Astronomy

[Dreamwoven]

THE SOCIETY FOR POPULAR ASTRONOMY

Electronic News Bulletin No. 464 2018 March 4

SUN'S MAGNETIC CAGE STOPPED SOLAR ERUPTION
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

New research using NASA data shows that a dramatic magnetic power struggle
at the Sun's surface lies at the heart of solar eruptions. The work high-
lights the role of the Sun's magnetic landscape, or topology, in the dev-
elopment of solar eruptions that can trigger 'space weather' events around
the Earth. The scientists examined solar flares, which are intense bursts
of radiation and light. Many strong solar flares are followed by a coronal
mass ejection, or CME, a massive, bubble-shaped eruption of solar material
and magnetic field, but some are not -- what differentiates the two
situations is not clearly understood. Using data from NASA's Solar Dynamics
Observatory, or SDO, the scientists examined a 2014 October Jupiter-sized
sunspot group, an area of complex magnetic fields, often the site of solar
activity. That was the biggest group in the past two solar cycles and a
highly active region. Though conditions seemed ripe for an eruption, the
region never produced a major CME on its journey across the Sun. It did,
however, emit a powerful X-class flare, the most intense class of flares.
What determines, the scientists wondered, whether a flare is associated
with a CME?

The team of scientists included SDO's observations of magnetic fields at the
Sun's surface in powerful models that calculated the magnetic field of the
Sun's corona, or upper atmosphere, and examined how it evolved in the time
just before the flare. The model reveals a battle between two key magnetic
structures: a twisted magnetic rope -- known to be associated with the onset
of CMEs -- and a dense cage of magnetic fields overlying the rope. The
scientists found that that magnetic cage physically prevented a CME from
erupting that day. Just hours before the flare, the sunspot's natural
rotation contorted the magnetic rope and it grew increasingly twisted and
unstable, like a tightly coiled rubber band, but the rope never erupted from
the surface: the model demonstrated that it did not have enough energy to
break through the cage. It was, however, volatile enough to lash through
part of the cage, triggering the strong solar flare. By changing the
conditions of the cage in their model, the scientists found that if the
cage had been weaker that day, a major CME would have erupted. The group is
interested in developing its model further to study how the conflict between
the magnetic cage and rope plays out in other eruptions.

[Danik 2016]

Don´t mention it!

This might also interest peers who live in that area. Here we go:

Wildfires will likely get worse in western North America
A new study projects increases in burning across the U.S. West and Canada. It suggests large fires – such those we’ve seen recently in California – may become more common.
http://earthsky.org/earth/wildfires-forecast-US-west

[Danik 2016]

Very curious!

[QUOTE=Dreamwoven;1349237]THE SOCIETY FOR POPULAR ASTRONOMY

Electronic News Bulletin No. 464 2018 March 4

SUN'S MAGNETIC CAGE STOPPED SOLAR ERUPTION
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

New research using NASA data shows that a dramatic magnetic power struggle
at the Sun's surface lies at the heart of solar eruptions. The work high-
lights the role of the Sun's magnetic landscape, or topology, in the dev-
elopment of solar eruptions that can trigger 'space weather' events around
the Earth.

[Dreamwoven]

THE SOCIETY FOR POPULAR ASTRONOMY

Electronic News Bulletin No. 464 2018 March 4

NOCTURNAL ANIMALS NAVIGATE BY THE STARS
Lund University:

Nocturnal animals can use the stars and the Milky Way to find their way
during the darkest hours. There are advantages to being active in the
night. Fewer parasites are active, and the same goes for predators.
Moreover, there are not as many competitors for food as there are during
the day. For animals that migrate or search for food over vast distances in
particular, the cooler hours of the night are preferable to the heat of the
day. A key requirement for nocturnal animals is that they can hold their
course in the dark. Migrating birds that take off at sunset rely on their
magnetic compass, but also the star compass when they use individual stars
for orientation. Dung beetles do not use individual stars. Instead they
travel through the night with the help of the light from the Milky Way,
which contrasts with the surrounding dark sky. Studies also support that
seals, moths, frogs and other animals use the starry sky to navigate at
night. Animals with camera eyes, the type of eyes that we humans possess,
can discern individual stars. Insects with compound eyes most likely can
not, but scientists believe that they can interpret the starry sky and the
Milky Way as patterns of light. We still know very little about how
nocturnal animals experience and interpret the night sky. For example, no
one has yet determined whether, and how, migrating birds change their point
of reference in the night sky when they pass the equator. Emerging
technologies, such as highly-sensitive cameras, may allow us to discover
many more species that also use the starry skies to guide them during the
darkest hours of the night.

[Danik 2016]

Interesting post. Even cats seem to feel safer at night, which in human environments can be a mistake. I´m linking this post to the thread "about animals".

[Dreamwoven]

Good, thanks Danik. Astonishing that animals can navigate by the stars in the night sky!

[Danik 2016]

It certainly is. Here is another article on another recent theme you posted;

Fingerprinting the very first stars

Using a radio antenna the size of a tabletop, astronomers found evidence suggesting the first stars formed just 180 million years after the Big Bang.
"Like detectives, astronomers can't always just examine a simple image when they want to solve a mystery. Most of the time, the have to meticulously piece together tiny bits of evidence, often by scouring the heavens to hunt for clues. And one of the biggest cosmic cold cases that astronomers have been attempting to solve for years is: When exactly did the first stars form?

This week in the journal Nature, after over a decade of intense experimental investigation, a team of astronomers announced that they have finally cracked the case of the first stars. Using a simple radio antenna the size of a tabletop located in the Australian desert, the researchers discovered the faint fingerprints of the earliest stars in the infant universe, which formed when the cosmos was just 180 million years old."
http://www.astronomy.com/news/2018/0...ry-first-stars

What I like about this article is that its wording is very simple.

[Danik 2016]

Not quite sure where to post this. I refuse to put it in the animal thread. Anyway, meet "Cyberslug":

Virtual predator is 'self-aware', behaves like living counterpart

"Scientists report in the journal eNeuro that they've built an artificially intelligent ocean predator that behaves a lot like the original flesh-and-blood organism on which it was modeled. The virtual creature, "Cyberslug," reacts to food and responds to members of its own kind much like the actual animal, the sea slug Pleurobranchaea californica, does."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/release...0301103130.htm

[Dreamwoven]

http://earthsky.org/earth/scientists...danger-islands

A large colony of Adelie penguins has been discovered in the Danger Islands, Antarctica.

[Dreamwoven]

http://earthsky.org/earth/scientists...danger-islands

"Scientists recently discovered a “supercolony” of more than 1,500,000 Adélie penguins on the Danger Islands, a chain of remote, rocky islands off the Antarctic Peninsula’s northern tip.

For the past 40 years, the total number of Adélie penguins, one of the most common species of penguins live on the Antarctic peninsula, has been steadily declining — or so biologists thought."

[Danik 2016]

http://earthsky.org/earth/scientists...danger-islands

"Scientists recently discovered a “supercolony” of more than 1,500,000 Adélie penguins on the Danger Islands, a chain of remote, rocky islands off the Antarctic Peninsula’s northern tip.

For the past 40 years, the total number of Adélie penguins, one of the most common species of penguins live on the Antarctic peninsula, has been steadily declining — or so biologists thought."

That´s funny. I was sure that I had answered this post because I linked it to "About animals."
What I don´t like about this kind of discoveries is that with it comes human interference into the animal environment.

[Danik 2016]

Making a splash in search for interstellar water
Date:
March 9, 2018
Source:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Summary:
Water is crucial for life, but how do you make water? Cooking up some H2O takes more than mixing hydrogen and oxygen. It requires the special conditions found deep within frigid molecular clouds, where dust shields against destructive ultraviolet light and aids chemical reactions. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope will peer into these cosmic reservoirs to gain new insights into the origin and evolution of water and other key building blocks for habitable planets.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/release...0309125213.htm

[Dreamwoven]

No, that was post #1670.

[Danik 2016]

Stars can exhibit cute behavior too. At least in the eyes of their describers:

Red giant brings its companion star back to life

"There’s some adage out there about helping out your neighbor, right? Well, a red giant star was recently spotted lending more than just a cup of flour to its companion neutron star — it blasted it with winds that nourished the dead star back to life in a burst of X-ray light."
http://www.astronomy.com/news/2018/0...r-back-to-life

[Dreamwoven]

http://earthsky.org/space/measuring-...eveals-mystery

By Donna Weaver and Ray Villard/Johns Hopkins

Here’s the good news: Astronomers have made the most precise measurement to date of the rate at which the universe is expanding since the Big Bang.

Here’s the possibly unsettling news: The new numbers remain at odds with independent measurements of the early universe’s expansion, which could mean that there is something unknown about the makeup of the universe.

Is something unpredicted going on in the depths of space?

Adam Riess is a Nobel Laureate and Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins University. He said:

The community is really grappling with understanding the meaning of this discrepancy.

Riess leads a team of researchers using the Hubble Space Telescope to measure the expansion rate of the universe. He shared a Nobel Prize in 2011 for the discovery of the accelerating universe.

The team, which includes researchers from Hopkins and the Space Telescope Science Institute, has used the Hubble Space Telescope over the past six years to refine the measurements of the distances to galaxies, using stars as milepost markers. Those measurements are used to calculate how fast the universe expands with time, a value known as the Hubble constant.
By Donna Weaver and Ray Villard/Johns Hopkins