by Kwon O Chul
Aurora is an amazing art performance of nature. This collection of time-lapse videos is an enchanting record of the northern lights. The sequences are made during September 2011 in Yellowknife, northern Canada.
Partial Eclipse Over Manila Bay
Credit & Copyright: Armando Lee (Astron. League Philippines), F. Naelga Jr., 100 Hours of Astronomy (IYA2009)
What’s happened to the setting Sun?
An eclipse! The Moon eclipsed part of the Sun as visible from parts of Africa, Australia, and Asia. In particular the above image, taken from the Mall of Asia
seawall, caught a partially eclipsed Sun setting over Manila Bay in the Philippines.
did-you-kno: My respect for Parrotfish (family Scaridae) keeps growing. (Source)
anyone else think Parrotfish are cute? Nope, just me.
The book “Orda Cave Awareness Project” (by samebody)
It is dedicated to the biggest underwater gypsum cave in the world. It is located near Orda village (Perm region, Russia). The book contains articles by geologists, stories about animal life of the cave, interviews with pioneers, reviews by leading experts in cave diving. The book is illustrated with more than 100 unique underwater photos. Also the first published map of Orda cave with additions and clarifications. The work on the book took half a year, the team made more than 150 dives. All 5 kilometers of its underwater galleries were photographed. ordacave.ru.
Thermal image of bats in flight, taken by researchers at Boston University, in their attempts to understand how bats respond to differences in weather, climate, and bug activity when it comes to navigation.
According to the United State Geological Survey, bats save farmers at least $3 billion a year by scarfing down insects that would otherwise eat crops. But bats are threatened by white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease that kills them, as well as by deadly collisions with wind turbines.
Researchers estimate that the loss of one million bats in the Northeast alone has probably resulted in between 660 and 1320 metric tons fewer insects being eaten by bats each year. Now that’s scarier than blood-red bats any day.
(Source: livescience.com)
How Long Does It Take for Earth’s Magnetic Field to Reverse?
As end of the world scenarios begin to ramp up with 2012 now in play, I figured it would be timely to post one of the debunk facts about the switching of our magnetic field reversal which some believe to occur in a matter of days. Most of the folks who believe this we’re likely duped by another 2012 site.
The time it takes for Earth’s magnetic field to reverse polarity is approximately 7000 years, but the time it takes for the reversal to occur is shorter at low latitudes than at high latitudes, a geologist funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) has concluded. Brad Clement of Florida International University published his findings in this week’s issue of the journal Nature. The results are a major step forward in scientists’ understanding of how Earth’s magnetic field works.
The magnetic field has exhibited a frequent but dramatic variation at irregular times in the geologic past: it has completely changed direction. A compass needle, if one existed then, would have pointed not to the north geographic pole, but instead to the opposite direction. Such polarity reversals provide important clues to the nature of the processes that generate the magnetic field, said Clement.
Since the time of Albert Einstein, researchers have tried to nail down a firm time-frame during which reversals of Earth’s magnetic field occur. Indeed, Einstein once wrote that one of the most important unsolved problems in physics centered around Earth’s magnetic field. Our planet’s magnetic field varies with time, indicating it is not a static or fixed feature. Instead, some active process works to maintain the field. That process is most likely a kind of dynamic action in which the flowing and convecting liquid iron in Earth’s outer core generates the magnetic field, geologists believe.
The Sun’s still blasting out flares… BIG ones
On January 27, 2012, the Sun erupted in the biggest flare of the year so far, an X2-class. It was twice the power of the flare earlier in the week, but on the edge of the Sun so it wasn’t aimed at us. We’re in no danger, but it makes for a pretty awesome light show.
Watch the video here.
Credit: NASA/SDO/Helioviewer.org
