Science & TechnologyS


Comet

Comet ISON heats up, grows new tail

Bob King
Universe Today
Thu, 07 Nov 2013 17:12 UTC
Comet ISON_1
© Damian PeachTwo faint tail streamers are visible between Comet ISON’s green coma and bright star near center. in this photo taken on Nov. 6. They’re possibly the beginning of an ion tail. Click to enlarge.
I'm starting to get the chills about Comet ISON. I can't help it. With practically every telescope turned the comet's way fewer than three short weeks before perihelion, every week brings new images and developments. The latest pictures show a brand new tail feature emerging from the comet's bulbous coma.

For months, amateur and professional astronomers alike have watched ISON's slowly growing dust tail that now stretches nearly half a degree or a full moon's diameter. In the past two days, photos taken by amateur astronomers reveal what appears to be a nascent ion or gas tail. Damian Peach's Nov. 6 image clearly shows two spindly streamers.
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Fireball 5

Surprising recent discoveries of three large Near-Earth Objects

Don Yeomans and Paul Chodas
SpaceDaily.com
Thu, 07 Nov 2013 12:10 UTC
Two surprisingly large Near-Earth Asteroids have been discovered in just the last week or so, as well as a third moderately large asteroid which surprisingly has also gone undetected until now, even though it can pass close enough to the Earth to be classified as "potentially hazardous".

Not since 1983 has any near-Earth asteroid been found as large as the approximately 20-kilometer (12-mile) size of the two new large ones. In fact, there are only three other known near-Earth asteroids that are of comparable size or larger than the two new large ones.
Image
© NASA/JPL-CaltechThe orbits of 2013 UQ4, 2013 US10 and 2013 UP8 are shown in a view looking down on the plane of the solar system. While 2013 US10 and 2013 UP8 orbit the sun in a counter clockwise direction (so called "direct" orbits like all the planets and most asteroids), 2013 UQ4 orbits in a clockwise (retrograde) direction.
It is important to note that none of these three new large near-Earth asteroids can come close enough to the Earth to represent a near-term threat to our planet.

The first of the new large near-Earth asteroid discoveries is named 2013 UQ4, and it is perhaps the most unusual. This approximately 19-kilometer (12-mile) wide object was spotted by the Catalina Sky Survey on Oct. 23 when the asteroid was 435 million kilometers (270 million miles) away from Earth. Not only is this object unusually large, it follows a very unusual highly inclined, retrograde orbit about the Sun, which means it travels around the Sun in the opposite direction of all the planets and the vast majority of asteroids.
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Jupiter

Far-off planets like the Earth dot the galaxy

Dennis Overbye
The New York Times
Mon, 04 Nov 2013 12:14 UTC
Image
© Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, via Associated PressA rendering of Kepler 62f and two outer planets, which may lie in a habitable zone where liquid water could exist on the surface.
The known odds of something - or someone - living far, far away from Earth improved beyond astronomers' boldest dreams on Monday.

Astronomers reported that there could be as many as 40 billion habitable Earth-size planets in the galaxy, based on a new analysis of data from NASA's Kepler spacecraft.

One out of every five sunlike stars in the galaxy has a planet the size of Earth circling it in the Goldilocks zone - not too hot, not too cold - where surface temperatures should be compatible with liquid water, according to a herculean three-year calculation based on data from the Kepler spacecraft by Erik Petigura, a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley.

Mr. Petigura's analysis represents a major step toward the main goal of the Kepler mission, which was to measure what fraction of sunlike stars in the galaxy have Earth-size planets. Sometimes called eta-Earth, it is an important factor in the so-called Drake equation used to estimate the number of intelligent civilizations in the universe. Mr. Petigura's paper, published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, puts another smiley face on a cosmos that has gotten increasingly friendly and fecund-looking over the last 20 years.
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Info

Lice reveal clues to human evolution

Wynne Parry
LiveScience
Thu, 07 Nov 2013 11:55 UTC
Louse
© CDCThe nit of a head louse.
Gainsville, Florida - Clues to human evolution generally come from fossils left by ancestors and the molecular trail encoded in the human genome as it is tweaked over generations. However, some researchers are looking to another source: the bloodsucking louse.

Lice have been closely associated with humans for millennia; in spite of human attempts to get rid of the parasites, their persistence has made them a potential reservoir of information for those who want to know more about human evolution and history, said David Reed, associate curator of mammals at the Florida Museum of Natural History, on Sunday (Nov. 3) here at the ScienceWriters2013 conference.

"When we went through our evolutionary history, we didn't do it by ourselves - we took a whole bunch of passengers with us," Reed said.

Clues from the bloodsucking hitchhikers, for instance, suggest modern humans intermingled with Neanderthals (a theory also supported by other genetic research) and that humans may have first put on clothing before leaving Africa.
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Arrow Down

Motorola wants you to tattoo a smartphone microphone onto your throat

Steve Dent
Engadget
Thu, 07 Nov 2013 10:17 UTC
Microphone
© Engadget
Okay, where to start on this one? Simply put, Motorola has applied for a patent of a microphone with a tranceiver and power supply that is designed to be tattooed onto your throat. The idea is to capture vibrations directly from your larynx in order to cut out background noise -- while eliminating something else you could lose, we imagine.

The skin-borne device could communicate with your handset or other portable device by Bluetooth, NFC or other wireless protocols and would pack a battery that "may or may not be rechargeable." The patent adds that the technology could also be applied to "other animals," so we're a bit concerned that Motorola is taking its wearable schemes in the wrong direction.

Source: USPTO
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Telescope

NASA's Hubble sees 'asteroid' spouting six comet-like tails "dust radiating from it like spokes on a wheel"

Donna Weaver & Ray Villard
NASA
Thu, 07 Nov 2013 10:47 UTC
Astronomers viewing our solar system's asteroid belt with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have seen for the first time an asteroid with six comet-like tails of dust radiating from it like spokes on a wheel. Unlike all other known asteroids, which appear simply as tiny points of light, this asteroid, designated P/2013 P5, resembles a rotating lawn sprinkler. Astronomers are puzzled over the asteroid's unusual appearance.

"We were literally dumbfounded when we saw it," said lead investigator David Jewitt of the University of California at Los Angeles. "Even more amazing, its tail structures change dramatically in just 13 days as it belches out dust. That also caught us by surprise. It's hard to believe we're looking at an asteroid."
Image
© NASA

Comment: See also:

Rare 'asteroid' sporting tail spotted

Crashed asteroid has a tail that keeps getting longer

Asteroid 3200 Phaethon behaving like a comet

The evidence is staring them in the face, but because they cling to the old assumptions, they are unable to see that all space rocks can become electrically charged in an Electric Universe!

To learn the truth about asteroids and comets, get your copy of The Apocalypse: Comets, Asteroids and Cyclical Catastrophes, by Laura Knight-Jadczyk.

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Beaker

Genome hacker uncovers largest-ever family tree linking 13 million people

Heidi Ledford
Nature
Wed, 30 Oct 2013 00:00 UTC
Image
© Andrew Bret Wallis/Getty Images
Gigantic genealogy linking 13 million people sheds light on how genes influence complex traits.

Using data pulled from online genealogy sites, a renowned 'genome hacker' has constructed what is likely the biggest family trees ever assembled. The researcher and his team now plan to use the data - including a single uber-pedigree comprising 13 million individuals, which stretches back to the fifteenth century - to analyse the inheritance of complex genetic traits, such as longevity and fertility.

In addition to providing the invitation list to what would be the world's largest family reunion, the work presented by computational biologist Yaniv Erlich at the American Society of Human Genetics annual meeting in Boston could provide a new tool for understanding the extent to which genes contribute to certain traits. The pedigrees have been made available to other researchers, but Erlich and his team at the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, have stripped the names from the data to protect privacy.
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Comet

New Comet: C/2013 V1 (BOATTINI)

Ernesto Guido, Nick Howes & Martino Nicolini
Remanzacco Observatory
Wed, 06 Nov 2013 18:15 UTC
Cbet nr. 3689, issued on 2013, November 06, announces the discovery of a new comet (discovery magnitude ~15.6) by A. Boattini on CCD images obtained with the Catalina Sky Survey's 0.68-m Schmidt telescope. The new comet has been designated C/2013 V1 (BOATTINI).

We performed follow-up measurements of this object, while it was still on the neocp. Stacking of 3 R-filtered exposures, 20-sec each, obtained remotely from MPC code Q62 (iTelescope Observatory, Siding Spring) on 2013, November 05.75 through a 0.50-m f/6.8 astrograph + CCD + f/4.5 focal reducer, shows that this object is a comet: diffuse coma about 18" in diameter.

We imaged again this object on 2013, November 06.35 remotely from MPC code H06 (iTelescope Observatory, New Mexico) through a 0.50-m f/6.8 astrograph + CCD + f/4.5 focal reducer. The comet is showing a nice curved tail ~1' long in p.a. 240 deg. Below our image of November 06. Click on it for a bigger version.
C/2013 V1
© Remanzacco Observatory
M.P.E.C. 2013-V32 assigns the following preliminary parabolic orbital elements to comet C/2013 V1: T 2014 Apr. 8.42; e= 1.0; Peri. = 50.83; q = 1.50; Incl.= 62.39
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Eye 1

Big Brother blinded: Smog disrupts surveillance cameras in China

Stephen Chen
South China Morning Post
Tue, 05 Nov 2013 21:06 UTC
Image
© China Foto PressAs well as health issues, heavy smog in cities such as Jilin is creating serious security concerns for authorities.
Teams of scientists assigned to find a solution as heavy pollution makes national surveillance network useless, raising fear of terror attack

To the central government, the smog that blankets the country is not just a health hazard, it's a threat to national security.

Last month visibility in Harbin dropped to below three metres because of heavy smog. On days like these, no surveillance camera can see through the thick layers of particles, say scientists and engineers.

To the authorities, this is a serious national security concern. Beijing has invested heavily to build up a nationwide surveillance network that lets police watch every major street and corner in main cities.

But with smoggy days becoming more frequent, the effectiveness of the system has been greatly compromised. Some fear terrorists may choose a smoggy day to launch attacks.

Kong Zilong, a senior project engineer with Shenzhen Yichengan Technology and an expert in video surveillance technology, said the security devices that could function in heavy smogs had yet to be invented.
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Blue Planet

New NASA map shows where you are most likely to die from air pollution

Michael Ricciardi
Planetsave
Sun, 22 Sep 2013 20:38 UTC
Image
© Map made by NASA’s Robert Simmon based on data from Jason West
Each year millions of premature deaths world-wide result from various forms of air pollution. According to a new atmospheric pollution model designed by earth scientist Jason West of the University of North Carolina (data from which informs the NASA map shown above), some 2.1 million deaths per year result from just one particular form of atmospheric pollution: fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, which is emitted in car exhaust and smokestack effluent (and other industrial, domestic and natural sources).

In general, these polluting particles in the atmosphere are referred to as aerosols (a mixture of particulate matter and air). Aerosols can take the form of suspended particulate matter (SPM), respirable suspended particles (RSP), which are particles with a diameter of 10 micrometers (microns) or less, and, the aforementioned fine PM2.5...the '2.5′ refers to particles of 2.5 microns or less and may include ultrafine particles, and some forms of soot (such as black carbon soot from cooking stoves and biomass burning).

Sometimes transient, natural, meteorological conditions combine with human pollution, resulting in "extreme outbreaks of air pollution." For example, in January, 2013, a blanket of industrial pollution enveloped northeastern China, and, in June, 2013, smoke from agricultural fires in Sumatra engulfed Singapore.
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