Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Astronomy

Sign the Pluto Petition

Dr. Tony Phillips (NASA, SpaceWeather.com) has generated a vote and sign the petition webpage at PlutoPetition.org

You can vote either pro-planet or pro-discrediting-American-astronomers-who-discover-planets. As of this writing, Pluto-the-planet is winning.

Dr. Phillips also observes:

IS NEPTUNE A PLANET?

Consider this: According to the IAU, for a world to be a planet, it must “clear the neighborhood around its orbit” of competing bodies. How does a planet go about cleaning up? Simple. It uses its gravity to gobble up or fling away anything in its vicinity.

This is a problem for Pluto. Pluto’s “neighborhood” is cluttered with innumerable icy asteroid-like bodies called “Kuiper Belt Objects.” Pluto’s gravity is not quite strong enough to get rid of them. Thus, according to the IAU, Pluto is not a planet.

But wait! This is a problem for Neptune, too. Pluto itself crosses the orbit of Neptune. So, Neptune has not yet cleaned up its own neighborhood. Does this mean that Neptune is not a planet? Think about it.

06 Sep 2006 by Astronomy

Behind the Rainbow Curtains

Lately, I’ve been studying solar phenomena because I think the topic is so critical to understanding the natural processes that affect global weather and climate. An interesting segué from the weather aspect, however, is into the subject of auroras – Aurora Borealis in the North and Aurora Australis in the South. What causes them?

Occasionally, we see auroras in Southern California, but it’s an extremely rare sight. The last auroral display I can remember seeing was way back in 1962, although other people have seen them several times since then. The UCLA webcam on Mount Wilson near Los Angeles recorded the image to the right on March 30, 2001.

Anyhow, back to the topic of what causes these elusive Rainbow Curtains — from SOHO and NASA — Space Weather:
Continue reading…

26 Aug 2006 by Astronomy Environment Science

Pluto Demoted to “Dwarf Planet”

UPDATE: Vote on Pluto’s planet status

Clyde Tombaugh must be turning over in his grave.

From AP via Forbes:

Astronomers Say Pluto Is Not a Planet – Forbes.com

Leading astronomers declared Thursday that Pluto is no longer a planet under historic new guidelines that downsize the solar system from nine planets to eight.

Image: Pluto and moon Charon

After a tumultuous week of clashing over the essence of the cosmos, the International Astronomical Union stripped Pluto of the planetary status it has held since its discovery in 1930. The new definition of what is – and isn’t – a planet fills a centuries-old black hole for scientists who have labored since Copernicus without one.

[. . . ]

The decision by the prestigious international group spells out the basic tests that celestial objects will have to meet before they can be considered for admission to the elite cosmic club.

For now, membership will be restricted to the eight “classical” planets in the solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

Much-maligned Pluto doesn’t make the grade under the new rules for a planet: “a celestial body that is in orbit around the sun, has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a … nearly round shape, and has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit.”

Pluto is automatically disqualified because its oblong orbit overlaps with Neptune’s.

Instead, it will be reclassified in a new category of “dwarf planets,” similar to what long have been termed “minor planets.” The definition also lays out a third class of lesser objects that orbit the sun – “small solar system bodies,” a term that will apply to numerous asteroids, comets and other natural satellites.

It was unclear how Pluto’s demotion might affect the mission of NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, which earlier this year began a 9 1/2-year journey to the oddball object to unearth more of its secrets.

Update: Thanks to HYSCIENCE for the trackback and kind words.

24 Aug 2006 by Astronomy Science

Space Radiation Storm

During the years 1999 & 2000 the solar maximum occurred; the time of an 11-year cycle when the Sun exhibits greatest activity. This was the first chance for the Xray Camera on SOHO to observe solar activity at maximum. On July 14, 2000, the camera recorded one of the largest Xray flares to date. In review, this article from NASA recalls the ensuing storm and it’s effects on our planet.

Space Radiation Storm

July 14, 2000 — This morning NOAA satellites and the orbiting Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) recorded one of the most powerful solar flares of the current solar cycle. Space weather forecasters had been predicting for days that an intense flare might erupt from the large sunspot group 9077, and today one did.

“Energetic protons from the flare arrived at Earth about 15 minutes after the eruption,” says Gary Heckman, a space weather forecaster at the NOAA Space Environment Center. “This triggered a category S3 radiation storm.”

Right: This SOHO animation of an X-class solar flare was recorded by the spacecraft’s Extreme-ultraviolet Imaging Telescope at 195 angstroms. This recording nicely shows a flare, followed by a torrent of energetic particles that arrived about 15 minutes later, creating snow on the images as the particles bombarded the camera’s electronic detectors. A second flare does not create as much noise. The duration of this sequence is almost a minute, so keep watching.

According to NOAA space weather prediction scales, an S3 storm can cause the following effects on satellites: single-event upsets, noise in imaging systems, permanent damage to exposed components/detectors, and decrease of solar panel currents. It can also expose air travelers at high latitudes to low levels of radiation, the equivalent of a brief chest x-ray.

[more]

Presently, the sun is between maxima. Although the sun is fairly quiet now, there can still be the occasional flare up.

14 Aug 2006 by Astronomy Environment Global Warming Rocket Science

Perspective

The following composite picture illustrates the significance of mankind’s contribution to global warming.

Photo courtesy of NASA/SOHO via Astronomy Picture of the Day

Try and picture all the tiny little critters on the surface of planet Earth trying to compete with a Solar Coronal Mass Ejection for climate effects. This sort of puts the relative significance of fossil fuel consumption in perspective, doesn’t it?

07 Aug 2006 by Astronomy Global Warming Science Whacko Politics

Close Encounter of the Hoax Kind

Somebody out there is circulating a three-year-old tip about a close encounter between Mars and Earth. The tip is about the 2003 Mars-Earth encounter. This August, Mars will be a long, long way away, at about seven times the 2003 distance.

From SpaceWeather.com

BEWARE THE MARS HOAX: Just when you thought it was safe to read your email, a new Mars Hoax is spreading. The widely-circulated message tells us “the Red Planet is about to be spectacular. On August 27th, Mars … will look as large as the full Moon.” Not!

Fact: On August 27, 2006, Mars will be on the other side of the solar system, 385 million km from Earth and very dim. So forget about Mars. If you want to see something truly astronomical on August 27th, look east before dawn for a pretty conjunction of Venus and Saturn.

More information from NASA (from about a year ago).

27 Jul 2006 by Astronomy Cyberspace Degenerates

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