gregladen | September 23, 2011Newer update from NASA: Update #11
Fri, 23 Sep 2011 23:30:46 GMT
As of 7 p.m. EDT on Sept. 23, 2011, the orbit of UARS was 90 miles by 95 miles (145 km by 150 km). Re-entry is expected between 11 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23, and 3 a.m., Sept. 24, Eastern Daylight Time (3 a.m. to 7 a.m. GMT). During that time period, the satellite will be passing over Canada, Africa and Australia, as well as vast areas of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans. The risk to public safety is very remote.
The Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies now says that the entry time is 4:04AM 23 September UTC (11:04…
gregladen | September 23, 2011Sir David Attenborough:
"Evolution is an extremely powerful idea that lies at the heart of biology. At the same time, it's a sufficiently simple concept that there's no good reason why it should be left out of the primary curriculum. If creationism is discussed, it should be made clear to pupils that it is not accepted by the scientific community."
Details here.
Don't forget about Sir David's new project.
gregladen | September 23, 2011Here's the latest from NASA. Look for an update fairly soon. Or a loud noise, perhaps!
Update #9
Thu, 22 Sep 2011 09:01:35 PM CDT
As of 9:30 p.m. EDT Sept. 22, 2011, the orbit of UARS was 110 mi by 115 mi (175 km by 185 km). Re-entry is possible sometime during the afternoon or early evening of Sept. 23, Eastern Daylight Time. The satellite will not be passing over North America during that time period. It is still too early to predict the time and location of re-entry with any
gregladen | September 22, 2011Ride your bike to the state house on Saturday for MN 360
2 to 7pm on the State Capitol Lawn - St. Paul, MN
Inspiring Minnesotans to rise to the challenge of the climate crisis:
to create a new sense of urgency and possibility for our planet.
On September 24th, millions of people all around the world are joining together for Moving Planet--a worldwide rally to demand solutions to the climate crisis. In Minnesota we'll gather on the State Capitol lawn to send the message: It's time to move beyond fossil fuels.
We'll come on bikes. We'll process with Heart of the Beast puppets. We'll rally with…
gregladen | September 22, 2011
The first global map of the salinity, or saltiness, of Earth's ocean surface produced by NASA's new Aquarius instrument reveals a rich tapestry of global salinity patterns, demonstrating Aquarius' ability to resolve large-scale salinity distribution features clearly and with sharp contrast. NASA/GSFC/JPL-Caltech
One of NASA's newest Big Sci machines has generated a high quality map of ocean salinity. It is still preliminary and a few months of calibration is needed, but soon enough Aquarius will start monitoring ocean salinity on an ongoing basis.
Ocean salinity is important because it…
gregladen | September 22, 2011Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body is a book you should read. With one small caveat I'll give you below, it can be used as a behind-the-desk supplement for teachers of anatomy or any kind of organismic biology in High School or Intro College. It can be assigned in some classes. Or, it is just plain excellent bedtime reading.
It is interesting to look at how and why the book came about to begin with. In the author's words:
This book grew out of an extraordinary circumstance in my life. On account of faculty departures, I ended up directing the…
gregladen | September 22, 2011A few items over on The X Blog that you may not want to miss: "Our Generation Has The Power To End It" regarding the tragic death Jamie Rodemeyer (feel free to spell that "Jamey"); We address the question "Should Scientists Date People Who Believe in Astrology?"; Huxley got called a sissy by some guy but he still has the coolest shoes this side of Stillwater, Minnesota; a little bit of Death Penalty Philosophy; and my thoughts on Troy Davis.
gregladen | September 22, 2011As you know, the UARS (Satellite) is in the process of de-orbiting. It is a bit more like a death watch (have you ever done one of those?) than a technological procedure. The satellite was pushed into a dangerous orbit that would drag it down within several days, and it is now losing its grip on orbital inertia as it plows ungracefully through thicker and thicker regions of the upper atmosphere. One wonders what might affect UARS's orbit. Would a powerful weather front with tall thunderheads, or a hurricane cause enough extra molecules of air to be pushed up a bit farther, to cause the…
gregladen | September 21, 2011Just wanted you to know, for those who have asked, I have indeed written something on the tragic fate of Troy Davis. Here: Day of Justice, Day of Shame: The killing of Troy Davis.
I just sent off my submission to the Minnesota Atheist Book Project. If you were thinking of doing that, better get moving, the deadline is coming up. Details here.
I want to note that Sheril Kirshenbaum is running a series of guest posts on her blog, Culture of Science, and has two up already: Calling All New Ideas for 21st Century Science Funding, and Mitigation Via Domestication: The Link Between Global…
gregladen | September 21, 2011... or rather, Narrrr.
Arrrr is the term for "yes" spoke in a part of England whence that rascal Robert Newton hailed, so when he formed his dialect model for his stint as Long John Silver in Disney's Treasure Island, he threw that in. His other piratitisms he fetched from like personal background. The truth of it is that that Long John himself hails from the same digs (West Country), but most pirates did not.
Ker Than at National Geographic News has the skivy on the pirate lingo avast. Might I suggest you sail yer ship on over there for a maw full of learnin'
I made up the thing about…
gregladen | September 21, 2011The details are here.
Information on changes in Google's "real name" policy that would allow people to protect their identity here.
Oh. Right. Squat.
gregladen | September 21, 2011NASA's WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer ) telescope has collected some important data on black holes, in particular, about the big jets of energy that stream out of them.
Scientists study jets to learn more about the extreme environments around black holes. Much has been learned about the material feeding black holes, called accretion disks, and the jets themselves, through studies using X-rays, gamma rays and radio waves. But key measurements of the brightest part of the jets, located at their bases, have been difficult despite decades of work. WISE is offering a new window into…
gregladen | September 21, 2011
Very cute song. But, I do find it a little poignant and even mildly disturbing that the primary motivating criteria for her raison d'être have to do with the whole journal thing and being like the established heternormativeoccidopatriarchic white guys. Instead of just discovery of things not previously known about bugs.
Hat tip: Bug Girl
gregladen | September 20, 2011Check this out. This is an animation made by the same company that made the famous Tiger Woods animation (you know the one). In this case the purpose of the animation was to reconstruct an unusual crime scene so people could see it on the news, relate better to it, and report anything they may have seen in the area that was suspicious.
This may not be work safe, depending on where you work:
gregladen | September 20, 2011Remove all cats from the room before starting this video. Especially the big ones.
gregladen | September 20, 2011How does David Attenborough crawl through a marshy Cycad forest toward an exposed rocky ledge overlooking a vast plain of grazing dinosaurs, drawing ever closer to a nesting colony of Quetzalcoatlus Pterodactlyoids (known in the business as "Flying Giraffes") camera crew in tow, nearly out of breath, turning to the camera and speaking of how his adrenalin is surging as he can feel the breeze caused by wingbeats of one of the larger males taking off down an historically ancient Pterosaur runway, and noting a few interesting facts about their physical adaptations to flight and their behavior…
gregladen | September 20, 2011According to the latest estimates from NASA, the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite will re-enter the Earth's atmosphere next Thursday, Friday or Saturday. It will strike somewhere between .... well, it will strike the earth somewhere, not likely near the poles. Could hit anywhere, really.
UPDATE HERE
The satellite was launched in 1991 via Discovery, and has collected whopping huge piles of extremely important data. It weighs 5,668 kilograms. UARS was decomissioned on December 15th, 2005 and at that time, lowered into a "disposed orbit"
In case a piece of UARS falls near you, the…
gregladen | September 19, 2011You'll remember that a few days ago I asked people to contribute to the Climate Scientists Defense Fun. They needed money to stop denialists from personally harassing scientists. The needed funds were obtained from your donations and all is well!!!!
However, the people who organized this have decided to try to generate a standing fund for this purpose, and have asked us bloggers who discuss these issues to let people know about. It is still being developed, but you can learn more about it here.
Thanks for all your help and generosity!