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http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Scientists_probe_link_between_magnetic_polarity_reversal_and_mantle_processes_999.html
Scientists probe link between magnetic polarity reversal and mantle processes
by Staff Writers
Liverpool UK (SPX) Aug 03, 2012
File image.
Scientists at the University of Liverpool have discovered that variations in the long-term reversal rate of the Earth's magnetic field may be caused by changes in heat flow from the Earth's core into the base of the overlying mantle.
The Earth is made up of a solid inner core, surrounded by a liquid outer core, in turn covered by a thicker or more viscous mantle, and ultimately by the solid crust beneath our feet.
The magnetic field is generated by the motions of the liquid iron alloy in the outer core, approximately 3,000 km beneath the Earth's crust. These motions occur because the core is losing heat to the overlying solid mantle that extends up to the crust on which we live.
The mantle itself is also in motion but at much slower speeds of millimetres per year as opposed to millimetres per second in the core. This mantle motion is responsible for the drifting of the continents at the surface as well as earthquakes, volcanoes, and changes in the climate over millions of years.
At intervals of hundreds of thousands of years, the North and South magnetic poles reverse and scientists can tell from rock formations precisely at what periods in the past this took place. The most recent reversal happened 780,000 years ago.
Magnetic field variations happen on timescales of months to millions of years. Much of the magnetic field's variation is thought to be sporadic but new research, led by Liverpool scientists, has found that over long timescales, this variability may be related to the changing pattern of heat loss across the core-mantle boundary occurring over millions of years.
The team performed a detailed synthesis based on latest findings from a number of different areas including the ancient geomagnetic field and its record in rocks, motions in the mantle caused by motions of the continents and the process responsible for generating the magnetic field in the core.
Dr Andrew Biggin, from the University's School of Environmental Sciences, said: "The magnetic field has undergone big changes in its behaviour that might be due to the mantle's controlling influence on the core.
In particular, we focused on the time interval between around 200 and 80 million years ago - when dinosaurs were still around - when the magnetic field initially started reversing its polarity very frequently. During this period the polarity was reversing up to 10 times every million years; however 50 million years later, it stopped reversing altogether for nearly 40 million years.
"When these changes in the magnetic field were taking place, the whole of the Earth's crust and mantle, including all of the continents, were undergoing a big rotation with respect to the geographic and time-averaged geomagnetic poles - the points defining the Earth's axis of rotation.
"We suspect that this process, called True Polar Wander and caused by the changing density distribution in the mantle, will have changed the pattern of heat flowing out of the core in such a manner as to cause the magnetic field to first become less stable, with lots of reversals, and then become much more stable - and stop reversing."
The team believes this may not be the only explanation and conjecture that this big drop in the frequency of reversals may also be related to a similar decrease in the number of 'large igneous provinces' (LIPs) or concentrated outpourings of magma from the Earth's core, 50 million years later.
The last LIP happened around 16 million years ago and produced the Columbia Plateau in the North West US. LIPs are thought to be produced by hot plumes of material rising from thermal instabilities near the bottom boundary of the mantle.
The team believes the 50 million year time lag between the magnetic field changing and the occurrence of the LIPs could represent the time it takes for the plumes to travel 2,890 km through the mantle.
If this link were correct it would mean that the rather unstable magnetic field observed in the last 50 million years predicts that a considerable number of LIPs will erupt over the next 50 million years. This in turn could have major implications for the surface conditions - for climate and for life itself.
The research, published in Nature Geoscience, is a collaboration between the University of Liverpool, GFZ Potsdam, IPGP Paris, the University of Oslo and Utrecht University. Future research at Liverpool, is planned and already underway to develop a new tool for understanding the Earth's system.
"Missing-Mass"? Free-floating planets thought to outnumber visable stars in the galaxy. May account for the "missing-mass" scientists have been unable to find. Rogue/free planets may outnumber stars by a factor of 1000.
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Free_floating_planets_in_the_Milky_Way_outnumber_stars_by_factors_of_thousands_999.html
x1.4 flare this afternoon.
calling The First Hundred!!!!
(another great award-winning SF trilogy, a must read for futurists)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_trilogy
Reality TV Show On Mars To Follow Settlers? | Video
another science link... with links posted on the sidebar...
http://www.eskimo.com/~nanook/science/2008/02/telluric-currents.html
Gotta wonder what NASA will turn into..~
i think this is the old 'nasa tech briefs ' magazine. tho a lot of that was not available to the general public. you had to have a security clearance to get on the mail list.
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2012/jun/HQ_12-207_Tech_Transfer_Portal.html
David E. Steitz
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1730
david.steitz@nasa.gov
June 20, 2012
RELEASE : 12-207
Open For Business: NASA Launches New Technology Transfer Portal
WASHINGTON -- In an effort to accelerate technology transfer from NASA into the hands of American businesses, industry and the public, the agency's new Technology Transfer Portal is open for business.
NASA's Technology Transfer Portal provides an Internet-based one-stop front door to the agency's unique intellectual property assets available for technology transfer and infusion into America's new technology and innovation-driven economy. NASA's Technology Transfer Program allows research and development to transfer back into the U.S. economy via licenses, patents and intellectual property agreements that often result in new innovations, products and businesses. The use of NASA technology by American businesses spurs job growth and helps maintain U.S. economic competitiveness while improving our everyday lives.
"One of NASA's highest priority goals is to streamline its technology transfer procedures, support additional government-industry collaboration and encourage the commercialization of novel technologies flowing from our federal laboratories," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "One way NASA can streamline and increase the rate of aerospace technology transfer is through tools like NASA's Technology Transfer Portal."
To access NASA's Technology Transfer Portal, visit:
http://technology.nasa.gov
NASA designs technologies to solve difficult problems in space and on Earth. Some examples include NASA-developed devices designed to operate remotely and with limited servicing in the harsh environment of space, and strong and lightweight materials that can withstand the extreme temperatures of supersonic flight or space travel. NASA has designed lifesaving techniques, protocols, and tools for use when orbiting the Earth and the nearest doctor is more than 200 miles below. Closed environment recycling systems, as well as energy generation and storage methods also have useful applications here on Earth.
NASA's new tech portal simplifies and speeds access to the agency's intellectual property portfolio, much of which is available for licensing. The site features a searchable, categorized database of NASA's patents, a module for reaching out to a NASA technology transfer specialist and articles about past successful commercialization of NASA technology. Historical and real-time data for NASA's technology transfer program also are available.
"A priority of NASA is to get federally-funded new technologies into the commercial marketplace," said NASA Chief Technologist Mason Peck. "We're hopeful that entrepreneurs, businesses of all sizes and anyone looking for innovative solutions to technology problems will explore NASA's Technology Transfer Portal to find opportunities to transfer NASA technologies into innovative solutions for the nation."
Hundreds of examples of successful NASA spinoff technologies and innovations adapted for use in our everyday lives can be found on NASA's Spinoff website at:
http://spinoff.nasa.gov
For more information about NASA and agency programs, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov
- end -
text-only version of this release
this might be off - topic but if you're interested in college classes without going to college, - free - , then check out this from mit.
http://ocw.mit.edu/about/
get edjucated!!
lots of excitement about the solar flares! we are now in a magnetic storm at kp = 6.....
check out this utuber for interesting developments and read the comments!
yes. that's what i meant. had a brain fart there! hope i didn't write that on the slip i filled out at the library.
do you mean the commonwealth books by Peter Hamilton???
if so, I hope you have a few spare months of reading time, but great stuff if you are into it!!!!
same with his "Night's Dawn Trilogy" (which was really 6 books in the US!!!.....with almost 800 pages per book!!!)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night's_Dawn_Trilogy
http://www.peterfhamilton.co.uk/
all your fault! i requested the campbell books at the local library. not sure they can get them. i did read the mlm link to wiki and now i gotta read 6 books.
so when u have eliminated all the other immotiles, what you gonna do for an encore?
that's 9pm est so it will still be daylight here. would love to see it tho. i will try to watch the webcast. thanxx for posting that info!
Big and Bright Asteroid to Pass by Earth June 14
by Nancy Atkinson on June 14, 2012
Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/95815/big-and-bright-asteroid-to-pass-by-earth-june-14/#ixzz1xmU8Bsna
Asteroid 2012 LZ1 as seen by the Haleakala-Faulkes Telescope North on June 13, 2012. Credit: Nick Howes, Ernesto Guido & Giovanni Sostero.
An unusually large and bright near-Earth asteroid was recently discovered and it will make its closest approach to Earth on June 14 at about 23:10 UTC. The object is so bright, the Slooh Observatory will attempt to have a live webcast showing the object sneaking past Earth at about 5.3 million km (3.35 million) miles away, or about 14 times the distance between Earth and the Moon. The asteroid, 2012 LZ1 was discovered by Rob McNaught and colleagues on 2012 June 10/11, and is about 502 meters (1,650 feet) wide.
The team of Nick Howes, Ernesto Guido and Giovanni Sostero from the Remanzacco Observatory took this image of 2012 LZ1 on June 13.
Click here for a picture
They also have an animation of the object here.
There’s no danger this asteroid will impact Earth, but it has been classified as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid. PHAs are asteroids larger than approximately 100 meters that can come closer to our planet than 0.05 AU (7.4 million km, 4.65 million miles). None of the known PHAs is on a collision course with our planet, although, as the Remanzacco team pointed out, astronomers are finding new ones all the time.
The Slooh Observatory will use a telescope on the Canary Islands and webcast the footage beginning at 00:00 UTC on Friday (8:00 p.m. EDT Thursday), and the link to the webcast is http://events.slooh.com/. Discoverer Rob McNaught will be joining the webcast for commentary. McNaught made the discovery using the Uppsala Schmidt telescope at Siding Spring Observatory in Australia.
Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/95815/big-and-bright-asteroid-to-pass-by-earth-june-14/#ixzz1xmUHFmJ5
2012 LZ1 is just a bit smaller than asteroid 2005 YU55 (502 meters), which made a very close flyby of Earth in November, 2011 at just 32,5087km (202,000 miles) away.
Want to try and see this asteroid for yourself? Check out the Minor Planet Center’s ephemeris of this object, and for reference, it will be passing near NGC 6822 (Barnard’s Galaxy) in the constellation Sagittarius at its time of closest approach.
Sources: Remanzacco Observatory, iTelescope.net
Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/95815/big-and-bright-asteroid-to-pass-by-earth-june-14/#ixzz1xmUPZkD7
http://www.news.com.au/technology/sci-tech/big-bang-theory-a-bust-scientist-claims-theres-something-out-there/story-fn5fsgyc-1226393063285
Big Bang theory a bust: Scientist claims there's something out there
by: By Claire Connelly, Technology Reporter
From: news.com.au
June 14, 2012 10:24AM
Scientist claims entire universe existed before Big Bang
Cosmic radiation discovered by NASA is older than Big Bang
Universe left "trail" of radiation forming in concentric circles
Maps of circles of cosmic background radiaton may be a clue to the events that occured before the Big Bang. Picture: NASA
WHAT if there was an entire universe that existed before the Big Bang?
This is the theory of a leading Oxford University scientist who claims to have evidence of stars and galaxies that existed long before the universe as we know it formed, The Daily Mail reported.
Professor Roger Penrose says that cosmic radiation discovered by one of NASA's telescopes is older than the Big Bang.
The researcher shows that the cosmic radiation background (CMB) formed in concentric circles that had cooled to a temperature of -270C over the 14 billion years since the universe came into being.
Prof Penrose and his colleague Professor Vahe Gurzadyan of the Yerevan State University in Armenia claim to have 12 examples of the circles, some of which have five rings - meaning that the objects had five massive events in their history.
European Space Agency's Planck satellite took mapped the existence of microwave radiation acorss the whole sky. Picture: ESA
The rings appear around clusters of galaxy where the background radiation is incredibly low.
The scientists believe the circles are imprints of violent gravitational forces generated by black holes that existed long before the Big Bang.
The research casts doubt upon the widely-held theory that the universe has continued to expand since the Big Bang and will continue to do so until it ceases to exist.
Prof Penrose says that his research shows that all matter in the universe will eventually be consumed by black holes, leaving only energy behind which will in turn trigger the next Big Bang.
"In the scheme that I'm proposing, you have an exponential expansion but it's not in our aeon - I use the term to describe [the period] from our Big Bang until the remote future," Prof Penrose told the BBC.
"I claim that this aeon is one of a succession of such things, where the remote future of the previous aeons somehow becomes the Big Bang of our aeon."
Read more: http://www.news.com.au/technology/sci-tech/big-bang-theory-a-bust-scientist-claims-theres-something-out-there/story-fn5fsgyc-1226393063285#ixzz1xmRloDCb
the Casimir Effect has been known about for some time, I don't see what is new about the ideas coming from this "intelligent Egyptian girl".......
Dutch physicists Hendrik B. G. Casimir and Dirk Polder proposed the existence of the force and formulated an experiment (the "Casimir experiment") to detect it in 1948 while participating in research at Philips Research Labs. The classic form of the experiment, described above, successfully demonstrated the force to within 15% of the value predicted by the theory.[6]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casimir_effect
A Force from Empty Space: The Casimir Effect
Explanation: This tiny ball provides evidence that the universe will expand forever. Measuring slightly over one tenth of a millimeter, the ball moves toward a smooth plate in response to energy fluctuations in the vacuum of empty space. The attraction is known as the Casimir Effect, named for its discoverer, who, 50 years ago, was trying to understand why fluids like mayonnaise move so slowly. Today, evidence is accumulating that most of the energy density in the universe is in an unknown form dubbed dark energy. The form and genesis of dark energy is almost completely unknown, but postulated as related to vacuum fluctuations similar to the Casimir Effect but generated somehow by space itself. This vast and mysterious dark energy appears to gravitationally repel all matter and hence will likely cause the universe to expand forever. Understanding vacuum fluctuations is on the forefront of research not only to better understand our universe but also for stopping micro-mechanical machine parts from sticking together.
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap061217.html
from another ihub board:
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=76508788
steviee
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Tuesday, June 12, 2012 12:15:47 AM
Re: None
Post # of 65820
Spacecraft Propulsion Device Invented By Egyptian Student MessageToEagle.com - Aisha Mustafa is a 19-year-old Egyptian university student of physics who can transform space travel once and for all!
http://www.messagetoeagle.com/egyptpropulsiondevice.php
She has namely invented an ingenious spacecraft propulsion device that can send mankind boldly where no man has gone before.
Her amazing propulsion device has potential to send spacecraft to other solar systems without using a single drop of fuel. Instead, the device utilizes the best quantum physics and chemical reactions in artificial satellites have to offer.
In other words, forget current radioactive-based jets and ordinary rocket engines! What Mustafa offers is future space technology that is badly needed if we truly want to explore space!
Aisha Mustafa, a very intelligent student of physics who can change the way we explore space.
Mustafa's engine idea is based on quantum facts that there's no such thing as a vacuum, devoid of particles, waves, and energy. Instead the Universe's supposedly empty spaces are filled with a roiling sea of particles and anti-particles that pop into existence, then annihilate each other in such a short space of time that you can't readily detect them.
Illustration of the dynamical Casimir Effect.
Mustafa said that this quantum effect can be harnessed via the dynamic Casimir effect.
This utilizes a "moving mirror" cavity, where two reflective flat plates are held close together and then manipulated in order to interact with the quantum particles.
By moving the plates (which are made of silicon), energy is created out of nothing and a net force is created which would be used to push, pull or propel a spacecraft.
Mustafa also says energy should be used like solar power because it is much more efficient than rocket fuel that is currently used to power spacecrafts.
Rockets like Dragon X for example are difficult to control due to the energetic thrusters, and even NASA's futuristic proposals such as ion drives still need power. Even Star Trek's USS Enterprise needs dilithium crystals.
The potential of Mustafa's propulsion system is enormous because of its mechanical simplicity and reliability it could make satellite propulsion lighter, cheaper, and thus indirectly lower the cost of space missions of all sorts.
This is just what the space industry needs, but where is the money?
Mustafa who studies at the Sohag University has patented her propulsion system in the Egyptian Academy of Scientific Research and Technology - ASRT, but she is worried that there's no funding for a department of space science and this prevents important research being carried out in strife-ridden Egypt.
"Departments of astronomy and physics are only available. Although they are related to space sciences but unfortunately they aren't into the specific field of my invention and they can't practically test or implement it, Mustafa said in an interview on "Sabah El Kheir Ya Masr" (Good Morning Egypt) a famous Egyptian television show.
According to an Egyptian TV channel, "Egypt 25", Mustafa's supervisor, Dr. Ahmed Fikry, who heads the physics department in Sohag University, has shown great interest in his student's invention and helped her patent it in the ASRT. "I expect this invention to be highly beneficial in several fields and areas of industries," he assured.
On his behalf, the President of Sohag University, Dr. Nabil Nour Eldin Abdellah, said that the university facilitates what he called "Science Clubs" for intelligent and creative students who have the will and capabilities to come up with innovative scientific ideas.
"Once we knew about her (Mustafa's) invention, we encouraged her and provided her with the budget needed through the Science Club for innovative students in the university. This is the case with any other creative student," Abdellah explained.
Mustafa nowadays aims at testing her invention at major scientific research organisations, hence the possibility of applying it in upcoming space missions.
In the next coming decades, space travel would be easier, safer, faster and cheaper, thanks to the mind of an intelligent Egyptian girl.
thx, here is the filter I used (mine is an older version, without the thumbscrews), I first used it in 2000 during solar max:
http://www.telescope.com/Accessories/Telescope-Eyepiece-Filters/457-ID-Orion-Full-Aperture-Solar-Filter/c/3/sc/48/p/7798.uts#tab-6
nice!
hah. i was out with a piece of cardboard with a pin hole in it. did not see it. the sun was almost down so i didn't have time to try a lot of other stuff. only have a small scope and no filter.
thanx for posting that.
Amazing picture.. excellent!!!!
Thank you
my transit of Venus pic:
hot off the presses, I took this with my telescope, and a solar filter about an hour ago.....the weather was not the greatest, a thin haze of clouds, but got this pic during a brief clearing, although still a bit hazy.....
the haze didn't make for the best conditions, but lucky I got anything!!!!
some image enhancement was done (contrast, brightness adjustments, etc), but nothing added:
went back and clicked it after u brought it up. amazing site. got it from suspicous observors utube links, a pretty neat site on its own.
!Whoa, thats cool!...'specially toying with Saturn on ZOOM and ROTATE!
Amazing.. did you click on the cinematic.
super kool!!
http://www.sunaeon.com/#/solarsystem/
note the arrow for zoom and use the mouse to rotate
global warming on other planets in the solar system~?
http://www.lavoisier.com.au/articles/greenhouse-science/climate-change/mcclintock-proofnotco2-2009.pdf
4. WARMING ON OTHER SOLAR SYSTEM PLANETS AND MOONS.
Further evidence that CO2 is not the principle driver of warming on this planet is
provided by the simultaneous warming of other planets and moons in our solar
system, despite the fact that they obviously have no anthropogenic emissions of
greenhouse gasses.
Mars, Triton, Pluto and Jupiter all show global warming.
7
,
8
pointing to the Sun as the
dominating influence in determining climate throughout the solar system.
CONCLUSION
There is much evidence in addition to the above, supporting the contention that
anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gasses are not the main drivers of global
climate change, however the above are sufficient to conclusively prove the case.
They prove, by a variety of methods, that the key hypothesis of the IPCC and its
of course there is an argument against this:
http://www.skepticalscience.com/global-warming-other-planets-solar-system.htm
t is curious that the theory depends so much on sparse information – what we know about the climates on other planets and their history – yet its proponents resolutely ignore the most compelling evidence against the notion. Over the last fifty years, the sun’s output has decreased slightly: it is radiating less heat. We can measure the various activities of the sun pretty accurately from here on Earth, or from orbit above it, so it is hard to ignore the discrepancy between the facts and the sceptical argument that the sun is causing the rise in temperatures.
TSI from 1880 to 1978 from Solanki. TSI from 1979 to 2009 from PMOD.
But if the sun’s output has levelled off or even diminished, then what is causing other planets to warm up? Are they warming at all?
The planets and moons that are claimed to be warming total roughly eight out of dozens of large bodies in the solar system. Some, like Uranus, may be cooling. All the outer planets have vastly longer orbital periods than Earth, so any climate change on them may be seasonal. Saturn and its moons take 30 Earth years to orbit the Sun, so three decades of observations equates to only 1 Saturnian year. Uranus has an 84-year orbit and 98° axial tilt, so its seasons are extreme. Neptune has not yet completed a single orbit since its discovery in 1846.
This is a round-up of the planets said by sceptics to be experiencing climate change:
Mars: the notion that Mars is warming came from an unfortunate conflation of weather and climate. Based on two pictures taken 22 years apart, assumptions were made that have not proved to be reliable. There is currently no evidence to support claims that Mars is warming at all. More on Mars...
Jupiter: the notion that Jupiter is warming is actually based on predictions, since no warming has actually been observed. Climate models predict temperature increases along the equator and cooling at the poles. It is believed these changes will be catalysed by storms that merge into one super-storm, inhibiting the planet’s ability to mix heat. Sceptical arguments have ignored the fact this is not a phenomenon we have observed, and that the modelled forcing is storm and dust movements, not changes in solar radiation.
Neptune: observations of changes in luminosity on the surface of both Neptune and its largest moon, Triton, have been taken to indicate warming caused by increased solar activity. In fact, the brightening is due to the planet’s seasons changing, but very slowly. Summer is coming to Neptune’s southern hemisphere, bringing more sunlight, as it does every 164 years.
Pluto: the warming exhibited by Pluto is not really understood. Pluto’s seasons are the least understood of all: its existence has only been known for a third of its 248 -year orbit, and it has never been visited by a space probe. The ‘evidence’ for climate change consists of just two observations made in 1988 and 2002. That’s equivalent to observing the Earth’s weather for just three weeks out of the year. Various theories suggest its highly elliptical orbit may play a part, as could the large angle of its rotational axis. One recent paper suggests the length of Pluto’s orbit is a key factor, as with Neptune. Sunlight at Pluto is 900 times weaker than it is at the Earth.
Claims that solar system bodies are heating up due to increased solar activity are clearly wrong. The sun’s output has declined in recent decades. Only Pluto and Neptune are exhibiting increased brightness. Heating attributed to other solar bodies remains unproven.
i only copied parts of these articles. it's a fascinating idea that global warming may be occuring on other planets where no human civilization can be blamed for it.
http://phys.org/news/2012-05-penn-astrophysicists-gravity-theory.html
good article. comments are worth reading.
Tech billionaires bankroll gold rush to mine asteroids
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Google Inc executives Larry Page and Eric Schmidt and filmmaker James Cameron are among those bankrolling a venture to survey and eventually extract precious metals and rare minerals from asteroids that orbit near Earth, the company said on Tuesday.
Planetary Resources, based in Bellevue, Washington, initially will focus on developing and selling extremely low-cost robotic spacecraft for surveying missions.
A demonstration mission in orbit around Earth is expected to be launched within two years, said company co-founders Peter Diamandis and Eric Anderson.
Planetary Resources' aim is to open deep-space exploration to private industry, much like the $10 million Ansari X Prize competition, which Diamandis created.
The prize, which galvanized the emerging commercial human spaceflight industry, was awarded in 2004 to Scaled Composites' SpaceShipOne for the first flights beyond Earth's atmosphere by a privately developed, manned spaceship. Commercial suborbital spaceflights are expected to begin next year.
Planetary Resources' first customers are likely to be science agencies, such as NASA, as well as private research institutes.
Within five to 10 years, however, the company expects to progress from selling observation platforms in orbit around Earth to prospecting services. It plans to tap some of the thousands of asteroids that pass relatively close to Earth and extract their raw materials.
Not all missions would return precious metals and minerals to Earth. In addition to mining for platinum and other precious metals, the company plans to tap asteroids' water to supply orbiting fuel depots, which could be used by NASA and others for robotic and human space missions.
"We have a long view. We're not expecting this company to be an overnight financial home run. This is going to take time," Anderson said in an interview with Reuters.
The real payoff, which is decades away, will come from mining asteroids for platinum group metals and rare minerals.
"If you look back historically at what has caused humanity to make its largest investments in exploration and in transportation, it has been going after resources, whether it's the Europeans going after the spice routes or the American settlers looking toward the west for gold, oil, timber or land," Diamandis said.
"Those precious resources caused people to make huge investments in ships and railroads and pipelines. Looking to space, everything we hold of value on Earth - metals, minerals, energy, real estate, water - is in near-infinite quantities in space. The opportunity exists to create a company whose mission is to be able to go and basically identify and access some of those resources and ultimately figure out how to make them available where they are needed," he said.
Diamandis and Anderson declined to discuss how much money has been raised for their venture so far. In addition to Google billionaires Page and Schmidt and filmmaker Cameron, Planetary Resources investors include former Microsoft chief software architect Charles Simonyi, a two-time visitor to the International Space Station, Google founding director K. Ram Shriram and Ross Perot Jr.
Planetary Resources also declined to discuss specifics about how and when asteroid mining would begin. A 30-meter long (98-foot) asteroid can hold as much as $25 billion to $50 billion worth of platinum at today's prices, Diamandis said.
The company's first step is to develop technologies to cut the cost of deep-space robotic probes to one-tenth to one-hundredth the cost of current space missions, which run hundreds of millions of dollars, Diamandis said.
Among the targeted technologies is optical laser communications, which would eliminate the need for large radio antennas aboard spacecraft.
"We're taking new approaches at design," Diamandis said. "Part of the philosophy we're taking is building very low cost, very small spacecraft. You put up six or 10 or dozens and you get reliability."
Planetary Resources, which currently employs about 20 people, is overseen by former NASA Mars mission manager Chris Lewicki. It was founded about three years ago, but has been operating quietly behind the scenes until now.
(Editing by Tom Brown and Lisa Shumaker)
http://www.universetoday.com/9018/its-official-that-was-an-x28-flare/
Image credit: ESA
Astronomers have confirmed that this week’s solar flare was a whopping X28 magnitude – definitely the largest flare ever recorded. The flare occurred on November 4, and quickly overwhelmed the X-ray detectors on several monitoring satellites. It was followed up by a coronal mass ejection that blasted out from the surface of the Sun at 2,300 kilometres per second. Fortunately the flare came off the side of the Sun, and seems to have had no effect on our Earth.
It has just been announced that the massive solar X-ray flare which occurred on 4 November was, at best estimate, an X28. There is still a small chance this will be revised by a small amount, but it is now official: We have a new number 1 X-ray flare for the record books, the most powerful in recorded observational history.
On Tuesday, 4 November 2003, this flare saturated the X-ray detectors on several monitoring satellites. The associated coronal mass ejection (CME) came out of the Sun’s surface at about 2300 kilometres per second (8.2 million km/h). Only part of the CME is directed towards Earth, so we expect the Earth will receive only a glancing blow, since the source region is pointing away from us on the right on the limb of the Sun as seen from Earth.
How we classify solar flares
Scientists classify solar flares according to their brightness in the x-ray wavelengths. There are three categories:
X-class flares are big; they are major events that can trigger radio blackouts around the whole world and long-lasting radiation storms in the upper atmosphere.
M-class flares are medium-sized; they generally cause brief radio blackouts that affect Earth’s polar regions. Minor radiation storms sometimes follow an M-class flare.
Compared to X- and M-class events, C-class flares are small with few noticeable consequences here on Earth.
good article about searching for et. worth using the link to read the comments
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/seth-shostak/alien-messages-in-plain-s_b_1406248.html?ref=weird-news&ir=Weird%20News
Seth ShostakSenior Astronomer, SETI Institute
GET UPDATES FROM SETH SHOSTAK
Alien Messages in Plain Sight
Posted: 04/ 5/2012 2:47
Could there be a faster way to discover interesting galactic neighbors? Is there some scheme for detecting aliens that might work quicker than tuning in their radio transmissions or hunting down their laser pulses?
There might be, and for a simple reason. The cosmos is three times as old as Earth. During most of creation's 14 billion year history, our solar system wasn't around. Nonetheless, the early universe still had the right stuff for life, and contained worlds that were just as suitable for spawning biology and intelligence as our own.
Humans have existed only for the last 0.001 percent of cosmic time. All of which says that -- unless the Homo sapiens brain is the one-and-only instance of cogitating machinery -- nearly all the intelligence that's out there is beyond our level.
And that intelligence is more than just a little bit beyond. Clearly, unless thinking beings inevitably wipe themselves out soon after developing technology, extraterrestrial intelligence could often be millions or billions of years in advance of us. We're the galaxy's noodling newbie's.
That suggests an oft-overlooked approach to finding them. Advanced thinkers might be advanced tinkerers. Perhaps the really ambitious aliens have "disturbed the universe" (to use a phrase from British physicist Freeman Dyson) in ways that are directly visible.
This disturbance might take the form of deliberate engineering, such as the construction of mammoth artificial structures. Perhaps they've rearranged some stars into easily recognizable patterns. Maybe there's left-over debris from massively destructive wars. You can consult science fiction for other examples of what an enormously advanced society might have strewn about. It's as good a predictor as any, because obviously we don't know.
Indeed, the fact that we can't easily foresee clues that would betray an intelligence a million millennia farther down the road suggests that we're like ants trying to discover humans. Ask yourself: Would ants ever recognize houses, cars, or fire hydrants as the work of advanced biology?
The best we can do is to carefully look at the images collected (for whatever reason) by our telescopes, and decide if any of them show something that looks funny -- something that appears as if it were put together by deliberate design, rather than natural processes.
To some extent, this exercise is taking place, albeit as part of conventional astronomy research and not as a deliberate attempt to uncover alien astro-engineering. A decade ago, two Austrian astronomers, Ronald Weinberger and Herbert Hartl, reported on the results of spending more than two dozen years poring over telescopic photos of northern hemisphere skies. They discovered 12 thousand objects that were previously unknown. But they were also on the lookout for things that gave the appearance of being artificially constructed. Alas, they didn't find any.
More recently, the Galaxy Zoo project has attracted more than 150 thousand volunteers to the task of looking at astronomical photographs from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (as well as from other telescopes). The goal is to classify the morphology of the myriad galaxies visible on these pictures -- a job that astronomers were able to handle themselves until modern telescopes began disgorging billions of high-grade galaxy images. And while unexpected things have turned up in this cosmic cornucopia, so far they all seem understandable as natural objects.
Richard Carrigan, a physicist from Fermilab in Illinois, makes no bones about it: he's deliberately searching for alien hardware. Carrigan pores through astronomical data looking for star systems that emit excessive amounts of infrared light. Infrared would be the signature of waste heat from, for example, massive swarms of solar-cell satellites, placed in orbit around a star by advanced societies eager to collect as much energy as possible. He's teased out some interesting cases, but as yet, no sure-fire solar swarms.
Do these failures to find a galactic equivalent of the Great Wall of China or the interstate highway system mean anything? Is there some deep truth being revealed by the lack of any obvious, large-scale engineering in a vast and ancient universe?
Well, it might be telling us that no one's out there. On the other hand, truly sublime intelligence may not build structures large enough to show up in our pictures. Perhaps high-tech societies veer in the other direction: preferring to think small and miniaturize, rather than scale up.
Alas, such speculation -- while interesting -- is not terribly informative. After all, we've been making truly detailed telescopic images for less than a century. It's far too early to declare that space is litter free -- we haven't checked carefully. Not yet.
In addition, searching for extraterrestrial artifacts is hobbled by the fact that we don't know what we're looking for. In that regard, it's less appealing than our SETI experiments, which pick through the radio and optical spectrum looking for unambiguous, engineered signals.
Nonetheless, artifacts are available for discovery 24/7. As Weingerger and Hartl wrote, they're 'frozen messages.' You don't have to hope for an alien transmission hitting the Earth just as you swing an antenna or a telescope to the sky. And finding artifacts -- which might be the unexpected outcome of everyday astronomy -- benefits from a large labor force. There are at least a thousand times as many astronomers as there are SETI researchers.
So don't rule out serendipity. Sometimes the greatest discoveries are made by those who aren't even looking.
I'll look at it...
Maybe Nostradamas was right!
major ed james - hope this is wrong. fascinating though
Yep, an Icon from the end-of-an-Era.
It's just my hope that space exploration (Manned/Human-space-exploration) isn't ended.
Thanks!
http://wtop.com/?nid=41&sid=2830135
and the hubby was listening the the shuttle radio traffic on this site as well. i missed that part.
better pics here from local station.
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=74482749
a pic of the shuttle live, passing hubby's office.
Time-frame corresponds to the missing data on the reversal of the magnetosphere. March 12 th thru 13th-14th.
maybe the dinosaurs didn't die out. maybe they got on a space ship and left....
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-04/acs-cd041112.php
New scientific research raises the possibility that advanced versions of T. rex and other dinosaurs — monstrous creatures with the intelligence and cunning of humans — may be the life forms that evolved on other planets in the universe. "We would be better off not meeting them," concludes the study, which appears in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
In the report, noted scientist Ronald Breslow, Ph.D., discusses the century-old mystery of why the building blocks of terrestrial amino acids (which make up proteins), sugars, and the genetic materials DNA and RNA exist mainly in one orientation or shape. There are two possible orientations, left and right, which mirror each other in the same way as hands. This is known as "chirality." In order for life to arise, proteins, for instance, must contain only one chiral form of amino acids, left or right. With the exception of a few bacteria, amino acids in all life on Earth have the left-handed orientation. Most sugars have a right-handed orientation. How did that so-called homochirality, the predominance of one chiral form, happen?
Breslow describes evidence supporting the idea that the unusual amino acids carried to a lifeless Earth by meteorites about 4 billion years ago set the pattern for normal amino acids with the L-geometry, the kind in terrestial proteins, and how those could lead to D-sugars of the kind in DNA.
"Of course," Breslow says, "showing that it could have happened this way is not the same as showing that it did." He adds: "An implication from this work is that elsewhere in the universe there could be life forms based on D-amino acids and L-sugars. Such life forms could well be advanced versions of dinosaurs, if mammals did not have the good fortune to have the dinosaurs wiped out by an asteroidal collision, as on Earth. We would be better off not meeting them."
###
The author acknowledges funding from the National Science Foundation.
The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 164,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.
To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society contact newsroom@acs.org.
MAR. 12: Massive TRIANGLE-SHAPED hole in the Sun's corona recorded by NASA
April Fools' Day Asteroid to Buzz Earth Sunday: No Joke!
by Tariq Malik, SPACE.com Managing EditorDate: 31 March 2012 Time: 10:46 AM ET
http://www.space.com/15121-april-fools-day-asteroid-earth-flyby.html
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.
"Asteroid 2012 EG5 will safely pass Earth on April 1," scientists with NASA's Asteroid Watch program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., wrote in a Twitter statement.
The space rock may be visiting Earth on April Fools' Day, but its flyby is no prank. The asteroid will creep within 143,000 miles (230,000 kilometers) of Earth during its closest approach, which is just over half the distance between Earth and the moon's orbit. The moon typically circles the Earth at a distance of 238,000 miles (382,900 km).
Asteroid 2012 EG5 is the third relatively small asteroid to buzz the Earth in seven days. Two smaller asteroids passed near Earth on Monday (March 26).
Early Monday, the bus-size asteroid 2012 FP35 came within 96,000 miles (154,000 km) of Earth. It was followed a few hours later by asteroid 2012 FS35, which is the size of a car and passed Earth at a range of 36,000 miles (58,000 km).
Like asteroid 2012 EG5, those two smaller space rocks on Monday posed no risk of hitting Earth. Those space rocks were so small they would not survive the trip through Earth's atmosphere, even if they were aimed at our planet, Asteroid Watch researchers said.
Asteroid 2012 EG5 was discovered on March 13 by astronomers searching for near-Earth space rocks. Another space rock, the asteroid 2012 FA57, was discovered on March 28 and will fly by Earth on April 4 when it passes at a range just beyond the orbit of the moon.
Scientists with NASA's Near-Earth Object Program at JPL and other teams of astronomers regularly monitor the sky for larger, potentially dangerous asteroids to determine if they pose an impact threat to Earth.
You can follow SPACE.com Managing Editor Tariq Malik on Twitter @tariqjmalik. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
you won't believe this one!!! am still reading it, but had to share!!
http://web.archive.org/web/20050219100841/http://byamerican.com/HOLD/compHOLD/abouttcap.htm
Maybe just an attenpt to stave-off panic. Not that panic would help. Whatever it was, already happened.
What ever caused it didn't appear to "pop" the envelope, just a little streching...in the wrong direction...
no data?! wazzup with that?
http://spaceweather.com/
also data missing?!
I find that vid facinating...if true the presented data were captured prior to removal.
The universe is so large, odds are something of this nature is more likely to occur than not.
Our sun is something of a "pipsqueak" in comparison to other objects known to exist, suns big enough to encompass our entire solar-system, and then some.
Thanks for posting that.
utube video about magnetosphere changes... i will have to look at this more before i agree or disagree. i know that nasa is not updating some sites as usual and that some sites are off line. maybe this is why.
Two More Solar Flares Erupt on Active Sun Saturday
SPACE.com StaffDate: 10 March 2012 Time: 05:58 PM ET
http://www.space.com/14861-solar-flare-active-sun-storms.html
Two new solar flares erupted from the sun today (March 10), blasting streams of plasma and charged particles into space.
The outbursts were both categorized as M-class solar flares, and exploded from the surface of the sun at 12:27 a.m. EST(0527 GMT) and 12:44 p.m. EST (1744 GMT), respectively, according to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
Today's flares are the latest in a string of powerful eruptions from a sunspot region, called AR1429, which has been particularly active this week. This dynamic region has already unleashed three strong X-class solar flares.
On Tuesday (March 6), two powerful X-class eruptions triggered the strongest solar storm in eight years, according to solar physicists at the Space Weather Prediction Center, which is jointly operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Weather Service.
Space weather scientists use five categories — A, B, C, M and X — to rank solar flares based on their strength and severity. A-class flares are the weakest types of sun storms, while X-class eruptions are the most powerful.
Today's flares also unleashed a wave of plasma and charged particles, called a coronal mass ejection (CME), into space. This wave is expected to reach Earth on March 12, on the heels of a previous CME released by an earlier flare this week.
When these particles arrive at our planet, they could interfere with satellite communications and even power grids on the ground. They are also likely to spark auroras, or northern and southern lights, which are caused when charged particles collide with Earth's magnetic field.
Skywatchers this week have already spotted particularly amazing views of the lights, and are gearing up for more.
Space and Astronomy... will be updating this soon
Links
http://www.space.com/
http://spaceweather.com/
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