An asteroid will skim the Earth on Halloween

An asteroid will skim the Earth on Halloween

Wednesday, October 28, 2015 / No Comments

the orbit of the Moon around the Earth. At 480,000 kilometers, the asteroid 2015 TB145 will be close enough to be photographed. Nasa does not miss an opportunity to remind everyone that the observation of NEOs is an important activity that deserves credit.

October 31, 18 h 05 hours in metropolitan France, 2015 TB145 increase to about 480,000 kilometers from Earth, only 1.25 times the Earth-Moon distance since that day, our satellite will be 383,218 km. Such reconciliation is exceptional, explains NASA. According to the Minor Planet Center, it is to rank number two behind the 1999 AN10 which occur in August 2027 for an object of that size. This body will then pass 800 m to 380 thousand kilometers, the distance from the Earth to the Moon.

This however is not the known approximation of record, currently held by Apophis. In April 2029, it should be close to 30,000 km only, without collision. But it only measures 300 m. And everyone remembers the 15 February 2014 when NASA watched 2014 DA14 that bordered the Earth at 28,000 km whereas without the two events have a report, an object much smaller fortunately clashed in the Earth's atmosphere -Dessus Urals, igniting the sky of Chelyabinsk.

What do we risk this October 31?
Absolutely nothing, of course, and the event only of interest to astronomers. 2015 TB145 will be close enough to be imaged by a radar flash emitted from the DSS-13 radio antenna installed at 34 m Goldstone, California. The expected resolution of two meters per pixel. So far, the best image of the kind obtained is that of 2014 hq124 while asteroid was 1.25 million kilometers. Professionals do not perhaps be the only ones to see TB145 2015. Magnitude 10, it will also visible effect in the seasoned amateur astronomers instruments.
Furthermore, the object is unique, with a very elliptical orbit and highly inclined to the ecliptic and a speed of 35 km / s with respect to Earth, suggesting that this may d a piece of comet. After passing close to Earth, 2015 TB145 will approach the Sun to be closer than Mercury and then return later in the solar system. No doubt he will return in 30 years, as he must have done about 1985, discreetly.

As this passage will occur on Halloween, NASA does not hesitate to publicize the event by talking pumpkin, with obvious success. In addition, the Pan-STARRS program, which should eventually comprise four telescopes, is still in progress and such announcement is probably not bad for the issue of funding requests. NASA, meanwhile, is preparing a project to send astronauts beyond Earth orbit, precisely to an asteroid.
The phenomenon also reminds us that the monitoring of near space is not simple. If the asteroid more than a kilometer are relatively well marked, the smaller ones are more discreet. The latter, whose passage occurs twenty days after its detection, attests. Yet a body of this size hitting Earth would be devastating.
But still, our ancestors mammals have withstood the impact of a body of about 10 km, which dug a huge crater 150 km in diameter Chicxulub there are nearly 66 million years, causing (apparently) a mass extinction and disappearance of dinosaurs and ammonites ...

CO2 concentration exceeds 400 ppm, a record

CO2 concentration exceeds 400 ppm, a record

Monday, May 11, 2015 / No Comments

According to NOAA, the rate of concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, in March exceeded 400 parts per million, the highest ever measured content. Yet, emissions have stagnated in 2014.

March 2014: 398.10 ppm (parts per million by volume). March 2015: 400.83 ppm. NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency US, has announced a record. Every week, this rate is measured on Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii, NOAA and establishes the monthly global content based on 40 sites worldwide. This is the first time the content of the atmosphere of carbon dioxide (carbon dioxide, or CO2) exceeds 400 ppm.

Yet, according to the IEA (International Energy Agency), as reported by the press NOAA, global emissions of carbon dioxide by fossil fuel combustion stagnated between 2013 and 2014. The atmospheric content has nevertheless increased by 2 25 ppm per year between 2012 and 2014, "the highest increase recorded over three years."

Since the beginning of the industrial age, the concentration of CO2 has increased by 120 ppm, "half of the increase occurring since the 1980s." According to James Butler, NOAA, "the elimination of approximately 80% of emissions from fossil fuels stop the progression of the atmospheric content of carbon dioxide, but it will not decrease and no further reduction would only do so slowly ".

The largest asteroid impact crater was discovered in Australia

The largest asteroid impact crater was discovered in Australia

Saturday, March 28, 2015 / No Comments

Buried under several kilometers of sediments, two structures identified in Australia could well be the trace left by a double asteroid impact there are hundreds of millions of years. If this is the case with a diameter of 400 km, it would be the largest known impact crater on Earth. At the time, the fall of an asteroid of this size should have lead to a major biological attack. Problem: according to the dating of the impact, the event took place at a period not yet contain any known mass extinction.
With Canada, Australia is a paradise for lovers of craters asteroid impacts. A group of geologists led by Australian Andrew Glikson just confirmed by publishing an article in Tectonophysics announcing the probable discovery of the largest known impact crater. The previous record was held by the Vredefort meteorite crater, South Africa. Its diameter is estimated at 300 km and age two billion years. In the case of the structure discovered in the Warburton River basin, located in South Australia, we would be in the presence of a 400 km diameter structure. It would, however, not a single impact crater but two craters, wide about 200 km each, which were formed simultaneously due to the fragmentation of an asteroid.

As in the case of the Chicxulub crater, this discovery was made by serendipity. Oil exploration work conducted using analysis of seismic waves had indeed already revealed the existence of structures buried under more than 3 km of sediments. Also confirmed that other geophysical methods for prospecting, namely the gravity and magnetic survey. The surprise came primarily from the study of drill core made this time as part of the geothermal exploration.

Andrew Glikson and colleagues found by examining microscopic quartz found in rock samples brought to the surface, as these features contained traces of colossal shock waves. In other words, they were shocked quartz, strong indicators of asteroid impacts. But this conclusion was enough to make the geosciences specialists particularly perplexed.

An older crater that the extinction of the Permian-Triassic

Indeed, the dating of rocks present above structures that appear to result from a double asteroid impact indicates that it had to happen there are at least 300 million years at most 420. If we had found as a lower bound to -200 million years, the discovery was loud as it would have been consistent with the greatest mass extinction ever known the biosphere, the Permian-Triassic there are about 252 million years. Now, with a astrobleme 400 km in diameter, the largest identified on the surface of the Earth (the Chicxulub is 180 km), it should be associate deposits and especially a major biological attack, which is absolutely not.

The announcement is taken with some skepticism by many colleagues Glikson. Christian Koeberl, an expert on asteroid impacts of the Museum of Natural History in Vienna (Austria) is, for example, not convinced by the arguments in the article Tectonophysics. For him, the geophysical anomalies detected by seismic and gravity do not resemble those encountered with astroblemes usually studied elsewhere on Earth. His interpretations of the shocked quartz also differ from those of his colleagues. The researcher does not recognize them as such but as manifestations of magmatic activity of our planet.


Glikson nevertheless persists but he concedes that it is a mystery and the researcher added: "We can not find great extinctions that coincide with these crashes. I suspect that the impact could be older than 300 million years.

Space : Mars once had a vast ocean bigger than the Arctic

Space : Mars once had a vast ocean bigger than the Arctic

Monday, March 16, 2015 / No Comments

In his youth, Mars was a wet planet. It even housed a vast ocean as the Arctic, according to NASA scientists, whose work was published Thursday, March 5 in the journal Science.
Their findings show that the planet had so much water it could have been completely covered to a depth of 137 meters, researchers say. This ocean that covered half of the northern hemisphere of the planet, reaching in places over 1.6 km deep, according to their research. This sea was to cover 19% of the planet. In comparison, the Atlantic occupies 17% of the surface of the Earth.
"Our study provides a good estimate of the water was on Mars in determining the amounts lost in space," says Geronimo Villanueva, a center researcher Goddard Space Flight NASA in Greenbelt, Maryland, the one of the main authors. Detailed analyzes of the Martian atmosphere enabled them to establish that the Red Planet had indeed lost 87% of its water in space.

Study of the different forms of water

The new estimate is based on very detailed comments in slightly different forms of water, the more familiar formed of an oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms (H2O), and semi-heavy water (HDO) wherein one of the hydrogen atoms is replaced by deuterium.
Using the Keck telescope 2 infrared NASA in Hawaii, and a powerful European telescope of the European Southern Observatory in Chile, the scientists were able to distinguish between the chemical signatures of the two types of water. By comparing the ratio of heavy water in semi-normal water that researchers were able to deduce the amount of water that had escaped into space. They performed their measurements repeatedly for six years, about three Martian years.
The map they produced also reveals the seasonal changes on Mars and microclimates, even if the planet is now a vast desert. These scientists were especially interested in the areas near the poles, which are the largest water reservoir of Mars, now in the form of ice. "With Mars lost so much water, the planet was most likely wet longer estimated previously, suggesting that it could have been living longer," said Michael Mumma, a scientist at Goddard, co-author of these work.
Before this study, it was estimated that the hot and humid period had ended in March there are about 3.7 billion years. It is also possible that Mars contained in the past even more water, part of which would have seeped below the surface, are these researchers.

According to them, the new maps of water ratios that reveal microclimates and fluctuations in the amounts of water in the atmosphere could be useful in the search for bodies of water in the basement.

SPACE: NASA selects Boeing and SpaceX for "space taxis"

SPACE: NASA selects Boeing and SpaceX for "space taxis"

Friday, September 19, 2014 / No Comments

NASA is betting on SpaceX and Boeing to transport its astronauts aboard the International Space Station and back down to Earth. Both offer caps Apollo type, but if Boeing with its CST-100 was on a flight back to sea, manned SpaceX Dragon will return to sea and ground. The Dream Chaser Sierra Nevada, a kind of mini bus with a lifting body structure (carrier wing) returning as a glider has not been selected by NASA.

First space power in the world, the United States had lost its pride when, in July 2011, the saga of the shuttle was finished with the last flight of Atlantis. Then literally saw land, unable to launch its own astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station (ISS). Blame Barack Obama in 2010 canceled the proposed a "return to the Moon" Constellation program

In fact, when in 2004 the Americans decide to stop flying the shuttle at the end of the construction of the International Space Station, NASA predicted that the Orion spacecraft that was developed as part of the Constellation program, replaces to transport American astronauts and rotation of the ISS crew.

Replacement of Constellation, the United States program are betting on the privatization of space transportation to the ISS. Two public-private partnerships are configured to run the competition among American companies seeking service contracts. It will load COTS, won by SpaceX and Orbital Sciences shared today supplies to the ISS, one with the Dragon (SpaceX) capsule and the other with the load Cygnus (Orbital Sciences). For transporting astronauts who will pit the Apollo capsules and CCDev Boeing and SpaceX, Sierra Nevada and mininavette pitcher ATK and Airbus Liberty Area.

Do not depend on Russia

After discarding the ATK Space and Airbus, in August 2012 the project, NASA formally selected projects SpaceX and Boeing to build the two first private spacecraft capable of carrying astronauts to the ISS. It is expected that the "space taxi" service to start before the end of 2017 test flights, uninhabited, are offered in the course of 2015 and a demonstration flight first-hand to the International Space Station is possible in the fall @ 2017 .


This contract is a possible $ 6.8 million to end the dependence of the United States vis-à-vis Russia, Soyuz offers to transport NASA astronauts, but also other international partners are expected . Boeing has been allocated the largest share, with $ 4.2 billion, while 2.6 billion back to SpaceX.

Cosmology: the enigma of lithium is confirmed

Cosmology: the enigma of lithium is confirmed

Thursday, September 18, 2014 / No Comments

Many of the predictions of the theory of primordial nucleosynthesis, one of the pillars of the Big Bang theory were successful. But disagreement remained between theoretical predictions and observations on the lithium abundance in the Milky Way. An international team of astronomers, measuring a similar distribution outside our galaxy, has confirmed that it is indeed a true cosmological puzzle.

Globular clusters are memories of galaxy formation and the state of matter when it is started. These sets are mostly populated by old stars of at least 10 billion years old and have reached a stage of development similar. Metal-poor, that is to say, in the jargon of astrophysicists heavier than hydrogen and helium elements, these stars must have formed at the same time and are contemporary with the oldest stars in the galaxies.


It is hoped there abundances of light measuring elements are isotopes of hydrogen lithium those before they were not significantly converted into heavier elements by nucleosynthesis. Detailed measurements of the abundances can therefore be used to constrain the theory of primordial nucleosynthesis describing the production of light elements minutes after the Big Bang.

A globular cluster around the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy

An international team of astronomers led by Alessio Mucciarelli (University of Bologna, Italy), with the participation of a CNRS researcher working in the laboratory galaxies, stars, physics and instrumentation of the Paris Observatory (Gepi), focused on determination of lithium abundance in old stars in the globular cluster Messier 54 (M54). Ever thought it was one of the many satellites of our Milky Way clusters, but was finally discovered in 1994, in fact, that is orbiting the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy. Giraffe spectrograph built Gepi equipment and VLT (Very Large Telescope) ESO since 2002 has evaluated the abundance of lithium in an environment located about 90,000 light years from our galaxy. The results of these observations were recently published in an article freely available on arXiv.

To new physics?
The observations were made in the giant stars of M54, but the theory of stellar evolution is used to connect the lithium abundance in these stars to dwarf in this cluster, which ultimately make comparisons with dwarf stars elderly in the Milky Way. In our galaxy, the abundance of lithium are measured three times lower than predicted by the theory of the Big Bang. However, this discrepancy could be the result of statistical fluctuations in the distribution of light elements that make our Milky Way a single local historic accident. On average, on a larger scale and in other galaxies, the distribution of lithium could then êtreresterait in good agreement with the theory of primordial nucleosynthesis.

But according to measurements made with M54, it would not be. The lithium abundances are very similar to those measured in our galaxy. Lithium is in the heart of a beautiful puzzle in cosmology itself.

How do I fix it? The primordial nucleosynthesis calculations are based on the well known and reproducible laboratory nuclear physics. It seems necessary to introduce new elements, either as regards the period of a few minutes after the Big Bang nucleosynthesis (for example, supersymmetric particles decay) or at the level of the physics of stars. Lithium may have been destroyed in the first generation of stars that little is still known or even during the evolution of stars on the main sequence standards.

Cornell’s researchers Probe Beyond the Big Bang

Cornell’s researchers Probe Beyond the Big Bang

Tuesday, September 16, 2014 / No Comments

Cornell’s experimental cosmology research group recently announced the first results from a Cosmic Microwave Background study using a polarization-sensitive camera (ACTPol).

A long tradition of research in cosmology at Cornell College of Arts and Sciences gave birth to a vigorous effort by a new generation of cosmologists to understand the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the thermal radiation left over from the Big Bang.

"A big part of all knowledge about the history of the universe as a whole is revealed when you fully understand the WBC," said Michael Niemack, assistant professor of physics, which focuses on labor shares CMB.

Cosmology, the study of the nature and evolution of the universe, has made ​​great strides in the past 30 years, said Jeevak Parpia, professor and chair of physics. "We are in an era of cosmology" precision "."

"This is a time of rapid progress in the field," says Liam McAllister, associate professor of physics and an expert on string theory teacher. "I'm not sure about this new discovery published any day see arXiv tonight."

Henry Tye, Horace White Professor of Physics Emeritus, was one of the first to realize inflation in string theory, and left a legacy of unusual cooperation with Cornell among cosmologists of all kinds. McAllister said it is rare to find a school like Cornell where meaningful collaborations among string theorists, experimentalists and astronomers, as their research and Niemack by associate professor of Astronomy Rachel Bean.

"Cosmology at Cornell University is a wonderful example of the culture of collaboration within the arts and sciences disciplines, instrumentalists and highly qualified to reflect on the theoretical implications of physical laws" the researchers said Gretchen Ritter, Harold Tanner Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

"The search for the CMB is a rich, constantly evolving field with a mixture of science that excites both astronomy and physics communities," said Terry Herter, president of astronomy. "Trying to understand the origin and evolution of the universe and fundamental physics at the same time -. There is nothing better than this"

McAllister, Receives National Science Foundation Award for his work on early theoretical models of the early universe career, seeks to understand how theories of inflation that occurred in the early universe can be based on a certain theoretical basis and outside a mathematically consistent structure.

"We want to understand the physics behind inflation," he said. "One of our responsibilities as theorists is to try to predict future results and interpret experimental results from existing experiences."

McAllister, what is needed is a theory in which the laws of gravity are inherently quantum mechanical, but behave according to classical physics in systems that are quite large and slow. So far, he said, string theory is the only approach that provides a consistent theory of quantum gravity.

Experimentally, measurements of the CMB at higher resolution than Niemack continues directly related to tests of general relativity Bean interested.

The completion of the Cornell Caltech Atacama Telescope (CCAT), which will be the largest submillimeter telescope in the global project will be a boon for cosmologists, Niemack said. Bean and he intends to use CCAT to investigate clusters of galaxies with much higher speeds than is now possible accuracy.

Experiments probing the CMB have the potential to reveal the laws of nature in a much more fundamental than that level has proved otherwise manner. "For example, the results of the observations of the CMB polarization could have a transformative effect on the types of problems related to the early universe theorists continue," McAllister said.


"That's what makes it so attractive," said Niemack. "Any of these experiences or observations basically could change the way we view the universe."

Experimental cosmology

Experimental research group at Cornell cosmology - including assistant professor of physics Michael Niemack, Francesco De Bernardis postdocs and Shawn Henderson, and graduate students Brian Koopman and Patricio Gallardo - recently announced the first results of a micro waves of cosmic microwave background using a polarization-sensitive camera (ACTPol) Niemack who led the design of the Atacama Cosmology for 6 yards.

"ACTPol has a unique place in science that can chase better than anyone else because of the capabilities we have built in our instrument," Niemack said. "We are looking for small, tiny signs, roughly a part in 107 over the bottom of a range of scales that have not been examined before."


An update will be completed this year will add three times more detectors and channel ACTPol additional frequency, allowing the group to investigate the physics at the energy scale of grand unification, the energy of a billion times higher than they were tested in the large Hadron Collider.

space : NASA's Robonaut 2 Droid Gets Its Legs on Space Station

space : NASA's Robonaut 2 Droid Gets Its Legs on Space Station

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Look out, astronauts – your companion robot on the International Space Station is now mobile! NASA's Robonaut 2 has received a set of legs that will help it move around the station, and will eventually enable the bot to work on repairs both inside and outside the orbiting outpost.

NASA astronaut Steve Swanson, who commanded the expedition 40 crew station, helped establish the humanoid robot appendages at the end of August, before returning to Earth last week. The legs help the robot move around the space station to perform simple tasks. Later that year, after some changes in your upper body, later this year, Robonaut 2 will use his new legs to venture into his first space walk also.


"You can do anything if you are set on a candlestick, that is what we have in the last two years," Ron Diftler, Robonaut project's principal investigator, said in a television interview on NASA TV. "With the addition of the legs, we can go mobile." [See photos of humanoid robot Robonaut 2 NASA]

While the top half of Robonaut like a human, the legs do not look like the legs of a person very well. Instead of feet, the robot has features that allow you to lock in and edit objects. The legs are longer than the legs of a man - a 9 feet (2.7 meters) - and are more flexible, giving the robot more ways to cling to things in or out of the station.

"In space, no uses her human legs in the way of using them in the ground," said Diftler. "We do not adhere to the human form, that makes no sense." NASA researchers have not even had the legs to mind when they sent Robonaut 2 to the space station in 2011, but it was possible to add tabs with improved wiring and level of robot computer systems. "

The legs were transported to the space station aboard a freighter in April.Yet, even if its creation, Robonaut 2 was sometimes used by the crews of the space station. In February 2012, RobonautIt shook hands with Expedition 30 Commander Dan Burbank, and earlier this year, the robot uses a "job board" to test their ability to manipulate the buttons, switches and knobs. More recently, Robonaut has been moving "soft" work such as blankets that provide thermal protection for the components of the space station.

Last year, the astronaut Tom Marshburn teleoperating Robonaut tested using virtual reality gear to control the robot and raise a floating object.

Quasar Sequence Mystery is solved

Quasar Sequence Mystery is solved

Thursday, September 11, 2014 / No Comments

Quasars are supermassive black holes living in the center of distant massive galaxies. They shine like the brightest lights in the sky by a strong acceleration problem in their centers of gravity inevitable. New work to solve a mystery quasar were puzzled astronomers for decades. This shows that most of the observed quasar phenomena can be unified with twin quantities: how effective is energized the hole, and the orientation of the display astronomer.

quasars are supermassive black holes living in the center of distant massive galaxies. They shine like the brightest lights in the sky across the electromagnetic spectrum by the accretion of matter gravitationally rapidly lost their centers. The new Carnegie Hubble Fellow working Shen Yue and Luis Ho, the Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics (KIAA) at Peking University quasar to solve a mystery that astronomers have been puzzled for 20 years. Their work, published in the Sept. 11 Nature, shows that the observed quasar phenomena can be unified with twin quantities: one that describes how effectively the hole feeds, and reflects the direction of viewing the astronomer.

Quasars have a wide range of aspects, seen by astronomers that reflects the diversity in terms of regions near their centers. But despite this variety, quasars have a surprising amount of regularity in their measurable physical properties, which are well-defined patterns (called "main sequence" of quasars) found that more than 20 years. Shen and Ho solve a puzzle than two decades in the quasar selection: What unifies these properties in the main sequence? 
The use of larger and more homogeneous to date more than 20,000 quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey sample, along with several new statistical tests, Shen and Ho were able to demonstrate that a particular property related to the accretion of the hole, called the Eddington report, is the driving force behind the so-called main sequence. Eddington report describes the effectiveness feedstock black hole, the competition between the force of gravity pulling the material inward and outward behavior brightness radiation. This tug of war between gravity and the shine has long been suspected of being the main driver of the so-called main sequence, and their work on time, confirms this hypothesis. 
In a further importance, they found that the orientation of the line of fire when you look down into the interior region of the black hole plays an important role in observing the intimate gas moving fast hole, which produces the broad lines emission in the spectra of quasars astronomer. This changes the scientific understanding of the geometry of the region of the line closest to the black hole, a place called the region of the broad emission line: the gas is distributed in a flattened pancake configuration. In the future, this will help astronomers improve their measurements of the mass of the black hole of quasars. 
"Our findings have important implications for quasar research. Unification This simple diagram has a way to better understand how supermassive black holes accrete matter and interaction with their environment," Shen said. 

"And better measurements of the mass of the black hole will receive a variety of applications in understanding the cosmic growth of supermassive black holes and their role in the formation of galaxies," Ho said.

The meteorite Nicaragua does it come from the asteroid RC 2014

The meteorite Nicaragua does it come from the asteroid RC 2014

Tuesday, September 9, 2014 / No Comments

This weekend, an asteroid, RC 2014, passed very close to Earth at 40,000 km only. In the night from Saturday to Sunday, a meteorite crashed near a hotel in Managua, the Nicaraguan capital. The two events are related? Yes, say experts in the country.

On Saturday night at 22 h 55 local time, the people of Managua were surprised by an explosion. Seismometers Nicaraguan network has also recorded the event, which took place near the international airport. Research in this urban rapid and oversight of the military zone, led to the discovery of a crater 12 meters in diameter and 3 m deep. A nicaragayen site, EL19, has released images of the crater.

Apparently, there is no doubt: it is a meteorite that fell there, causing no damage or casualties. Chance is extraordinary in this dense city with 1.2 million inhabitants. The object has fallen into one of the few wooded areas around 300 m from the Camino Real hotel.


A group of experts has been formed and has begun the investigation, which included researchers from the INET (Institute for the Study of Nicaraguan territory, responsible for monitoring seismic and volcanic activity). For now, the size of the object is unknown, as is their nature. It is not clear what is and what is going to recover in the crater, heavily guarded by the army. Perhaps still buried deep, but it may also have been widely dispersed materials. Scientists from other countries will surely lend a hand to INETER geologists.

-However, the country's authorities have stated afterwards that the meteorite came from the asteroid RC 2014, spotted Aug. 31 by Catalina Survey program and actually passed very close to Earth Sunday, September 7. The Pan-1 telescope Starr was also possible to observe that little body, which would measure about twenty yards and came within 40,000 kilometers of Earth's surface, that is to say, just a little further than geostationary orbit. Schedules correspond roughly since 2014 RC went closest to Earth on Sunday at 18 pm GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) and the object of Managua touched down that day at about 5 pm GMT (so Saturday night to 23 h 00 local time).

However, no astronomical data are available to advance this hypothesis with certainty and must be confirmed. We remember that the meteorite fell in Chelyabinsk in Russia, February 13, 2013, struck the Earth a few hours before passing very near the asteroid 2012 DA Yet the two objects whose trajectories were very different, did not come no neighboring directions and therefore have that intersect by chance near our planet.

Anyway, the event of Managua is extremely rare for the proximity of the fall with a major metropolitan area. He will remain as such in the record, unless one considers that the increase in human population density increases the probability that a body fell from the sky lands on a populated area.

Asteroid Threat could divide society

Asteroid Threat could divide society

Thursday, September 4, 2014 / No Comments

Imagine an asteroid hurtling toward Earth, with a chance of 1 in 1000 to hit the planet. How humanity to meet the new, and there is nothing we can do about it? A browser is old NASA spacecraft details a scenario in a new science fiction novel.

In "The Darkest Side of Saturn: Odyssey of a reluctant prophet of Doom" (iUniverse, 2014), two scientists discover a space rock could hit Earth in 16 years. The discovery of the asteroid threat opposes scientists against each other, and juxtaposes science against religious fanaticism that humanity is trying to come to terms with the event of imminent death.

If a wide (3.2 km) 2 mile asteroid collided with Earth, the impact "is almost sure to be an event of destructive civilization," said the author, Tony Taylor, Tempe, Arizona. [Top 10 Ways to Destroy the Earth]

Taylor is not a NASA spokesperson or expert on asteroids, but his career has guided the spacecraft to all the planets of the solar system as a browser spacecraft at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA in Pasadena, California, and later in the aviation consultancy KinetX Aerospace in Tempe, Arizona.

The asteroid that killed the dinosaurs measured at least 6 miles (10 km) in the majority of scientists agree, but a rock 2 miles wide area would be likely to cause an explosion dozens of times greater than that caused by all nuclear weapons in the world detonated at once, Taylor told Live Science.

"Hundreds of millions of people would die - if not direct consequences of hunger and war," he said.

The title of the book is based on the first photos of the night side of Saturn from Voyager. The novel explores not only the science of detecting a hazardous asteroid on a collision course with the planet, but also the social, political and religious dimensions of such apocalyptic event.

Handling the news

How humanity responds to the new threat of an asteroid depends on the possibility that the space rock could hit the planet, and how humans knew in advance the risk of collision. If the rock is due to hit Earth in a few months or years, probably would not be much controversy about this, and it is likely that governments work together to try to prepare for the impact, Taylor said. [7 Strange Asteroids: the strange space rocks in our solar system]

"If I had a gun with 1,000 rooms and a round to play Russian roulette and pull the trigger?" He asked Taylor. "Of course not." 

But if the odds of the asteroid hitting the Earth were less clear, as is the case with Taylor's novel, becomes a matter of who believes there is a risk and denies he said. 

For example, at first, scientists could discuss how the news should be disclosed to the public. In Taylor's book is what happens between the two scientists who discovered the asteroid. The main female character, an astronomer wants to keep the discovery confined within the scientific community until it can be confirmed unanimously. But his partner, a spacecraft engineer, chooses to disclose to the public, which eventually became behind. 

Once the news comes out that the asteroid is easy to imagine how the scientific rationalism can become clouded by religious fanaticism, as Taylor suggests in his book. After the announcement, the sage does not want a religious fanatic and his followers attention. The scientist is fighting to promote the logic of faith-based dogma preacher. 


Of course, Taylor's book is fiction, it is impossible to know how to play an event like this in reality.

Close encounters

There are about 4,700 potentially hazardous asteroids measuring more than 330 feet (100 meters) wide that could pose a danger to Earth, NASA estimates, and 70 percent of these rocks were not identified, says Taylor.

The meteorite that hit Russia Chelyabinsk in February 2013 only about 65 feet (20 m) was spacious, but the impact produces an explosion equivalent to 500 kilotons of TNT (about 25 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima at the end world world War), and indirectly around 1,500 people injured.

The same day, another asteroid measuring 150 feet (46 m) in diameter, known as 2012 DA14 was within 17,200 miles (27,680 kilometers) from Earth, passing below the orbits of the Moon and satellites.

NASA and other organizations constantly monitor the skies for these near-Earth objects - asteroids and comets that are pulled by the gravity of other planets in orbits that come near Earth.


But just having a monitoring program in place is not enough, says Taylor. If an asteroid is discovered, scientists are unlikely to have the last word on whether or not to act. "What is needed is a political enterprise," he said.

Sea Plankton on Space Station?

Sea Plankton on Space Station?

Tuesday, September 2, 2014 / No Comments

A Russian official said that samples collected by astronauts show evidence of sea plankton in the outside of the International Space Station, news agencies are reporting. 
The space station cosmonauts have allegedly discovered traces of sea plankton and other microscopic organisms that live on the outside of the station, exposed to the vacuum of space, according to an official from the space station news quoting Vladimir Soloviev. 

However, NASA has not confirmed the reports. "As far as we are concerned, we have not heard the official reports of our colleagues have found that Roscosmos sea plankton," said NASA spokesman Dan Huot. Russia's Roscosmos Federal Space Agency.

the result of a long-term study carried out using specialized by the Russians in the station equipment, according to the news agency.

Although the astronauts a taste outside the space station and a window in one of the modules of the week, which are not necessarily looking for traces of microbes, according to NASA.

"I do not know where every word sea plankton just know," said Huot Space.com. "The Russians take samples from one of the windows in the Russian segment, and what they are really looking for is residue that can accumulate in visually sensitive areas such as windows and only the hull itself elements that set each time for things like fire thrusters increases again. This samples are taken to. plankton do not know where all of the speech comes from the sea. "


Plankton may, if confirmed, could be a contaminant released into space with space station module, said NASA scientist Lynn Rothschild.

Previous studies have shown that microorganisms can survive in space.

For example, tardigrades - microscopic invertebrates found throughout the world - can dehydrate and fall into a hibernation that allows them to survive in space, Rothschild said. Tardigrades (also called "water bears") are part of a disposal group classified as "extremophiles" - organisms that can survive even in the harshest environments.

"Note that there is a long history of the United States and European missions to demonstrate that microbes can survive in low Earth orbit for long periods of time," Rothschild told Space.com via email.

The researchers also discovered microbes in the upper atmosphere of the Earth. In 2013, scientists reported that they had found a large number of different types of microorganisms in the atmosphere at 10.5 miles (16.8 kilometers) above the planet's surface, according to the space. com sister site Live Science.

Bacterial life was even found 24.8 miles (40 kilometers) into the atmosphere, according to a 2013 interview with Tina Santl Temkiv, an environmental chemist at the University of Aarhus in Denmark, the sister site of Space. com Live Science.

NASA officials keep an eye on the growth of bacteria inside the spacecraft. Biofilms - colonies of bacteria - are growing within the International Space Station, and scientists are trying to understand how the microgravity environment affects their growth. Astronauts grew bad bacteria in the urine during a flight of space shuttle Atlantis from NASA and strangely found growing in biofilms compared to the same crop species on Earth.

"The unique aspect and structure of P. aeruginosa biofilms formed in microgravity suggests that nature is not able to adapt to terrestrial environments in ways that deserve further studies, including studies on long-term growth and adaptation to a low gravity environment "Cynthia Collins, who led the study, said in a NASA statement 2013" Before you start sending astronauts to Mars or engage in other tasks of long duration space flight, which should be as sure as possible that we have eliminated or significantly reduced the risk of biofilms against human crew and their equipment "

the evolution of Young Stars

the evolution of Young Stars

Saturday, August 30, 2014 / No Comments

A team of astronomers studying surface vibrations in thirty-four young stars is a clear relationship between seismic observables and state of evolution was found, and, in particular, are able to deduce the internal stellar processes and ongoing development of the corresponding evolution star.
The evolution of a star depends primarily on its initial mass and composition of birth and evolution of early life. These initial properties determine, for example, the production of chemical elements forged later in the nuclear furnace star and its angular momentum after early affects their internal energy distribution. Thus, astronomers are working to understand the physical processes in the early stages of a star's life after a dense clump of interstellar material contracted, heated, and began the process of star gestation.

In the early stages of the life of a star, its central temperature and density are still not high enough to initiate significant burned; releasing energy from gravitational energy, and flows through gas movements. As internal temperatures rise and the hot gas becomes more transparent, the internal energy begins to redistribute radiation by both gas motions. Then, as these related and compete for supremacy, processes the star vibrates slightly, an effect that may be observed that the periodic variations in the surface of the star luminosity and temperature. In some young stars, you can use "asteroseismology" - the measure of these acoustic models - for exploring the structure and evolution of the star.

CfA astronomer Dimitar Sasslov joined a team of other researchers to study surface vibrations in thirty-four young stars. Their ages are limited by its emission spectrum or membership of star clusters whose ages are known to be less than ten million years, signaling periodic vibrations likely in young stars. The team found a clear relationship between seismic observables and state of evolution and, in particular, are able to deduce the stellar internal process and the development of the corresponding evolution of the star. By analogy with ultrasound, the technique of asteroseismology is able to probe the unborn child, and provides a new probe of the early stages of a star's life.

Successful launch Galileo satellites but on the wrong orbit!

Successful launch Galileo satellites but on the wrong orbit!

Wednesday, August 27, 2014 / No Comments

The two Galileo satellites launched into the wrong orbit were built by the German company OHB. They boarded a payload provided by SSTL (Surrey Satelite Technology Ltd, UK), a subsidiary of Airbus Area. © Esa, J. Huart

The champagne was a bit early lead, Friday, Aug. 22. A successful launch does not necessarily mean a total mission success. This is what unfortunately happened with the first two operational satellites in the Galileo constellation (the European GPS). Indeed, after taking off on time, the Russian Soyuz, which was to bring the two Galileo satellites on orbit after a mission to 3 h 47 min thus missed its target. This announcement was made by Arianespace, responsible for the launch on behalf of the European Space Agency (ESA), a few hours after welcomed the successful storing of satellites. Meanwhile, additional observations collected after their separations revealed a gap between the orbit and reached the initial target.

The Fregat upper stage involved

This is obviously bad news may delay several quarters full deployment of the constellation and the first several months with reduced quality services provided in the course of a 2015 episode of the program in addition to insider early 2000s However, this is not the first time that the satellites are inserted in the wrong orbit and a solution could be found to avoid losing them as was the case, for example, Yamal-402.

Based on preliminary analyzes, an abnormality may have occurred during the flight phase of the Fregat stage, leading to an injection of satellites in orbit improper. That referred to was circular, inclined at 55 degrees and with a semi-major axis of 29,900 km. The orbit is reached, in turn, is elliptical with an eccentricity of 0.23, a semimajor axis of 26,200 km and inclination of 49.8 degrees.

Rescue mission

Now that the position of the satellites we know, the European Space Agency has two options available to it. Or it may decide to use their engines to get them on the right orbit, that results in a shorter lifespan, or it looks it is possible to use the elliptical gradient from their position mode.

Arianespace side, we want to understand what went wrong on the Fregat. Today, it mandates, in association with ESA and the European Commission, an independent investigation to determine the precise causes of this anomaly in order to draw all the consequences and remedial actions for a return to flight safely soon the Soyuz launcher from the Guiana space Center.


Once operational, the Galileo constellation will provide services incommensurate with the American GPS. Several levels are offered, ranging from open to restricted access. For this, the satellites each emit ten different signals: six are planned for civilian applications, both for commercial applications and two for state services.

Cool Planet-Like Object May Have Spent Much of Its Youth as Hot as a Star

Cool Planet-Like Object May Have Spent Much of Its Youth as Hot as a Star

Monday, August 25, 2014 / No Comments

Washington, DC - Astronomers have discovered a very cool object that could have a rich history even though it is now as fresh as a planet, he may have spent much of her as hot as a star youth.

Current temperature of the object is 200 to 300 degrees Fahrenheit (100-150 degrees Celsius), which is intermediate between that of Earth and Venus. However, the object shows signs of ancient origin, which implies that there was a large temperature change. In the past, this article would have been as hot as a star for millions of years.

J0304-2705 called WISE, the object is a class member coolest temperature class newly created stars "Y dwarf" yet defined after other classes O, B, A, F, G, K, M, L and T . Though the temperature is similar to that of the planets, the object is different from rocky Earth-like planets, and the place is a giant ball of gas like Jupiter.

International discovery team, led by David Pinfield of the University of Hertfordshire including Carnegie Yuri Beletsky, Y dwarf identified using the observatory, a NASA space telescope WISE has reflected all infrared-Midheaven. The team also measured the spectrum of light emitted by the dwarf And allowing them to determine their current temperature and better understand its history. Their work is published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Only 20 other dwarfs and have been discovered to date, and between J0304-2705 WISE is defined as "special" because of the unusual features in the spectrum of the emitted light.

"Our measurements suggest that this dwarf and may have a composition and / or the characteristic age of one of the oldest members of the galaxy," Pinfield said. "This would mean a change in temperature could be quite extreme."

Why J0304-2705 WISE undergoes significant cooling of evolution, as it is "sub-feature" which means that the interior enough for hydrogen fusion is not heated, the process that kept our hot sun for thousands of million years, without a source of energy to maintain a stable temperature, cooling and fading is inevitable.

If J0304-2705 WISE is an old object and its temperature evolution would have gone through a series of steps including (as described above in the illustration): In his first time about 20 million years ago, which would a temperature of at least 5,100 degrees Fahrenheit (2,800 degrees Celsius), the same as the red dwarf stars like Proxima Centauri (the closest star to the Sun). After 100 million years will have cooled to about 2700 degrees Fahrenheit (1500 degrees Celsius), with silicate condensation clouds in the atmosphere. In a billion years old, would have cooled to about 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit (1,000 degrees Celsius), as fresh as methane and water vapor dominate its appearance. And since then, he would have continued to cool at the current temperature, just enough to boil water for a cup of tea.

WISE J0304-2705 is more massive than Jupiter combined 20-30, which is intermediate between the most massive stars and planets typical. But in terms of the temperature, which may have been "taken the path" of the planets and the conditions of star.

After identifying WISE 0304-2705, the team made crucial observations Pinfield on the floor with some of the largest telescopes in the world-the 8m Gemini South Telescope, Magellan telescope 6.5 meters and 3.6 meters New Technology Telescope Observatory European South, all located in the Chilean Andes.

Mariusz Gromadzki team member said, "surface measurements were very difficult, even with the largest telescopes was very exciting when the results showed how this item was fresh, and it was unusual.".

"The discovery of WISE J0304-2705 with special light spectrum, to continuously challenge the most powerful modern telescopes that are used for detailed study," says Maria Teresa Ruiz, a member of the team at the University of Chile.

WISE J0304-2705 is in the constellation of Fornax (oven), belying its cool.

Currently there is no lower limit for the temperature Y dwarfs, and there could be many objects detected fresher and more diverse in the solar neighborhood. WISE went into hibernation in February 2011 after fulfilling its primary mission of research. However, by popular demand, it was revived in December 2013 and continues to meet as part of an extension of the three-year mission.

"WISE provides good sensitivity to cooler objects," Pinfield said, "and three years of observations, which will be able to search the sky for more Y dwarfs, and most diverse eclipse Y".