ANOTHER X-FLARE:
Consider it a parting shot. Just before sunspot
AR1875 rotated over the sun's western limb on Oct.
29th, it unleashed a powerful X2-class solar flare.
NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the explosion's
extreme ultraviolet flash:
X-rays and UV radiation from the flare
ionized the top of our planet's atmosphere. Waves
of ionization disturbed the normal propagation
of radio waves over the Americas and the Pacific,
and may have caused an HF communications blackout
over the poles.
The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory
(SOHO) recorded a
bright CME emerging from the blast site. Given
the sunspot's location on sun's western limb, however,
it is unlikely the CME will reach our planet. Analysts
at NOAA are busy evaluating the possibility of a
glancing blow in the days ahead.
Sunspot AR1875 has left the Earthside
of the sun, but other active sunspots remain. NOAA
forecasters estimate a 60% chance of M-class
flares and a 25% chance of X-flares
on Oct. 30th.
Following the United Nations General Assembly adoption of a suite of
proposals to create an international decision-making mechanism for
planetary asteroid defense, the Association of Space Explorers issued a
challenge to the global community to take the next vital steps to
confront the threat from dangerous asteroids at a public event today at
New York's American Museum of Natural History.
Five notable astronauts from three nations joined Neil deGrasse
Tyson, Director of the Frederick P. Rose Planetarium, in a discussion of
planetary defense from asteroids centering on the statements of the
Association of Space Explorers (ASE), a professional society of
astronauts and cosmonauts.
"Asteroid impacts have dramatically altered the course of life on
Earth and a rogue asteroid will certainly strike Earth, posing a global
threat to human life and society," Astronaut Tom Jones stated in his
opening remarks. "Search efforts to date have discovered scarcely 1% of
potentially hazardous near-Earth objects (NEOs), and current
telescopes were unable to warn us of the Feb. 2013 Chelyabinsk impact,
which released 440 kilotons of explosive energy and injured more than
1,000 people. This leaves 99% of the objects big enough to level a
major metropolitan area -- undiscovered."
This week, the UN General Assembly approved concrete measures to help
prevent asteroid disasters, as a result of discussions over 12 years
by the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) and
its Action Team 14 (AT-14) on Near-Earth Objects, comprised of
scientific and space agency delegates from interested states and
non-governmental organizations.
(Photo : NASA/JPL-Caltech) In the main belt
between Mars and Jupiter, families of asteroids spin through space.
Now,
researchers have used NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
to make
some new finds about these objects. This artist's conception
shows how families of asteroids
are created. Over the history of our
solar system, catastrophic collisions between asteroids
located in the
belt between Mars and Jupiter have formed families of objects on similar
orbits around the sun.
In 2008, ASE, an official observer at the COPUOS, with support from the
Secure World Foundation, submitted to the UN a report entitled:
Asteroid Threats: A Call for Global Response. The report recommended
creation of an asteroid detection and warning network, a group to plan
deflection missions, and an international group to oversee any needed
deflection campaigns. This week the UN approved an International
Asteroid Warning Network to share information on hazardous asteroid
detections and impact predictions; a Space Missions Planning Advisory
group to undertake joint studies of NEO deflection mission options,
mission costs, and needed technologies, and a role for the UN COPUOS to
consider and authorize any necessary NEO deflection campaigns.
They proposed the following "next steps" for asteroid defense:
1. Called for the UN delegates to brief their respective national
policymakers on the asteroid hazard and the latest General Assembly
actions taken to prevent a NEO impact.
2. Called for national policy makers to address impact hazards in their disaster response plans and budgets.
3. Called for national governments to explicitly assign lead
responsibility for asteroid hazard response to their space or disaster
response agency, creating clear lines of responsibility.
4. To find the approximately one million NEOs capable of
threatening Earth, called for national policymakers to commit the modest
funds necessary to support the launch of a space-based search
telescope by 2020.
5. Anticipating these search results, called for policy makers to
direct their national space agencies to launch within ten years an
international deflection demonstration, to alter the path of a small
near-Earth asteroid.
Jones and the ASE Committee concluded: "Asteroids pose a significant,
long-term threat to our civilization. Our society now possesses the
knowledge, resources and technical acumen necessary to prevent them.
With this week's action by the UN General Assembly, our society has
acknowledged the asteroid hazard and taken positive steps toward
ensuring our species' survival. However, knowing what we must do is only
a first step. To prevent a future disaster, we must actually take
action - in space. -- ASE Source: http://www.scienceworldreport.com/articles/10497/20131025/planetary-asteroid-defense-initiative-adopted-by-united-nations.htm
by Laura Poppick, Staff Writer | October 25, 2013 05:51pm ET
An artist's illustration of a massive asteroid impact on
earth. Some single-celled organisms may be able to survive extreme
impacts such as these, scientists say. Credit: NASA/Don Davis
NEW YORK — Members of the United Nations met with distinguished
astronauts and cosmonauts this week in New York to begin implementing
the first-ever international contingency plan for defending Earth
against catastrophic asteroid strikes.
Six of the space travelers involved in these U.N. discussions discussed
the asteroid defense effort Friday (Oct. 25) in a news conference
hosted by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson at the American Museum of
Natural History. Their goal: to drive home the very-real threats posed
by near-Earth objects (NEOs), or asteroids traveling within the radius
of Earth's orbit with the sun. You can see a video of the asteroid defense discussion here.
Scientists estimate that there are roughly 1 million near-Earth
asteroids that could potentially pose a threat to the planet, but only a
small fraction of these have actually been detected by telescopes.
There are about 100 times more asteroids lurking in space than have ever
been located, said Edward Lu, a former NASA astronaut and co-founder of
the non-profit B612 Foundation advocating asteroid defense strategies.
"Our challenge is to find these asteroids first, before they find us,"
Lu said. [Photos: Potentially Dangerous Asteroids Up Close]........
ANOTHER X-FLARE:
Earth-orbiting satellites detected an X1-class
solar flare from sunspot AR1875 on Oct. 28th at
0203 UT. This is the 3rd X-flare since Oct. 25th,
which means solar activity is still high. Stay tuned
for more information about the latest eruption.
X2-FLARE BLASTS EARTH'S
IONOSPHERE: Electromagnetic radiation
from yesterday's X2-class solar flare had a significant
effect on Earth's upper atmosphere. As a wave of
ionization swept across the dayside of the planet,
the normal propagation of shortwave radio signals
was scrambled. In Alachua, Florida, electrical engineer
Wes Greenman recorded the effects using his own
shortwave radio telescope. Click on the frequency-time
plot to view an animation:
During the time that terrestrial shortwave
transmissions were blacked out, the sun filled in
the gap with a loud radio burst of its own. In New
Mexico, amateur radio astronomer Thomas Ashcraft
recorded the sounds. "This
radio burst was a strong one and might be too
intense for headphones," cautions Ashcraft.
Solar radio bursts are caused by strong
shock waves moving through the sun's atmosphere.
(Electrons accelerated by the shock front excite
plasma instabilities which, in turn, produce shortwave
static.) They are usually a sign that a CME is emerging
from the blast site--and indeed this flare produced
a very
bright CME
Residents stand next to a long earthen wall which formed following
the Oct. 15 earthquake in Barangay Anonang in Inabanga, Bohol. Phivolcs
scientists said the wall is the face of a previously unknown fault line
which caused the magnitude 7.2 quake
October 24, 2013 – PHILIPPINES – As
the magnitude 7.2 earthquake ended on Oct. 15, residents of Sitio
Kumayot in Barangay Anonang heard an explosive sound like a thunderclap.
Villagers watched in horrified disbelief as the ground cracked open
and, with smoke and the stench of sulphur spreading, one side started to
rise. The emerging wall of rock and earth missed by a hairline the
toilet of baker Menecia Bautista Aparecio, 43. “We will be living
forever in fear, being so close to the fault line,” said Aparecio, who
fears returning to her home and now bakes her “pan Bisaya” or “pan
kinamot,” a local bread, in the village chapel. The rock face, about
three meters high and two kilometers long, raised fears among villagers
that more cracks would appear on the ground and swallow them up.
Scientists, who may declare a 300-meter permanent danger zone around the
fault, described the appearance of the ground rupture as a “eureka”
moment in their search for what they have long suspected was an active
earthquake fault in the area. Government scientists
said the appearance of the yet unnamed fault, which does not exist on
the country’s map of fault lines, triggered the powerful earthquake in
Central Visayas. “We are 100 percent sure that this is the generator (of
the earthquake),” Teresito Bacolcol
told GMA 7 as he noted that the rock face appeared near the quake’s
epicenter at the boundary of Sagbayan and Catigbian towns. “When we saw
(the fault), eureka! This is it.” Bacolcol led a team from the
Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), which
inspected the rock face last Monday. “We recommend that no structures
should be built on top of a fault and within the five-meter buffer zone
on both sides of the fault,”
Phivolcs director Renato Solidum told The STAR. He also urged the local
government of Bohol to revise its land use policy around the fault. -Philstar
Geologists from the Philippine
Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) found “ground zero”
or the fault that triggered the devastating magnitude 7.2 earthquake.
The discovery on Monday confirmed the existence of a previously unknown
fault in western Bohol. The Oct. 15 earthquake claimed around 200 lives
and caused major infrastructure damage, including Spanish-era churches
in Bohol and Cebu. Immediately after the earthquake, Phivolcs said the
tremor was caused by the movement of the East Bohol Fault. The
epicenter, first reported as Carmen town, was later adjusted to the
general area between Sagbayan and Catigbian towns in north central Bohol
based on the distribution of aftershocks. Geologists found a
5-kilometer surface rupture that extended from barangay Anonang in
Inabanga town to barangay New Anonang in Buenavista town. “That fault
motion caused the earthquake,” Renato Solidum, director of Phivolcs told
ABS-CBN News Channel’s Talkback yesterday morning. The ground rupture
pushed the ground upward from two to three meters, cutting through
mountains, roads and possibly settlement areas. Phivolcs teams are still
studying the extent of the fault line which could extend 100 kilometers
or longer.
Meanwhile, aftershocks recorded by
Phivolcs indicate a general distribution from north Bohol to the
offshores of Dalaguete, Alcoy and Boljoon towns in southern Cebu. The
data was plotted on a map by Jessie Alaivar Floren, a private Geographic
Informatino System expert in Cebu. Aside from structural damage,
residents in southern Cebu towns of Alegria and Badian and Carcar City
have complained that ground water turned to “milo” brown. “The
earthquake may have disturbed the clay-limestone land formations in
these areas, affecting their water table and underground water
channels,” said Jun Lucero, senior geologist of the DENR Mines and
Geosciences Bureau (MGB). Lucero told Cebu Daily News that they are now
checking reports of possible liquefaction in several areas in Cebu and
Bohol. Severe liquefaction could result in the sinking or submersion of
lands, he said. Areas near the river and those reclaimed from the sea
are more prone to liquefaction, Lucero said. Structures in reclaimed
areas, he said, should have stronger foundations and must use materials
that can withstand strong ground shaking and liquefaction. -Inquirer
SOLAR FLARE!
Solar activity is high. On October 24th at 00:30
UT, Earth-facing sunspot AR1877 erupted, producing
a powerful M9-class
solar flare. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded
the blast:
A flash of extreme UV radiation from
the flare ionized Earth's upper atmosphere and created
a brief HF radio blackout on the sunlit (Pacific)
side of the planet. The blackout has since subsided.
A CME might be en route to Earth, but we're still
waiting on SOHO coronagraph data to confirm this
possibility.
Meanwhile, more flares are in the
offing. Two large sunspots, AR1875 and AR1877, have
'beta-gamma-delta' magnetic fields that harbor energy
for strong eruptions. NOAA forecasters estimate
a 40% chance of M-flares
and a 5% chance of X-flares
during the next 24 hours.
October 23, 2013 – AUSTRALIA - New
South Wales is bracing for a potentially devastating day of bushfires,
with the state’s fire commissioner urging people not to travel to the
Blue Mountains due to conditions that are set to be “as bad as it gets.”
The fire danger warning for the greater Sydney area, the Blue Mountains
and the Hunter valley has been set to “extreme” – the second highest
level. Shane Fitzsimmons, commissioner of the NSW Rural Fire Service,
said the forecast for Wednesday was worse than previously thought,
making it the most dangerous day yet in the bushfire emergency that
began last Thursday. “The temperature will be in the mid to high 30s,
humidity down to 10% and wind strengths of 80 to 100km/h,” he said. “The
forecast and scenario for tomorrow is about as bad as it gets.” All
schools and childcare centers in the Blue Mountains will be closed, with
Fitzsimmons urging residents to seriously consider fleeing their homes.
“If you are going to leave, leave early,” he said. “Leaving early is
always the safest option. Know your fire safety plan and be decisive.
Procrastination won’t be helpful,” he said. “We will do everything we
can, but it would be wrong of me to provide a guarantee that we will
deliver on providing a truck to every home, a message to every person.
It is simply something we cannot guarantee, but we will do our absolute
dandiest to make sure we can.
“Anyone who does not have an important
reason to be in the Blue Mountains – don’t be there. Stay away from the
Blue Mountains and Kurrajong Heights areas. To do so, otherwise, is
simply putting yourself in harm’s way and indeed putting others in
harm’s way.” An additional 1400 firefighters will be deployed across NSW
in areas considered to be particularly at risk as conditions
deteriorate. The perimeter of the various fire areas stretches for
1600km. About 60 fires are burning in NSW, 17 of them uncontained. Since
the start of the bushfires, more than 200 homes have been destroyed,
with one man losing his life. Wildlife carers have warned that thousands
of koalas, possums, reptiles and other animals have been killed or
seriously injured in the fires. Meanwhile, an 11-year-old boy accused of
lighting two fires, one of which destroyed 5,000 hectares of land near
Newcastle, has been granted bail. Insurance claims worth more than $100m
already have been lodged, according to the Insurance Council of
Australia. Further financial assistance is on its way to residents of
fire ravaged areas, with the Salvation Army raising $1.2m in aid. –Guardian
SOLAR TSUNAMI AND
RADIO BURST: Sunspot AR1875 erupted
on Oct. 22nd (21:20 UT), producing an impulsive
M4-class
solar flare and a loud burst of shortwave radio
static. Amateur radio astronomer Thomas
Ashcraft of New Mexico was listening at the
time of the eruption. "I knew this flare was
a strong one by the force of the radio shock front,"
he says. "It nearly lifted me out of my chair!"
Click on the image to hear what emerged from the
loudspeaker of his radio telescope:
Advice: Listen to the
sound file using stereo headphones. The two
channels correspond to two radio frequencies--21
and 28 MHz.
At the time of the flare, Ashcraft
was also monitoring the sun using an "H-alpha"
solar telescope tuned to the red glow of solar hydrogen.
The telescope recorded a tsunami
of plasma emerging from the blast site. "It's
the shadowy wave that races away to the right of
the sunspot," Ashcraft points out.
The tsunami was the source of the
radio emission. Shock waves at the leading edge
of the tsunami cause plasma instabilities in the
sun's atmosphere. Those instabilities, in turn,
generate shortwave radio emissions. Ashcraft is
a regular listener of the sun and he classifies
the Oct. 22nd outburst as "one of the strongest
radio blasts of the solar cycle so far. Hopefully
it bodes well for future activity.
Il y a été beaucoup question de la « singularité technologique», un concept selon lequel la civilisation humaine connaitra une croissance technologique d’un ordre
supérieur à partir d’un point hypothétique de son évolution
technologique. Cette singularité est aussi assimilée à une immortalité
digitale parce que l’intelligence et le cerveau d’une
personne pourront être conservés pour l’éternité, même après son
décès. Selon l’écrivain de science fiction Vernor Vinge, ce phénomène va
commencer en 2030, mais Kurzweil estime qu’il débutera
plutôt en 2045.
« Nous
allons devenir de plus en plus non-biologiques, au point où les parties
non-biologiques domineront et que les parties
biologiques ne seront plus importantes. En fait, la partie non
biologique, la partie machine, sera si puissante qu’elle pourra
totalement modeler et comprendre la partie biologique. Du coup, même
si cette partie biologique était retirée, cela ne ferait aucune
différence. (…) Nous aurons également des corps non biologiques – nous
pouvons créer des corps virtuels et une réalité virtuelle
aussi réaliste que la réalité réelle », a expliqué Kurzweil.
Il a
donné l’exemple des recherches actuelles dans le domaine de la médecine
et les progrès réalisés pour remplacer certaines
fonctions biologiques, comme l’implant cochléaire qui est fixé sur le
nerf cochléaire du cerveau et qui le stimule pour permettre au patient
malentendant de retrouver l’ouïe.
Kurzweil
a affirmé qu’étant donné le nombre de calculs nécessaires pour simuler
l’intelligence humaine, nous serions capables de
développer cette intelligence par un facteur de un milliard. Il a fait
référence à la loi de Moore, qui permet à des ordinateurs de doubler
leur capacité tous les deux ans en moyenne, et il a donné
pour exemple les impressions en 3D et les avancées récentes dans le
domaine du séquençage de l’ADN.
Il a indiqué que tout ce processus avait déjà débuté avec la création des «avatars», dans lesquels les gens s’identifient
subjectivement. « Mais dans le futur ce ne sera pas une petite image dans unenvironnement virtuel que vous regarderez. Vous le ressentirez comme si c’était votre corps, et que vous étiez dans
cet environnement,
et que votre corps était le corps virtuel et il pourra être aussi
réaliste que dans la réalité. Nous serons donc
capables de changer de façon routinière de corps, mais aussi
d’environnement, très rapidement. Si nous avions une extension de vie
radicale, nous nous lasserions rapidement et nous ne pourrions
plus trouver de choses nouvelles à faire et de nouvelles idées. Avec
l’extension radicale de la durée de vie, nous allons connaitre une
expansion de vie radicale. Nous aurons des millions
d’environnements virtuels à explorer qui vont littéralement étendre
nos cerveaux. Actuellement nous n’avons que 300 millions de modèles
organisés selon une grande hiérarchie que nous créons
nous-mêmes. Mais cela pourrait devenir 300 milliards ou 300
trillions. La dernière fois que nous avons étendu le cortex frontal,
nous avons créé le langage, l’art et la science. Pensez seulement
aux sauts quantitatifs que nous ne pouvons même pas imaginer encore
aujourd’hui et que nous réaliserons lorsque nous développerons encore
notre cortex ».
Comet
ISON could be the comet of the century as it hurtles toward our sun.
Now, though, a new image of the sunward plunging ISON seems to show that
the comet is intact despite some predictions that the fragile icy
nucleus might disintegrate as our nearest star warms it.
The comet was first discovered on September 21 2012. That's when
Russian astronomers spotted ISON using a telescope with the
International Scientific Optical Network. At the time, the researchers
predicted that the comet would fly past the sun at a distance of just
2.7 solar radii.
Since then, the comet has continued its trek toward our sun. In this
latest NASA image, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope on October 9, the
comet's solid nucleus is unresolved because it's so small. Yet if the
nucleus had broken apart, then Hubble would have likely seen evidence
for multiple fragments. This means that the nucleus is likely still
intact.
In addition, the coma or head surrounding the comet's nucleus is
symmetric and smooth. This would probably not be the case if clusters of
smaller fragments were flying along. What's more, a polar jet of dust
first seen in Hubble images taken in April is no longer visible and may
have turned off. The latest color composite
image was assembled using two filters. The comet's coma appears cyan, a
greenish-blue color due to gas, while the tail is reddish due to dust
streaming off the nucleus. The tail itself forms as dust particles are
pushed away from the nucleus by the pressure of sunlight. Already, the
comet is about 177 million miles from Earth.
So we can we expected to see this comet? It will make its closest
approach to Earth on December 26 at a distance of 39.9 million miles.
But it will be most visible during the end of November and early
December. Assuming ISON doesn't fall apart, we may be in for a
spectacular light show.
Comet ISON could be the comet of the century as it hurtles toward our
sun. Now, though, a new image of the sunward plunging ISON seems to show
that the comet is intact despite some predictions that the fragile icy
nucleus might disintegrate as our nearest star warms it. (Photo :
NASA/ESA/STScI/AURA)
October 19, 2013 – CALIFRONIA - A moderate 6.5
magnitude earthquake struck off the western coast of Mexico, 90
kilometers southwest of Huatabampo in Sonora state, the US Geological
Survey reported. The epicenter of the quake was 10 kilometers deep in
the Gulf of California, USGS said. There is no information yet
concerning the casualties. The quake was initially reported to have
reached a magnitude of 6.8, but was later downgraded to 6.5 by USGS. A
tsunami warning has not been issued. Over 138,300 people live within 100
kilometers from the epicenter of the earthquake, according to the
Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System (GDACS). Mexico is located
atop three large tectonic plates and is one of the world’s most
seismically active regions. On August 21, two strong 6.0 magnitude
quakes hit central and southern Mexico, causing extensive damage. One of
the earthquakes affected the capital of Mexico City and the resort city
of Acapulco, prompting the evacuation of hundreds of people. Numerous
injuries were reported. The country’s deadliest natural disaster
occurred in September 1985 when an 8.1 magnitude earthquake killed more
than 9,500 people in Mexico City. -RT
For the second time in less than a week, a rare sea serpent oarfish
washed up on a beach in Southern California. This oarfish measured
nearly 14 feet long. Oarfish can grow to more than 50 feet.
This time the rare, snakelike oarfish washed up Friday afternoon in Oceanside.
While it's unusual to find the deep-water fish near shore, last Sunday a
snorkeler off Catalina Island found an 18-foot-long oarfish.
Eavesdropping on the Brain: Mind-Reading Devices Could be Possible in the Future
Could
we read minds? Scientists are certainly one step closer after this
latest study. Researchers have managed to collect the first solid
evidence that the pattern of brain activity seen in someone performing a
mathematical exercise under experimentally controlled conditions very
similar to that observed when the person engages in quantitative thought
in the course of daily life. The findings could lead researchers to a
way to "eavesdrop" on the brain in real life.
"This is exciting and a little scary," said Henry Greely who played no role in the study but is familiar with its contents, in a news release.
"It demonstrates, first, that we can see when someone's dealing with
numbers and, second, that we may conceivably someday be able to
manipulate the brain to affect how someone deals with numbers."
In order to examine the thought processes of volunteers, the
researchers monitored electrical activity in a region of the brain
called the intraparietal sulcus. This part of the brain is known to be
important in attention and hand motion. Previous studies have hinted
that some nerve-cell clusters in this area are also involved in
numerosity, the mathematical equivalent of literacy.
The scientists used a method called intracranial recording, which
allowed them to monitor brain activity while people were immersed in
real-life situations. The researchers tapped into the brains of three
volunteers who were being evaluated for possible surgical treatment of
their recurring, drug-resistant epileptic seizures; this involved
removing a portion of the patient's skull and positioning packets of
electrodes against the exposed brain surface.
It turned out that electrical activity in a particular group of nerve
cells in the intraparietal sulcus spiked when volunteers were
performing calculations. More interestingly, they found that when a
patient mentioned a number, there was a spike of activity in the same
nerve-cell population.
"We found that this region is activated not only when reading numbers
or thinking about them, but also when the patients were referring more
obliquely to quantities," said Josef Parvizi, one of the researchers, in a news release.
"These nerve cells are not firing chaotically. They're very
specialized, active only when the subject starts thinking about
numbers." In other words, it was possible to know, simply by consulting
the electronic record, whether a volunteer was engaged in quantitative
thought.
The findings could one day lead to "mind-reading" applications that
could potentially help those who are mute to communicate via passive
thinking. That said, these applications are a long way off. For now,
scientists have merely gotten a closer glimpse as to how our brains
function.
The findings are published in the journal Nature Communications.
Scarmato's spatial structure enhancement (using false color)
of Gary's Oct 08 stack of the 41 sharpest out of 95 images
(30-sec exposure, 11-inch telescope, Cb filter).
Complicated
conversion from observed
brightness to displayed brightness
for illustrating location of coma
center in relation rest of coma
and tail.Median combine
of 60 comet-guided 90-second
exposures, R filter, 14-inch
Celestron, by Whitmer, on
2013.10.16. North up, east left.
This cropped image has FOV = 14.7
x 9.9 'arc.
Scarmato's spatial structure enhancement (using false color)
of Whitmer's Oct 15 stack of the 50 comet-guided images
(90-sec exposure, 14-inch telescope, R filter).
October 16, 2013 – PAPUA, NG - An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.1
struck off the coast of Papua New Guinea on Wednesday, the United
States Geological Survey reported. The USGS said the quake’s epicenter
was 47 miles west-southwest of the island state’s capital Bougainville
and (58 km) 36.2 miles deep. The quake was preceded by several 5.0+
magnitude foreshocks. This is the fourth 7.0+ magnitude earthquake to
strike the planet in less than a month. There have been no initial
reports cited of damage or injuries.
Même si le typhon Phailin s'est considérablement affaibli après avoir frappé les côtes de la province d'Orissa samedi dernier,des
inondations critiques massives ont suivit dans la foulée et laissé
environ 200.000 personnes bloquées dans quatre quartiers de la ville de
Balasore et dans de nombreux villages de la province d'Orissa. Trois rivières - la Subarnarekha ,
la Budhabalunga et le Baitarani, sont sorties de leurs lits en inondant
massivement les quartiers de Remuna , Balasore Sadar , Bhograi et
Jaleswar. 15 578 villages sont inondés Des équipes de la Force nationale d'intervention en cas de
catastrophe ( NDRF ) , les Forces de secours rapide de la province d'
Orissa ( ODRAF ) et l'Armée ont été déployés dans les zones touchées
pour mener à bien les secours . Des Largages aériens de matériels de secours et de premières nécessite débutera dés cet après-midi . Badasahi
et Betanati ont été également gravement touchés, mais les secours
d'urgence se concentrent actuellement sur la ville de Balasore. Le nombre officiel de victimes est passé aujourd'hui à 23 décès .
October 13th began with an explosion on the sun.
At 00:43 UT, sunspot AR1865 erupted, producing an
M1-class solar flare and an Earth-directed CME.
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the explosion's
flash of extreme UV radiation:
Soon after the flare, the Solar and
Heliospheric Observatory recorded a faint CME emerging
from the blast site. Based on the approximate speed
of the expanding cloud, between 600 km/s and 800
km/s, it will probably reach Earth on Oct. 15-16.
Polar geomagnetic storms are possible when the CME
arrives.
Comet ISON is brightening as it
approaches the sun. At the moment it is glowing
like a 10th magnitude star, too dim for naked-eye
viewing but an easy target for many telescopes on
Earth. "This is what the comet looked like
on Oct. 8th using the 0.8m (32 inch) Schulman Telescope,"
reports Adam Block from the University of Arizona
Skycenter atop Mount Lemmon:
ISON's green color comes from the
gases surrounding its icy nucleus. Jets spewing
from the comet's core contain diatomic carbon (C2)
and cyanogen (CN: a poisonous gas found in many
comets). Both substances glow green when illuminated
by sunlight in the near-vacuum of space.
"I am certain more
images of Comet ISON will be coming out shortly
as it increases in brightness during its dive towards
the Sun," adds Block. "Here is hoping
it survives that rendezvous on Nov. 28th and emerges
as something spectacular on the other side!"
Although the comet is very faint,
finding it is easy. Comet ISON rises alongside Mars
in the eastern sky just before dawn. Amateur astronomers,
if you have a GOTO telescope, enter
these coordinates. Special dates of interest
include Oct. 13-15 when Mars, Comet ISON, and the
first magnitude star Regulus will be clustered in
a patch of sky less than 3o apart. Red
Mars and blue Regulus will form a beautiful naked
eye "double star" in the early morning
sky. Sky maps:Oct.
10, 11,
12,
13,
14,
15.
October 10, 2013 – SOUTH DAKOTA – Like
in a scene from an apocalyptic parable, dark carcasses of cows and
steers lie motionless in silent clusters across swaths of South Dakota.
An early blizzard caught ranchers off guard this week in the state,
killing as many as 20,000 head of cattle, a state official says. But
ranchers say they are the real victims. The storm left many of them in
ruins, and now Washington is leaving them out in the cold. “With the
government shutdown and no farm bill in place, we need South Dakotans to
help their neighbors,” Gov. Dennis Daugaard said. This year’s federal
farm legislation got hung up in Congress before the shutdown. There’s no
money to help the ranchers, and Daugaard is asking for donations. South
Dakota’s civil air patrol did flyovers to take pictures of whole herds
that keeled over together, dotting the gaping, snow-covered flatlands
with big, black blotches. Ranchers who thought they were doing the right
thing were blindsided, said state veterinarian Dustin Oedekoven. Now
they are dazed by their losses. “The smart thing to do this time of year
is to have cows and calf off to pasture,” he said. “Then the storm blew
in. We’ve never seen anything quite like this.” Oedekoven says he may
never know the total number of livestock killed. South Dakota has asked
ranchers to make lists of the animals they lost to help with the tally.
“It will be two weeks to a month before we have a better idea of the
impact,” Oedekoven said. Only 2,000 have been confirmed dead so far, but
crews are out removing more dead cattle blocking roads, where they fell
over in their tracks. The state has told drivers to watch out.
“Motorists must be aware that livestock carcasses or stray livestock may
be present on or along the roadways at any time,” the emergency
management agency said in a statement. Herds of livestock still alive
are wandering aimlessly far from home. “We have misplaced cattle
everywhere,” Oedekoven said. “The storm blew them 10 miles or more from
where they are normally pastured.” The blizzard didn’t necessarily dole
out fate justly, rewarding the prudent and punishing the lax, he said.
“Some people were very well prepared and lost 50% of their herd. Some
were not prepared and took no losses. There was no rhyme or reason to
it. Some ranchers lost everything.” -CNN
A giant squid with oversized protruding eyes washed ashore on a beach in the northern Spanish community of Cantabria.
The 30 feet deep-sea monster weighing 400 pounds astonished
beachgoers Tuesday, who stumbled upon the near intact remains of the
monster that looked more like a mythical gargantuan creature.
Washed ashore the La Arena beach, the giant squid is currently held
at the Maritime Museum of Cantabria, where experts will work toward
preserving this specimen, according to El Diario Montanes. The museum
currently holds two similar but smaller specimens, museum director
Gerardo Garcia Castrillo told Montanes.
The deep sea denizen will be cleaned and frozen. The fate of this
dead creature remains vague at the moment as museum scientists and the
government will decide on the ownership and whether it will go on
display at the museum or will be dissected in the name of science, GrindTV reports.
The first footage of this elusive creature in its natural habitat was
captured by a zoologist Tsunemi Kubodera, from Japan's National Science
Museum, Tokyo. The video captured the sea monster off the Ogasawara
Islands at a depth of 2,066 feet.
"It was shining and so beautiful," team leader Tsunemi Kubodera, a
zoologist at Japan's National Museum of Nature and Science, told AFP at
the time. "I was so thrilled when I saw it first hand, but I was
confident we would because we rigorously researched the areas we might
find it, based on past data."
Apart from their enormous size, these creatures have the largest eyes
that are similar in size to a beachball. Due to their big eyes, they
can peer through deep sea regions where light is non-existent. They
mostly reside in cool waters, as the squids' blood does not carry
sufficient oxygen in high temperatures. They are also known to have an
extensive nervous system and a complex brain, reports NBC News.
In recent years, occasionally giant squids corpses have been
discovered washed ashore, and scientists are spending great resources in
studying these elusive creatures as they are the largest invertebrates
on earth . However, these giant squids continue to remain a great
mystery.
Source: http://www.scienceworldreport.com/articles/9969/20131005/elusive-giant-squid-washes-ashore-cantabria-beach-spain-video.htm
Mysterious 'Sea Monster' Carcass Washes Ashore on New Zealand Beach (Video)
Move over, Jaws. There's a new monster from the deep. A mysterious "sea
monster" carcass washed ashore in New Zealand last week, puzzling the
public and fueling speculation about the existence of dinosaurs and
monsters, according to Fox News.
The corpse was actually discovered by a group on four-wheel vehicles
that was speeding along the beach in Bay of Plenty. With its pointed
teeth and distorted body, the carcass baffled the beach goers.
Stretching over 30 feet long, the creature looked like something out of a
monster movie rather than something you'd find while combing the beach.
In an attempt to try and identify the creature, the finders actually
released a video on YouTube of the carcass. They pleaded with the public
to tell them exactly what species the monster actually was. People
speculated that it could be anything from a giant saltwater crocodile to a moray eel.
Yet this "sea monster" is far from being a prehistoric terror.
Instead, a marine biologist was able to identify the carcass as a
mostly-decayed orca whale. Its distinct flipper, in particular, is what
gave it away. Killer whales travel
across the world's oceans, located across vast expanses--all the way
from polar waters to the Equator. With sharp, cone-like teeth, these
predators feast on marine mammals such as seals, sea lions and even
whales. It's not surprising that with these attributes, the beach goers
thought the orca was actually a sea monster.
This isn't the first time that a carcass has captured the
imaginations of the public, though. Mostly-decayed corpses that have
washed ashore look unlike any living creature in our oceans. Because of
this, many speculate about the existence of sea monsters or even
dinosaurs. For example, in 1896 a corpse was washed ashore on
a beach in Florida. The six-foot-high blob was eventually found out to
be a giant octopus, but not before imaginations ran wild.
In this case, it seems like the mystery is solved. No doubt there
will be other mystery corpses in the future, though. Whether they're sea
monsters or not, the public is likely to be fascinated by the strange
carcasses.
Want to see the monster for yourself? Check out the video below, originally appearing here.
Source: http://www.scienceworldreport.com/articles/6719/20130508/mysterious-sea-monster-carcass-washes-ashore-new-zealand-beach.htm
