The launch of a spacecraft owned by private company, SpaceX, has been rescheduled for Tuesday. If successful it will become the first commercial vehicle to transport supplies from Earth to the International Space Station.
“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.
“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.
“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.
“Satellites are finding that volcanoes previously thought to be dormant are showing signs of unrest.” Quoted from the European Space Agency 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.
“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.
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.
“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.
“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.
“Astronomers using data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope have, for the first time, discovered buckyballs in a solid form in space. Prior to this discovery, the microscopic carbon spheres had been found only in gas form in the cosmos.” Quoted from the NASA press release.
The space junk problem has been growing for decades – increasing the risk to a growing number of satellites and other space activities. The National Research Council recently released a report: Limiting Future Collision Risk to Spacecraft.
“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.
NASA’s GRAIL mission has beamed back its first video of the far side of the moon. The imagery was taken on Jan. 19 by the MoonKAM aboard the mission’s “Ebb” spacecraft.
“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.
“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.
“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.
“NASA’s Kepler mission has discovered the first Earth-size planets orbiting a sun-like star outside our solar system. The planets, called Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f, are too close to their star to be in the so-called habitable zone where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface, but they are the smallest exoplanets ever confirmed around a star like our sun.” Quoted from the NASA press release.
The new issue of SciNews has an activity about NASA’s Curiosity Rover and it’s recent launch to Mars! In the lesson students decide which landing site to send Curiosity to based on a .KMZ for Google Mars.
The purpose of SCINEWS is to provide middle and high school teachers timely, pre-packaged lessons on a science current event (such as an oil spill, earthquake, or shuttle launch) that are short (~15 min), easy to implement, and align to AZ state standards.
A Russian satellite is falling out of orbit after a mission to Phobos, a moon of Mars failed last month. It is one of the heaviest satellites ever launched and is expected to reenter Earth’s atmosphere in early January.
NASA has a nice collection of “Planetary Puzzles” for you to assemble online. Each of these interactive webpuzzles is based upon a famous NASA image and is rated for its difficulty.
A company, Space Exploration Technologies, will launch a spacecraft that will rendezvous with the International Space Station. This is a demonstration project to explore commercial cargo delivery in space.
NASA’s Kepler mission has confirmed its first planet in the “habitable zone,” the region around a star where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface.
“NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft has entered a new region between our solar system and interstellar space. There, a wind of charged particles streaming out from our sun has calmed, our solar system’s magnetic field is piled up, and higher-energy particles from inside our solar system appear to be leaking out into interstellar space.” Quoted from the NASA press release.
On Christmas Day, 2010, NASA’s Swift spacecraft detected an unusual gamma-ray burst in the constellation Andromeda. Researchers can agree on the source. It could be a supernova located billions of light-years away or an unusual collision within our own galaxy.
An exoplanet known as Kepler-21b has been discovered about 352 light years from earth. It has an estimated surface temperature of nearly 3000 degrees Fahrenheit (1600 degrees Celsius) – hot enough to melt iron.
New images from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show sand dunes moving across the surface of Mars at dozens of locations. The images are providing new information about the power and frequency of surface winds on Mars.
Following the success of Mars Rovers Spirit and Opportunity, NASA has launched another rover on an expedition to Mars. Curiosity is a car-sized rover that has many more capabilities.
The Mars Express spacecraft has returned an image of Tharsis Tholus, an extinct volcano on the surface of Mars. The image reveals a number of interesting structural features that are described in an article on the European Space Agency website.
Eris is the dwarf planet, about three times farther from the sun than Pluto. It recently passed in front of a star and that transit gave astronomers a rare opportunity to learn more about it.
Over 2000 years ago, Chinese astronomers witnessed an star that mysteriously appeared and stayed for about eight months. Today, with the help of the Spitzer Space Telescope, researchers are finally starting to understand what is now known to be supernova RCW 86.
Astronomers have discovered a star that they believe is accompanied by the youngest planet ever discovered. The estimated age of the planet is 2 million years.
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.
