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Earthshine Reflects Earth's Oceans And Continents From The Dark Side Of The Moon


Science Daily
Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:51 UTC
Image
© NASA
This Clementine star tracker camera image reveals the Moon lit by Earthshine, with the Sun's corona rising over the Moon's dark limb.
Researchers from the University of Melbourne and Princeton University have shown for the first time that the difference in reflection of light from the Earth's land masses and oceans can be seen on the dark side of the moon, a phenomenon known as earthshine.

The paper is published in this week's edition of the international journal Astrobiology.

Sally Langford from the University of Melbourne's School of Physics, who conducted the study as part of her PhD, says that the brightness of the reflected earthshine varied as the Earth rotated, revealing the difference between the intense mirror-like reflections of the ocean compared to the dimmer land.
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Telescope

Korean Discovers Comet for First Time

Kim Tong-hyung
The Korea Times
Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:27 UTC
Yi Dae-am
© Unknown
Yi Dae-am,
Head of Yongwol Insectarium
An amateur stargazer has discovered a new comet, becoming the first South Korean to do so, science authorities said Wednesday.

Yi Dae-am, who heads the Yongwol Insectarium in Gangwon Province, found the comet, named as Yi-SWAN C/2009 F6, using a 90 millimeter telescope and a digital camera on March 26.

Yi discovered the comet almost simultaneously with American astronomer Robert Mason, who found the comet in pictures taken from the SWAN (Solar Wind ANisotropies) solar observation instrument on the Solar Heliospheric Observatory spacecraft from March 29 to April 4.
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Pharoah

Hidden Face In Nefertiti Bust Examined With CT Scan


Science Daily
Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:07 UTC
Image
© Radiological Society of North America
Detailed surface reformation of right ear conchae. Outer layer in red and high level of transparency is overlaying inner layer with sandy color. The ears bear only thin layers of stucco. They are chiseled with high level of details in limestone. The right canal shows pointed end, (whereas on the other ear the left canal ends bluntly).
Using CT imaging to study a priceless bust of Nefertiti, researchers have uncovered a delicately carved face in the limestone inner core and gained new insights into methods used to create the ancient masterpiece and information pertinent to its conservation, according to a study published in the April issue of Radiology.

"We acquired a lot of information on how the bust was manufactured more than 3,300 years ago by the royal sculptor," said the study's lead author Alexander Huppertz, M.D., director of the Imaging Science Institute in Berlin, Germany. "We learned that the sculpture has two slightly different faces, and we derived from interpretation of the CT images how to prevent damage of this extremely precious art object."
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Better Earth

Measuring Earth's Gravity Field: GOCE's 'Heart' Starts Beating


Science Daily
Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:04 UTC
Image
© ESA - AOES Medialab
GOCE will provide the dataset required to accurately determine global and regional models of Earth's gravity field and geoid. It will advance research in ocean circulation, physics of Earth's interior, geodesy and surveying, and sea-level change.
GOCE's highly sensitive gradiometer instrument has been switched on and is producing data. Forming the heart of GOCE, the gradiometer is specifically designed to measure Earth's gravity field with unprecedented accuracy.

"We are very pleased with what we have seen from the gradiometer from the moment it was switched on. All accelerometer sensor heads are working in very good health and provide meaningful data," GOCE Project Manager Danilo Muzi said.

The gradiometer consists of three pairs of identical ultra-sensitive accelerometers, each mounted to point in orthogonal directions to allow the simultaneous measurement of the spatial variations of the gravity field.
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Blackbox

Existential vertigo over human origins

Amanda Gefter
New Scientist
Wed, 08 Apr 2009 16:35 UTC
It's funny how pondering our origins - the origin of the universe, of life, of mind - leads us to question everything we thought we knew about ourselves in the here and now.

Here in Phoenix, Arizona, the Origins Symposium - the inaugural event of the Origins Initiative at Arizona State University, headed up by physicist Lawrence Krauss - has just wrapped up after four days of lectures and debates from the world's leading scientists.

Brian Greene spoke about string theory, AC Grayling anticipated the future of humanity, Steven Pinker explored behavioural genetics, Steven Weinberg pondered the multiverse, Craig Venter discussed the possibilities of synthetic life, and Stephen Hawking - who, unfortunately hospitalised, made a "virtual and genetic appearance" via a video screen - and his daughter Lucy argued for the colonisation of space.

Infinite universes?

The conference covered a lot of ground, but it left with me a singular and profound existential vertigo: throughout the four days, I felt as if I could see myself - a small, strange Earth-bound creature - through the lens of a camera zooming in and out through space and time.

Zoom out: 13.7 billion years ago the universe found its origin in the big bang. Was this a lone creation event, or one of an infinite number of bangs, each birthing its own universe? What's that in the distance? Another copy of myself? An infinite number of me?
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Satellite

Hubble Snaps Image of Triple Galaxy, as Ordered by the People

Betsy Mason
Wired
Wed, 08 Apr 2009 15:13 UTC
Image
© NASA, ESA and M. Livio and the Hubble Heritage Team (StSci/AURA)
The Hubble Space Telescope took a closer look at this triple galaxy group on April 1 and 2 after 140,000 people around the world voted on six potential targets. The areas have previously only been photographed by ground-based telescopes.

The Arp 274 galaxy group won the competition with more than 67,000 votes. Hubble's image suggests the galaxies may not be close enough together to interact as they appear to be in the image taken by the Palomar Observatory near San Diego.
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Meteor

Tiny rock excites astrochemists


BBC News
Tue, 07 Apr 2009 11:31 UTC
A "unique" micrometeorite found in Antarctica is challenging ideas about how planets can form.

Detailed analysis has shown that the sample, known as MM40, has a chemical composition unlike any other fragment of fallen space rock.

This, say experts, raises questions about where it originated in the Solar System and how it was created.

It also means that astrochemists must expand their list of the combinations of materials in planetary crusts.
      Read More...
Cowboy Hat

GM and Segway plan electric two-wheeler

Elizabeth Judge
Times Online
Wed, 08 Apr 2009 01:32 UTC
segway, gm

(Ho/Reuters)
The Project P.U.M.A. prototype is shown during a test drive in Brooklyn, New York April 4, 2009.

GM, the stricken car giant best known for its gas-guzzling Hummers, is to tie-up with Segway, the electric scooter producer, in an attempt to prove its commitment to reinventing itself.

Days after President Obama warned the Detroit-based company that an aggressive restructuring was the only way to safeguard its future, GM announced it is working with Segway to develop a two-wheeled, two-seat electric vehicle intended to be a green and inexpensive alternative to traditional cars.

Green technology is regarded as the great hope for the car industry, which is in the grip of a global crisis that has seen factories mothballed and production plummet.
      Read More...
Saturn

Cool Stars Have Different Mix of Life-Forming Chemicals


Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Wed, 08 Apr 2009 00:52 UTC
Image
© NASA/JPL-Caltech
This artist's conception shows a young, hypothetical planet around a cool star.
Life on Earth is thought to have arisen from a hot soup of chemicals. Does this same soup exist on planets around other stars? A new study from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope hints that planets around stars cooler than our sun might possess a different mix of potentially life-forming, or "prebiotic," chemicals.

Astronomers used Spitzer to look for a prebiotic chemical, called hydrogen cyanide, in the planet-forming material swirling around different types of stars. Hydrogen cyanide is a component of adenine, which is a basic element of DNA. DNA can be found in every living organism on Earth.
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Magnify

Mysteries of prehistoric Balochistan unravelled


Daily Times
Wed, 08 Apr 2009 00:42 UTC
Image
© Daily News
Karachi 'Ancient Balochistan - Unfolding the Past', a lecture by the Director of the joint German-Pakistani Archaeological Mission to Kalat, Dr Ute Franke, was held on Monday at the Goethe-Institute, Karachi.

Dr Franke, a German archaeologist, has been following the prehistoric sites in Balochistan since 1981. In 1925, the first excavations took place at the site, bringing to light the ceramic techniques from the third millennium BC, while unravelling a kaleidoscope of culture from that area that has long been buried.
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