lapse: Landsat Satellite Images of Climate Change, via Google Earth Engine TIME and Space | By Jeffrey Kluger Editors note:On Nov. 29, 2016, Google released a major update expanding the data from 2012 to 2016. Read about the update here. Spacecraft and telescopes are not built by people interested in what’s going on at home. That changed when NASA created the Landsat program, a series of satellites that would perpetually orbit our planet, looking not out but down. Over here is Dubai, growing from sparse desert metropolis to modern, sprawling megalopolis. It took the folks at Google to upgrade these choppy visual sequences from crude flip-book quality to true video footage. These Timelapse pictures tell the pretty and not-so-pretty story of a finite planet and how its residents are treating it — razing even as we build, destroying even as we preserve. Chapter 1: Satellite Story | By Jeffrey Kluger It’s a safe bet that few people who have grown up in the Google era have ever heard of Stewart Udall. But in 1966, Udall and his staff had an idea. 1 of 20 1 of 14
10 Strange Things About The Universe Space The universe can be a very strange place. While groundbreaking ideas such as quantum theory, relativity and even the Earth going around the Sun might be commonly accepted now, science still continues to show that the universe contains things you might find it difficult to believe, and even more difficult to get your head around. Theoretically, the lowest temperature that can be achieved is absolute zero, exactly ? One of the properties of a negative-energy vacuum is that light actually travels faster in it than it does in a normal vacuum, something that may one day allow people to travel faster than the speed of light in a kind of negative-energy vacuum bubble. One prediction of Einstein’s theory of general relativity is that when a large object moves, it drags the space-time around it, causing nearby objects to be pulled along as well. Relativity of Simultaneity Since this extra dimension is so small, only tiny objects, such as particles, can move along it. Antimatter Retrocausality
Meteorite older than Solar System Organic globules found in the Tagish Lake meteorite fragments may predate the solar system, according to a new U.S. study Credit: University of Calgary SYDNEY: A meteorite discovered in Canada may be older than the Solar System, according to a new U.S. study. Samples taken from the Tagish Lake meteorite, discovered in 2000, have revealed evidence of organic matter that predates our Sun and Solar System, according to the study, published in today’s edition of the U.S. journal Science. According to the researchers, the meteorite most likely originated at the outer regions of the Kuiper Belt or in the cold molecular cloud that gave birth to the Solar System. When analysing the meteorite, the team, led by Keiko Nakamura-Messenger, of the NASA/Johnson Space Center in Texas, discovered “globules” inside it consisting of simple organic compounds with carbon-rich outer layers. The isotopic ratios showed that the globules formed at temperatures of about minus 260°C – close to absolute zero.
Your Age on Other Worlds Want to melt those years away? Travel to an outer planet! <div class="js-required"><hr> This Page requires a Javascript capable browser <hr></div> Fill in your birthdate below in the space indicated. The Days (And Years) Of Our Lives Looking at the numbers above, you'll immediately notice that you are different ages on the different planets. The earth is in motion. The top-like rotation of the earth on its axis is how we define the day. The revolution of the earth around the sun is how we define the year. We all learn in grade school that the planets move at differing rates around the sun. Why the huge differences in periods? Johannes Kepler Tycho Brahe Kepler briefly worked with the great Danish observational astronomer, Tycho Brahe. Here you see a planet in a very elliptical orbit. Kepler's third law is the one that interests us the most. Let's just solve for the period by taking the square root of both sides: The Gravity Of The Situation Isaac Newton ©2000 Ron Hipschman
Interactive 3D model of Solar System Planets and Night Sky 2012 March 14 - Angry Sun Erupting Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2012 March 14 Explanation: It's one of the baddest sunspot regions in years. 10 Terrifying Planets You Don't Want To Visit Space Space exploration is a grand adventure. Its mystery has always captivated us and the inevitable discoveries to come will add to the many cosmological insights we already have. Our planet maintains a high ratio of oxygen to carbon. On Neptune, one can find constant jet stream winds that whip around the planet at terrifying speeds. Nick-named Bellerophon, in honor of the Greek hero who tamed the winged horse Pegasus, this gas giant is over 150 times as massive as earth and made mostly of hydrogen and helium. The densest and most massive exoplanet to date is a world known as COROT-exo-3b. On Mars a dust storm can develop in a matter of hours and envelope the entire planet within a few days. Simply put, this planet is the hottest planet ever discovered. Jupiter’s atmosphere brews storms twice as wide as the Earth itself. (Note: Pluto is technically no longer classified as a planet). The temperatures on the star-facing side of this planet are so hot that they can vaporize rock.
Magnifying the Universe Embed this infographic on your site! <iframe width="500" height="323" scrolling="no" src=" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />Copyright 2012. <a href=" the Universe</a> by <a href=" Sleuth</a>. The above is an interactive infographic. We have also developed a complimentary poster that you can view here: Sizes of the Universe poster. Introduction: This interactive infographic from Number Sleuth accurately illustrates the scale of over 100 items within the observable universe ranging from galaxies to insects, nebulae and stars to molecules and atoms. While other sites have tried to magnify the universe, no one else has done so with real photographs and 3D renderings. How To Use: Step 1:To experience this interactive infographic in full screen (our recommendation) click the "Full Screen" button in the top right corner of the infographic. Credits:
Scientist Claims Our Solar System Evicted A Planet So Earth Could Survive Colorado scientist David Nesvorny was running solar system evolutionary simulations recently when he realized that during 6,000 different simulations the Earth couldn’t survive during the system’s early years based on the current planetary count. Once Nesvorny added another planet to the system however Earth survived as expected. According to his work our solar system at one point had a ninth planet, a gas giant that was nudged out of the system billions of years ago to make room for Earth’s survival. According to the Mother Nature Network “gas giant number five” started off bound together with Saturn and Jupiter and pushed out lighter planets including Neptune and Uranus eventually to be pushed out of the system on its own after a collision with Jupiter. According to his work David said the planet was likely orbiting about 15 times further from the sun than our own planet.
Moon water came from young wet Earth - space - 09 May 2013 The notion that all Earth's water was delivered by comets or asteroids has just taken a hit. Chemical analysis of lunar rocks suggests that Earth was born wet, and it held on to its water long enough to donate some to the moon. The moon is thought to have formed after a massive collision between the infant Earth and another proto-planet around 4.5 billion years ago. Until a few years ago, most astronomers thought that the moon must be bone dry – any water would have been vaporised in the impact. That changed when Alberto Saal of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, and colleagues studied rocks brought back from the Apollo 17 mission in the 1970s. In 2008 they found that crystallised magmas in the rocks – and not just a little. "The question became, where did the water come from?" Water level Several research teams had already tackled the question by measuring the ratios of hydrogen and its heavier isotope, deuterium, in primitive rocks from Earth and the moon. Impact rate
Meteoroid impact triggers bright flash on the moon CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - An automated telescope monitoring the moon has captured images of an 88-pound (40 kg) rock slamming into the lunar surface, creating a bright flash of light, NASA scientists said on Friday. The explosion on March 17 was the biggest seen since NASA began watching the moon for meteoroid impacts about eight years ago. So far, more than 300 strikes have been recorded. "It exploded in a flash nearly 10 times as bright as anything we've ever seen before," Bill Cooke, with NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, said in a statement. A NASA satellite orbiting the moon is now on a hunt for the newly formed crater, which scientists estimate could be as wide as 66 feet. The flash was so bright that anyone looking at the moon at the moment of impact could have seen it without a telescope, NASA said. But not always. (Editing by Kevin Gray and Doina Chiacu)
Life on Mars found but destroyed by mistake - Sci/Tech Bungling NASA scientists are believed to have found tiny live microbes on Mars - but mistakenly killed them by boiling them alive, a media report said. Bungling NASA scientists are believed to have found tiny live microbes on Mars - but mistakenly killed them by boiling them alive, a media report said Saturday. Two spacecraft that landed on the Red Planet in 1976 are now thought to have detected microbes in Martian soil. But scientists at the time failed to spot the signs of life - and cooked the bugs at 160 degrees Centigrade during experiments, The Sun reported. Now an international team has used modern techniques to re-examine data collected by the two unmanned Viking probes. Biologist Joseph Miller, of the University of Southern California, said: "I'm 99 percent sure there's life there. During the 1976 mission, nutrients were added to the Martian soil. Experts dismissed the possibility that the gas came from bugs.
Extensive water in Mars' interior -- Science & Technology © NASAMars, as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope. Until now, Earth was the only planet known to have vast reservoirs of water in its interior. Scientists analyzed the water content of two Martian meteorites originating from inside the Red Planet. They found that the amount of water in places of the Martian mantle is vastly larger than previous estimates and is similar to that of Earth's. The results not only affect what we know about the geologic history of Mars, but also have implications for how water got to the Martian surface. The data raise the possibility that Mars could have sustained life. The research was led by former Carnegie postdoctoral scientist Francis McCubbin, now at the University of New Mexico. The scientists analyzed what are called shergottite meteorites. "We analyzed two meteorites that had very different processing histories," explained Hauri. "There has been substantial evidence for the presence of liquid water at the Martian surface for some time," Hauri said.
The Fabric of the Cosmos The Fabric of the Cosmos, a four-hour series based on the book by renowned physicist and author Brian Greene, takes us to the frontiers of physics to see how scientists are piecing together the most complete picture yet of space, time, and the universe. With each step, audiences will discover that just beneath the surface of our everyday experience lies a world we'd hardly recognize - a startling world far stranger and more wondrous than anyone expected. Brian Greene is going to let you in on a secret: We've all been deceived. Our perceptions of time and space have led us astray. Much of what we thought we knew about our universe - that the past has already happened and the future is yet to be, that space is just an empty void, that our universe is the only universe that exists - just might be wrong. Watch the full documentary now (playlist)