SPACE
& SCIENCE NEWS: December 2003
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& science news > space & science news: December 2003
| Stardust approaches Comet Wild
2 |
Dec 31, 2003 |
| World's longest snake goes on show2 |
Dec 31, 2003 |
| Mars Express shifts to polar orbit |
Dec 30, 2003 |
| Mars Spirit rover on track for
Gusev crater |
Dec 30, 2003 |
| Beagle may have fallen into deep
crater |
Dec 29, 2003 |
| "Tiger team" heads eagle search |
Dec 28, 2003 |
| Beagle hopes hang on mothership |
Dec 27, 2003 |
| Mars Express in orbit; still no
sound from Beagle |
Dec 26, 2003 |
| Late Neanderthals "more like us" |
Dec 24, 2003 |
| Beagle probe faces its biggest
challenge |
Dec 23, 2003 |
| Slim chance that all approaching
Mars probes will survive |
Dec 22, 2003 |
| The search for the lost Mars Polar
Lander |
Dec 22, 2003 |
| World waits on fusion reactor |
Dec 20, 2003 |
| Sensational images from new telescope |
Dec 19, 2003 |
| Beagle separates successfully from
Mars Express |
Dec 19, 2003 |
| Why is the Sun fading? |
Dec 18, 2003 |
| Private rocket-plane breaks sound
barrier |
Dec 18, 2003 |
| Beagle probe enters crucial phase |
Dec 17, 2003 |
| Oldest evidence for photosynthesis |
Dec 17, 2003 |
| A new arm for our Galaxy |
Dec 17, 2003 |
| Dust storms threaten Mars lander |
Dec 16 2003 |
| Timeline for time travel still
in fictional realm |
Dec 15, 2003 |
| Cassini-Huygens science teams gear
up for Saturn |
Dec 14, 2003 |
| NASA to investigate bizarre life
beyond Earth |
Dec 14, 2003 |
| Carbon clue implies comets orbit
other stars |
Dec 12, 2003 |
| Astonishing uranium bug |
Dec 12, 2003 |
| Oldest marsupial ancestor found |
Dec 12, 2003 |
| Cave colors reveal mental leap |
Dec 11, 2003 |
| How life could seed the Galaxy |
Dec 10, 2003 |
| New research suggests Earthlike
planets may be common |
Dec 10, 2003 |
| Are giant falling ice balls a sign
of global warming? |
Dec 10, 2003 |
| Massive star revealed to have glowing
disk |
Dec 9, 2003 |
| Details of JIMO Jupiter probe emerge |
Dec 9, 2003 |
| Odyssey hints at climate change
on Mars |
Dec 9, 2003 |
| Japan abandons Nozomi Mars mission |
Dec 9, 2003 |
| Humans "could survive Mars visit" |
Dec 9, 2003 |
| No fiery extinction for dinosaurs |
Dec 9, 2003 |
| Trail of black holes and neutron
stars points to ancient collision |
Dec 8, 2003 |
| Europe heads for hottest year since
records began |
Dec 8, 2003 |
| Scanning the mysteries inside the
Earth |
Dec 8, 2003 |
| Saturn in Cassini's sights |
Dec 5, 2003 |
| Sunlight's gentle nudge on asteroids
detected |
Dec 4, 2003 |
| Are mini black holes raining down
on Earth? |
Dec 3, 2003 |
| Solar activity reaches new high |
Dec 2, 2003 |
| Neanderthal "face" found in Loire |
Dec 2, 2003 |
| Stardust closes on its prey |
Dec 2, 2003 |
| Is the Sun made mainly out of iron? |
Dec 2, 2003 |
| Solar activity reaches new high |
Dec 2, 2003 |
| Rocket failure weakens Japan's
space program |
Dec 1, 2003 |
Stardust approaches Comet Wild 2
(Dec 31, 2003)
On a daring first-of-its-kind quest, an armored space probe will race
past a three-mile-wide comet Friday to collect samples of the ancient
relic that serves as a frozen time capsule from the formation of our
solar system. NASA's Stardust
spacecraft was launched in February 1999 on a seven-year, three-billion
mile round-trip voyage to Comet Wild 2. After Friday's close encounter,
the craft will head for home where a capsule containing tiny bits
of the comet's heart will parachute to Earth in 2006. "This could
prove to be a pivotal time for science, a remarkable opportunity to
gather evidence that might actually tell us how the planets formed
and give us clues about how life on Earth began," said Donald Brownlee,
a University of Washington astronomer and principle investigator for
the Stardust mission.
Read
more. Source: Spaceflight Now |
World's longest snake goes on show
(Dec 31, 2003)
A primitive zoo in Indonesia is holding a 49-foot-python captured
in a forest in Sumatra, a report said on Monday. If its vital statistics
are confirmed, the python could be the world's longest snake. The
reptile, which measures 14.85 metres and weighs in at 447 kilograms,
the Suara Merdeka regional newspaper reported. According to the Guiness
Book of Records, the world's longest snake ever captured was a reticulated
python, which was 10-meters-long, and shot in Celebes Indonesia in
1912.
Read
more. Source: Channel News Asia |
Mars Express shifts to polar orbit
(Dec 30, 2003)
Europe's Mars Express
orbiter, the "mothership" to Beagle
2, has carried out a major engine burn to sweep it into a polar
orbit of the Red Planet. The spacecraft has been heading away from
Mars, preparing for the
manoeuvre – a crucial first step to bring it into a lower orbit
around Mars. The orbit change will put Mars Express in prime position
to talk to Beagle 2. European space agency controllers changed the
orbit by firing the engine for four minutes at 0800 GMT.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Mars Spirit Rover on track for Gusev Crater
(Dec 30, 2003)
NASA's Spirit
rover spacecraft fired its thrusters for 3.4 seconds on Friday,
Dec. 26, to make a slight and possibly final correction in its flight
path about one week before landing on Mars.
Radio tracking of the spacecraft during the 24 hours after the maneuver
showed it to be right on course for its landing inside Mars' Gusev
Crater at 04:35 Jan. 4, 2004, Universal Time (8:35 p.m. Jan. 3,
Pacific Standard Time.) Spirit's twin, Opportunity, will reach Mars
three weeks later. "The maneuver went flawlessly," said Dr. Mark Adler,
Spirit mission manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena,
Calif.
Read
more. Source: NASA/JPL |
Beagle may have fallen into deep crater
(Dec 29, 2003)
The first clear view of the specific area where the British Beagle
2 lander should have touched down Christmas Day has revealed a
one-kilometer crater dead center in the target landing zone, but officials
are quick to say the discovery doesn't dash their optimism of finding
the missing craft. "This would be an incredibly unlucky situation,"
Colin Pillinger, lead scientist for the Beagle 2 project, said this
morning. To date, all attempts using the American Mars
Odyssey orbiter and radio telescopes in the U.K. and California
have failed to detect a peep from Beagle. NASA's Mars
Global Surveyor orbiter snapped the landing site image 20 minutes
after Beagle's scheduled 0254 GMT arrival December 25. The view isn't
sharp enough to show the two-meter wide spacecraft. However, the image
did uncover a crater not unlike the famous meteor impact crater in
the southwest United States.
Read
more. Source: Spaceflight Now |
"Tiger team" heads Beagle search
(Dec 28, 2003)
There is still no sign of life from the British-built Mars probe,
Beagle 2. All attempts
to contact the lander with the Mars
Odyssey craft in orbit around the Red Planet and with large radio
telescopes on Earth have drawn a blank. Scientists have now set up
a "tiger team" to work through all the possible reasons for the lander's
silence. The small group, based at the British National Space Centre,
is drawing up a list of "blind" commands to send to Beagle that might
prompt it to respond.
Read
more. Source: BBC. |
Beagle hopes hang on mothership
(Dec 27, 2003)
The British team behind the Beagle
2 mission to Mars
has failed to contact the landing craft for the fifth time. There
has been no signal since the probe's planned touchdown on the Red
Planet early on Christmas Day. Team leader Professor Colin Pillinger
says they are now pinning their hopes on the mothership, Mars
Express. He told reporters: "Mars Express is our primary route
of communication. It's the one we spent most of our time over the
last four years testing. Really and truly now we're waiting until
4 January for a really big attempt with Mars Express." That date is
when the spacecraft – which carried Beagle to Mars – gets
itself into the correctly defined orbit to start communicating with
and studying the planet's surface.
Read
more. Source: BBC. |
Mars Express in orbit; still no sound from
Beagle
(Dec 26, 2003)
The scientist leading the Beagle
project says he has not given up hope of contacting the missing Mars
lander. The prospects for the UK-built probe look increasingly gloomy
after it failed to transmit a signal on reaching the planet early
on Christmas Day. A later radio sweep of Mars also failed to detect
any sign of the probe, and there are fears it could have crashed into
the planet's surface. But Professor Colin Pillinger said: "We will
hang on testing and waiting." He told a press conference on Boxing
Day the robotic probe was programmed to make several more transmissions
in the coming days... Mars
Express (Beagle's mothership, which carried it into space and
set it loose about a week ago) should be in position soon to try to
make contact with its "baby" early in the New Year. It succeeded in
obtaining an orbit around the Red Planet, and scientists say it appears
to be in a good condition.
Read
more. Source: BBC. |
Late Neanderthals "more like us"
(Dec 24, 2003)
Neanderthals
were shedding their sturdy physique and evolving in the direction
of modern humans just before they disappeared from the fossil record.
Newly-identified remains from Vindija in Croatia, which date to between
42,000 and 28,000 years ago, are more delicate than "classic" Neanderthals.
One controversial explanation is that these Neanderthals were interbreeding
with modern humans in the region. Details of the research appear in
the Journal of Human Evolution. Excavations also reveal the Vindija
Neanderthals were developing advanced ways of making stone tools that
mirror innovations elsewhere by modern humans.
Read
more. Source: BBC. |
Beagle probe faces its biggest challenge
(Dec 23, 2003)
Beagle
2 has been carried to the vicinity of Mars
by the Mars Express
mothership, and released successfully to go its own way for the final
leg of the journey. The easy part is over. Beagle's atmospheric entry,
descent and landing on Mars on Christmas Day will be the most worrying
six minutes in the history of unmanned space exploration. It is during
that time, after it strikes the upper region of Mars' atmosphere at
20,000 kilometres per hour, that engineers hope that the speed at
which it was designed and built, and the technical compromises that
were made, will not jeopardise the mission.
Read
more. Source: BBC. |
Slim chance that all approaching Mars probes
will survive
(Dec 22, 2003)
Early Christmas morning, a small armada of exploratory spacecraft
will reach the red planet, some attempting to enter orbit, others
to land – a very risky business because of the engineering and
physical challenges that await the robotic probes. Together, they
represent one of the most ambitious efforts yet to resolve the contradictions
that persist in alternately intriguing and beguiling scientists. A
British spacecraft, the Beagle
2, is scheduled to land on Mars
early December 25. That same day, Europe's Mars
Express should enter orbit around the planet. Mars Express successfully
released Beagle 2 on Friday, after carrying it piggyback most of the
way to Mars. Spirit,
the first of NASA's identical robot explorers, is expected to land
Jan. 3. Its sibling, Opportunity, is scheduled to settle on the opposite
side of the planet January 24. The odds of all four spacecraft succeeding
are slim.
Read
more. Source: CNN. |
The search for the lost Mars Polar Lander
(Dec 22, 2003)
On January 3, 1999, NASA's Mars
Polar Lander roared away from Earth on a bold mission to explore
a unique region of the red planet. The spacecraft was to gently set
itself down near the border of Mars' southern polar
cap, the first ever spacecraft to study the distant world's polar
environment. After months of crossing interplanetary space, Mars Polar
Lander was in the final minutes of slowing itself down, ready to make
a self-controlled touch down. It was never heard from again. Nobody
knows for sure exactly what occurred at journey's end. The loss of
the Mars Polar Lander became a detective story that pitted photo analysts
at a super-secret spy agency and NASA experts about the overall condition
of the lost-to-Mars probe.
Read
more. Source: space.com. |
World waits on fusion reactor
(Dec 20, 2003)
A decision on where to site the world's first big nuclear fusion
reactor has been postponed until next year. Officials from several
countries meeting in Washington were divided on whether to build the
international reactor in France or Japan. The US has been against
the French option because of France's opposition to the US-led invasion
of Iraq. Nuclear fusion holds out the promise of virtually limitless
pollution-free energy. Experts say the country hosting the International
Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project will gain a potentially-lucrative
head start in expertise and technology.
Read
more. Source: BBC. |
Sensational images from new space telescope
(Dec 19, 2003)
The first images from NASA's new infrared
space telescope reveal the drama and beauty of the infrared Universe.
The pictures also confirm that the agency's latest Great
Observatory, which was launched in August, is working as planned.
For example, the picture of The Elephant's
Trunk Nebula (above) shows what is happening inside a dense, dust
cloud almost 2500 light years away. The red glints are proto-stars,
while the wisps and strands are cosmic dust that is being blasted
by radiation from a nearby, ultra-bright star.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist. |
Beagle separates successfully from Mars
Express
(Dec 19, 2003)
Beagle
2 has successfully separated from its "mothership" for the final
leg of the journey to Mars.
Mike McKay, flight operations director at the European
Space Operations Centre (ESOC) at Darmstadt, Germany, confirmed
the separation just after 1110 GMT. The tiny probe will now glide
the last three million kilometres to the Red Planet alone; silent,
powerless and in hibernation mode. The lander is expected to touch
down on Mars on Christmas Day, to search for signs of life, past or
present.
Read
more. Source: BBC. |
Why is the Sun fading?
(Dec 18, 2003)
Each year less light reaches the surface of the Earth. No one is sure
why this is- or what it means for the future. In 1985, a geography
researcher called Atsumu Ohmura at the Swiss Federal Institute of
Technology got the shock of his life. As part of his studies into
climate and atmospheric radiation, Ohmura was checking levels of sunlight
recorded around Europe when he made an astonishing discovery. It was
too dark. Records show that over the past 50 years the average amount
of sunlight reaching the ground has gone down by almost 3% a decade.
What on Earth is going on?
Read
more. Source: Guardian. |
Private rocket-plane breaks sound barrier
(Dec 18, 2003)
The sound barrier
has been breached by a privately built rocket-plane, the first time
it has been done without government help. Scaled Composites of California
flew their SpaceShipOne
rocket-plane at Mach 1.2 to an altitude of 68,000 ft. The company
is run by Burt Rutan,
who was behind the Voyager aircraft that flew non-stop around the
world without refuelling in 1986. Analysts say that SpaceShipOne could
reach space on a mission next year.
Read
more. Source: BBC. |
Beagle probe enters crucial phase
(Dec 17, 2003)
The British spacecraft Beagle
2 is about to begin the final leg of its journey to the surface
of Mars. On Friday, it
will be released from its "mothership", Mars
Express, to travel the last three million kilometres to a rocky
plain on the Red Planet. Beagle 2 is expected to land on Mars on Christmas
Day, when it will search for signs of life, past or present. At the
same time, Mars Express, Europe's first solo mission to another world,
will go into orbit around Mars.
Read
more. Source: BBC. |
Oldest evidence of photosynthesis
(Dec 17, 2003)
Scientists claim to have found the oldest evidence of photosynthesis
– the most important chemical reaction on Earth – in 3.7
billion-year-old rocks. Photosynthesis is the process by which plants,
algae and certain bacteria convert sunlight to chemical energy. Danish
researchers say rocks from Greenland show life-forms were using the
process about one billion years earlier than has previously been shown.
Read
more. Source: BBC. |
A new arm for our Galaxy?
(Dec 17, 2003)
Observations made with CSIRO's Parkes
radio telescope and Australia Telescope Compact Array strongly
suggest that our Galaxy
has an extra spiral
arm, not previously known. Astronomers think that our Galaxy looks
like many of the others that we see in the Universe: a central ball-shaped
bulge of stars, with arms of gas, dust, and stars sweeping out from
the bulge. The arms are also full of hydrogen gas – the raw
material for forming stars. Radio telescopes can detect a strong radio
signal from this gas. The astronomers found the new arm by determining
the position of an unusual concentration of gas.
Read
more. Source: CSIRO. |
Dust storms threaten Mars landers
(Dec 16, 2003)
A series of dust storms could threaten the success of three space
probes heading for Mars,
astronomers warn. The scientists say some small storms are combining
to obscure a large part of the planet's northern hemisphere. If they
build into a global storm, which can happen, it could interfere with
the solar panels the probes use to generate power for their instruments.
On 25 December, Europe's Beagle
2 will land, followed by two US
rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, on 3 and 24 January. Photo taken
Dec. 13.
Read
more. Source: BBC. |
Timeline for time travel still in fictional
realm
(Dec 15, 2003)
When the Wright Brothers defied gravity a century ago, they also supposedly
defied science. After all, hadn't scientists said that human-controlled
heavier-than-air flight was impossible? Back then, flying through
the atmosphere was just as much science fiction as H.
G. Wells' recent fantasy about traveling
through time. Today, science-fiction fans may wonder whether barriers
to time travel could also be so simply solved. For now, just as a
century ago, the most knowledgeable scientists do not deny the possibility
– in theory at least – of going back in time.
Read
more. Source: Dallas Morning News. |
Cassini-Huygens science teams gear up
for Saturn
(Dec 14, 2003)
The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired from the Goldstone
tracking station on Monday, December 8. The Cassini
spacecraft is in an excellent state of health and is operating normally.
Information on the present position and speed of the Cassini spacecraft
may be found on the "Present Position" web page here.
Cassini is 178 days from its first encounter in the Saturn system
– a flyby of the little moon Phoebe.
Read
more. Source: Space Daily. |
NASA to investigate bizarre life beyond
Earth
(Dec 14, 2003)
NASA is assessing support for a major look into the limits of organic
life in planetary systems. The purpose of the imaginative study is
twofold: To evaluate the possibility that "non-standard" chemistry
may support life in known solar system environments and conceivably
in extrasolar settings; and to define broad areas that might guide
NASA and other agencies to fund efforts to expand knowledge in this
area. The assessment would take place over a 15-month time period,
undertaken by a National Academy of Sciences study group within the
National Research Council's Space Studies Board in Washington, D.C.
Read
more. Source: space.com |
Carbon clue implies comets orbit other
stars
(Dec 12, 2003)
Carbon ions have been seen for the first time in a comet's
tail by US scientists. The finding suggests that comets, so far
seen only in our own Solar System, might well orbit other stars. This
conclusion stems from the fact that similar charged particles have
been measured in the light from a nearby star, Beta
Pictoris, which is surrounded by a dusty disk. "The theory is
that comets in the Beta Pictoris system are plunging into the star
and being evaporated, or at least falling toward it," says Matthew
Povich, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
and lead author of the new study.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist. |
Astonishing uranium bug
(Dec 12, 2003)
US scientists have decoded and analysed the genome of a bacterium
which could help clear up radioactive waste and possibly even generate
electricity. The Geobacter species has genes that allow it to convert
uranium and other radionuclides dissolved in water to solid compounds
that can be extracted. Its ability to manipulate electrons in metals
could form the basis of a bio-battery, the US Energy Department says.
The organism, called Geobacter sulfurreducens, was found in a soil
sample in Oklahoma that was contaminated by hydrocarbons – the
breakdown products of fossil fuel combustion. Researchers at The Institute
for Genomic Research (Tigr) and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst,
say the bacterium has extraordinary capabilities.
Read
more. Source: BBC. |
Oldest marsupial ancestor found
(Dec 12, 2003)
A mouse-sized fossil found in China may be the oldest ancestor of
modern marsupials – the mammal family that includes kangaroos
and koalas. The creature, which was unearthed in Liaoning province,
extends the ancestry of marsupials by 50 million years. The stunning
specimen preserves an imprint of the animal's coat of hair and analysis
of its feet suggests it was adapted to climbing in trees.
Read
more. Source: BBC. |
Cave colors reveal mental leap
(Dec 11, 2003)
Red-stained bones dug up in a cave in Israel are prompting researchers
to speculate that symbolic thought emerged much earlier than they
had believed. Symbolic thought – the ability to let one thing
represent another – was a giant leap in human evolution. It
was a mental ability that allowed sophisticated language and maths.
New excavations show that a red colour made from ochre was used in
burials 100,000 years ago, much earlier than other examples of colour
association.
Read
more. Source: BBC. |
How life could seed the Galaxy
(Dec 10, 2003)
Astronomers may have shown how microbes from Earth could be spread
throughout the galaxy taking life to other worlds (see panspermia).
Scientists at Armagh Observatory and Cardiff University say bacteria
could get into space on rocks blasted off the planet by an asteroid
or comet impact. Their calculations then indicate the microbes would
eventually leak out of our Solar System to seed other regions. The
work is reported in two independent papers published in the Monthly
Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. The implication of the
papers is that life could be widespread throughout the galaxy and
may not have originated on our planet.
Read
more. Source: BBC. |
New research suggests Earthlike planets
may be common
(Dec 10, 2003)
Astrobiologists disagree about whether advanced life is common or
rare in our universe. But new research suggests that one thing is
pretty certain – if an Earthlike world with significant water
is needed for advanced life to evolve, there could be many candidates.
In 44 computer simulations of planet formation near a sun, astronomers
found that each simulation produced one to four Earthlike planets,
including 11 so-called "habitable" planets about the same distance
from their stars as Earth is from our sun.
Read
more. Source: University of Washington. |
Are giant falling ice balls a sign of
global warming?
(Dec 10, 2003)
A Spanish-American scientific team will be scanning the United States
this winter for what might be one of the weirdest byproducts of global
warming: great balls of ice that fall from the sky. The baffling phenomenon
was first detected in Spain three years ago and has since been reported
in a number of other countries, including the United States. So scientists
now plan to monitor in a systematic way what they call "megacryometeors".
"I'm not worried that a block of ice may fall on your head," said
Dr. Jesus Martinez-Frias of the Center for Astrobiology in Madrid.
"I'm worried that great blocks of ice are forming where they shouldn't
exist." Ice balls, which generally weigh 25 to 35 pounds but can be
much bigger, have punched holes in the roofs of houses, smashed through
car windshields, and whizzed right past people's heads. The photo
here is of a replica of the world's heaviest known hailstone, which
weighed a mere 1.67 pounds!
Read
more. Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. |
Massive star revealed to have glowing
disk
(Dec 9, 2003)
A shroud of gas swaddling a massive star has been seen to glow from
its own heat for the first time, reveal astronomers. The discovery
backs a theory that the heavy giants form from a clouds of gas collapsing
into rotating disks. Understanding the origins of the massive stars
– those with about ten to a hundred times more mass than the
Sun – is important as they may provide insight on the early
universe. Observations from the UK Infrared Telescope in Hawaii show
that the gas cocoon around a massive star 20,000 light years away
from Earth glows from violent shock waves.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist. |
Details of JIMO Jupiter probe emerge
(Dec 9, 2003)
Scientists have been giving details of a proposed US mission to the
moons of Jupiter that
may possibly support life - Europa, Callisto and Ganymede. The huge
probe, which would visit each in turn to study sub-surface oceans,
will need to be powered by a nuclear reactor and this may be controversial.
The US space agency calls the concept craft the Jupiter
Icy Moons Orbiter. Its design and mission were described at the
annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.
Read
more. Source: BBC. |
Odyssey hints at climate change on Mars
(Dec 9, 2003)
Mars
may be going through a period of climate change, new findings from
NASA’s Mars Odyssey
orbiter suggest. Odyssey has been mapping the distribution of materials
on and near Mars’ surface since early 2002, nearly a full annual cycle
on Mars. Besides tracking seasonal changes, such as the advance and
retreat of polar dry ice, the orbiter is returning evidence useful
for learning about longer-term dynamics. The amount of frozen water
near the surface in some relatively warm low-latitude regions on both
sides of Mars' equator appears too great to be in equilibrium with
the atmosphere under current climatic conditions, said Dr. William
Feldman of Los Alamos National Laboratory, N.M. He is the lead scientist
for an Odyssey instrument that assesses water content indirectly through
measurements of neutron emissions. "One explanation could be that
Mars is just coming out of an ice age," Feldman said.
Read
more. Source: JPL. |
Japan abandons Nozomi Mars mission
(Dec 9, 2003)
Japan has given up on its first interplanetary space mission on the
final leg of the journey to Mars.
Officials have decided not to put the Nozomi
spacecraft into orbit around the planet. Last-ditch attempts to fix
an onboard electrical fault have failed, and the probe will be steered
off into space. This will stop Nozomi crashing into Mars and possibly
contaminating its environment, which may once have harboured life
– and perhaps still does.
Read
more. Source: BBC. |
Humans "could survive Mars visit"
(Dec 9, 2003)
Scientists say measurements taken by the US space agency's Mars
Odyssey craft prove that a human mission could survive on the
Martian surface. Instrument data show radiation around the Red Planet
might cause some health problems but is unlikely to be fatal. Mars
Odyssey has sent back a wealth of information about Earth's neighbour
since it went into orbit two years ago.
Read
more. Source: BBC. |
No fiery extinction for dinosaurs
(Dec 9, 2003)
It is unlikely the dinosaurs perished in a global firestorm triggered
by the asteroid strike on Earth 65 million years ago, scientists have
claimed. A popular theory suggests the impact, which was centred on
Chicxulub in Mexico,
generated enough energy to set off a raging worldwide inferno. But
a new study shows rocks laid down at the time contain little charcoal
– a possible tell-tale record of fires.
>Read
more. Source: BBC. |
Trail of black holes and neutron stars
points to ancient collision
(Dec 8, 2003)
A NASA Chandra X-ray Observatory
image of the elliptical galaxy NGC 4261 has revealed a trail of black
holes and neutron
stars stretching more than 50,000 light years across space. This
spectacular structure is thought to represent the aftermath of the
destruction of a smaller galaxy that was pulled apart by gravitational
tidal forces as it fell into NGC 4261.
Read
more. Source: Chandra X-ray Observatory/NASA. |
Europe heads for hottest year since records
began
(Dec 8, 2003)
This year is likely to prove the hottest recorded in Britain. It will
also be memorable for continental Europe's hottest summer, which exceeded
previous records by such an enormous amount that one of Britain's
leading climate scientists is now prepared to attribute its extreme
heat directly to global warming. Even though three weeks of temperatures
have still to be registered, 2003 – already notable for Britain's
hottest day on 10 August, when the thermometer registered 38.5C (101.3F)
at Faversham in Kent – is on course to be the hottest year as
a whole in Britain in nearly 350 years of reliable records.
Read
more. Source: Independent. |
Scanning the mysteries inside the Earth>
(Dec 8, 2003)
Like doctors taking a sonogram of a human body, Princeton geoscientists
have captured images of the interior of the Earth
and revealed structures that help explain how the planet changes and
ages. The scientists used tremors from earthquakes to probe the inside
of the planet just as sound waves allow doctors to look inside a mother's
womb. The technique, a greatly refined version of earlier efforts,
produced a surprisingly sharp image and yielded the first direct measurements
of giant spouts of heat, called mantle plumes, that emanate from deep
within the planet. Mantle plumes are believed to cause island chains,
such as the Hawaiian Islands and Iceland, when the Earth's crust passes
over the column of heat. Although accepted by most scientists, the
existence of mantle plumes has been fiercely contested by a minority
of researchers in recent years. "This is the first visual evidence
that mantle plumes exist," said Raffaella Montelli, a Princeton geoscientist
and the lead author of a paper published online by the journal Science
on Dec. 4.
Read
more. Source: Princeton. |
Saturn in Cassini's sights
(Dec 5, 2003)
One year since last sighting Saturn, and less than eight months before
reaching the planet, the cameras on NASA's Cassini
spacecraft have caught another glimpse of the ringed planet, growing
more detailed with time. The planet was 111 million kilometers (69
million miles) from the spacecraft when the images were taken last
week, about the equivalent of three-fourths of the distance between
Earth and the Sun. The image shows details in the rings and atmosphere
not seen a year ago, as well as five of Saturn's icy moons.
Read
more. Source: NASA/JPL. |
Sunlight's gentle nudge on asteroids detected
(Dec 4, 2003)
Astronomers have detected the delicate force of sunlight on an asteroid's
orbit for the first time. The long-predicted effect has been blamed
for propelling some asteroid fragments from the Solar System's main
asteroid belt into the region near Earth, where they can threaten
the planet. But its subtle action on asteroid orbits has been difficult
to measure with optical telescopes. Instead, Steve Chesley, Steve
Ostro and colleagues at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, California,
used the radar range finder at Arecibo in Puerto Rico. They used this
to track a near-Earth asteroid called Golevka. The team took precise
measurements of Golevka's position regularly between its discovery
in 1991 and its most recent Earth pass in May. This showed it was
not quite in the position that would be predicted based on gravitational
forces alone.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist. |
Are mini black holes raining down on Earth?
(Dec 3, 2003)
Are mini black holes
raining down through the Earth's atmosphere? It is possible, says
a team of physicists. They think this could explain mysterious observations,
called "Centauro-events" (see photo), from mountain-top experiments
over the past 30 years. Ordinary black holes form when stars explode
at the end of their lives. If some of physicists' favourite theories
about extra dimensions are correct, it would also be possible for
high-energy cosmic-ray
particles from space to create black holes when they collide with
molecules in the Earth's atmosphere. These black holes would be invisibly
small, with a mass of only 10 micrograms or so. And they would be
so unstable that they would explode in a burst of particles within
around a billion-billion-billionth of a second.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist. Alternative
article. Source: CERN.
Addendum On Feb. 2, 2004,
Dr. Vladimir Kopenkin, of Moscow State University, sent me this message,
which offers a less exotic but far more credible explanation:
It is generally believed that Centauro I event is one of the most
famous long standing mysteries of cosmic ray physics. Certainly, this
event was the "key stone" for the outlining of so-called Centauro
phenomenon. Any other so-called "candidate" event could not stand
alone, without the existence of the Centauro I.
This photo certainly shows cosmic ray family that was named "Centauro
I". I confirm it. But association of this experimental event with
something exotic is not necessary (even if it seems very attractive
at first sight, we have to rely on facts and evidence).
Your article is based on the information published in December 2003
(New Scientist), which, in turn, takes as a source an internet preprint
(hep-ph/0311318) published in November 25 2003 ("black hole novel").
These two articles, as well as an "alternative article" (CERN Courier),
always repeat the same discussion on exotics. Due to 30 years history
it was repeated so many times...
But... "No matter how beautiful a physicist's invention is, it suffers
a terrible vulnerability. it can be proved wrong." By other words,
we believe that exotic ideas are not shown to be true simply by finding
the evidence that supports them. The best way of proving the correctness
of exotic idea is to do everything possible to show it to be false
– and fail...) Let me point your attention to the article published
in September 2003. Journal reference: Physical Review D 68, 052007
(2003). Here is a brief story:
****
The new analysis of Centauro I reveals that there is a difference
in the arrival angle between the upper block and lower block events,
so the two are not products of the same interaction. That leaves only
the lower chamber data connected to the Centauro I event. By other
words, the man-horse analogy becomes redundant. There is only an obvious
"tail", and no "head". The original detector setup had gaps between
neighboring blocks in the upper chamber. Linear dimensions of gaps
were comparable to the geometrical size of the event. The signal observed
in the lower detector was similar to an ordinary interaction occurred
at low altitude above the chamber, thus providing a natural solution
- passing of a cascade of particles through a gap between the upper
blocks.
****
Of course, the behavior of Nature is more complex than people imagined...
Nevertheless... As you can see, in present case, mundane explanation
without any exotic guesswork provides an answer. Even the name "Centauro"
is not relevant for the family's appearance ... What is really new:
A decades old cosmic ray mystery can be explained without exotics. |
Solar activity reaches new high
(Dec 2, 2003)
Geophysicists in Finland and Germany have calculated that the Sun
is more magnetically active now than it has been for over a 1000 years.
Ilya Usoskin and colleagues at the University of Oulu and the Max-Planck
Institute for Aeronomy say that their technique – which relies
on a radioactive dating technique – is the first direct quantitative
reconstruction of solar activity based on physical, rather than statistical,
models.
Read
more. Source: PhysicsWeb. |
Neanderthal "face" found in Loire
(Dec 2, 2003)
A flint object with a striking likeness to a human face may be one
of the best examples of art by Neanderthal
man ever found, the journal Antiquity reports. The "mask", which is
dated to be about 35,000 years old, was recovered on the banks of
the Loire at La Roche-Cotard. It is about 10 cm tall and wide and
has a bone splinter rammed through a hole, making the rock look as
if it has eyes. Commentators say the object shows the Neanderthals
were more sophisticated than their caveman image suggests. "It should
finally nail the lie that Neanderthals had no art," Paul Bahn, the
British rock art expert, told BBC News Online. "It is an enormously
important object."
Read
more. Source: BBC. |
Stardust closes on its prey
(Dec 2, 2003)
Forty-nine days before its historic rendezvous with a comet, NASA's
Stardust spacecraft
successfully photographed its quarry, comet Wild 2 (pronounced Vilt-2),
from 25 million kilometers (15.5 million miles) away. The image, the
first of many comet portraits it will take over the next four weeks,
will aid Stardust's navigators and scientists as they plot their final
trajectory toward a Jan. 2, 2004 flyby and collection of samples from
Wild 2. "Christmas came early this year," said Project Manager Tom
Duxbury at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "Our
job is to aim a 5 meter (16 foot) long spacecraft at a 5.4 kilometer
(3.3 mile) wide comet that is closing on it at six times the speed
of a bullet.
Read
more. Source: Space Daily. |
Is the Sun made mainly out of iron?
(Dec 2, 2003)
Our supposedly middle-aged sun
has been behaving like an adolescent of late, hurling huge clouds
of particles at us after its face broke out in spots. Its celestial
hissy fit has damaged satellites, sent the occupants of the International
Space Station scurrying for cover, and forced aircraft to change routes
to avoid excessive cosmic radiation. The sun's outburst has also produced
some spectacular displays in the heavens, yet the weirdest Earth-bound
manifestation to date takes the form of a scientific paper, written
by an American physicist. Oliver Manuel, a professor of nuclear chemistry
at the University of Missouri-Rolla, says the recent solar storms
are symptomatic of the sun being made chiefly out of iron.
Read
more. Source: Sydney Morning Herald/Telegraph, London. |
Dinosaur family footprints found
(Dec 2, 2003)
A rare piece of evidence pointing to a dinosaur mothering her young
after they had left the nest has been discovered on the Isle of Skye.
Dinosaur footprints found on a remote beach on the island reveal an
adult ornithopod – a bipedal plant-eating dinosaur – walking
along a muddy lake edge, with up to 10 smaller individuals. The find
on a slab of sandstone is thought to be a world first for palaeontologists.
The 170 million year old footprints were discovered by the isle's
Staffin Museum curator, Dugald Ross and hotelier, Paul Booth, last
year.
Read
more. Source: BBC. |
Rocket failure weakens Japan's space program
(Dec 1, 2003)
Japan's beleaguered space programme suffered a blow this Saturday
when a rocket carrying two spy satellites was forced to self-destruct
10 minutes into flight. The satellites were to bolster two other instruments
sent into orbit this March to keep tabs on the military machinations
of neighbouring North Korea. Japan's space programme "is in deep trouble"
says John Logsdon, director of the Space Policy Institute at George
Washington University in the US. "They've had too many failures of
this rocket," he says, referring to two botched launches in the late
1990s. In addition, this October Japan lost contact with its Advanced
Earth Observing Satellite-II (ADEOS-II), also called Midori-II,
just 10 months into a three-year mission.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist. |
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