Damsel took this photo of me during an excursion to the “unimproved” part of our lot. I was up there taking pictures of some of the cacti. Some of them I want to remove, like the several Christmas cacti, which shed their red berries that can roll down to the RV drive and endanger dogs and humans with their spikes and glochids. Other cacti, like a couple of hedgehogs up there, I would like to transplant to the lower yard where their flowers can be appreciated. Click on the image to enlarge.
NASA’s twin Van Allen Probes, launched just last August, have revealed a previously unknown third radiation belt around Earth. Video and highlighted quote courtesy NASA.
Van Allen Probes Discover a New Radiation Belt
Previous observations of the Van Allen belts dating back to the late 1950s have documented two distinct regions of trapped radiation surrounding our planet, known as the inner and outer radiation belts. Particle sensors aboard the twin Van Allen Probes quickly revealed to scientists the existence of a transient, third radiation belt. Scientists observed the third belt for four weeks before a powerful interplanetary shock wave from the sun annihilated it.
What a surprise – the Sun modulates the Van Allen Belts.
Here is more evidence that variations of the sun are responsible for, not only Earth’s climate, but solar “weather” as well. This is ten hours of solar activity compressed into a little over four minutes. You can mute the weird music in the usual YouTube® manner.
Courtesy NASA and APOD
Damsel took this shot of the lower hills dusted with snow this morning. The higher, more distant foothills are obscured by the low-hanging clouds.
The NWS forecast said the snow level would be down to 2200 feet, which is (approximately) our altitude here. However, we did not see any snow although we had some small hail or freezing rain that bounced around on the courtyard for a few minutes early this afternoon.
The forecast is for more rain this evening, but looking at radar and cloud images, I sort of think not. Click on the image to enlarge.
I took this photo of a Desert Mallow wildflower as we walked back from the car show. There was a honey bee deep in the bud collecting nectar. Although today was a beautiful spring-like day, the forecast calls for a chance of showers tonight and tomorrow, with cooler temperatures in the wake of the rain passage. Click on the image to enlarge.
It is an almost daily occurrence to find tail feathers from a mourning dove or some other unfortunate prey of the many hawks and other raptors that hunt the blue skies of Arizona. This one softly landed on the Sedona rocks that cover our RV drive and much of the landscaped part of the property. Click on the image to enlarge.
