6
POPS Learning’s online fate ,The digital age challenges teachers, teaching, books "This expansive, open age of digital information challenges the traditions of scholarship, learning, and even the act of reading. So what will be the fate of higher education in the digital age?" An important understanding concerning the changing face of higher education, we need more panels of this kind to fully realize the revolution taking place.
4
POPSNASAfinds significant water on moon
Although the goal of the $79 million mission was to determine whether there is water on the moon, discoveries in other areas are expected as studies progress, Colaprete and other scientists said at the briefing at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field near San Francisco, California. "The discovery opens a new chapter in our understanding of the moon," the space agency said in a written statement shortly after the briefing began. Michael Wargo, chief lunar scientist at NASA headquarters in Washington, said the latest discovery also could unlock the mysteries of the solar system. He listed several options as sources for the water, including solar winds, comets, giant molecular clouds or even the moon itself through some kind of internal activity. The Earth also may have a role, Wargo said. "If the water that was formed or deposited is billions of years old, these polar cold traps could hold a key to the history and evolution of the solar system, much as an ice core sa
1
POPSC/2007 N3 鹿林慧星 (Lulin) Relative to other Oort cloud comets, it is considered very close to the perigee of the Earth, only about 0.41 astronomical units (equivalent to 610,000 kilometers), making the astronomical experts, a lot of day and night guarding it, and also captured a rare tail comet breakthrough long tail and so the reverse scenario.
9
POPSChannels associated with impact craters discovered on Mars If a significant amount of water was released or mobilized by the formation of the Hale Crater impact, larger impacts that formed during the early days of the Solar System may have been able to bring even more water to the surface of Mars. If this is true, a long-term, stable, warm and wet climate may not be required to explain the presence of such channels in the ancient Martian landscapes.
17
POPSThe Incredibly Tiny Christian Universe "..astronomers estimate that hundreds of billions of galaxies exist in the universe and that each galaxy could contain hundreds of Christian-sized universes!" See? There's no "real" conflict between religion and science...is there?
11
POPSNaked eye astronomy Wherever you are in the world, there will always be stars in the night sky above. And spotting these heavenly bodies - be it a solitary star amid the light pollution or great drifts dotted across the inky darkness - can give a certain thrill. It is one of the few things where we can go out into our own gardens and do it ourselves Marek Kukula, Royal Observatory And stars are not the only attraction - there are planets, comets and galaxies too. Most have been in the skies above for millions and millions of years, which is part of the draw for stargazers, amateur and aficionado alike.
12
POPSFrom a Distant Comet, a Clue to Life Within a few months, the Goddard scientists found glycine embedded in aluminum foil of the collecting apparatus. They had spent the time since then confirming that the glycine indeed came from the comet and not from contamination. “It’s not necessarily particularly surprising,” Dr. Elsila said of her extraterrestrial glycine in a phone conversation Tuesday. “I would have been surprised if it wasn’t there.” Dr. Elsila and her colleagues were able to show that the glycine from the comet had heavier quantities of the isotope carbon 13 than what occurs on Earth. They also detected a second amino acid, beta-alanine, but the quantities were too minuscule to confirm. The findings were presented Sunday at a Washington meeting of the American Chemical Society and will be published in the journal Meteoritics & Planetary Science.
23
POPSNASA scientists want to move the Earth full at source: The plan put forward by Dr Laughlin, and his colleagues Don Korycansky and Fred Adams, involves carefully directing a comet or asteroid so that it sweeps close past our planet and transfers some of its gravitational energy to Earth. ‘Earth’s orbital speed would increase as a result and we would move to a higher orbit away from the Sun,’ Laughlin said. Engineers would then direct their comet so that it passed close to Jupiter or Saturn, where the reverse process would occur. It would pick up energy from one of these giant planets. Later its orbit would bring it back to Earth, and the process would be repeated.
9
POPSBuzz Aldrin: "There's a monolith on the moon of Mars" more; We should go boldly where man has not gone before. Fly by the comets, visit asteroids, visit the moon of Mars. There’s a monolith there. A very unusual structure on this potato shaped object that goes around Mars once in seven hours. When people find out about that they’re going to say ‘who put that there? Who put that there?’ The universe put it there. If you choose, God put it there…”
7
POPSJupiter Impact Photo Spectra collected by various observatories may help identify what the impactor was, since a large amount of water at the impact location would hint at a comet as the source. “We will also compare the observations with those collected during 15 years ago,” since that was a known comet, Marchis says. Without having seen it, scientists can’t tell how large the object was. “But the impact scar we’re seeing is about the same size as one of Jupiter’s big storms, Oval BA, Fletcher told New Scientist. “That, I believe, is about the size of the Earth.” Marchis says Jupiter may be protecting Earth from getting hit by such objects. “The solar system would have been a very dangerous place if we did not have Jupiter,” he told New Scientist. “We should thank our Giant Planet for suffering for us. Its strong gravitational field is acting like a shield protecting us from comets coming from the outer part of the solar system.” newscientist.com
11
POPSWelcome to Celestia Investigate links - related sites - screenshot - etc. Unlike most planetarium software, Celestia doesn't confine you to the surface of the Earth. You can travel throughout the solar system, to any of over 100,000 stars, or even beyond the galaxy.
1
POPSHit Me Again Jupiter of course is the largest planet in our solar system. The gravitational aspects of it are much greater and therefore the planet is more inclined to such "hits". Imagine what something the size of a comet like Shoemaker-Levy 9 could do if it were to hit a much smaller planet like oh, uh,,,I don't know...Earth? Devastating is a good word.
5
POPSForty Thousand Meteor Origins Across the Sky "Besides known meteor showers, eleven new showers were identified by new radiants on the sky from which meteors appear to flow. The meteor sky is ever changing, and it may be possible that new shower radiants will appear in the future. Research like this could also potentially identify previously unknown comets or asteroids that might one day pass close to the Earth. "
5
POPS Sleet Storm in Space In one such system, known as IRAS 4B, about 1,000 light-years from Earth, astronomers from the University of Rochester have detected a disk-shaped knot of material that will one day emerge as a suite of planets orbiting a young star. And onto that disk, a rain of ice crystals is falling, slamming into the disk at supersonic speeds and vaporizing to form a cloud containing five times the water in Earth's oceans. What the astronomers are convinced will happen next is that the water will re-freeze into ice particles and eventually form comets — which in turn will crash down onto whatever planets they find, forming oceans that the future scientists of these worlds will someday be scratching their heads over.
5
POPSBackwards,green comet passes earth you'll most likely need a telescope, or at least binoculars, to spot it. The best opportunity is just before dawn one-third of the way up the southern sky. It should be near Saturn and two bright stars, Spica and Regula. On Monday at 10:43 p.m. EST, it will be 38 million miles from Earth, the closest it will ever get,
3
POPSRare Green Comet Approaches Earth Considering the comet is unlikely to pass this way again -- at least for next few million years or so -- it might be worth the effort. Green comets are not all that common. Get up around 3:00 a.m. and go outside. Comet Lulin will rise a few hours before the sun and will be about one-third of way up in the southern sky before dawn
2
Pops
Newest Clips
Latest Comments
Most Pops
Print
Save
Turn on live update