Environment – Page 3 – Slugger O'Toole

A5 ruling: “They should not be left in any doubt about what may or may not occur…”

Pete Baker on April 8, 2013, 6:18 pm

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The Northern Ireland Department for Regional Development have 7 days to appeal the Belfast High Court ruling issued today quashing the decision to go ahead with the controversial A5 £330m dual carriageway project. As the BBC reports Following the verdict, lawyers for the department sought to have the court order put on hold. They wanted time to meet a requirement to carry out an appropriate assessment required under the directive. But Mr Justice Stephens refused, citing the potential for a public inquiry and potential scope …

Comet 2013 A1: Rendezvous with Mars…

Pete Baker on March 27, 2013, 8:46 pm

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Here’s something to think about whilst waiting to see if Comet ISON will fizzle, or sizzle. The latest Science at Nasa video looks at the trajectory, and consequences for Mars missions, of Comet 2013 A1 (Siding Spring). Discovered as recently as 3 January this year, this Oort cloud object will pass “extraordinarily close” to the planet Mars on 19 October 2014 – an actual collision, although unlikely, has not been ruled out yet [1:2000]. It’s estimated that an impact of the ~1-3 km-wide Comet 2013 A1, travelling at around …

“Two European countries, Ireland and Norway, have already banned all eel fisheries.”

Pete Baker on February 19, 2013, 10:11 pm

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But not in Northern Ireland. [Partitionist! – Ed] Indeed. Here the regulation of eel fisheries is the responsibility of the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure – and the current Minister, Sinn Féin’s Carál Ní Chuilín. As is salmon fishing… There was a brief flurry of press statements last week as the NI DCAL Minister suddenly threatened to throw the kitchen sink in front of “potential EU proposals to suspend eel-fishing”. From the first ministerial press release [14 Feb] Responding to a request for DCAL’s position, …

“Ireland has the potential to generate far more wind energy than we could consume domestically…”

Pete Baker on January 28, 2013, 8:28 pm

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Apparently, Ireland is to become Britain’s off-shore wind farm… That seems to be the gist of the complaint from opponents to wind farms in the Irish Midlands, as reported in the Irish Times. Andrew Duncan, spokesman for the Lakelands Wind Information Group in Co Westmeath, said: “It seems to be an Irish solution to a British problem – politically, they don’t want turbines in the British countryside.” Last October, British energy minister John Hayes said his government would no longer have …

“Will Comet ISON fizzle … or sizzle?”

Pete Baker on January 19, 2013, 2:45 pm

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Science at Nasa has a great assessment of the potential for Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) to become the ‘Comet of the Century’. Worth watching. Just remember – “comets are like cats: they have tails, and do whatever they want to do.” But as the Science at Nasa assessment notes “Comet ISON is probably at least twice as big as Comet Lovejoy and will pass a bit farther from the sun’s surface” notes Knight. “This would seem to favor Comet ISON surviving and …

“comets are like cats: they have tails, and do whatever they want to do”

Pete Baker on January 1, 2013, 11:25 pm

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In the BBC’s science news preview of 2013, reporter Jason Palmer highlights a couple of astronomical events worth keeping an eye out for. In mid-February we will get another reminder we live in a (potentially) violent cosmos – asteroid 2012 DA14 will make a harmless but attention-grabbing pass near the Earth, at a distance just a tenth that of the Moon. Exactly what happens then will determine how near the asteroid’s next pass will be, in 2026. (Don’t worry, signs are pretty …

“the looming legal row, which is due to commence on 9 January, could become a defining event for Northern Ireland…”

Pete Baker on December 30, 2012, 4:51 pm

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Well, perhaps. At the very least it might provide the basis for some actual politics, for a while… ANYhoo… The Observer’s Jamie Doward with a reminder of the upcoming legal battle over planning permission for the Bushmills Dunnes development – a 18-hole golf course, clubhouse, golf academy, 120-room hotel and 75 golf lodges complex, plus associated car parking facilities, at Runkerry, close to the Unesco World Heritage Centre Giants’ Causeway and Causeway Coast. In June this year the National Trust sought leave for a …

Further Up Yonder

Pete Baker on December 21, 2012, 9:09 pm

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Stunning views of the Earth accompany this seasonal message from the crew of the International Space Station. Pete Baker

“In Saturn’s Shadow” – redux

Pete Baker on December 18, 2012, 8:29 pm

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Saturn doesn’t get the love some of our other gas giants do. [All hail our friend and lord, Jupiter! Keeping Ogdy at bay… – Ed] Indeed. But, with the help of Cassini, Saturn does provide some wondrous images. [Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute]. From the image’s associated text NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has delivered a glorious view of Saturn, taken while the spacecraft was in Saturn’s shadow. The cameras were turned toward Saturn and the sun so that the planet and rings are backlit. …

Titan’s Nile River Valley

Pete Baker on December 13, 2012, 2:52 pm

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Fascinating image from Nasa’s Cassini probe at Saturn, where we’ve previously watched the weather on Titan. [Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASI.] North is to the right in this view. From the JPLnews press release “Titan is the only place we’ve found besides Earth that has a liquid in continuous movement on its surface,” said Steve Wall, the radar deputy team lead, based at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. “This picture gives us a snapshot of a world in motion. Rain falls, …

Black Marble Earth

Pete Baker on December 7, 2012, 8:45 pm

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As the BBC’s Spaceman, Jonathan Amos, notes This [above] spectacular night-time view of Earth is called Black Marble. It has been assembled from a series of cloud-free images acquired by one of the most capable satellites in the sky today – the Suomi spacecraft. Here is the associated, wondrous, video from Nasa Explorer This view of Earth at night is a cloud-free view from space as acquired by the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership Satellite (Suomi NPP). A joint program by NASA and …

“The new A32 Cherrymount link road near Enniskillen will eventually be built on top of the crannog…”

Pete Baker on November 29, 2012, 8:28 pm

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The BBC reports, as do other news outlets, the Northern Ireland Environment Minister’s press release on “the first substantial, scientific excavation of a crannog in Northern Ireland”. A “huge treasure trove of artefacts” was uncovered – potentially of “international importance” – and the crannog was occupied from at least AD 900 to AD 1600. The ministerial press release also announced “the Drumclay Crannog Open Day on Saturday 1st December” – between 9.30 and 3.00pm. The BBC has the DoE images in an online gallery. …

“Sometimes you have to go up really high to understand how small you are.”

Pete Baker on October 14, 2012, 10:43 pm

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Stunning images of record-breaking skydiver, Felix Baumgartner, as he completes his last checklist, steps out of the capsule, and falls to earth. From a height of 128,097ft (24.2 miles; 39km). You can also see the flatspin that almost scuppered the attempt to break the sound barrier. The voice on CAPsuleCOMmunications is that of retired US Air Force Col Joe Kittinger who has been an integral part of Baumgartner’s record attempt team. Col Kittinger has held the record for the previous highest [102,800ft (31.3km)], farthest, …

National Trust: “However, not everyone agrees with the scientific view…”

Pete Baker on October 3, 2012, 11:56 am

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The BBC report that the National Trust have amended the controversial exhibition at the new Giants’ Causeway interpretive centre following their announced review of the materials in the display. But have they fully addressed the problem? Not quite. Here’s how the revised controversial section of the transcript now reads Today there is a clear understanding among scientists that the heat of the earth was the driving force behind the formation of the Giant’s Causeway – and that the earth is far older than …

“We stared at this patch of sky for about 22 days…”

Pete Baker on September 26, 2012, 6:53 pm

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As the BBC’s spaceman, Jonathan Amos, notes, the Hubble Space Telescope team have released an updated version of their stunning Ultra Deep Field image – the eXtreme Deep Field (XDF) – and they have seen further than ever. [Image credit: NASA, ESA, G. Illingworth, D. Magee, and P. Oesch (University of California, Santa Cruz), R. Bouwens (Leiden University), and the HUDF09 Team] From the text accompanying the above image The Hubble Ultra Deep Field is an image of a small area of space in the …

Jupiter swallows an asteroid – redux

Pete Baker on September 13, 2012, 4:43 pm

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As Space Weather notes Around the world, amateur astronomers have been scanning the cloudtops of Jupiter for signs of debris from an explosion witnessed by Dan Peterson and George Hall on Sept. 10th. So far the cloud layer is blank. “Several observers have now obtained excellent images on the second and third rotations after the fireball, and there is nothing new nor distinctive at the impact site,” reports John H. Rogers, director of the Jupiter Section of the British Astronomical …

“Thrust is engaged, and we are now climbing away from Vesta atop a blue-green pillar of xenon ions”

Pete Baker on August 30, 2012, 8:18 pm

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Having arrived at the 530km-wide giant asteroid Vesta in July 2011, in May this year Nasa’s Dawn Mission scientists published some of their findings. Now Dawn’s ready to head out on the next leg of its journey – Destination [the even larger protoplanet (dwarf planet)] Ceres, ETA 2015. From the JPL press release “Thrust is engaged, and we are now climbing away from Vesta atop a blue-green pillar of xenon ions,” said Marc Rayman, Dawn’s chief engineer and mission director, at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, …

“This is an area on Mount Sharp where Curiosity will go”

Pete Baker on August 29, 2012, 7:37 pm

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More wondrous images from Nasa’s mobile Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), the 900kg rover Curiosity, now safely on the Martian surface in Gale Crater. And it’s only warming up its instruments. Here’s a panaroma of the landing site and the prime mission target, Mount Sharp. Focusing in on Mount Sharp… [Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS] But the images that have attracted attention are from the telephoto lens [Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS] As the Nasa press release notes The telephoto images beamed back to Earth show a …

Curiosity drops in on Mars – in Hi-res

Pete Baker on August 23, 2012, 9:50 pm

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Nasa’s mobile Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), the 900kg rover Curiosity, may have started roving on the surface of Mars, but there’s still room for more stunning video of its descent. In high-resolution. Audio from mission control can also be heard, counting down the critical events. Video from JPL News This movie from NASA’s Curiosity rover shows most of the high-resolution frames acquired by the Mars Descent Imager between the jettison of the heat shield and touchdown. Pete Baker

“Curiosity will soon have a different patch of ground beneath it.”

Pete Baker on August 22, 2012, 3:12 pm

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Nasa’s mobile Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), the 900kg rover Curiosity, may have damaged one of two sets of wind sensors in its Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) during its dramatic landing on Mars, but it will still be providing daily weather reports from the Red Planet. And, as a JPL/Nasa press release noted yesterday – with moving images Curiosity will soon have a different patch of ground beneath it. Today, the six-wheeled rover wiggled its four corner wheels side to side for the …