[neilep]

   
Spitzer discovery is good news for planet Pluto

UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA NEWS RELEASE


Pluto's status as our solar system's ninth planet may be safe if a recently discovered Kuiper Belt Object is a typical "KBO" and not just an oddball. Astronomers have new evidence that KBOs are smaller than previously thought.


Our distant sun twinkles in this artist's conception of a distant Kuiper Belt Object. Illustration: NASA/JPL



KBOs - icy cousins to asteroids and the source of some comets - are the leftover building blocks of the outer planets. Astronomers using the world's most powerful telescopes have discovered about 1,000 of these objects orbiting beyond Neptune since discovering the first one in 1992. These discoveries fueled debate on whether Pluto is a planet or a large (1,400-mile diameter) closer-in KBO.

Researchers estimate that the total mass of the Kuiper Belt is about a tenth of Earth's mass. Most theorize that there are more than 10,000 KBOs with diameters greater than 100 kilometers (62 miles), compared to 200 asteroids known to be that large in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

SOURCE: SPACEFLIGHTNOW.COM


'Men are the same as women...just inside out !'

[neilep]

Weird weather of Uranus
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN NEWS RELEASE


Capitalizing on the incomparable optical capabilities of the Keck Telescope, scientists have gained an unprecedented look at the atmosphere of Uranus, providing new insight into some of the most enigmatic weather in the solar system.


The two sides of the planet Uranus, as viewed in this composite image,
 by the Keck II Telescope at near infrared wavelengths. These new
images of the seventh planet from the sun promise to help scientists
unravel the mysteries of the weather on Uranus. Credit: courtesy
Lawrence Sromovsky, UW-Madison Space Science and Engineering Center


BIG PICCY HERE http://www.news.wisc.edu/newsphotos/images/uranus_comp4Adcc04.jpg

A pair of images unveiled here  at a meeting of the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society, reveal more cloud features - an abundance of atmospheric phenomena that vary dramatically in size, brightness and longevity - than have been observed before on Uranus.

"The cloud features range from small to large, from dim and diffuse to sharp and bright, from rapidly-evolving systems to stable features that last for years," says Lawrence Sromovsky, a senior scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Space Science and Engineering Center.

What's more, the new Keck images captured several Uranian weather oddities, including a big southern hemisphere storm feature that, during the course of several years, seesaws over 5 degrees of latitude.

"It's weird behavior that hasn't been recognized before on Uranus. It's similar to what's been seen on Neptune, although there the oscillation is much more rapid," Sromovsky explains. "It is not surprising to see cloud features drifting in latitude, but our models don't show these oscillations. We don't know what makes it keep coming back to its starting point."

Another unusual Uranian weather feature is a long, narrow complex of cloud features that is probably the largest group of atmospheric features ever seen on the planet. Spotted in the northern hemisphere of Uranus, the 18,000-mile-long complex of clouds dissipated completely during the span of a month.

SOURCE: SPACEFLIGHTNOW.COM


'Men are the same as women...just inside out !'

[neilep]

Mars rover Opportunity looking for crater exit
MISSION CONTROL STATUS REPORT


Operators of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity have determined that a proposed route eastward out of "Endurance Crater" is not passable, so the rover will backtrack to leave the crater by a southward route, perhaps by retracing its entry path.


Opportunity captured this view from the base of "Burns Cliff" during the
 rover's 280th martian day (Nov. 6). This cliff in the inner wall of "Endurance Crater"
 displays multiple layers of bedrock for the rover to examine with its panoramic camera
and miniature thermal emission spectrometer. The rover team has decided that
the farthest Opportunity can safely advance along the base of the cliff is
close to the squarish white rock near the center of this image. Credit: NASA/JPL

BIGGY PICCY http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/mer/2004-11-11/opportunity_sol_280-med.jpg

Before turning around, Opportunity will spend a few days examining the rock layers in scarp about 10 meters (33 feet) high, dubbed "Burns Cliff." From its location at the western foot of the cliff, the rover will use its panoramic camera and miniature thermal emission spectrometer to collect information from which scientists hope to determine whether some of the layers were deposited by wind, rather than by water. The rover will not reach an area about 15 meters (50 feet) farther east where two layers at different angles meet at the base of the cliff.
Opportunity entered the stadium-size crater on June 8 at a site called "Karatepe" along the crater's southern rim. Inside the crater, it has found and examined multiple layers of rocks that show evidence of a wet environment in the area's distant past.

Opportunity and its twin, Spirit, successfully completed their primary three-month missions on Mars in April. NASA has extended their missions twice, most recently on Oct. 1, because the rovers have remained in good condition to continue exploring Mars longer than anticipated.

SOURCE: SPACEFLIGHTNOW.COM


'Men are the same as women...just inside out !'

[neilep]

   
Martian moon Phobos in color for close-up look

EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY NEWS RELEASE

These images, taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA's Mars Express spacecraft, are Europe's highest-resolution pictures so far of the Martian moon Phobos


Bigger Piccy..(but not that bigger if you have a dial up it should be ok) http://esamultimedia.esa.int/images/marsexpress/115-051004-0756-6-co-02-Phobos_hires.jpg

These HRSC images show new detail that will keep planetary scientists busy for years, working to unravel the mysteries of this moon. The images show the Mars-facing side of the moon, taken from a distance of less than 200 kilometres with a resolution of about seven metres per pixel during orbit 756.
The Mars Express spacecraft periodically passes near Phobos about one hour before it flies at an altitude of only 270 kilometres above the Martian surface, just above the atmosphere. Within minutes, the orbiting spacecraft turns from its attitude where it points at Mars to train its camera on this little world.

SOURCE: SPACEFLIGHTNOW.COM

'Men are the same as women...just inside out !'

[neilep]

Spacecraft launched to observe cataclysmic blasts

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA launched a $250 million quick-response satellite today to study enigmatic gamma ray flashes from brief-but-titanic deep space explosions that may be the "death cries" of massive stars imploding to form black holes.



The Swift satellite's 126-foot-tall Boeing Delta 2 rocket roared to life at 12:16 p.m. and quickly thundered away through a mostly clear sky. Arcing east over the Atlantic Ocean, the slender rocket put on a spectacular sky show for area residents and tourists as it climbed away toward space.

It will take engineers about a month to check out and calibrate the satellite's three gamma ray, X-ray and optical telescopes before scientific observations can begin. If all goes well, Swift will detect at least 200 gamma ray bursts during its two-year primary mission.

SOURCE: SPACEFLIGHTNOW.COM

'Men are the same as women...just inside out !'

[neilep]

Weird Blobby Thing Found Inside My Mind

Reports are coming in of a weird blobby thing found inside my head just now. The phenomenah materialised whilst taking deep breaths and in a fit of spontaneity found itself created.


BLOB, Created just now, enjoying existence.

I remain mystified as all attempts at contact with 'Blob' have failed. Understandably men in white coats are attempting to enter my house armed with what looks like, Mace, Tranquilizers and a Straight Jacket and what appears to be Enema equipment !!

NEWSFLASH:...report just in, the men in white coats have entered the house and are attempting entrance into my study.

LATEST: Blob has not attempted to assist me, as the men have now managed to infiltrate their way in and........................oomph....struggle....!!!!


SOURCE: Butterscotch Praline and Toffy.





'Men are the same as women...just inside out !'

[neilep]

Science taps into ocean secrets

Some 13,000 new marine species have been discovered in the past year, according to information released by an international alliance of scientists.

The Census of Marine Life (COML) has also uncovered previously unknown migration routes used by fish such as tuna and shark.

The $1bn 10-year project, which is building a huge database, involves researchers in more than 70 countries.

The new knowledge will inform future conservation and fisheries policies.

   
In some of the results we've had you can see a kind of doughnut of circulation which seems to concentrate life in deep water

Dr Fred Grassle of Rutgers University says

"We know something about the first 100m at this point but we know almost nothing about what lies down in the deep.

"Our analysis shows that if you catch a fish below 2,000m it is 50 times more likely to be new to science," he told the BBC News website.

 

This goby fish from Guam lives in tandem with a shrimp; the shrimp digs a burrow and the fish acts as sentinel.


About 90% of the ocean biomass is microbia


More than 80,000 specimens were collected during an expedition to the mid-Atlantic ridge


Some bizarre creatures lurk in the very deep


The census is shedding more light on zooplankton



Surely the most bizarre of them all. The  Jet Powered Hairybumakisfishafartimus !!


SOURCE: BBC I

'Men are the same as women...just inside out !'

[roberth]

We're going fishing on the weekend. I wanna catch a Jet Powered Hairybumakisfishafartimus.

[neilep]

Hee hee....good luck Robert.....don't know if it'll make good eating though !!...and I'd be careful how you cook it..it may explode !!

'Men are the same as women...just inside out !'

[neilep]

A Titan of a Mission

Parachuting through smog to Saturn's moon


On Jan. 14, a flying saucer will parachute through the thick orange haze of a distant moon's atmosphere. Descending through the hydrocarbon smog, the probe could crash into an icy mountain, plop in a pool of organic goo, or dive into a methane ocean. Welcome to Saturn's largest moon, Titan, a place where organic chemistry appears to be a carbon copy of the infant Earth's just before life got a foothold. The saucer-shaped Huygens probe, named for the 17th-century Dutch astronomer who discovered Titan, has been riding piggyback on the Cassini spacecraft since it left Earth in October 1997. The craft arrived at Saturn on June 30 and has now embarked on a 4-year tour of the planet and its moons.

Radar data from Cassini, taken during its first close flyby of Titan on Oct. 26, reveal dark patches that might be lakes of methane. Streaks imaged by visible-light cameras during that flyby could be caused by the flow of a hydrocarbon fluid or by wind eroding solid material


BAM, SPLAT, PLOP. When the
 Huygens probe plunges through
 Titan's atmosphere, it may land
 (top to bottom) on an icy surface,
in an organic goo, or on a sea of
 hydrocarbons.
J. Garry/Fastlight Illustration

SOURCE:ScienceNews.org

'Men are the same as women...just inside out !'

[neilep]

Precocious black holes challenge theories

CHANDRA X-RAY CENTER NEWS RELEASE

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has obtained definitive evidence that a distant quasar formed less than a billion years after the Big Bang contains a fully-grown supermassive black hole generating energy at the rate of twenty trillion Suns. The existence of such massive black holes at this early epoch of the Universe challenges theories of the formation of galaxies and supermassive black holes.


The X-rays observed by Chandra (inset) from the quasar SDSSp
J1306 (or J1306) have taken 12.7 billion light years to reach Earth,
 only a billion years less than the estimated 13.7-billion-year age of
 the Universe. Surprisingly, in this quasar, which is seen as it was
at an early epoch, the distribution of X-rays with energy - the X-ray
 spectrum - is indistinguishable from that of nearby, older quasars.
 The smaller object in the upper left of the image is a foreground
galaxy. Credit: NASA/CXC/D.Schwartz & S.Virani; Illustration:
CXC/M.Weiss


Astronomers Daniel Schwartz and Shanil Virani of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, MA observed the quasar, known as SDSSp J1306, which is 12.7 billion light years away. Since the Universe is estimated to be 13.7 billion years old, we see the quasar as it was a billion years after the Big Bang. They found that the distribution of X-rays with energy, or X-ray spectrum, is indistinguishable from that of nearby, older quasars. Likewise, the relative brightness at optical and X-ray wavelengths of SDSSp J1306 was similar to that of the nearby group of quasars. Optical observations suggest that the mass of the black hole is about a billion solar masses.

BIGGER PICCY HERE (200k) http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2004/j1306/j1306_xray_ill.jpg

SOURCE: SPACEFLIGHTNOW.COM


'Men are the same as women...just inside out !'

[neilep]

Transparent Transistor: See-through component for flexible displays



Imagine a car windshield that suddenly lights up to reveal a map of the city and directions to your next destination. Or picture a computer display that you can not only see through but also roll into a tube and slip into your coat pocket. Scientists in Japan have taken a major step to fulfilling such visions with the creation of a transparent transistor deposited on plastic.

NOW YOU SEE IT. Transparent transistors on a
 sheet of plastic can be seen only at certain angles.
 Such circuitry could find its way into computer displays
 in car windshields and other curved surfaces

Hideo Hosono and his colleagues at the Tokyo Institute of Technology developed a transparent semiconductor material out of indium gallium zinc oxide. Although other research groups have previously made transparent circuitry, "their performance was not so good," says Hosono. In contrast, prototype transistors made from his team's new material are 10 times as conductive as the silicon transistors used in today's liquid-crystal displays.

SOURCE: SCIENCENEWS.ORG


'Men are the same as women...just inside out !'

[neilep]

Color at Night: Geckos can distinguish hues by dim moonlight



Of all the vertebrates, a gecko has just become the first to ace behavioral tests for seeing color in very low illumination.

People, for example, go color-blind in light equivalent to dim moonlight, but helmet geckos, Tarentola chazaliae, don't. They can still tell a blue from a gray of the same intensity, report Lina S.V. Roth and Almut Kelber, both of the University of Lund in Sweden, in an upcoming Biology Letters.


A Gecko enjoying the Sun yesterday:
TWILIGHT ZONE. In dim light, the helmet gecko can tell blue
 from gray, even when people can't. Inset: Pupil nearly closed
in bright light (left) and wide open in dim light (right).

SOURCE: SCIENCENEWS.ORG




'Men are the same as women...just inside out !'

[neilep]

Hovering over Titan

CASSINI PHOTO RELEASE
A mosaic of nine processed images recently acquired during Cassini's first very close flyby of Saturn's moon Titan on Oct. 26, 2004, constitutes the most detailed full-disc view of the mysterious moon.



The view is centered on 15 degrees South latitude, and 156 degrees West longitude. Brightness variations across the surface and bright clouds near the south pole are easily seen.

The images that comprise the mosaic have been processed to reduce the effects of the atmosphere and to sharpen surface features. The mosaic has been trimmed to show only the illuminated surface and not the atmosphere above the edge of the moon. The Sun was behind Cassini so nearly the full disc is illuminated. Pixels scales of the composite images vary from 2 to 4 kilometers per pixel (1.2 to 2.5 miles per pixel).

Surface features are best seen near the center of the disc, where the spacecraft is looking directly downwards; the contrast becomes progressively lower and surface features become fuzzier towards the outside, where the spacecraft is peering through haze, a circumstance that washes out surface features.

BIGG JPEG HERE (500k) http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA06141.jpg

SOURCE: SPACEFLIGHTNOW.COM



'Men are the same as women...just inside out !'

[neilep]

   
A baby galaxy uncovered in a grown-up universe

UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA NEWS RELEASE


Using the Hubble Space Telescope, a University of Virginia scientist has identified what may be the youngest galaxy ever seen in the universe. By cosmological standards it is a mere toddler. Called I Zwicky 18, it may be as young as 500 million years old. Comparatively, our Milky Way galaxy is more than 20 times older - or about 12 billion years old, the typical age of galaxies across the universe.

Hubble snapped a view of what may be the youngest galaxy
ever seen. This "late bloomer" may not have begun active star
formation until about 13 billion years after the Big Bang. Called I
Zwicky 18 , the galaxy may be as young as 500 million
years old. This youngster has gone though several sudden bursts of
star formation ‹ the first only some 500 million years ago and the
latest only 4 million years ago. This galaxy is typical of the kinds
 of galaxies that inhabited the early universe. The galaxy is
classified as a dwarf irregular galaxy and is much smaller than our
Milky Way. Credit: NASA, ESA, Y. Izotov (Main Astronomical
Observatory, Kyiv, UA) and T. Thuan (University of Virginia)

BIG PICCY (511k)http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/2004/35/images/a/formats/print.jpg

The finding, reported in the Dec. 1 issue of the Astrophysical Journal, provides new insight into how galaxies first formed. The galaxy I Zwicky 18 offers a glimpse of how the early Milky Way may have looked.

The baby galaxy managed to remain in an embryonic state as a cold gas cloud of primeval hydrogen and helium for most of the universe's evolution. As innumerable galaxies blossomed all over space, this late-bloomer did not begin active star formation until some 13 billion years after the Big Bang, and went through a sudden first starburst only about 500 million years ago.

SOURCE: SPACEFLIGHTNOW.COM


'Men are the same as women...just inside out !'

[neilep]

Nature's canvas at Saturn
CASSINI PHOTO RELEASE


In a splendid portrait created by light and gravity, Saturn's lonely moon Mimas is seen against the cool, blue-streaked backdrop of Saturn's northern hemisphere. Delicate shadows cast by the rings arc gracefully across the planet, fading into darkness on Saturn's night side.


Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Download larger image version here http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA06142.jpg
 
The part of the atmosphere seen here appears darker and more bluish than the warm brown and gold hues seen in Cassini images of the southern hemisphere, due to preferential scattering of blue wavelengths by the cloud-free upper atmosphere.

The bright blue swath near Mimas (398 kilometers, or 247 miles across) is created by sunlight passing through the Cassini division (4,800 kilometers, or 2,980 miles wide). The rightmost part of this distinctive feature is slightly overexposed and therefore bright white in this image. Shadows of several thin ringlets within the division can be seen here as well. The dark band that stretches across the center of the image is the shadow of Saturn's B ring, the densest of the main rings. Part of the actual Cassini division appears at the bottom, along with the A ring and the narrow, outer F ring. The A ring is transparent enough that, from this viewing angle, the atmosphere and threadlike shadows cast by the inner C ring are visible through it.

Images taken with red, green and blue filters were combined to create this color view. The images were obtained with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Nov. 7, 2004, at a distance of 3.7 million kilometers (2.3 million miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 22 kilometers (14 miles) per pixel.

SOURCE: SPACEFLIGHTNOW.COM




'Men are the same as women...just inside out !'

[neilep]

Gazing down on Saturn
CASSINI PHOTO RELEASE
Posted: December 1, 2004

Cassini pierced the ring plane and rounded Saturn on Oct. 27, 2004, capturing this view of the dark portion of the rings. A portion of the planet's atmosphere is visible here, as is its shadow on the surface of the rings.


BIG PIUCCY http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA06532.jpg (120k)


Night side ringplane

The usually bright B ring (at center in below picture) appears very dim in this view of the rings taken on the side of the rings that is not illuminated. The scene resembles a photographic negative, with bright and dark areas reversed (although in some places in the rings, the blackness of space is seen.) From this viewing angle, the rings are lit from below: both dense and empty regions are dark, and regions of intermediate particle density are bright.


THE BIGGY PICCY http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA06533.jpg  (120k)

SOURCE: SPACEFLIGHTNOW.COM


'Men are the same as women...just inside out !'

[neilep]

Sacrificial burial deepens mystery at Teotihuacan (MEXICO), but confirms the city's militarism
A spectacular new discovery from an ongoing excavation at the Teotihuacan's Pyramid of the Moon is revealing a grisly sacrificial burial from a period when the ancient metropolis was at its peak, with artwork unlike any seen before in Mesoamerica.

Though archaeologists hope that discoveries at the pyramid will answer lingering questions about the distinctive culture that built the great city, the new find deepens the mystery, with clear cultural connections to other burials found at the site, but with some markedly new elements.



 Partially uncovered figurine, carved in jade, found in
connection with three unbound, seated bodies and other objects at
the top of the pyramid's fifth stage (the offering was presumably
made in the construction of the sixth stage), circa 350 AD.
 This object is notable in that it is carved from jade that originated in
Guatemala, and appears to be Mayan in style. Other jade objects on
top of the figurine are beads and earspools.

THE BIG PIC http://www.eurekalert.org/images/release_graphics/arizona120204.1.jpg (420k)



With the excavation of the pyramid nearly complete, one important conclusion is emerging: combined with past burials at the site, the new find strongly suggests that the Pyramid of the Moon was significant to the Teotihuacano people as a site for celebrating state power through ceremony and sacrifice. Contrary to some past interpretation, militarism was apparently central to the city's culture.

SOURCE: EUREKALAERT.ORG
Source: Saburo Sugiyama,

'Men are the same as women...just inside out !'

[neilep]

     
Saturn's ring gap

CASSINI PHOTO RELEASE


An intriguing knotted ringlet within the Encke Gap is the main attraction in this Cassini image. The Encke Gap is a small division near the outer edge of Saturn's rings that is about 300 kilometers (190 miles) wide. The tiny moon Pan (20 kilometers, or 12 miles across) orbits within the gap and maintains it. Many waves produced by orbiting moons are visible.


The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Oct. 29, 2004, at a distance of about 807,000 kilometers (501,000 miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 4.5 kilometers (2.8 miles) per pixel.

Bigger Pic here http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA06534.jpg

SOURCE:SPACEFLIGHTNOW.COM


'Men are the same as women...just inside out !'

[GOD]

I put that gap there just to freak you guys out !

I am GOD..You are Not..I don't exist !!