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Show 238: Solar Cycle and Weather
September 10, 2009
A new link has been established between the Sun’s 11-year cycle and global climate. It shows that solar activity has effects on Earth resembling La Niņa and El Niņo events in the Pacific Ocean. We’ve known for years that long-term solar variations affect certain weather patterns, including droughts and regional temperatures, but establishing a real connection between solar cycles and global climate patterns has proven elusive.
Show 237: HubbleWatch for September 2009
September 9, 2009
The newly upgraded and repaired Hubble Space Telescope has released its first showcase images, spotlighting galaxies drawn together by gravity, star clusters, dying stars and more. For the first time, Hubble will circle the Earth with a full set of five instruments, opening new horizons for scientific study.
Show 236: Solar System Shake Up
September 3, 2009
Was the solar system always the organized clockwork system envisioned by Isaac Newton? According to a computer model of the early epoch of the solar system, the answer is “no.” The large outer planets may have been closer to the Sun and migrated outwards while encountering small bodies called planetesimals. As the big planets moved outward, small objects cascaded toward the inner solar system, bombarding the four small, rocky planets. The model also predicts other oddities of the solar system that have gone unexplained.
Show 235: Edvard Munch's Painting
August 27, 2009
Researchers at Texas State University have found more interesting conclusions about Edvard Munch’s paintings in Norway. Previously they had found that the vivid colors in Munch’s painting, The Scream, could be attributable to dust spewed into the atmosphere by the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa.
In new findings, the group has concluded that a mysterious orb in the sky that Munch painted in “Girls on the Pier” depicts the Moon rather than the Sun. The group also explains why Munch didn’t paint the reflection of the Moon in the water.
Show 234: Sunspot Model
August 20, 2009
A new model of sunspots shows striking, beautiful detail, and may help unlock mysteries of Sun and its impact on Earth. This first-ever comprehensive computer model of sunspots, made possible by advances in supercomputers, drew on increasingly detailed observations from a network of ground- and space-based observatories to verify that model captured sunspots realistically.
Show 233: Snow on Mars
August 13, 2009
The red planet Mars conjures up images of rocks and arid, dusty plains, but last year NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander showed that it snows on Mars. The Phoenix robot observed ice crystals falling to the Martian surface. Now new research could shed light on the past and present water cycle on the Martian surface, and possibly characterize the potential habitability of the red planet.
Show 232: Stellar Oscillations
August 6, 2009
A massive star — 10 times the mass of the Sun — called V1449 Aquilla, turns out to have oscillations similar to the Sun. The observations were obtained over 150 days with the Convection, Rotation and Planetary Transits (CoRoT) satellite. No other massive star is known to have such oscillations, and the striking similarity to the Sun helps us study the Sun and understand the precursors to supernovae eruptions.
Show 231: New Orbiting Telescopes
July 30, 2009
Two amazing telescopes were launched together in May 2009 by the European Space Agency (ESA). One telescope, Herschel, measures the light from star formation regions and builds three-dimensional pictures of nebulae. It is the most powerful infrared telescope yet launched into space. It should be ready for regular science operations in November.
The second telescope, Planck, measures the minute fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background through two radio detectors. Planck’s instruments have reached their chilly operating temperature and the telescope has entered its final orbit.
