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News Service UFO Articles ASCENSION Articles PEACE QUOTES Map of Recent Earthquakes, CA & Nevada Most Recent Updates for U.S. Volcanoes Northern California Seismograms World Earthquakes Activity World Volcanoes Activity Geomagnetic K-index Warnings/Alerts GREAT ATTRACTOR Electric Universe New nebula identified
Using the Hale Telescope and Keck-2 Telescope, astronomers have identified a square-shaped nebula in a field of stars. Peter Tuthill/University of Sydney
Another CME is on the way, but it won't cause such a widespread display. The incoming cloud was launched on Dec. 14th by an X1-explosion above sunspot 930. The blast was not squarely Earth-directed, so the CME's impact will be a glancing one. Nevertheless, sky watchers should remain alert for auroras when the CME arrives on Dec. 16th. Breaking News - Nov 30, 2006, 06:51 Early this morning a moderate geomagnetic storm was initiated most likely from sunspot region 927. This occurs when ‘charged particles’ in the way of solar flares, CME’s (coronal mass ejection) and or coronal hole charge hits the Earth’s magnetic field. When this occurs, extreme weather is likely to unfold. Also watch for increased earthquake and volcanic activity. Geomagnetic Storm Now in Effect for next 5 to 10 days (December 3 to 8). Speaking of earthquake activity, although October and May were very active, November 2006 had 14 major earthquakes greater than 6.1, the largest number in a month since the mid 1990s, with no catastrophic harm. NEW 11 year SUNSPOT CYCLE BEGINS August 2006 - ANOTHER BACKWARD SUNSPOT:
Sunspot Cycles: http://sidc.oma.be/sunspot-index-graphics/sidc_graphics.php Solar Weather: http://sidc.oma.be/LatestSWData/LatestSWData.php
Recent Chandra observations have revealed new details about the fiery ring surrounding the stellar explosion that produced Supernova 1987A. The data give insight into the behavior of the doomed star in the years before it exploded, and indicate that the predicted spectacular brightening of the circumstellar ring has begun. The dense fingers and the visible circumstellar ring represent only the inner edge of a much greater, unknown amount of matter ejected long ago by SK -69. As the shock wave moves into the dense cloud, ultraviolet and X-radiation from the shock wave will heat much more of the circumstellar gas. http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news/chandra/chandra_photos2000.html Read about Vesica Piscis Pendant and Sacred Geometry 2004 May 13 Credit: H. Van Winckel (KU Leuven), M. Cohen (UC Berkeley), H. Bond (STScI), T. Gull (GSFC), ESA, NASA May 13, 2004- Explanation: A distinctive X-shape and ladder-like rungs appear in this Hubble Space Telescope image of the intriguing Red Rectangle Nebula. The dusty cosmic cloud was originally identified as a strong source of infrared radiation and is now believed to contain icy dust grains and hydrocarbon molecules formed in the cool outflow from an aging central star. So why does it look like a big X? A likely explanation is that the central star - actually a close pair of stars - is surrounded by a thick dust torus which pinches the otherwise spherical outflow into tip-touching cone shapes. Because we view the torus edge-on, the boundary edges of the cone shapes seem to form an X. The distinct rungs suggest the outflow occurs in fits and starts. About 2,300 light-years away toward the fanciful constellation Monoceros, the Red Rectangle nebula should be transformed into a glorious planetary nebula as its cool central star becomes a hot white dwarf over the next few thousand years. This sharp Hubble picture spans only about one third of a light-year at the distance of the Red Rectangle. NEW PLANETS FOUND Date: March 30, 2000 By Richard Stenger CNN Interactive Writer WASHINGTON -- Astronomers on Tuesday announced the discovery two Saturn-sized planets outside the solar system, a milestone in the search for distant celestial bodies that resemble Earth. The previous 30 planets found outside the solar system are at least the size of Jupiter, Earth's largest neighbor. But the new finding lends credence to the theory that small planets outnumber giants in the galaxy, according to NASA. The team of astronomers indirectly detected the new planets, more than 100 light years away, by studying their gravitational pull on host stars. Using Hawaii's Keck Observatory, they measured changes in the velocity of the stars as small as 36 feet per second, about the speed of a bicyclist, according to one of the planet sleuths, Geoff Marcy, a University of California, Berkeley astronomer. The finding of Saturn-sized planets supports the idea that large planets accrete from small ones, using gas and dust that encircle stars, according to NASA. The theory predicts that more small planets exist than large ones; researchers are increasingly finding this trend in the data. Fast orbits, blistering heat The newly discovered planets have quick and close orbits around their host stars. One of them, with at least 80 percent the mass of Saturn, circles a star known as HD46375 from a distance of 3.8 million miles and completes an orbit roughly every three days. In contrast, Earth is 93 million miles from the sun. A second planet with 70 percent of Saturn's mass orbits the star 79 Ceti from 32.5 million miles. Its three-day orbit, like that of most of the known extrasolar planets, is highly elliptical. It completes an orbit every 75 days. "It's very different than solar system planets. Ours are in beautiful, concentric orbits," said Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institute in Washington, one of the planet discoverers. Because they are so close to their parent stars, the new planets, presumably gas giants made of hydrogen and helium, undoubtably experience blistering temperatures and couldn't harbor life, according to NASA. The larger planet has an average temperature of about 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, the smaller one about 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit. The new planets likely formed farther away from their stars, where they accumulated cool gas. They then migrated to their present locations, possibly disrupting the orbits of smaller planets along the way, according to NASA, which sponsored the research. The astronomers made the discovery as part of a multi-year project to look at the wobbles of more than 1,000 stars within 300 light-years, using the Keck Observatory in Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The team spotted 21 extrasolar planets before the latest two. But with the 79 Ceti planet, "For the first time we have one with less wobble than that between the sun and Jupiter," Marcy said. The researchers said ground-based observations will help them find planets the size of Neptune within a few years. They think many smaller planets exist, but said advanced telescopes, deployed in space, would be required to find them. Searching for gentle giants Marcy said the discovery of a planet like Jupiter, with a concentric orbit, could prove crucial in the search for terrestrial-like planets. Unlike marauding jovian cousins in other systems, Jupiter does not affect the orbit of its neighbors and in fact protects planets in the inner solar system from dangerous space debris, he said. Gas giants elsewhere could likewise absorb killer comets and meteorites that otherwise might slam into a smaller neighbor, perhaps one that resembles Earth, he said. Hunt for Earth-like Planets Begins By Andrew Bridges (Pasadena Bureau Chief - 22 March 2000) PASADENA, CA. – NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) announced Tuesday it has awarded its first contracts to begin design work on a highflying quartet of telescope-equipped satellites that will seek out other Earth-like worlds. The innovative Terrestrial Planet Finder mission, still more than a decade away from launch, will hunt for worlds like ours orbiting stars within a range of about 50 light-years, studying their numbers, size, location, diversity and suitability for life. The mission’s initial design calls for four free-flying satellites, each carrying its own 137-inch (3.5-meter) infrared telescope in an Earth-trailing solar orbit. The light gathered by each telescope would be combined in a fifth satellite, which would also hold the mission’s instrumentation. (NASA intends to test the concept in 2003 with the launch of Space Technology 3, made up of just two free-flying space telescopes that will fly and work in unison.) The awards announced Tuesday went to Ball Aerospace, Lockheed Martin Space Systems, TRW and SVS Inc. The individual teams represent 75 scientists drawn from nearly 50 universities, industrial firms, research institutions and NASA centers. "We’ve succeeded in our goal of engaging some of the best minds in the world," said Firouz Naderi, the mission’s project manager at JPL, of the teams that will further refine various concepts for Planet Finder. By December, NASA will narrow the field to two teams, which will then be subjected to further study ending in November 2001. The actual mission will not launch before 2012. At the onset, the mission will examine some 250 stars already spotted by an earlier effort -- the Space Interferometry Mission set for launch in 2006 -- which will hopefully characterize any planets in orbit around them. Once its cataloging work is complete, Planet Finder will then zero in on those stars that are most likely to hold habitable planets in an orbital embrace, searching for the telltale traces of life. Through the technique of spectroscopy – analyzing the spectrum of light reflected by the planets to see which elements are present – the mission will tell scientists the relative proportions of gases such as carbon dioxide, water, ozone and methane at each of those planets. These elements can strongly suggest the presence of life. "We’ll be looking for warm, water-bearing planets like Earth, and even for signs of primitive life," said Charles Beichman, the mission’s project scientist at JPL. Scientists boast that the mission could, with as little as two weeks of observations, tell whether any particular planet harbors primitive life. The mission itself could last as long as five years. To accomplish its task, the Planet Finder will wed the incredible sensitivity of spaceborne telescopes – like the Hubble Space Telescope, but perhaps 100 times sharper – with the high spatial resolution of an interferometer. In interferometry, light gathered by separate telescopes is combined to form one image. However, the image’s resolution equals that produced by a telescope equipped with a single mirror as wide as the distance between the individual mirrors. In the case of the Terrestrial Planet Finder, the satellites will fly as far 0.6 miles (1 kilometer) apart. The Planet Finder will take the "Goldilocks" approach in its search for habitable planets, using its four telescopes to focus on those bodies that are "just right" for life. That means the candidate planets must lie in a zone where temperatures allow for presence of liquid water, presumed to be necessary even for life beyond our planet. To spot such small, relatively cool bodies, the Planet Finder will rely on a technique called "nulling" to block the bright glare of a planet’s parent star, allowing the dim planets to appear. Since 1995, astronomers have discovered more than 30 planets orbiting stars other than our own. However, those planets have all been Jupiter-sized or larger, and far too close to their respective stars to be able to support life. You can Comment at Hearlink Blog |
