In 1996, the top box office film, “Independence Day” wasn’t the only invasion by bizarre creatures, nor was the remix resurrection of the “Macarena” the only sound grating upon the ear drums of Americans on the East Coast. The Brood II cicadas arose from the soil in screeching droves that year.
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Mysterious hot spots observed in a cool red supergiant
Astronomers have released a new image of the outer atmosphere of Betelgeuse – one of the nearest red supergiants to Earth – revealing the detailed structure of the matter being thrown off the star.
The new image, taken by the e-MERLIN radio telescope array operated from the Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire, also shows regions of surprisingly hot gas in the star’s outer atmosphere and a cooler arc of gas weighing almost as much as the Earth.
This is lovely.
Don’t get too excited, an exoplanet hasn’t really been captured from the cosmic wilds. And no, one of NASA’s boffins isn’t really taking a pair of tongs to the upper atmosphere of a strangely tiny “hot-Jupiter” being baked by a Bunsen burner. The doctored photo is actually a fun metaphor for this golden age of exoplanetary science. In particularly, it illustrates what one NASA space telescope is doing to understand the chemistry and dynamics of a particular Jupiter-sized exoplanet located some 385 light-years away.
Calf Creek Falls is one of the most well known and unique features in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The 6 mi trail follows Calf Creek to the 126 ft high lower falls.
This is a great shot of my new “happy place” — the shady beach-like area near the base of the falls where many break for lunch or play in the water nearby. Here you can just close your eyes, feel the mist on your face, and listen to the sounds of solitude. For me, it doesn’t get any better than this!
Article and Photo by Chad Douglas, BLM-Utah Web/New Media Lead
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Pulling from 20 years of research since the first discoveries of planets beyond our solar system, scientists have concluded that Earth and its sibling worlds comprise what appears to be a relatively rare breed in a diverse cosmic zoo that includes a huge variety of planet sizes, orbits and parent stars. Read more
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The Moon ushers in dawn
Image credit: NASA/CSA via Chris Hadfield
For 12 years, Harvard engineering professor Robert Wood has been trying to get a fly-sized drone off the ground. He and his colleagues have had to overcome issues of weight, aerodynamics of wing flapping, power supply, and figuring out how to manufacture a robot smaller than a quarter. Finally, the little robo-fly is airborn. Read more
A splash of dry salt white on seared red in Australia’s agonizingly beautiful Outback.