Earth and Planetary Sciences
jlynch | March 3, 2007
On February 25th, the STEREO B spacecraft captured a lunar transit across the face of the Sun. Click here for the impressive QT movie.
jlynch | March 2, 2007
Arizonans won't see the full lunar eclipse scheduled for Saturday because it reaches totality around 4:20 p.m. here, two hours before the sun will set.
Ah well. We'll just have to wait for August 27th.
jlynch | February 26, 2007WaPo reports:
Five Western governors [California, Arizona, Oregon, New Mexico and Washington] agreed yesterday on a plan to cut their states' emissions of gases linked to global warming and to establish a regional carbon-trading system, though they stopped short of saying how drastically they will seek to reduce greenhouse gases ...
"In the absence of meaningful federal action, it is up to the states to take action to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the country," said Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano. "Western states are being particularly hard hit by the effects of…
jlynch | February 11, 2007Chis Allen is a weatherman for WKBO in Kentucky. He is also an idiot. Witness:
My biggest argument against putting the primary blame on humans for climate change is that it completely takes God out of the picture. It must have slipped these people's minds that God created the heavens and the earth and has control over what's going on. (Dear Lord Jesus...did I just open a new pandora's box?) Yeah, I said it. Do you honestly believe God would allow humans to destroy the earth He created? Of course, if you don't believe in God and creationism then I can see why you would easily buy into the…
jlynch | February 1, 2007
OK, I promise this is the last Comet McNaught photo. But it was too cool to pass up - the comet and the Southern Lights. Here is a larger version.
jlynch | January 28, 2007
In memory of those that slipped the bonds of Earth on this day in 1986.
I was a freshman in college. The flight started at 11:08 EST - just after four in the afternoon in Ireland - and I remember watching the launch on CNN which was the only channel that was showing the event live.
Here James Oberg demolishes seven myths about the Challenger tragedy - including the idea that millions of people saw the "explosion" (and the reason for quotes will become obvious if you read the article) live on television. While some of Oberg's points were not news to me, I had not realized that the "[t]he…
jlynch | January 27, 2007
Today in 1967, Apollo 1 astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee were killed in a fire during a test of the spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center.
jlynch | January 15, 2007
Gorgeous image, courtesy of APOD
Any readers got good McNaught photos to share?
jlynch | January 12, 2007Apparently a YEC named "Frosty" trumps the American Meteorological Society, the American Geophysical Union, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the National Academy of Sciences every time.
"Condoms don't belong in school, and neither does Al Gore. He's not a schoolteacher," said Frosty Hardison, a parent of seven who also said that he believes the Earth is 14,000 years old. "The information that's being presented is a very cockeyed view of what the truth is. ... The Bible says that in the end times everything will burn up, but that perspective isn't in the DVD." (…
jlynch | December 28, 2006
Over at Bad Astronomy, Phil Plait has his top ten astronomical images from 2006. The winner is above, but do drop over and checkout the rest.
jlynch | December 26, 2006
Note: Since I'm getting a lot of queries about this photo ... I don't own copyright for the photo and don't have the contact information for the source of the picture. I got the photo off the web and neglected to note the source. Googling "polar bear" should result in the original, but that may mean you have to browse many pages before you find it. Good luck!
The Washington Post is reporting that the Bush Administration wants to list polar bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act,
"We've reviewed all the available data that leads us to believe the sea ice the polar bear depends…