Dormant volcanoes could wake up in a few decades

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Adriana

The study of the geology of the Greek archipelago of Santorini has revealed that, despite a volcanic system has been idle for thousands of years, the amount of magma that erupts necessary can accumulate in just a few decades.

A group of researchers from France and UK has screened more than 300 crystals formed in the volcanic rocks of the Greek island of Santorini from different eruptive phases.

After analyzing the records of glass the authors found that “the accumulation of magma required to produce a volcanic eruption can occur within a few decades, a geologically very short period,” said Timothy Druitt, a researcher at the French University Blaise Pascal and lead author.

The expert points out that this accumulation may occur under the volcano, although this has remained dormant for thousands of years. The recommendations continued vigilance. In the words of Druitt, “Even volcanic systems that have long remained dormant in remote parts of the world must be closely monitored for signs of discomfort in depth.” Continue reading →

Eleven new planetary systems discovered

Posted on January 31, 2012 by Adriana

The Kepler Space Telescope mission for NASA have discovered 11 new solar systems with planets. Specifically, the confirmed planets added 26 in total. These findings almost multiply by two the number of planets discovered have been verified by the Kepler space telescope, and tripling the number of stars than are known to possess more than one planet in its orbit passes in front of its star, from visual perspective of the Earth.

The new planets orbiting nearby stars and have their sizes ranging from just over fifty percent of Earth’s diameter to larger diameter than that of Jupiter. Fifteen of the planets are larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune. We will have to look further into these planets to determine what type rocky like Earth and what type gas (with a very thick atmosphere, like Neptune). The planets take between 6 and 143 days to complete one orbit around its star. All are closer to its star than Venus is from the Sun. Continue reading →

The two faces of the dunes on Titan

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Adriana

A new analysis of radar data from the international Cassini spacecraft has revealed regional variations in the sand dunes of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. The results provide new clues for understanding the climatic and geological history of this moon.

In Titan’s dune fields are a landscape almost as common as seemingly uniform plains that define most of the surface.

The dunes cover about 13% of Titan, extending to over 10 million square kilometers, equivalent to the area of Canada. They are therefore an important factor in the environmental conditions of the moon.

Although its shape is similar to those of the desert dunes of Namibia, the Titan are giants to terrestrial standards. With one to two kilometers wide, hundreds of kilometers long and 100 feet high. However, their size and distribution vary along Titan’s surface. Continue reading →

The HIFI instrument of the Planck mission completes its action on the early universe

Posted on January 18, 2012 by Adriana

The HIFI instrument onboard ESA’s Planck mission has completed its observations of the cosmic microwave background, the first light after the Big Bang. As expected, the coolant sensor ran out last Saturday and is not therefore able to detect this faint radiation.

“Planck has been a great mission. Both the telescope and the instruments worked perfectly, and have left us a huge amount of data to work with,” said the chief scientist for Planck, Jan Tauber, ESA.

Slightly less than half a million years before the universe began to expand in a Big Bang, 13,700 million years, the cosmos was cooled to 4000 °C, thus allowing matter and energy decouple and the latter in the form of light, fill first space.

With the expansion of the universe that light has turned to the microwave range. Continue reading →

Unusual contrails of gas in a galaxy cluster

Posted on January 12, 2012 by Adriana

An international group of astronomers led by Tom Scott at the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia in Granada, Spain, has discovered extremely long gas trails in two clusters of galaxies, which are among the longest structures observed so far in this class environments.

The trails emanating from CGCG 097-026 and FGC1287, two spiral galaxies in the outskirts of the galaxy cluster known as Abell 1367, in the constellation of Leo, at a distance of 300 million light years. The new finding could lead to a major change in scientific knowledge about the evolution of galaxies.

Galaxy clusters are the largest structures in the universe held together by gravity. Each one is like a metropolis populated by galaxies that interact with their environment. This is usually rich in hot gas trapped in the gravitational field of the cluster. Continue reading →

The first space launch of 2012 is Chinese

Posted on January 9, 2012 by admin

China has made the first space launch of the year and he has opened a new series of satellites dedicated to Earth observation for civil tasks. The Ziyuan-3A (ZY-3A) departed from the base of Taiyuan at 3:17 UTC on January 9, aboard a CZ-4B rocket. Although not many details of its configuration, the ZY-3, of 2,630 kg, carrying three cameras, high-resolution geologic mapping tasks. These panchromatic cameras that are accompanied by other multispectral infrared range.

As the satellite advances along its polar sun-synchronous orbit, about 500 km altitude, you can see almost any area of the surface. A central chamber photograph what lies immediately below the path, with a resolution of about 2.1 meters. The other two optical cameras, one front and one behind, will do the same show, with a resolution of up to 3.5 meters, the front and rear landscape found in the vehicle. Continue reading →

In certain regions, deforestation can cool rather than warm

Posted on December 20, 2011 by admin

Many scientists believe that deforestation contributes greatly to global warming. But new research from Yale University shows that in fact in some northern latitudes contributes to a climate cooling locally.

If trees are cut down a lot in the boreal region, above 45 degrees north latitude, yields a net cooling effect. By cutting down the trees, just releasing carbon into the atmosphere, which contributes to the greenhouse effect, but then increases the albedo of the ground if it is light in color (or is covered with snow), and therefore more sunlight reflected into space, light can no longer heat the surface.

Xuhui Lee, principal investigator of the study and professor of meteorology at Yale University, United States, and experts from 20 other institutions have found that the level of surface temperatures in the deforested areas analyzed are cooler than before deforestation due to snow cover, well lodged in the ground, reflecting sunlight and the place is not so hot, unlike what happens in nearby wooded areas, whose coverage of tree canopy absorbs more solar heat. At night, in the absence of the effect of reflection, deforested areas cool faster than the forests, which causes the warm air down in a turbulent from higher levels to the ground surface. Continue reading →

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