Astronomi

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NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, July 22, 2010: Astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have discovered carbon molecules, known as "buckyballs," in space for the first time. Buckyballs are soccer-ball-shaped molecules that were first observed in a laboratory 25 years ago. They are named for their resemblance to architect Buckminster Fuller's geodesic domes, which have interlocking circles on the surface of a partial sphere. Buckyballs were thought to float around in space, but had escaped detection until now. "We found what are now the largest molecules known to exist in space," said astronomer Jan Cami of the University of Western Ontario, Canada, and the SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif. "We are particularly excited because they have unique properties that make them important players for all sorts of physical and chemical processes going on in space." Cami has authored a paper about the discovery in the journal Science - NASA Telescope Finds Elusive Buckyballs in Space for First Time

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University of Leicester, August 4, 2010: An international team of scientists has discovered that Saturn’s aurora, an ethereal ultraviolet glow which illuminates Saturn’s upper atmosphere near the poles, pulses roughly once per Saturnian day. The length of a Saturnian day has been under much discussion since it was discovered that the traditional ‘clock’ used to measure the rotation period of Saturn, a gas giant planet with no solid surface for reference, apparently does not keep good time. Saturn, like all magnetised planets, emits radio waves into space from the polar regions. These radio emissions pulse with a period near to 11 h, and the timing of the pulses was originally, during the Voyager era, thought to represent the rotation of the planet. However, over the years the period of the pulsing of the radio emissions has varied, and since the rotation of a planet cannot be easily sped up or slowed down, the hunt for the source of the varying radio period has become one of the most perplexing puzzles in planetary science. Now, in a paper to be published in Geophysical Research Letters (August 6), Nichols et al. use images from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of Saturn’s auroras obtained between 2005-2009 to show that, not only do the radio emissions pulse, but the auroras beat in tandem with the radio - Discovery of Saturn’s auroral heartbeat

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Månen krymper:

Science, August 20, 2010: Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera images reveal previously undetected lobate thrust-fault scarps and associated meter-scale secondary tectonic landforms that include narrow extensional troughs or graben, splay faults, and multiple low-relief terraces. Lobate scarps are among the youngest landforms on the Moon, based on their generally crisp appearance, lack of superposed large-diameter impact craters, and the existence of crosscut small-diameter impact craters. Identification of previously known scarps was limited to high-resolution Apollo Panoramic Camera images confined to the equatorial zone. Fourteen lobate scarps were identified, seven of which are at latitudes greater than ±60°, indicating that the thrust faults are globally distributed. This detection, coupled with the very young apparent age of the faults, suggests global late-stage contraction of the Moon - Evidence of Recent Thrust Faulting on the Moon Revealed

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U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, August 23, 2010: Using the Large Area Telescope onboard NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope satellite, astronomers have detected gamma rays from a nova for the first time, a finding that surprises both observers and theorists. The discovery dispels the long-held idea that nova explosions are not powerful enough to produce such high-energy radiation. These findings are published in the August 13th edition of Science with Teddy Cheung, an astrophysicist at the Naval Research Laboratory, as the lead author. The nova explosion was first noticed on March 11, when amateur astronomers Koichi Nishiyama and Fujio Kabashima, imaged a dramatic change in the brightness of a star in the constellation Cygnus. They knew that the star, known as V407 Cyg, was 10 times brighter than it appeared in an image they had taken three days earlier. The amateur astronomers contacted Hiroyuki Maehara at Kyoto University, who in turn notified astronomers around the world asking for follow-up observations. "A few days later, automatic processing of data from Fermi's LAT alerted us to a new high-energy gamma-ray source at the same location as the nova," said NRL's Cheung. "When we looked closer, we found that the LAT had detected the first gamma rays at about the same time as the nova's discovery" - Fermi Detects Gamma-rays from Exploding Nova


Fermi's Large Area Telescope saw no sign of a nova in 19 days of data prior to March 10 (left), but the eruption is obvious in data from the following 19 days (right). The images show the rate of gamma rays with energies greater than 100 million electron volts (100 MeV); brighter colors indicate higher rates. (Credit: NASA/DOE/Fermi LAT Collaboration)

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Stanford University, August 23, 2010: When researchers found an unusual linkage between solar flares and the inner life of radioactive elements on Earth, it touched off a scientific detective investigation that could end up protecting the lives of space-walking astronauts and maybe rewriting some of the assumptions of physics. It's a mystery that presented itself unexpectedly: The radioactive decay of some elements sitting quietly in laboratories on Earth seemed to be influenced by activities inside the sun, 93 million miles away. Is this possible? Researchers from Stanford and Purdue University believe it is. But their explanation of how it happens opens the door to yet another mystery. There is even an outside chance that this unexpected effect is brought about by a previously unknown particle emitted by the sun. "That would be truly remarkable," said Peter Sturrock, Stanford professor emeritus of applied physics and an expert on the inner workings of the sun - The strange case of solar flares and radioactive elements

Via WUWT

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National Maritime Museum, September 10, 2010: Congratulations to Tom Lowe who wins the title Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2010 with this spectacular image of ancient trees silhouetted against the bright star clouds of the Milky Way. Competition judge Marek Kukula says: ‘I think this beautiful picture perfectly captures the spirit of Astronomy Photographer of the Year, linking the awe-inspiring vista of the night sky with life here on Earth. The bristlecone pines in the foreground can live as long as five thousand years. But they are babies compared to the starlight shining behind them, some of which began its journey towards us almost 30,000 years ago - Blazing Bristlecone

[Erik]

Lite lysteleig:

Internett vil bli borte i månedsvis

I 2013 forventes det en kraftig solstorm som kan føre til at deler av jorda må klare seg i måneder uten strøm.

"Trusselen mot den teknologiske infrastrukturen skal være så stor at den britiske forsvarsministeren, Liam Fox, kalte inn til ekstraordinær pressekonferanse i går.

- Samtidig som vår teknologi blir mer kompleks, blir truslene mer utbredt, uttalte Fox, ifølge Press Association.

Britiske forskere har advart om at en kraftig solstorm, som vanligvis kommer en gang hvert århundre, nå er på vei. En storm som vil nå sitt maksimum i 2013.
Nasa har tidligere avlagt en rapport der de forklarer at et slikt stort utbrudd av magnetisk energi i solens atmosfære, vil skape kaos over store deler av verden. Stormen kan føre til en geomagnetisk storm på jorden, som vil slå ut strømnettet i flere timer, dager eller måneder."

http://www.vg.no/nyheter/utenriks/artik ... d=10027420

Er dette nok et eksempel på at (norske) journalister har liten innsikt i vitenskapsformidling?

Besitter noen utfyllende/korrekt info. om fenomenet?

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Besitter noen utfyllende/korrekt info. om fenomenet?

Fenomenet kalles geomagnetically induced current - geomagnetisk indusert (jord)strøm:

Store Norske Leksikon: Jordstrøm, også kalt tellurisk strøm, betegnelse på elektrisk strøm i den øverste del av jordskorpen. Den dannes ved at elektrisk ladning forflyttes for å utjevne ulikt elektrisk potensial (spenningsforskjeller) mellom forskjellig steder i jordskorpen. Slike spenningsforskjeller vil også drive strømmer i lange tele-, data- og kraftlinjer, i rørledninger og andre elektrisk ledende forbindelser. Den sterkeste delen av strømmen er ren likestrøm, men det finnes også vekselstrømskomponenter over et bredt frekvensområde. Spenningsforskjellene som driver strømmen, kommer enten fra elektriske felter i Jordens indre, eller de induseres gjennom prosesser utenfor Jorden, i ionosfæren og magnetosfæren. Det er særlig bidragene fra de eksterne kildene som gir de store variasjonene i strømmen. Man registrerer dette spesielt i nordlyssonen, i forbindelse med nordlys og magnetiske stormer. Under slike forhold kan strømmen bli så kraftig at den kan gi skader på elektriske fjernlinjer og transformatorer - Jordstrøm

Problemet er reelt, men konsekvensene er det nok for tidlig å si noe sikkert om.

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NASA, November 9, 2010: NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has unveiled a previously unseen structure centered in the Milky Way. The feature spans 50,000 light-years and may be the remnant of an eruption from a supersized black hole at the center of our galaxy. "What we see are two gamma-ray-emitting bubbles that extend 25,000 light-years north and south of the galactic center," said Doug Finkbeiner, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass., who first recognized the feature. "We don't fully understand their nature or origin." The structure spans more than half of the visible sky, from the constellation Virgo to the constellation Grus, and it may be millions of years old. A paper about the findings has been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal - NASA's Fermi Telescope Finds Giant Structure in our Galaxy

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NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, November 17, 2010: A new image from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer shows what looks like a glowing jellyfish floating at the bottom of a dark, speckled sea. In reality, this critter belongs to the cosmos -- it's a dying star surrounded by fluorescing gas and two very unusual rings. "I am reminded of the jellyfish exhibition at the Monterey Bay Aquarium -- beautiful things floating in water, except this one is in space," said Edward (Ned) Wright, the principal investigator of the WISE mission at UCLA, and a co-author of a paper on the findings, reported in the Astronomical Journal. The object, known as NGC 1514 and sometimes the "Crystal Ball" nebula, belongs to a class of objects called planetary nebulae, which form when dying stars toss off their outer layers of material. Ultraviolet light from a central star, or in this case a pair of stars, causes the gas to fluoresce with colorful light. The result is often beautiful - WISE Image Reveals Strange Specimen in Starry Sea

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NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, December 13, 2010: The 33-year odyssey of NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft has reached a distant point at the edge of our solar system where there is no outward motion of solar wind. Now hurtling toward interstellar space some 17.4 billion kilometers (10.8 billion miles) from the sun, Voyager 1 has crossed into an area where the velocity of the hot ionized gas, or plasma, emanating directly outward from the sun has slowed to zero. Scientists suspect the solar wind has been turned sideways by the pressure from the interstellar wind in the region between stars. The event is a major milestone in Voyager 1's passage through the heliosheath, the turbulent outer shell of the sun's sphere of influence, and the spacecraft's upcoming departure from our solar system. "The solar wind has turned the corner," said Ed Stone, Voyager project scientist based at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif. "Voyager 1 is getting close to interstellar space" - NASA Probe Sees Solar Wind Decline

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ESA/Hubble, December 14, 2010: Hubble has spotted a festive bauble of gas in our neighbouring galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud. Formed in the aftermath of a supernova explosion that took place four centuries ago, this sphere of gas has been snapped in a series of observations made between 2006 and 2010 - Hubble spots a celestial bauble

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NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, December 14, 2010: A new analysis based on data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft finds a causal link between mysterious, periodic signals from Saturn's magnetic field and explosions of hot ionized gas, known as plasma, around the planet. Scientists have found that enormous clouds of plasma periodically bloom around Saturn and move around the planet like an unbalanced load of laundry on spin cycle. The movement of this hot plasma produces a repeating signature “thump” in measurements of Saturn’s rotating magnetic environment and helps to illustrate why scientists have had such a difficult time measuring the length of a day on Saturn. "This is a breakthrough that may point us to the origin of the mysteriously changing periodicities that cloud the true rotation period of Saturn,” said Pontus Brandt, the lead author on the paper - Hot Plasma Explosions Inflate Saturn’s Magnetic Field

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SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, January 6, 2011: The Crab Nebula, one of our best-known and most stable neighbors in the winter sky, is shocking scientists with a propensity for fireworks—gamma-ray flares set off by the most energetic particles ever traced to a specific astronomical object. The discovery, reported today by scientists working with two orbiting telescopes, is leading researchers to rethink their ideas of how cosmic particles are accelerated. "We were dumbfounded," said Roger Blandford, who directs KIPAC, jointly located at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University. "It's an emblematic object," he said; also known as M1, the Crab Nebula was the first astronomical object catalogued in 1771 by Charles Messier. "It's a big deal historically, and we're making an amazing discovery about it" - Fermi's Large Area Telescope Sees Surprising Flares in Crab Nebula

Synchrotron radiation

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NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, April 20, 2011: NASA is releasing the first images and sounds of an electrical connection between Saturn and one of its moons, Enceladus. The data collected by the agency's Cassini spacecraft enable scientists to improve their understanding of the complex web of interaction between the planet and its numerous moons. The results of the data analysis are published in Nature - Cassini Sees Saturn Electric Link With Enceladus