Science News

[Duke of Buckingham]

Comet ISON looks fantastic in latest pictures — maybe too fantastic?
Alan Boyle, Science Editor NBC News
Nov. 18, 2013 at 8:07 PM ET


E. Jehin / TRAPPIST / ESO
A composite image from the European Southern Observatory's TRAPPIST telescope in Chile shows Comet ISON streaking toward the sun on Nov. 15. The image combines four different 30-second exposures of the moving comet in different wavelengths. That's why the background stars appear as multicolored, slightly misaligned dots.

To the delight of astrophotographers, Comet ISON has gone through a surprisingly quick round of brightening in the run-up to next week's crucial swing around the sun — but some researchers suggest there's a dark side to the shining spectacle. Is ISON's rapid change a signal that it's starting to break apart?

The debate adds drama to observations of what some have hoped would turn into the "comet of the century." More than a year ago ...

More on: http://www.nbcnews.com/science/comet...tic-2D11619011

[cineon_lut]

R.I.P. Ison


From the tracking website: Update: Despite there being great hope for Comet ISON, it appears it disappeared behind the Sun today never to emerge again. Comet ISON has been destroyed by the intense heat and activity of our star, the Sun.
Thanks for being a visitor to www.cometison2013.co.uk, Best regards, Nick.

[myshortpencil]

Why was there ever "great hope" that this small comet could survive a 217-mile-per-second trip around the sun at a distance of ~700,000 miles with temperatures of 5000 degrees? POOF!! Vaporized in a nanosecond.

[John P. Myers]

R.I.P. Ison


From the tracking website: Update: Despite there being great hope for Comet ISON, it appears it disappeared behind the Sun today never to emerge again. Comet ISON has been destroyed by the intense heat and activity of our star, the Sun.
Thanks for being a visitor to www.cometison2013.co.uk, Best regards, Nick.

Well that sucks

[Duke of Buckingham]

It went in a blaze of glory.

[Duke of Buckingham]

Milky Way’s Black Hole Is Shooting Particle Jets
X-ray and radio observations offer the best evidence yet that, as long suspected, high-energy particles stream from the heart of our galaxy
By Clara Moskowitz

A torrent of energetic particles appears to be spewing from the center of our Milky Way Galaxy, coming from the gigantic black hole that lies at its heart, according to a new study.

Such jets are common throughout the universe, and most supermassive black holes are thought to produce them. When matter falls into these behemoths, some material also is accelerated away, usually in two straight beams that fly out along the black hole’s spin axis.

The Milky Way’s giant black hole, called Sagittarius A* (pronounced “Sagittarius A-star”) has long been theorized to ...

More on: http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...black-hole-jet

[Duke of Buckingham]

http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/etna/news.html

[Duke of Buckingham]

Safe Limit for Global Warming Is Lowered Dramatically by Experts
Carbon taxes and nuclear power will be necessary to cut CO2 emissions quickly enough to avert disastrous climate change, they say
By John Rennie

Unless significant, steady reductions in the emissions of carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels begin extremely soon, the Earth might be much closer to potentially catastrophic warming than is widely believed. So argues climatologist James Hansen of the Columbia University Earth Institute and an international team of colleagues in a new analysis published today in the journal PLOS One. Their paper further underscores other recent studies showing that even small delays in shrinking the industrial output of carbon dioxide (CO2) could steeply complicate not only attempts to temper climate change but also any attempts by future generations to adapt to it.

Without abrupt action to restrict higher emissions "it will become exceedingly difficult to keep warming below a target smaller than 2° C" ...

More on: http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...global-warming


Dangerous Global Warming Closer than You Think, Climate Scientists Say
Two new reports lay out the case for fast action and increased awareness
By David Biello

Abrupt climate change is not only imminent, it's already here. The rapid dwindling of summer Arctic sea ice has outpaced all scientific projections, which will have impacts on everything from atmospheric circulation to global shipping. And plants, animals and other species are already struggling to keep up with rapid climate shifts, increasing the risk of mass extinction that would rival the end of the dinosaurs. So warns a new report from the U.S. National Research Council.

That's exactly why longtime climate scientist James Hansen and a panoply of scientists and economists are urging in another new paper that current efforts to restrain global warming are woefully inadequate. In particular, global negotiations to limit global warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius risk ...

More on: http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...hange-imminent

[Duke of Buckingham]

Volcanic activity had a burst for this end of the year.
http://www.volcano-news.com/erupting_volcanoes.html

[Duke of Buckingham]

How Long Have Humans Dominated the Planet?
A call goes out for a new global effort to puzzle out humanity's ecological history over the last 50,000 years or more
By David Biello

Want to know when the Anthropocene started exactly? It will only cost an entirely revamped scientific effort in archaeology, ecology and paleontology, among other disciplines, at an unprecedented planetary scale, according to a new paper calling for such a scheme.

The putative start date for what scientists have begun to call the Anthropocene—a newly defined epoch in which humanity is the dominant force on the planet—ranges widely. Some argue that humans began changing the global environment about 50,000 years back, in the Pleistocene epoch, helping along ...

More on: http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...man-domination