“The joint JAXA/NASA Hinode mission captured this video of an annular eclipse of the Sun on May 20, 2012. During an annular eclipse the moon does not block the entirety of the sun, but leaves a bright ring of light visible at the edges. For the May eclipse, the moon was at the furthest distance from Earth that it ever achieves – meaning that it blocked the smallest possible portion of the sun.” Quoted from the NASA video release.
“Potentially hazardous asteroids, or PHAs, are a subset of the larger group of near-Earth asteroids. The PHAs have the closest orbits to Earth’s, coming within five million miles, and they are big enough to survive passing through Earth’s atmosphere and cause damage on a regional, or greater, scale.” Quoted from the NASA press release.
NASA has published a .pdf document titled: “Exploring the Moon: a Teacher’s Guide with activities for Earth and Space Sciences”. It has lots of introductory content and several activities that can be done with students.
“Last year, images from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured sand dunes and ripples moving across the surface of Mars — observations that challenged previously held beliefs that there was not a lot of movement on the red planet’s surface. Now, technology developed by a team at the California Institute of Technology has allowed scientists to measure these activities for the very first time.” Quoted from the Caltech press release.
“NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has detected light emanating from a “super-Earth” planet beyond our solar system for the first time. While the planet is not habitable, the detection is a historic step toward the eventual search for signs of life on other planets.” Quoted from the NASA press release.
“The Ouarkziz Impact Crater is located in northwestern Algeria, close to the border with Morocco. The crater was formed by a meteor impact less than 70 million years ago, during the late Cretaceous Period of the Mesozoic Era, or Age of Dinosaurs.” Quoted from the Earth Observatory image release.
On Saturday the distance between the Moon and the Earth will be at a minimum at about 11:35 PM as the Moon makes its elliptical orbit around the earth. The moon will appear bigger and brighter than normal.
“Five years of Mars Express gravity mapping data are providing unique insights into what lies beneath the Red Planet’s largest volcanoes. The results show that the lava grew denser over time and that the thickness of the planet’s rigid outer layers varies across the Tharsis region.” Quoted from the ESA press release.
Fragments thought to be part of the fireball that was seen in daylight by people from Las Vegas to San Francisco have been found near Lotus California.
This article: “How asteroidmining could turn billionaires into trillionaires” includes a video interview with Neil Degrasse Tyson, Director of New York’s Hayden Planetarium.
“Planetary Resources, Inc. announced today its plan to mine Near-Earth Asteroids for raw materials [...]. There are over 1,500 asteroids that are as easy to get to as the surface of the Moon. They are also in Earth-like orbits with small gravity fields, making them easier to approach and depart. [...] A single 500-meter platinum-rich asteroid contains the equivalent of all the Platinum Group Metals mined in history.” Quoted from the Planetary Resources website.
“Saturn’s giant moon Titan hides behind a thick, smoggy atmosphere that’s well known to scientists as one of the most complex chemical environments in the solar system. It’s a productive “factory” cranking out hydrocarbons that rain down on Titan’s icy surface and cloak it in soot.” Quoted from the NASA press release.
“Dark patches visible across much of the northern Martian hemisphere aren’t canals or vegetation, as once thought, but volcanic glass according to a new study.” Quoted from the ABC Science press release.
“Aurora are colorful lights in the night time sky primarily appearing in Earth’s polar regions. But what causes them? The culprit behind aurora is our own Sun and the solar plasma that is ejected during a magnetic event like a flare or a coronal mass ejection.” Quoted from the NASA video release.
A group of scientists has produced the first global geologic map of Jupiter’s Moon, Io. “The map illustrates the geologic character of some of the most unique and active volcanoes ever documented in the solar system.” Quote from the USGS press release.
The Aitken Basin is the Moon’s largest impact structure. It is over 1000 miles across and a is located on the Moon’s far side. The impact might be related to lunar magnetic anomoalies.
“There apparently is a great deal of interest in celestial bodies, and their locations and trajectories at the end of the calendar year 2012. Now, I for one love a good book or movie as much as the next guy. But the stuff flying around through cyberspace, TV and the movies is not based on science. There is even a fake NASA news release out there… So here is the scientific reality on the celestial happenings in the year 2012.”
“A team of volunteers has pored over observations from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and discovered more than 5,000 “bubbles” in the disk of our Milky Way galaxy. Young, hot stars blow these bubbles into surrounding gas and dust, indicating areas of brand new star formation.” Quoted from the NASA press release.
“On Tuesday, March 6, 2012, a large solar flare erupted from the Sun. Data from NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center suggest that the coronal mass ejection – the blast of plasma from the Sun’s surface -could reach Earth by early Thursday morning (March 8, 2012). This animation shows the output from the WSA-Enlil space weather model for solar winds, developed in partnership with NASA and academia and run operationally by NOAA. The white through yellow and orange plumes indicate the density of the coronal mass ejection plasma as it heads towards Earth (orange is the highest density).” Quoted from the NOAA video release.
According to NOAA’s Space Weather Alerts, the potential impacts of Tuesday’s solar storm, the impact of which should arrive at Earth on Thursday morning, include:
Induced Currents – Power system voltage irregularities possible, false alarms may be triggered on some protection devices.
Spacecraft – Systems may experience surface charging; increased drag on low Earth-orbit satellites and orientation problems may occur.
Navigation – Intermittent satellite navigation (GPS) problems, including loss-of-lock and increased range error may occur.
Radio – HF (high frequency) radio may be intermittent.
Aurora – Aurora may be seen as low as Pennsylvania to Iowa to Oregon. (Quoted from the NOAA announcement.)
“Using data from the Herschel Space Observatory, astronomers have detected for the first time cold water vapor enveloping a dusty disk around a young star. “
“NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has “sniffed” molecular oxygen ions around Saturn’s icy moon Dione for the first time, confirming the presence of a very tenuous atmosphere. The oxygen ions are quite sparse – one for every 0.67 cubic inches of space (one for every 11 cubic centimeters of space). [...] At the Dione surface, this atmosphere would only be as dense as Earth’s atmosphere 300 miles (480 kilometers) above the surface.” Quoted from the NASA press release.
“Englishman Richard Carrington is credited with the key observation in 1859 that connected solar flares with communications disruptions as well as the aurora borealis.” Quoted from the NOAA website.
“InSight, a proposed mission to quite literally dig deep into the planetary history of rocky worlds like Earth, will seek to answer one of science’s most fundamental questions: How were the planets created?” Quote from the NASA website.
“Asteroid 2011 AG5 has been receiving a lot of attention lately because of a very unlikely scenario which would place it on an Earth-interception course 28 years from now. Here is a scientific reality check of this relatively nondescript space rock which is currently ranked a “1″ on the 1 to 10 Torino Impact Hazard Scale.” Quote from the NASA press release.
“Unexpected new findings by a University of Maryland team of geochemists show that some portions of the Earth’s mantle (the rocky layer between Earth’s metallic core and crust) formed when the planet was much smaller than it is now.” Quoted from the University of Maryland press release.
“A set of recent papers, many of which draw on data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, reveal new details in the emerging picture of how Saturn’s moon Titan shifts with the seasons and even throughout the day.” Quote from the USGS press release.
A study of ruptures in the Martian surface and associated “displaced” boulder suggest that earthquakes as powerful as M7.0 could have occurred in the past few million years.
“New images from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft show the moon’s crust is being stretched, forming minute valleys in a few small areas on the lunar surface. Scientists propose this geologic activity occurred less than 50 million years ago, which is considered recent compared to the moon’s age of more than 4.5 billion years.” Quoted from the NASA press release.
In the 1970′s a rock brought back from the Moon was broken into 370 pieces and shared with 135 different countries and each of the fifty states. Now nobody knows what happened to some of these rocks.
This enhanced-color image shows sand dunes trapped in an impact crater in Noachis Terra, Mars. Dunes and sand ripples of various shapes and sizes display the natural beauty created by physical processes.
“Meteorites hold a record of the chemicals that existed in the early Solar System and that may have been a crucial source of the organic compounds that gave rise to life on Earth.” Quoted from the Carnegie Institution for Science press release.
Following one of the longest and weakest periods of activity in many cycles, the Sun is brimming with activity again. In late January 2012, our nearest star offered a preview of what may be to come in the solar maximum of 2012–13.
An asteroid measuring somewhere between 20 and 60 feet in diameter came within 37,000 miles of hitting the Earth – that’s about 1/6 of the distance between Earth and Moon.
“NASA’s Kepler mission has discovered 11 new planetary systems hosting 26 confirmed planets. These discoveries nearly double the number of verified Kepler planets and triple the number of stars known to have more than one planet that transits, or passes in front of, the star.” Quoted from the NASA press release.
Sand dunes are a dominant surface feature on Saturn’s moon Titan. They cover about 13% of the moon’s surface – an area about the same size as the United States. Instead of quartz sand the sand is a solid hydrocarbon!
“Using data from NASA’s Kepler Mission, astronomers announced the discovery of two new transiting “circumbinary” planet systems–planets that orbit two stars.” Quoted from the San Diego State University press release.
Derrick Pitts, Chief Astronomer at the Franklin Institute explains the recent “medium class” solar storm and how it might compare storms that will occur in 2013 when a solar maximum occurs.
In July, 2011 a meteor broke-up during its descent through Earth’s atmosphere, dropping debris on the Moroccan desert. Fragments of the meteorite were recovered and NASA has confirmed that they are fragments of Mars.
“Astronomers using data from NASA’s Kepler mission have discovered the three smallest planets yet detected orbiting a star beyond our sun.” Quoted from the NASA press release.
“The stars we see today weren’t always as serene as they appear, floating alone in the dark of night. Most stars, likely including our own sun, grew up in cosmic turmoil, as illustrated in this new image from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope.”
The Quadrantids meteor shower will be visible on Wednesday morning between 3:00 and 5:00 AM local time for people in North America.
Welcome to Geology News!
Every day you can find links to several earth science news topics right here.
Bookmark this page and visit often. You can also receive our news for free by RSS feed or in a daily email message.
Advertising
Popular From Geology.com
Marcellus Shale: The most overlooked resource in the eastern United States!
Diamonds from Coal? Diamonds form under a variety of conditions that rarely involve coal as a source of carbon.
Mineral Rights / Oil & Gas: Who owns the minerals under your land? Have they been sold? Can someone mine without permission?
The Many Uses of Gold: Learn how the unique properties of gold make it extremely suited for a large number of industrial uses.
