Wind and wave energies are not renewable after all

Build enough wind farms to replace fossil fuels and we could do as much damage to the climate as greenhouse global warming

WITNESS a howling gale or an ocean storm, and it's hard to believe that humans could make a dent in the awesome natural forces that created them. Yet that is the provocative suggestion of one physicist who has done the sums.

He concludes that it is a mistake to assume that energy sources like wind and waves are truly renewable. Build enough wind farms to replace fossil fuels, he says, and we could seriously deplete the energy available in the atmosphere, with consequences as dire as severe climate change.

( note from DailycosmicNews: this article follow the copyrights of New Scientist to full extent, except in the article tittle, we remain with the first title used , as for New Scientist they were forced to change due complains. )

read more at New Scientist

Space,The Final Frontier

This month mankind will make 50 years of space flight. On April 12th, 1961 a man called Yuri Gagarine, went to space making all human race cross that last border, the other side, the universe awaiting to be discovered and explored.

But where are we know? How far have we gone?

Since that day we went far, far as the endings of our solar system. As you read this lines, Voyager 1  is more than 10,843,294,886 miles or about 0.00183 of a light-year from the Sun. We went to Mars and visit its plains, we watched fascinated Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, Voyegars photos of the giant solar planets of our solar system, Venus and its acid rains, recently we discovered that Saturn moon Titan has components essencial to live appear.

We visit all the planets of our solar system, and we have other missions ready to go and visit some again. Juno will go to Jupiter, with the primary goal to significantly improve our understanding of the formation and structure of Jupiter. Its currently planned to be launched in August 2011 and will travel towards Jupiter after an Earth fly-by in October 2013 to provide a gravity assist.

We went far , but what are the next steps?

Its difficult to say, without international cooperation, and the present economical and financial situation around the world, going for Mars or even going  back to the moon seems difficult , and not any time soon.

A Storm is coming

Researchers announced that a storm is coming

The most intense solar maximum in fifty years is coming. The prediction comes from a team led by Mausumi Dikpati of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). "The next sunspot cycle will be 30% to 50% stronger than the previous one," she says. If correct, the years ahead could produce a burst of solar activity second only to the historic Solar Max of 1958.

Active region 1158 let loose with an X2.2 flare late on February 15, the largest flare since Dec. 2006
credit:NASA/SDO

That was a solar maximum. The Space Age was just beginning: Sputnik was launched in Oct. 1957 and Explorer 1 (the first US satellite) in Jan. 1958. In 1958 you couldn't tell that a solar storm was underway by looking at the bars on your cell phone; cell phones didn't exist. Even so, people knew something big was happening when Northern Lights were sighted three times in Mexico. A similar maximum now would be noticed by its effect on cell phones, GPS, weather satellites and many other modern technologies.

But today a similar solar maximum would cause major problems in our technological addicted societies

April 8, Asteroid passing close to our home planet

Orbit Diagram of 2011GZ2 credit: NASA/JPL

A small Asteroid designated 2011GZ2 make a close approach to our world today.
The +/-25 meter rock will come close as 2.7 LD.  If it entered our atmosphere it would break apart and small parts would reach surface.

LD-Lunar Distance

Also see probabilities go worng and a meteorite hits you

by: dailycosmicnews

Dawn Approaches Asteroid Vesta

This video shows the scientists' best guess to date of what the surface of the protoplanet Vesta might look like. "We can't wait to see the real thing," says Marc Rayman.

After 3 ½ years of thrusting silently through the void, NASA's Dawn spacecraft is on the threshold of a new world. It's deep in the asteroid belt, less than 4 months from giant asteroid Vesta.
"We're closing in," says Marc Rayman, Dawn's chief engineer and mission manager. "And I'm getting more excited every day!"
Dawn will enter orbit around Vesta in July 2011, becoming the first spacecraft ever to orbit a body in the asteroid belt. After conducting a detailed study of the uncharted alien world for a year, the spacecraft will pull off an even more impressive first. It will leave Vesta, fly to dwarf planet Ceres, and enter orbit there.

Frozen Comet Had a Watery Past, UA Scientists Find



This artist’s impression shows the irregular surface of comet Wild-2 and jets spouting into space at speeds of several hundred kilometers per hour. A UA-led team of scientists now found evidence that Wild-2 harbored liquid water at some point in its history. (Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech)



By Daniel Stolte

The discovery of minerals requiring liquid water for their formation challenges the paradigm of comets as “dirty snowballs” frozen in time.

For the first time, scientists have found convincing evidence for the presence of liquid water in a comet, shattering the current paradigm that comets never get warm enough to melt the ice that makes up the bulk of their material.

"Current thinking suggests that it is impossible to form liquid water inside of a comet," said Dante Lauretta, an associate professor of cosmochemistry and planet formation at the UA's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. Lauretta is the

principal investigator of the UA team involved in analysis of samples returned by NASA's Stardust mission.

The increasing number of earthquakes on the Ring of Fire

credit USGS

DailyCosmicNews asked U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) some questions regarding the recent sesmic activity  in the called Ring of Fire. It appears very active, 260 earthquake have been detected in this area, many above 4.0 intensity, this week alone.

DCN- We have been observing since March a large number of earthquakes with a intensity superior to 4.0 on the region known as the Ring of Fire, is such activity normal?

USGS- We find it normal, specially after a major earthquake like the one that hit Japan March 11th. Even the aftershocks intensity is not out of the usual after an event like this.

DCN-  Can Japan expect a major earthquake on Tokai region due to some pressure in the Phillipine plate from the pacific plat after the 9.0 that recently hit Japan?

USGS- Plates shifting like they did , we expect that the stress regime in the plates also changes, however we don't have the science needed to be sure and know that the Tokai earthquake will happen due to the 9.0 earthquake.


DCN- Can somehow this affect the west coas of US? Has the number of earthquakes increase on this region after 11th March?

USGS- Its unlikely that an earthquake in west coast of the US results as direct influence of the Japan earthquake. There is no evidence that there is a correlation between earthquakes and so far apart.




 for more also see here


by: dailcosmicnews

Will Elenin comet hit our Planet ?

So what the deal with comet elenin, there does not seem to be too much credible information. Everyone seems to be freaking out about it, but no one even knows how big it is. Does this comet pose a threat and what is its size and nature?   AND   I have read about comet Elenin and how some nasa people want to keep it a secret. what are the chances of it coming to earth and what threat does it bring with it, and has this comet got anything to do with 2012 hoax?   AND   Elinin is only .117 au from earth on mar 11,2011. From march 8 to mar 15, 2011, what are the chances that Elinin either impacts us, or gets close enough to cause a major catastrophy?

The Orbit diagram shows the will go by peacefully credit:Nasa/JPL

I have been receiving many questions about Comet Elenin. Many of them refer to the outrageous lies on some conspiracy theory websites, which are amplified by people who seem to think this comet is highly unusual. It is not unusual, and it is not a threat to Earth. See the Wikipedia article on this comet [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/2010_X1] for more information. C2010 X1 Elenin (to give its full name) is a long-period comet, which takes about 10,000 years to complete one orbit around the Sun. It was discovered with a robotic telescope in New Mexico on 10 December 2010 by Russian amateur astronomer Leonid Elenin. 

NASA Telescopes Join Forces to Observe Unprecedented Explosion

NASA's Swift, Hubble Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory have teamed up to study one of the most puzzling cosmic blasts yet observed. More than a week later, high-energy radiation continues to brighten and fade from its location.

Astronomers say they have never seen anything this bright, long-lasting and variable before. Usually, gamma-ray bursts mark the destruction of a massive star, but flaring emission from these events never lasts more than a few hours.

Although research is ongoing, astronomers say that the unusual blast likely arose when a star wandered too close to its galaxy's central black hole. Intense tidal forces tore the star apart, and the infalling gas continues to stream toward the hole. According to this model, the spinning black hole formed an outflowing jet along its rotational axis. A powerful blast of X- and gamma rays is seen if this jet is pointed in our direction.

Remains of Past civilization on Mars ?

Have you seen 2001, Space Odyssey where they find a 'monolith' belonging to alien civilization? Well it is not in the moon , its on Mars.

High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is a camera on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and has provided a photo that shows a strange rock formation on the surface of the red planet.

Image: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona  original photo at Hirise site id number PSP_009342_1725_RED.NOMAP.JP2

 

Many people have pointed out as proof of past intelligent life on Mars, some, like astronaut Buzz Aldrin mentioned the 'monolith' many times in several media, but is it really?

Its a strange formation without doubt. But we have many examples of rocks on Earth that are not man made and are also strange.

Its understandable that we would like this to be a long forgotten object , of a long lost Martian civilization, it would be an definite answer to the haunting question are we alone? I believe that we are not alone but hard evidence is still not found, perhaps someday.

see a interesting article about this topic at telegraph.co.uk

by: dailycosmicnews

Arctic Ozone Loss



NASA image by Rob Simmon, with data courtesy of Ozone Hole Watch. Caption by Mike Carlowicz and Kristyn Ecochard.


Recent observations from satellites and ground stations suggest that atmospheric ozone levels for March in the Arctic were approaching the lowest levels in the modern instrumental era. What those readings mean for the remainder of the year is unclear. But what they mean for the long-term is that the recovery from human-induced ozone depletion is an uneven climb.

These maps of ozone concentrations over the Arctic come from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on NASA’s Aura satellite. The left image shows March 19, 2010, and the right shows the same date in 2011. March 2010 had relatively high ozone, while March 2011 has low levels. The large animation file (linked below the images) shows the dynamics of the ozone layer from January 1 to March 23 in both years.

NASA's Global Hawks Mark Year of Science Flights

The swirling circulation pattern of tropical storm Frank off the southwestern coast of Baja California was captured by Ames Research Center's HDVis camera mounted on the aft fuselage of NASA's Global Hawk unmanned research aircraft Aug. 28 during a hurricane monitoring flight. August 28, 2010
NASA/NOAA image

This week marks the first anniversary of the NASA Global Hawk project’s initial science mission. On April 7, 2010, Global Hawk No. 872 took off from NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center on Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., for its first science foray over the Pacific Ocean in the Global Hawk Pacific 2010 - or GloPac - science campaign.

Big, fast asteroid is coming our way

The near-Earth asteroid named 2005 YU55 — on the list of potentially dangerous asteroids — was observed with the Arecibo Telescope's planetary radar on April 19, 2010 when it was about 1.5 million miles from the Earth, which is about 6 times the distance to the moon.  CREDIT: Arecibo Observatory/Michael Nolan

updated 18 July 2011

A too close  flyby wil be made by Near-Earth asteroid 2005 YU55, will pass within 0.85 lunar distances from the Earth on November 8, 2011. The upcoming close approach by this relatively large between 110  - 240  meter-sized, C-type asteroid. Is one of the hazardous asteroids that can hit us in the future.

The asteroid 2005 YU55, is a round mini-world that is about 110  to  240 meters in diameter. In November, this asteroid will approach Earth within  0.85 lunar distances.

Orbit Diagram of 2005YU55.Too close for this big asteroid

Asteroid 2005 YU55 was discovered by Spacewatch at the University of Arizona, Tucson’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory on Dec. 28, 2005.

Probabilities go wrong and a meteorite hits you

The chances of a meteorite kill you are just 1 in a million. But can it happen?

Hodges Meteorite

The only known case of anyone being injured by a meteorite fall is that of Mrs. E. H. Hodges, who lived in Sylacauga, Alabama. 

On 1954, November 30, while Mrs. Hodges was resting on her sofa, a 4kg  meteorite crashed through the roof of her house, bounced off the radio and hit her arm, resulting in a minor injury.

Mrs Hodges

Injury caused by the meteorite

Mysterious Stone Spheres in Costa Rica

The ancient stone spheres of Costa Rica were made world-famous by the opening sequence of “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” when a mockup of one of the mysterious relics nearly crushed Indiana Jones. 

Click to zoom

John Hoopes, associate professor of anthropology and director of the Global Indigenous Nations Studies Program, recently returned from a trip to Costa Rica where he and colleagues evaluated the stone balls for UNESCO, the United Nations cultural organization that might grant the spheres World Heritage Status.
His report will help determine if sites linked to the massive orbs will be designated for preservation and promotion because of their “outstanding value to humanity.”

Hoopes, who researches ancient cultures of Central and South America, is one of the world’s foremost experts on the Costa Rican spheres. He explained that although the stone spheres are very old, international interest in them is still growing.

Seabed moved 24 meters near Japan quake's focus in Pacific

The seabed near the focus of a devastating earthquake that struck northeastern Japan last month has moved about 24 meters east-southeast and risen about 3 meters, a Japan Coast Guard survey showed Wednesday.

The crustal movement on the seabed, measured around 130 kilometers off the Oshika Peninsula in Miyagi Prefecture, was more than four times the movement of the peninsula itself -- east-southeast by 5.3 meters -- which was measured by the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan.

The survey also showed a point about 40 km toward the coast from the focus of the March 11 maginitude-9.0 quake has moved about 15 meters east-southeast, according to the officials.

source: Kyodo news

DOUBLE ASTEROID FLYBY

Today, April 6th, we will have flies past Earth closer than the Moon. The  two asteroids newly-discovered space rocks 2011 GW9 and 2011 GP28 will zip through the Earth-Moon system at Earth-distances of 77,000 km and 192,000 km, respectively. They wont be visible to the naked eye.

Orbital diagram

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

Both are ten-meter class asteroids two to three times smaller than the Tunguska impactor of 1908. There is no danger of a collision.

Turning the Lights Off in Alaska

The beautifull northern lights
Credit: Ole C. Salomonsen more photos at
http://flickr.com/salomonsen

After some 400 years of relative stability, Earth's North Magnetic Pole has moved nearly 1,100 kilometers out into the Arctic Ocean during the last century and at its present rate could move from northern Canada to Siberia within the next half-century.

If that happens, Alaska may be in danger of losing one of its most stunning natural phenomena - the Northern Lights.

But the surprisingly rapid movement of the magnetic pole doesn't necessarily mean that our planet is going through a large-scale change that would result in the reversal of the Earth's magnetic field, Oregon State University paleomagnetist Joseph Stoner reported at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco, Calif.

"This may be part of a normal oscillation and it will eventually migrate back toward Canada," said Stoner, an assistant professor in OSU's College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences. "There is a lot of variability in its movement."

Death Rays from Space

Cosmic rays pour down on Earth like a constant rain. We don't much notice these high-energy particles, but they may have played a role in the evolution of life on our planet.

Some of the mass extinctions identified in the fossil record can be linked to an asteroid impact or increased volcanism, but many of the causes of those ancient die-offs are still open for debate.

"There may have been nearby astronomical goings-on that drastically increased the radiation on Earth," says Brian Fields from the University of Illinois.

NASA, first food and other goods

Russian spacecraft delays American Shuttle.

who is first?

Following discussions among the International Space Station partners on Sunday, NASA has targeted the launch of space shuttle Endeavour's STS-134 mission for 3:47 p.m. EDT on Friday, April 29. The delay removes a scheduling conflict with a Russian Progress supply vehicle scheduled to launch April 27 and arrive at the station April 29.

NASA managers will hold a Flight Readiness Review on Tuesday, April 19, to assess the team's readiness to support launch. An official launch date will be selected at the conclusion of the meeting.

The Progress 42 spacecraft will be delivering supplies to the station. Three more members of the Expedition 27 crew are scheduled to launch at 6:18 pm EDT on Monday, April 4, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Their arrival will return the station crew's size to six members. Russian cosmonauts Andrey Borisenko and Alexander Samokutyaev and NASA astronaut Ron Garan are scheduled to arrive at the station at 7:18 p.m., Wednesday, April 6, to join cosmonaut Expedition 27 Commander Dmitry Kondratyev, European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli and NASA astronaut Cady Coleman, who have been aboard the station since mid-December.

source: Nasa