
"It's a completely straightforward, single-impact scenario," MacLeod, whose findings appear in the Geological Society of America Bulletin, said in an interview. "It was a haymaker that nobody saw coming. One shot, and that's all you need to explain it."
Scientists believe that an asteroid about 6 miles wide hurtled to Earth 65.5 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous Period, plunging into what is now Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula to carve out the Chicxulub (pronounced CHIK-shu-loob) crater measuring about 110 miles across.
To put it mildly, it was a bad day to live on Earth.
The impact triggered a worldwide environmental catastrophe, many scientists believe, expelling vast quantities of rock and dust into the sky, unleashing giant tsunamis, sparking global wildfires and leaving Earth shrouded in darkness for years.
The dinosaurs, which had ruled for 160 million years, were wiped out. So were large marine reptiles like the mosasaurs and the plesiosaurs, the flying reptiles known as pterosaurs, the tentacled ammonites that populated the seas and many species of marine plankton. The birds suffered losses but survived.
The mammals made it through as well, allowing these warm-blooded, furry little creatures to eventually dominate the land and ultimately setting the stage for the rise of human beings.
EVIDENCE IN THE ROCK
Evidence of the single-asteroid calamity, in the form of debris from the impact scattered worldwide, is contained in rocks dating back to 65 million years ago.
Scientists 26 years ago found a band of iridium -- a metal rare on Earth but common in meteorites -- dating to the end of the Cretaceous Period that suggested a big space rock had smashed into the Earth and blasted its remains around the globe. The subsequent discovery of the Chicxulub crater, dating to the same time, was hailed by many as the smoking gun.
But a group of researchers led by Princeton University's Gerta Keller has advanced a competing theory that the impact that created the Chicxulub crater actually predated the end of the dinosaurs by 300,000 years and did not cause the mass extinction.
They propose that one or more additional big hunks of space rock later hit the Earth and finished the job, but the impact craters they would have left behind have not yet been found.
MacLeod's team examined sediment drilled far below the sea surface about 2,800 miles from the Yucatan impact site, a location they believed to be ideal. Any rock samples taken too close to the crater may be altered by events that occurred immediately after the impact, like waves, earthquakes and landslides. Samples taken too far away may contain too little debris evidence from the impact.
The samples they examined boasted a telltale layer of impact-related material, but there was none on top or below -- indicating, they argued, there were no other impacts.
Keller said MacLeod's research does not settle the matter.
"Unfortunately, these claims are rather hyper-inflated and do not withstand close examination," Keller said by e-mail.
By Will Dunham
ADVERTISEMENT
An examination of rock sediments drilled from five sites at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean strongly supports the notion that one massive hunk of space rock caused the mass extinction, a research team led by University of Missouri-Columbia geology professor Ken MacLeod found.
"It's a completely straightforward, single-impact scenario," MacLeod, whose findings appear in the Geological Society of America Bulletin, said in an interview. "It was a haymaker that nobody saw coming. One shot, and that's all you need to explain it."
Scientists believe that an asteroid about 6 miles wide hurtled to Earth 65.5 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous Period, plunging into what is now Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula to carve out the Chicxulub (pronounced CHIK-shu-loob) crater measuring about 110 miles across.
To put it mildly, it was a bad day to live on Earth.
The impact triggered a worldwide environmental catastrophe, many scientists believe, expelling vast quantities of rock and dust into the sky, unleashing giant tsunamis, sparking global wildfires and leaving Earth shrouded in darkness for years.
The dinosaurs, which had ruled for 160 million years, were wiped out. So were large marine reptiles like the mosasaurs and the plesiosaurs, the flying reptiles known as pterosaurs, the tentacled ammonites that populated the seas and many species of marine plankton. The birds suffered losses but survived.
The mammals made it through as well, allowing these warm-blooded, furry little creatures to eventually dominate the land and ultimately setting the stage for the rise of human beings.
EVIDENCE IN THE ROCK
Evidence of the single-asteroid calamity, in the form of debris from the impact scattered worldwide, is contained in rocks dating back to 65 million years ago.
Scientists 26 years ago found a band of iridium -- a metal rare on Earth but common in meteorites -- dating to the end of the Cretaceous Period that suggested a big space rock had smashed into the Earth and blasted its remains around the globe. The subsequent discovery of the Chicxulub crater, dating to the same time, was hailed by many as the smoking gun.
But a group of researchers led by Princeton University's Gerta Keller has advanced a competing theory that the impact that created the Chicxulub crater actually predated the end of the dinosaurs by 300,000 years and did not cause the mass extinction.
They propose that one or more additional big hunks of space rock later hit the Earth and finished the job, but the impact craters they would have left behind have not yet been found.
MacLeod's team examined sediment drilled far below the sea surface about 2,800 miles from the Yucatan impact site, a location they believed to be ideal. Any rock samples taken too close to the crater may be altered by events that occurred immediately after the impact, like waves, earthquakes and landslides. Samples taken too far away may contain too little debris evidence from the impact.
The samples they examined boasted a telltale layer of impact-related material, but there was none on top or below -- indicating, they argued, there were no other impacts.
Keller said MacLeod's research does not settle the matter.
"Unfortunately, these claims are rather hyper-inflated and do not withstand close examination," Keller said by e-mail.
By Will Dunham
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