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POPSVirtual Reality Milky Way You can enter the VR Milky Way at this address (VERY "HEAVY" WEBPAGE - for fast connections only): http://www.pixheaven.net/geant/080728_5187-202.htm
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POPSPersian Clouds - NLC's going south
Spaceweather says: "Noctilucent clouds (NLCs) are supposed to be a high-latitude phenomenon, most often seen in Canada, Russia and northern Europe. On July 19th the electric-blue clouds crept south, all the way to Iran: "I took this picture from Mt. Sabalan, a 15,784 ft extinct volcano in northwestern Iran," says Siamak Sabet. "It is the third highest peak in our extremely mountainous country." When noctilucent clouds first appeared in the late 19th century, they were confined to latitudes above 50o N. Mt Salaban is located at 38o N, far below the old threshold. Just last week, NLCs were sighted in Turkey at 40o N and in recent years they have appeared at least as far south in the United States as Colorado and Utah, also around 40o N. Why are NLCs spreading south? That is an unsolved mystery of these puzzling clouds. Some researchers believe it is a telltale sign of climate change, but this remains controversial. One thing is certain: Sky watchers at all latitudes should be ale
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POPSPlasma Rain QUOTE: "There's a rainstorm underway on the sun's eastern limb. You'd better bring your asbestos umbrella, though, because the "droplets" are Texas-sized blobs of hot plasma. "This is prominence finery at its best," says photographer Pete Lawrence of Selsey, UK. "Small bright points within the prominence that were seen on the capture screen have been recorded as blurs due to the rapid motion of material in just a few seconds!" Prominences are clouds of hydrogen held above the surface of the sun by magnetic fields. While this particular cloud appears to be raining like a summer shower on Earth, the true situation is more complicated. Look carefully: Some of the plasma raindrops are falling "up." That's because the motions are controlled by not only gravity but also magnetism, a force of little importance in terrestrial rainstorms. The solar magnetic field is rooted below the sun's visible surface; roiling motions in the body of the sun itself cause magnetic fields high overhead t
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POPSFireball captured QUOTE: "...May 9th, as the sun was rising over Gdansk, Poland, an exploding fireball split the sky. Eye-witness Krzysztof Polakowski of the Polish Fireball Network describes it as a "magnitude -8 meteor" or 40 times brighter than Venus. Believe it or not, this shadow-casting fireball was ... nothing special. According to calculations done by Bill Cooke, head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office, magnitude -8 fireballs appear somewhere on Earth around three times a day. That's almost one hundred a month! Lesser fireballs occur even more often...They are caused mainly by random bits and pieces of asteroid and comet debris crashing into our atmosphere as Earth orbits the Sun...."
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POPSPlot of the Innermost Solar System, March 29, 2008 The plot below shows the current location of the major planets (Mercury through Mars) and the minor planets that are in the innermost region of the solar system. Just in case you thought it's lonely out there in the space ;-)
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POPSAurora Borealis in Marquette, Michigan Spaceweather says: "...Last night a gust of solar wind sent auroras rippling down from Canada into the United States. Shawn Malone sends this picture from Marquette, Michigan... "There was a nice burst of aurora activity right after sunset," says Malone who captured the scene using his Canon 5D. "The thawing snowbanks in the foreground were not the most scenic, but I had to act quickly to catch the auroras." The solar wind continues to blow and more geomagnetic storms are possible tonight. Northern (and not-so-northern) sky watchers should be alert for auroras."
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POPSU.S. Senate Report: Over 400 Prominent Scientists Disputed Man-Made Global Warming Claims in 2007 Not that this is anything new. Being in the geoscientific circles, I can safely say that those collegues who don't care about global warming-politics (and fortunately most of them don't), find this whole climate change hubbub too ridiculous to pay attention to. It's all about money, power and control. And anyone who thinks differently should take any college level book on earth sciences or physical geology and get acquainted with planet Earth.
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POPSA Comet Goes Poof! Anyone who's bored on a rainy Sunday should just browse the news - so much fun happening out of this world! :) For more info, read the whole article at Spaceweather.com, or here at: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071025155840.htm
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