Saturday, March 31, 2012

Science under fire from 'merchants of doubt': US historian
 
PARIS — Scientists are facing an uphill battle to warn the public about pressing issues due to dissenters in their ranks who intentionally sow uncertainty, says a US historian.
These naysayers -- some of whom are paid by interest groups -- have helped undermine action on vital problems despite evidence of the need to respond, said Naomi Oreskes, a professor of history and science studies at the University of California at San Diego.
They sap convictions by endlessly questioning data, dismissing experimental innovation, stressing uncertainties and clamouring for more research, she said. Over the last half-century, they have helped weaken legislative action or brake political momentum on tobacco, acid rain, protection of the ozone layer and climate change.

MORE: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hCrKasKbpX7WAw6Y9epyVLh22EqQ?docId=CNG.66e71d56aeda0ad2a877f5ab43bf59bf.291

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Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director,
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April Fools' Day Asteroid to Buzz Earth Sunday: No Joke!

Date: 31 March 2012 Time: 10:46 AM ET
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This graphic depicts the orbit of asteroid 2012 EG5 (in blue) during its April Fool's Day flyby of Earth on April 1, 2012.
This graphic depicts the orbit of asteroid 2012 EG5 (in blue) during its April Fool's Day flyby of Earth on April 1, 2012.
CREDIT: NASA/JPL
An asteroid the size of a passenger jet will zoom close by Earth on Sunday (April 1) just in time for April Fools' Day, but it has no chance of hitting the Earth, NASA says.
The asteroid 2012 EG5 will be closer than the moon when it passes Earth at 5:32 a.m. EDT (0932 GMT). The space rock is about 150 feet wide (46 meters), according to a NASA update.

MORE: http://www.space.com/15121-april-fools-day-asteroid-earth-flyby.html






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Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director,
Friends of the Zeiss < http://friendsofthezeiss.org >
Electronic Mail - < gawalsh@planetarium.cc >
SPACE & SCIENCE NEWS, ASTRONOMICAL CALENDAR:
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Author of History Web Sites on the Internet --
* Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh:
  < http://www.planetarium.cc >
* Adler Planetarium, Chicago:
  < http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Astronomer, Educator, Optician John A. Brashear:
  < http://johnbrashear.tripod.com >
* Andrew Carnegie & Carnegie Libraries:
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* Civil War Museum of Andrew Carnegie Free Library:
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NASA Chief Salutes 'Bold Venture' to Raise Sunken Apollo 11 Engines

Date: 31 March 2012 Time: 10:14 AM ET
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A close-up view of an F-1 engine for the Saturn V rocket’s first stage. Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos says he has found of the five engines used to launch Apollo 11 and plans to raise at least one from the ocean floor.
A close-up view of an F-1 engine for the Saturn V rocket’s first stage. Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos says he has found of the five engines used to launch Apollo 11 and plans to raise at least one from the ocean floor.
CREDIT: NASA
NASA's chief hopes that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has "all the luck in the world" recovering one or more of the engines that launched the first manned moon landing mission from where the dot-com billionaire recently discovered them on the ocean floor.
"I would like to thank Jeff Bezos for his communication with NASA informing us of his historic find," said Charles Bolden, NASA Administrator, in a statement issued Friday (March 30). "I salute him and his entire team on this bold venture."

MORE: http://www.space.com/15120-nasa-chief-apollo-11-rocket-engines.html








gaw

Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director,
Friends of the Zeiss < http://friendsofthezeiss.org >
Electronic Mail - < gawalsh@planetarium.cc >
SPACE & SCIENCE NEWS, ASTRONOMICAL CALENDAR:
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Author of History Web Sites on the Internet --
* Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh:
  < http://www.planetarium.cc >
* Adler Planetarium, Chicago:
  < http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Astronomer, Educator, Optician John A. Brashear:
  < http://johnbrashear.tripod.com >
* Andrew Carnegie & Carnegie Libraries:
  < http://www.andrewcarnegie.cc >
* Civil War Museum of Andrew Carnegie Free Library:
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* Duquesne Incline cable-car railway, Pittsburgh:
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* Public Transit:
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Citizen Scientists Reveal a Bubbly Milky Way

A team of volunteers from the general public has pored over observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope A team of volunteers from the general public has pored over observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and discovered more than 5,000 "bubbles" in the disk of our Milky Way galaxy. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Oxford University
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March 07, 2012
A team of volunteers has pored over observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and discovered more than 5,000 "bubbles" in the disk of our Milky Way galaxy. Young, hot stars blow these bubbles into surrounding gas and dust, indicating areas of brand new star formation. 

Upwards of 35,000 "citizen scientists" sifted through the Spitzer infrared data as part of the online Milky Way Project to find these telltale bubbles. The volunteers have turned up 10 times as many bubbles as previous surveys so far.

MORE: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2012-062&cid=release_2012-062&msource=12062

Other Citizen Science Projects:
Link >>> http://buhlplanetarium2.tripod.com/FAQ/citizenscience.html 

gaw

Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director,
Friends of the Zeiss < http://friendsofthezeiss.org >
Electronic Mail - < gawalsh@planetarium.cc >
SPACE & SCIENCE NEWS, ASTRONOMICAL CALENDAR:
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Blog: < http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/ >
Author of History Web Sites on the Internet --
* Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh:
  < http://www.planetarium.cc >
* Adler Planetarium, Chicago:
  < http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Astronomer, Educator, Optician John A. Brashear:
  < http://johnbrashear.tripod.com >
* Andrew Carnegie & Carnegie Libraries:
  < http://www.andrewcarnegie.cc >
* Civil War Museum of Andrew Carnegie Free Library:
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* Duquesne Incline cable-car railway, Pittsburgh:
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* Public Transit:
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Friday, March 30, 2012

Star Trek Tricorder Becoming Reality

Palm-sized Star Trek tech may be closer than you think


By Marc Istook | The Future Is Now – 6 hrs ago

In the Star Trek universe, the tricorder is a handheld device used by Kirk, Spock, and various red-shirted crew members to make detailed scans of unfamiliar planets and even less familiar life-forms. It can be used in sick bay to diagnose intergalactic patients, and in engineering to find which part of the warp core is missing.
One small device that can do all that must be total science-fiction, right? Well thanks to recent advances in x-ray technology, the tricorder might be much closer that you think.

MORE: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/future-is-now/palm-sized-star-trek-tech-may-closer-think-210316301.html

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Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director,
Friends of the Zeiss < http://friendsofthezeiss.org >
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  < http://www.planetarium.cc >
* Adler Planetarium, Chicago:
  < http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Astronomer, Educator, Optician John A. Brashear:
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Mysterious Stone Monolith Likely an Ancient Astronomical Calendar


A mysterious stone monolith jutting from the ground near Manchester, England probably served as a crude seasonal calendar for Stone Age farmers.
The moss-covered monolith has three faces and appears to be roughly 4,000 years old, based on dating of other relics sprinkled about the site, which is called Gardom’s Edge.
“The stone is a singular, very striking feature in contrast to the landscape,” said astronomer Daniel Brown of Nottingham Trent University in the UK. “It’s definitely not a Space Odyssey alien relic. It’s far more mundane and tricky.”

MORE: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/03/neolithic-monolith-sundial/

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Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director,
Friends of the Zeiss < http://friendsofthezeiss.org >
Electronic Mail - < gawalsh@planetarium.cc >
SPACE & SCIENCE NEWS, ASTRONOMICAL CALENDAR:
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* Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh:
  < http://www.planetarium.cc >
* Adler Planetarium, Chicago:
  < http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Astronomer, Educator, Optician John A. Brashear:
  < http://johnbrashear.tripod.com >
* Andrew Carnegie & Carnegie Libraries:
  < http://www.andrewcarnegie.cc >
* Civil War Museum of Andrew Carnegie Free Library:
  < http://garespypost.tripod.com >
* Duquesne Incline cable-car railway, Pittsburgh:
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Life on Other Planets

Milky Way Harbors Billions of Planets Where Life Could Flourish: Study

(Photo: ESO/L. Calçada)
This artist’s impression shows a sunset seen from the super-Earth Gliese 667 Cc. The brightest star in the sky is the red dwarf Gliese 667 C, which is part of a triple star system. The other two more distant stars, Gliese 667 A and B appear in the sky also to the right.
 
 
Red dwarf stars are some of the most common and long-lived stars in the galaxy -- and many of them may harbor planets that could support life, according to new research announced Wednesday.
European researchers examined 102 red dwarf stars over six years and found a total of nine "super-Earths" -- planets with a mass between one and 10 times that of our planet. Two of the exoplanets orbit at just the right distance from their suns to place them in the habitable zone where liquid water can exist, according to a paper that will appear in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
One of the super-Earths, Gliese 667Cc, orbits in the habitable zone around one of the stars in a triple-star system about 22 light years from Earth.

MORE: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/320855/20120328/life-planets-red-dwarfs-milky-way-extraterrestrial.htm

Science Fiction or Fact: Sentient Living Planets Exist

Date: 30 March 2012 Time: 02:39 PM ET
Lifes-little-mysteries


avatar pandora
A world alive? The moon Pandora in "Avatar," with the gas giant Polyphemus looming in the background.
CREDIT: 20th Century Fox
In this weekly series, Life's Little Mysteries rates the plausibility of popular science fiction concepts. Warning: Some spoilers ahead!
Narrators of nature shows often speak of Earth as a "living planet." To an extent, the metaphor is true: Biological beings do indeed swim, crawl and fly through our world's uppermost layers of ocean, land and sky. Plant life covers much of the Earth, and bacteria and viruses suffuse its soils, waters and even atmosphere.
But all that is still a far cry from the literally living, conscious planets that make appearances in many sci-fi and fantasy stories. Take Mogo in the "Green Lantern" DC Comics series, for instance. This planetary entity can change its climate and grow foliage in desired patterns on its surface at will.

MORE: http://www.livescience.com/19397-living-planet-pandora.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Livesciencecom+%28LiveScience.com+Science+Headline+Feed%29

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Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director,
Friends of the Zeiss < http://friendsofthezeiss.org >
Electronic Mail - < gawalsh@planetarium.cc >
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  < http://www.planetarium.cc >
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$7M Spaceport Runway Extension OK'd


The nearly two-mile-long runway at Spaceport America in southern New Mexico will have to be extended to accommodate Virgin Galactic's sleek rocket-powered spacecraft, spaceport officials confirmed Thursday.
New Mexico Spaceport Authority board members voted during a regular meeting Wednesday to extend the runway by another 2,000 feet. Spaceport America is the world's first terminal, hangar and runway built specifically for commercial space travel.

MORE: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/apnewsbreak-7m-spaceport-runway-extension-okd-16034815#.T3YU-_nlsbY

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Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director,
Friends of the Zeiss < http://friendsofthezeiss.org >
Electronic Mail - < gawalsh@planetarium.cc >
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* Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh:
  < http://www.planetarium.cc >
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* Astronomer, Educator, Optician John A. Brashear:
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Thursday, March 29, 2012

Is it Snowing Microbes on Saturn's Moon Enceladus? 

 

March 27, 2012: There's a tiny moon orbiting beyond Saturn's rings that's full of promise, and maybe -- just maybe -- microbes.
In a series of tantalizingly close flybys to the moon, named "Enceladus," NASA's Cassini spacecraft has revealed watery jets erupting from what may be a vast underground sea. These jets, which spew through cracks in the moon's icy shell, could lead back to a habitable zone that is uniquely accessible in all the solar system.
Microbes on Enceladus? (seams, 558px)
Dramatic plumes, both large and small, spray water ice from many locations near the south pole of Saturn's moon Enceladus. More than 30 individual jets of different sizes can be seen in this image captured during a flyby of NASA's Cassini spacecraft on Nov. 21, 2009. [more]

MORE: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/27mar_enceladus/

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Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director,
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NASA launches rockets to study jet stream

By BROCK VERGAKIS
Associated Press

NASA, Chemical tracers were released from five rockets launched from NASA’s Wallops Island test flight facility in Wallops Island, Va., on Tuesday morning. The tracers form white clouds that allowed scientists and the public to visualize upper level jet stream winds.

 NORFOLK, Va., Milky white chemical clouds were briefly visible in much of the night sky along the Eastern seaboard on Tuesday after NASA launched a series of rockets to study the jet stream at the edge of the earth’s atmosphere.

MORE: http://trivalleycentral.com/articles/2012/03/28/front/doc4f73325e5c423411475650.txt

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Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director,
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  < http://www.planetarium.cc >
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  < http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Astronomer, Educator, Optician John A. Brashear:
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* Andrew Carnegie & Carnegie Libraries:
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* Civil War Museum of Andrew Carnegie Free Library:
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'Mount Sharp' on Mars Links Geology's Past and Future

'Mount Sharp' Inside Gale Crater, Mars Curiosity, the big rover of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, will land in August 2012 near the foot of a mountain inside Gale Crater. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA/DLR/FU Berlin/MSSS
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March 28, 2012
One particular mountain on Mars, bigger than Colorado's grandest, has been beckoning would-be explorers since it was first sighted from orbit in the 1970s. Scientists have ideas about how it took shape in the middle of ancient Gale Crater and hopes for what evidence it could yield about whether conditions on Mars have favored life.

No mission to Mars dared approach it, though, until NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, which this August will attempt to place its one-ton rover, Curiosity, at the foot of the mountain. The moat of flatter ground between the mountain and the crater rim encircling it makes too small a touchdown target to have been considered safe without precision-landing innovations used by this mission.
MORE: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2012-090&cid=release_2012-090&msource=12090

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Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director,
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* Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh:
  < http://www.planetarium.cc >
* Adler Planetarium, Chicago:
  < http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Astronomer, Educator, Optician John A. Brashear:
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Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Amazon Founder Finds Apollo 11 Moon Rocket Engines On Ocean Floor

Date: 28 March 2012 Time: 02:57 PM ET
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This NASA file photo shows the first stage of the mighty Saturn V rocket used to launch the historic Apollo 11 moon landing mission in 1969 as the booster was being built. The five huge F-1 rocket engines were discarded into the Atlantic Ocean after the J
This NASA file photo shows the first stage of the mighty Saturn V rocket used to launch the historic Apollo 11 moon landing mission in 1969 as the booster was being built. The five huge F-1 rocket engines were discarded into the Atlantic Ocean after the July 16, 1969 launch.
CREDIT: NASA
When NASA's mighty Saturn V rocket launched the historic Apollo 11 mission to land the first men on the moon in 1969, the five powerful engines that powered the booster's first stage dropped into the Atlantic Ocean and were lost forever.
Lost, that is, until now.
A private expedition financed by Amazon.com founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos has discovered the five F-1 rocket engines used to launch Apollo 11 into space on July 16, 1969 and is drawing up plans to retrieve one or more so they can be publicly displayed.
.
MORE: http://www.space.com/15075-apollo-11-moon-rocket-engines-discovered.html

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Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director,
Friends of the Zeiss < http://friendsofthezeiss.org >
Electronic Mail - < gawalsh@planetarium.cc >
SPACE & SCIENCE NEWS, ASTRONOMICAL CALENDAR:
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* Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh:
  < http://www.planetarium.cc >
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  < http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Astronomer, Educator, Optician John A. Brashear:
  < http://johnbrashear.tripod.com >
* Andrew Carnegie & Carnegie Libraries:
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Computer Virus: How to Remove It


By Becky Worley | Upgrade Your Life – 6 hrs ago

Ughhhh! If your PC has ever been infected - or worse, if it's infected right now - you're probably groaning. Yes it's a pain, but the good news is: you can remove viruses yourself, for free.

MORE: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/upgrade-your-life/computer-virus-remove-195435755.html

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Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director,
Friends of the Zeiss < http://friendsofthezeiss.org >
Electronic Mail - < gawalsh@planetarium.cc >
SPACE & SCIENCE NEWS, ASTRONOMICAL CALENDAR:
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* Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh:
  < http://www.planetarium.cc >
* Adler Planetarium, Chicago:
  < http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Astronomer, Educator, Optician John A. Brashear:
  < http://johnbrashear.tripod.com >
* Andrew Carnegie & Carnegie Libraries:
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* Civil War Museum of Andrew Carnegie Free Library:
  < http://garespypost.tripod.com >
* Duquesne Incline cable-car railway, Pittsburgh:
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Apple: Battery charging bug is intentional in iPads and iPhones

 
If your device isn't fully charged at 100% battery life, it's working just as Apple wants it to
Recently, Tecca reported that when your new iPad display shows it's at 100% power, the battery may still be charging. Apple is responding to the report, saying that it's not a bug, it's a feature.

MORE: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technology-blog/apple-battery-charging-bug-intentional-ipads-iphones-210012967.html

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Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director,
Friends of the Zeiss < http://friendsofthezeiss.org >
Electronic Mail - < gawalsh@planetarium.cc >
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Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Asteroid Deflection: Lasers & Satellites

Engineers Set Their Sights On Asteroid Deflection

ScienceDaily (Mar. 27, 2012) — Pioneering engineers at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow are developing an innovative technique based on lasers that could radically change asteroid deflection technology.

The research has unearthed the possibility of using a swarm of relatively small satellites flying in formation and cooperatively firing solar-powered lasers onto an asteroid -- this would overcome the difficulties associated with current methods that are focused on large unwieldy spacecraft.

MORE: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120327124241.htm

gaw

Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director,
Friends of the Zeiss < http://friendsofthezeiss.org >
Electronic Mail - < gawalsh@planetarium.cc >
SPACE & SCIENCE NEWS, ASTRONOMICAL CALENDAR:
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Blog: < http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/ >
Author of History Web Sites on the Internet --
* Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh:
  < http://www.planetarium.cc >
* Adler Planetarium, Chicago:
  < http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Astronomer, Educator, Optician John A. Brashear:
  < http://johnbrashear.tripod.com >
* Andrew Carnegie & Carnegie Libraries:
  < http://www.andrewcarnegie.cc >
* Civil War Museum of Andrew Carnegie Free Library:
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* Duquesne Incline cable-car railway, Pittsburgh:
  < http://inclinedplane.tripod.com >
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Solar Storm Dumps Gigawatts into Earth's Upper Atmosphere




March 22, 2012:  A recent flurry of eruptions on the sun did more than spark pretty auroras around the poles.  NASA-funded researchers say the solar storms of March 8th through 10th dumped enough energy in Earth’s upper atmosphere to power every residence in New York City for two years.
“This was the biggest dose of heat we’ve received from a solar storm since 2005,” says Martin Mlynczak of NASA Langley Research Center.  “It was a big event, and shows how solar activity can directly affect our planet.”
Solar Storms Dumps Gigawatts (splash)
Earth's atmosphere lights up at infrared wavelengths during the solar storms of March 8-10, 2012. A ScienceCast video explains the physics of this phenomenon. Play it!

MORE: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/22mar_saber/

gaw

Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director,
Friends of the Zeiss < http://friendsofthezeiss.org >
Electronic Mail - < gawalsh@planetarium.cc >
SPACE & SCIENCE NEWS, ASTRONOMICAL CALENDAR:
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Blog: < http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/ >
Author of History Web Sites on the Internet --
* Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh:
  < http://www.planetarium.cc >
* Adler Planetarium, Chicago:
  < http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Astronomer, Educator, Optician John A. Brashear:
  < http://johnbrashear.tripod.com >
* Andrew Carnegie & Carnegie Libraries:
  < http://www.andrewcarnegie.cc >
* Civil War Museum of Andrew Carnegie Free Library:
  < http://garespypost.tripod.com >
* Duquesne Incline cable-car railway, Pittsburgh:
  < http://inclinedplane.tripod.com >
* Public Transit:
  < http://andrewcarnegie2.tripod.com/transit >

2 Small Asteroids Give Earth a Close Shave

Date: 26 March 2012 Time: 01:09 PM ET


Asteroid Could Threaten the Earth in 2182
This montage of images from several different observations and missions shows asteroids and comets visited by spacecraft from Earth. Courtesy of Ted Stryk/Emily Lakdawalla
CREDIT:
Two tiny asteroids zipped close by Earth today (March 26), passing between our planet and the orbit of the moon, but posed no threat of impacting our world, NASA scientists say.
The two space rocks flew by Earth in rapid fire; one zoomed by early in the day while the second buzzed the planet at 1:09 p.m. EDT (1709 GMT), according to astronomers with NASA's Asteroid Watch program.
"Both are very small (under 10 meters) and pose no risk," the scientists wrote in a Twitter update.

MORE: http://www.space.com/15043-small-asteroids-earth-close-shave.html


gaw

Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director,
Friends of the Zeiss < http://friendsofthezeiss.org >
Electronic Mail - < gawalsh@planetarium.cc >
SPACE & SCIENCE NEWS, ASTRONOMICAL CALENDAR:
  < http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/#news >
Twitter: < http://twitter.com/spacewatchtower >
Facebook: < http://www.facebook.com/pages/SpaceWatchtower/238017839577841?sk=wall >
Blog: < http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/ >
Author of History Web Sites on the Internet --
* Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh:
  < http://www.planetarium.cc >
* Adler Planetarium, Chicago:
  < http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Astronomer, Educator, Optician John A. Brashear:
  < http://johnbrashear.tripod.com >
* Andrew Carnegie & Carnegie Libraries:
  < http://www.andrewcarnegie.cc >
* Civil War Museum of Andrew Carnegie Free Library:
  < http://garespypost.tripod.com >
* Duquesne Incline cable-car railway, Pittsburgh:
  < http://inclinedplane.tripod.com >
* Public Transit:
  < http://andrewcarnegie2.tripod.com/transit >

Photos of New Supernova Captured by Amateur Astronomers

Date: 26 March 2012 Time: 02:12 PM ET


Galaxy M95 and Supernova SN2012aw
Skywatcher Parijat Singh took this photograph of the newly discovered supernova, SN2012aw, on March 16, 2012.
CREDIT: Parijat Singh

Skywatchers around the globe have jumped into action to catch a fleeting glimpse of a new star explosion, a supernova to be exact, that erupted into view recently in a nearby galaxy.
The supernova, called SN2012aw, represents the death of a massive star that collapsed in on itself and released a huge blast of radiation into space. It will be visible only for a limited time, so astrophotographers have been diligently gathering pictures while they can.

MORE: http://www.space.com/15040-photos-supernova-m95-skywatchers.html




gaw

Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director,
Friends of the Zeiss < http://friendsofthezeiss.org >
Electronic Mail - < gawalsh@planetarium.cc >
SPACE & SCIENCE NEWS, ASTRONOMICAL CALENDAR:
  < http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/#news >
Twitter: < http://twitter.com/spacewatchtower >
Facebook: < http://www.facebook.com/pages/SpaceWatchtower/238017839577841?sk=wall >
Blog: < http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/ >
Author of History Web Sites on the Internet --
* Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh:
  < http://www.planetarium.cc >
* Adler Planetarium, Chicago:
  < http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Astronomer, Educator, Optician John A. Brashear:
  < http://johnbrashear.tripod.com >
* Andrew Carnegie & Carnegie Libraries:
  < http://www.andrewcarnegie.cc >
* Civil War Museum of Andrew Carnegie Free Library:
  < http://garespypost.tripod.com >
* Duquesne Incline cable-car railway, Pittsburgh:
  < http://inclinedplane.tripod.com >
* Public Transit:
  < http://andrewcarnegie2.tripod.com/transit >

Monday, March 26, 2012

How to Spot a Huge Space Cargo Ship in Night Sky This Week

Date: 26 March 2012 Time: 03:35 PM ET
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This still from a video by skywatcher Marco Langbroek shows the European Space Agency's space cargo ship ATV-3 as it passed over Leiden in the Netherlands on March 23, 2012.
This still from a video by skywatcher Marco Langbroek shows the European Space Agency's space cargo ship ATV-3 as it passed over Leiden in the Netherlands on March 23, 2012.
CREDIT: Marco Langbroek (sattrackcam.blogspot.com)
Skywatchers around the world have two more chances to spot a huge robotic cargo ship that is currently orbiting Earth, but time is running out. By Wednesday (March 28), the spacecraft will arrive at the International Space Station, and both spacecraft may be visible together just before docking, weather permitting.
The giant space delivery truck is the Automated Transfer Vehicle 3 (ATV-3), a massive unmanned freighter carrying nearly 7 tons of cargo for astronauts on the space station. It launched into orbit last week on a mission for its builder, the European Space Agency.

MORE: http://www.space.com/15046-space-station-cargo-ship-skywatching-tips.html

gaw

Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director,
Friends of the Zeiss < http://friendsofthezeiss.org >
Electronic Mail - < gawalsh@planetarium.cc >
SPACE & SCIENCE NEWS, ASTRONOMICAL CALENDAR:
  < http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/#news >
Twitter: < http://twitter.com/spacewatchtower >
Facebook: < http://www.facebook.com/pages/SpaceWatchtower/238017839577841?sk=wall >
Blog: < http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/ >
Author of History Web Sites on the Internet --
* Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh:
  < http://www.planetarium.cc >
* Adler Planetarium, Chicago:
  < http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Astronomer, Educator, Optician John A. Brashear:
  < http://johnbrashear.tripod.com >
* Andrew Carnegie & Carnegie Libraries:
  < http://www.andrewcarnegie.cc >
* Civil War Museum of Andrew Carnegie Free Library:
  < http://garespypost.tripod.com >
* Duquesne Incline cable-car railway, Pittsburgh:
  < http://inclinedplane.tripod.com >
* Public Transit:
  < http://andrewcarnegie2.tripod.com/transit >