Environment – Page 8 – Slugger O'Toole

Have they found that elusive goddamn particle?

Pete Baker on July 23, 2011, 8:22 pm

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Well, maybe… As was the case with Tevatron’s false alarm, it’s far too soon to say that the search for “that damned elusive [Higgs] particle” is over. But there is a difference this time. I thought something was up when I read the Guardian’s tame particle physicist Jon Butterworth’s post on Thursday. I’m writing this on the plane home from CERN. I would have loved to post more about ATLAS preparations for the European Physical Society meeting in Grenoble, but …

Space Shuttle Time Lapse

Pete Baker on July 21, 2011, 5:07 pm

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Stunning time lapse footage from orbit with the Space Shuttles Discovery and Atlantis foregrounding a magnificent view. Via the NasaExplorer channel. Segment 1: NASA’s Shuttle Discovery (STS131), while docked to the ISS, captured these images on April 12, 2010 as it moved from the night side of the Earth to the daytime. In the process the Aurora Borealis can be seen on the Earth’s limb. A solar panel from the ISS and a docked Soyuz module can be seen in …

Hubble spots fourth moon of Pluto

Pete Baker on July 20, 2011, 10:10 pm

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The Hubble Space Telescope has been looking at the twin dwarf planet system of Pluto and Charon ahead of Nasa’s New Horizons mission expected arrival in the neighbourhood in 2015. They’ve already mapped the surface of Pluto, to an extent, and now they’ve spotted a fourth moon in the system– if you count the dwarf planet Charon as a moon of Pluto, that is. The new moon has been designated “S/2011 P1” or “P4” until a permanent name is chosen. [All …

Vesta: “arguably the oldest extant primordial surface in the Solar System”

Pete Baker on July 19, 2011, 3:32 pm

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With Dawn now safely in orbit around the giant asteroid Vesta, Nasa have released the first close-up image of the ancient protoplanet. [Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA] From the accompanying text July 18, 2011 – PASADENA, Calif. — NASA’s Dawn spacecraft obtained this image with its framing camera on July 17, 2011. It was taken from a distance of about 9,500 miles (15,000 kilometers) away from the protoplanet Vesta. Each pixel in the image corresponds to roughly 0.88 miles (1.4 kilometers). And from the …

Dawn: Up close and personal with Vesta

Pete Baker on July 15, 2011, 8:08 pm

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As I may have mentioned, early tomorrow morning, 9am [BST] 16 July, Nasa’s Dawn spacecraft is expected to be captured into orbit by the 530km-wide giant asteroid Vesta. They won’t know for sure until a scheduled communications pass at 8.30am [BST] on Sunday 17 July. Here’s the latest image of Vesta taken by Dawn on 9 July at a distance of about 26,000 miles (41,000 km). NASA’s Dawn spacecraft obtained this image with its framing camera on July 9, …

Dawn’s final approach

Pete Baker on July 9, 2011, 6:21 pm

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Next weekend (on 16 July), barring any further unforeseen problems, Nasa’s Dawn spacecraft will enter orbit around the giant asteroid Vesta and begin its year-long observation of the 530km wide proto-planet. [Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA] From the JPL press release (23 June) After Dawn enters Vesta’s orbit, engineers will need a few days to determine the exact time of capture. Unlike other missions where a dramatic, nail-biting propulsive burn results in orbit insertion around a planet, Dawn has been using its placid ion propulsion …

Space Shuttle’s Final Launch

Pete Baker on July 8, 2011, 3:48 pm

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If the weather clears, and currently the weather is a “go”, Nasa’s Space Shuttle Atlantis will launch from the Kennedy Space Centre at 4.26pm [BST]. It’s the end of the Space Shuttle era. Follow events at Nasa’s launch blog, or via the BBC online, as well as the usual NasaTV coverage. Or, even, here! Broadcasting Live with Ustream Pete Baker

The end of the Space Shuttle era

Pete Baker on July 6, 2011, 6:46 pm

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Atlantis is scheduled to launch on Nasa’s final Space Shuttle mission, STS-135, on Friday at 4.26pm [BST] to bring to an end the 30-year-long Space Shuttle era – weather permitting. In fact, there’s currently only a 30% chance that the weather will be suitable for launch. While you’re waiting you can check out Nasa’s Space Shuttle Era website. Or read the BBC’s Spaceman, Jonathan Amos, on one of the private companies taking over the role played by the Shuttle – Orbital Sciences Corporation. …

Spectacular Solar Eruption Close-up

Pete Baker on July 4, 2011, 8:04 pm

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Nasa have released more stunning footage from the Solar Dynamics Observatory of the spectacular solar eruption on June 7. As LittleSDOHMI notes – “This video uses the full-resolution 4096 x 4096 pixel images at a one minute time cadence to provide the highest quality, finest detail version possible.” With music! Pete Baker

Most distant “angry monster” brightest in early Universe

Pete Baker on June 30, 2011, 4:32 pm

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[Image credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser] The BBC reports on the discovery of the most distant quasar yet seen, ULAS J1120+0641. An “angry monster” 12.9 billion light-years away – a mere 770 million years after the Big Bang. Before the process of re-ionization was completed. As the BBC report notes The light from ULAS J1120+0641 displays the characteristic signature of neutral gas, indicating that, at 770 million years after the Big Bang, the process of re-ionization had some way to go before the process was …

Voyager: “It’s bubbly out there.”

Pete Baker on June 29, 2011, 9:25 pm

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The Guardian’s GrrlScientist picked up on the 30-something Voyager probes’ latest scientific discovery on humanity’s farthest journey. New view of the heliosheath. Red and blue spirals are the gracefully curving magnetic field lines of orthodox models. New data from Voyager add a magnetic froth to the mix. Image: NASA Here’s the YouTube version of the ScienceatNasa video posted at the Guardian. And if that explanation was a little too pink and fluffy for you, try this different version of the same …

“this is probably the biggest known asteroid to have come this close.”

Pete Baker on June 27, 2011, 5:35 pm

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As spotted by SpaceWeather. At about 1700 UT (6pm BST) today Asteroid 2011MD will fly past only 12,300 kilometers (7,600 miles) above the Earth’s surface. [Image credit NASA/JPL] As the diagram shows, that’s close enough to be affected by Earth’s gravity. This small asteroid, only 5-20 meters in diameter, is in a very Earth-like orbit about the Sun, but an orbital analysis indicates there is no chance it will actually strike Earth on Monday. The incoming trajectory leg passes several thousand kilometers …

Johannes Kepler “will tumble, disintegrate and burn”

Pete Baker on June 21, 2011, 4:54 pm

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ESA’s second Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), Johannes Kepler, the first operational version, was launched on 16 February this year. At a total mass of 20 tonnes it was Europe’s heaviest spacecraft. As well as delivering its payload to the International Space Station, on 2 April Johannes Kepler successfully manoeuvred the complex to avoid a collision with space debris and, over recent days, boosted the 417-tonne Station to a higher orbit – from around 345 km to its new height of 380 km. …

Mercury: “A world in and of its own”

Pete Baker on June 19, 2011, 5:08 pm

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In March this year Nasa’s Messenger probe became the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury. And, as the BBC reports, a few days ago Nasa released the scientific observations and data collected during the first three months of its scheduled year-long mission. In the process a number of hypotheses about the innermost planet were consigned to the “dust bin of science”. Mercury is not like the Moon, nor like the Earth, and it’s not “the burnt-out cinder of the solar system”. [All images …

Totality begins…

Pete Baker on June 15, 2011, 6:49 pm

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…at 8.22pm [BST]. That’s tonight’s lunar eclipse and totality will last for 100 minutes – until 10.02pm [BST]. But it’s not, as the Irish Times claims Ireland’s “first lunar eclipse for five years.” It is special however. It’s a central total lunar eclipse – the center point of Earth’s shadow will fall on the moon – which explains the unusually long duration. It could be as spectacular as the 2007 total lunar eclipse, which Sammy Morse captured in the featured image above. Or it …

“there has never been any formal agreement between Ireland and the United Kingdom on the delimitation of a territorial water boundary…”

Pete Baker on June 15, 2011, 5:03 pm

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The Northern Ireland Marine Task Force have, in their own words, been “actively campaigning for effective marine legislation for Northern Ireland through the UK Marine Act and Northern Ireland Marine Bill since 2004.” The UK Marine Act arrived here in 2009, via a legislative consent motion in the NI Assembly, with a NI Marine Bill promised in 2012. Last week NIMTF welcomed the renewed support of MLAs from Alliance, SDLP, DUP and Sinn Féin. And yesterday some 200 schoolchildren arrived at Stormont …

Destination: Vesta!

Pete Baker on June 14, 2011, 7:57 pm

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Nasa’s Dawn spacecraft will arrive at the 530km wide asteroid Vesta on 16 July, where it will spend the next 12 months in orbit. Then it’s on to the dwarf planet, Ceres [950km wide]. Images Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA. The Hubble Space Telescope has already taken a look at Vesta but, on 1 June, Dawn captured its own views – at a distance of about 480,000km – to assist in the final navigation stage. And Nasa have released those looped images as a video. From the JPL Nasa press …

Endeavour’s last visit to the International Space Station

Pete Baker on June 8, 2011, 6:48 pm

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The BBC flagged up the stunning first-ever detailed image of a Space Shuttle docked at the International Space Station – Endeavour’s final voyage. Now NasaTV have released the video. The video was shot by European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli from the Russian Soyuz spacecraft that undocked from the station on May 23. He, Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Kondratyev and NASA astronaut Cady Coleman were departing the station for a return to Earth after five months on the station. Nespoli documented the …

Spectacular Solar Eruption

Pete Baker on June 8, 2011, 2:57 pm

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Wondrous images from Nasa’s Solar Dynamics Observatory of the spectacular eruption that accompanied an M-2 (medium-sized) solar flare on June 7. [Image/video credit: NASA SDO] And, via the Professor, Geeked on Goddard provides further video courtesy Helioviewer.org and a narration by The Sun Today. As LittleSDOHMI notes This Earth-directed CME [Coronal Mass Ejection] is moving at 1400 km/s according to NASA models. Due to its angle, however, effects on Earth should be fairly small. Nevertheless, it may generate space weather effects …

Legacy issues?

Pete Baker on June 4, 2011, 4:49 pm

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The suspicious object which, on its discovery yesterday, caused a security alert in the Sligo Road area of Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, was, apparently, a “40-year-old mortar”. Which would date it to [circa] 1971… But whose “mortar bomb” was it? And how long had it been in place? Update The “40-year-old mortar” is now being described as a “rocket propelled grenade” which “had been in the ground for 15 to 20 years” – it was disabled on Friday by British Army technical officers in a controlled …