BIG BANG IN ANTARCTICA -- KILLER CRATER FOUND UNDER ICE
Ohio State University | 01 June 2006 | Staff (press release)
Posted on 06/01/2006 5:26:58 PM EDT by PatrickHenry
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1641966/posts
Extreme Kuiper Belt Object 2001 QG298Extensive time-resolved observations of Kuiper Belt object 2001 QG298 show a lightcurve with a peak-to-peak variation of 1.14 +-0.04 magnitudes and single-peaked period of 6.8872 +- 0.0002 hr. The mean absolute magnitude is 6.85 magnitudes which corresponds to a mean effective radius of 122 (77) km if an albedo of 0.04 (0.10) is assumed. This is the first known Kuiper Belt object and only the third minor planet with a radius > 25 km to display a lightcurve with a range in excess of 1 magnitude. We find the colors to be typical for a Kuiper Belt object (B-V = 1.00 +- 0.04, V-R = 0.60 +- 0.02) with no variation in color between minimum and maximum light. The large light variation, relatively long double-peaked period and absence of rotational color change argue against explanations due to albedo markings or elongation due to high angular momentum. Instead, we suggest that 2001 QG298 may be a very close or contact binary similar in structure to what has been independently proposed for the Trojan asteroid 624 Hektor. If so, its rotational period would be twice the lightcurve period or 13.7744 +- 0.0004 hr. By correcting for the effects of projection, we estimate that the fraction of similar objects in the Kuiper Belt is at least 10% to 20% with the true fraction probably much higher. A high abundance of close and contact binaries is expected in some scenarios for the evolution of binary Kuiper Belt objects.
and the Fraction of Contact Binaries
by Scott S. Sheppard and David Jewitt
Astronomical Journal
pdf version
thanks Fred Nerks for the reminder.
BIG BANG IN ANTARCTICA -- KILLER CRATER FOUND UNDER ICE
Ohio State University | 01 June 2006 | Staff (press release)
Posted on 06/01/2006 5:26:58 PM EDT by PatrickHenry
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1641966/posts
Giant Crater Found [in Antarctica]: Tied to Worst Mass Extinction Ever [Permo-Triassic]
SPACE.com | June 2, 2006 | Robert Roy Britt
Posted on 06/02/2006 2:44:43 PM EDT by cogitator
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1642426/posts
Meteor mega-hit spawned Australian continent: researchers
AFP on Yahoo | 6/2/06 | AFP
Posted on 06/03/2006 6:23:27 PM EDT by NormsRevenge
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1642946/posts
Does a giant crater lie beneath the Antarctic ice?
nature news | 2 06 | Mark Peplow
Posted on 06/05/2006 12:07:10 PM EDT by S0122017
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1643681/posts
BBC: Arctic's tropical past uncovered
~~ ( So Global Warming isn't someting new....?)
BBC | Wednesday, 31 May 2006, 17:21 GMT 18:21 UK | Rebecca Morelle Science reporter, BBC News
Posted on 05/31/2006 4:19:27 PM EDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1641377/posts
Asteroid Juno Has A "Bite" Out Of It
SpaceDaily | Aug 11, 2003 | unattributed
Posted on 06/03/2006 2:16:51 AM EDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1642711/posts
Asteroid Vesta
Views of the Solar System | circa 2001 | Calvin J. Hamilton
Posted on 06/17/2006 10:51:28 PM EDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1651297/posts
Asteroids Spoelhof and Griffioen
Calvin College | June 15, 2006 | unattributed
Posted on 06/17/2006 9:56:04 PM EDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1651278/posts
Clandestine comets found in main asteroid belt - Earth oceans origin
newscientist space | 23 March 2006
Posted on 03/24/2006 5:26:05 AM EST by S0122017
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1602203/posts
Corkscrew Asteroid (Leaving Earth Orbit)
Science NASA | 6-9-2006
Posted on 06/09/2006 6:54:45 PM EDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1646542/posts
Discovery Channel Airs New Show on Krakatoa
(plus pointers to awesome Montserrat video)
Discovery Channel
Posted on 06/09/2006 3:25:00 PM EDT by cogitator
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1646435/posts
Early Earth Likely Had Continents, Was Habitable, According To New Study
University of Colorado at Boulder | 2005-11-18 | University of Colorado at Boulder
Posted on 11/18/2005 11:32:59 PM EST by dila81
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1525001/posts
Explosive fireball said to shake Earth
World Net Daily | 1-12-05 | World Net Daily
Posted on 01/12/2005 11:27:52 PM EST by hope
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1319717/posts
Giant Asteroid To Pass Near Earth Wednesday September 29
http://survivalcenter.com/planetx082804.html
Posted on 09/20/2004 11:56:32 PM EDT by Rome2000
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1222071/posts
Global warming, not asteroid, cause of extinction?
c|net news.com | 1/20/2005 | Michael Kanellos
Posted on 01/21/2005 10:09:59 AM EST by Zon
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1325390/posts
Having Pups Over Pluto And The Planetary Misfits Of The Kuipers
spacedaily.com | 12 Mar 03 | Robert Sanders
Posted on 03/12/2003 8:27:54 PM EST by RightWhale
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/863325/posts
Jovian Storms Prepare To Duke It Out
space.com | 06/05/06 | Ker Than
Posted on 06/05/2006 10:27:35 PM EDT by KevinDavis
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1644036/posts
New Trojan Asteroid Hints At Huge Neptunian Cloud
New Scientist | 6-15-2006 | Kelly Young
Posted on 06/15/2006 5:26:20 PM EDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1650110/posts
"Planemos" May Give Rise to Planets, Moons
Scientific American | June 06, 2006 | David Biello
Posted on 06/06/2006 2:08:11 AM EDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1644108/posts
Planets Around Planets?
Sky and Telescope | 06/05/06 | Robert Naeye
Posted on 06/05/2006 10:32:33 PM EDT by KevinDavis
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1644037/posts
Reversal of Earth's Magnetic Field
(Hey Algore read this)
Projects in Scientific Computing | N/A | Gary Glatzmaier, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Posted on 06/03/2006 10:00:13 AM EDT by ThreePuttinDude
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1642780/posts
Saturn's Moon Iapetus Shows a Bulging Waistline
NASA | 1/7/2005 | Staff
Posted on 01/10/2005 12:10:32 AM EST by Southack
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1317479/posts
Scientists Say Earth Formed Faster
Associated Press | Wed Aug 28, 2:00 PM ET | RICK CALLAHAN
Posted on 08/29/2002 1:42:37 PM EDT by Junior
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/741407/posts
Those Enigmatic Erratics: Out-of-Place Artifacts or Out-of-Whack Chronology
Strange | issue #22 | Philip Rife
Posted on 01/12/2005 2:11:11 PM EST by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1319351/posts
Tremors rock earth deep beneath San Andreas Fault - Puzzling vibrations baffle researchers
SF Chronicle | December 10, 2004 | David Perlman
Posted on 12/10/2004 11:59:17 AM EST by NYer
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1298650/posts
PAX TV Kicks U.S. Space Command In The Slats
Source: YOWUSA.COM
Author: Marshall Masters
Posted on 04/18/2001 08:44:13 PDT by sirgawain
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3addb64d7850.htm
Meteorite study finds no trace of life on Mars
Source: The London Telegraph
Published: Thursday March 2, 2000 Author: By Roger Highfield, Science Editor
Posted on 03/02/2000 04:12:27 PST by RaceBannon
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a38be5aab6ce3.htm
Did Life Drip Down From Earth's Ancient Atmosphere
Source: spacedaily.com
Published: 17 oct 00 Author: STAFF
Posted on 10/25/2000 12:21:10 PDT by RightWhale
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a39f732a6231b.htm
Researchers explain gas planet satellite systemsJupiter's four Galilean satellites are each roughly similar in size, while Saturn has one large satellite together with numerous much smaller satellites. Even so, the total mass in both satellite systems is about a hundredth of one percent (0.0001) of the respective planet's mass. The Uranian satellite system structure is similar to that of Jupiter, and it also exhibits the same mass ratio. In contrast, the large satellites of solid planets contain much larger fractions of their planet's masses, with the Moon containing 1 percent (0.01) of the Earth's mass, and Pluto's satellite, Charon, containing more than 10 percent (0.1) of its mass.
Southwest Research Institute
June 14, 2006
Norway Impact Gentler Than Atomic Bomb
By Selby Cull
Sky and Telescope
http://skyandtelescope.com/news/article_1742_1.asp
http://skyandtelescope.com/printable/news/article_1745.asp
http://skyandtelescope.com/mm_images/4950.jpg
"The meteorite that struck northern Norway on June 7th was probably about as energetic as the 2003 Park Forest meteorite. The Park Forest event scattered hundreds of small pieces over the suburbs of Chicago, like the one shown here, which grazed a fire hydrant as it hit. No material from the Norway meteorite has yet been reported. Courtesy Matt Morgan / Mile High Meteorites."
Asteroid Impact Could Have Triggered India-Pakistan Nuclear War, General Says
Space Daily | September 17, 2002 | Staff Sgt. A.J. Bosker, Air Force Print News
Posted on 09/18/2002 10:40:56 AM EDT by cogitator
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/752890/posts
Heavenly Bodies Stir Up Routine Catastrophes
IOL | 3-18-2003 | Graeme Addison
Posted on 03/18/2003 12:33:33 PM EST by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/867877/posts
Study Finds Signs of Life in Ancient Lava
Science - Reuters | 2004-04-23
Posted on 04/26/2004 1:14:40 PM EDT by Junior
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1124648/posts
Asteroid Belt Like Ours Spotted Around Another StarThe scientists have not actually seen any asteroids around Zeta Leporis, a young star twice as massive as the Sun and 60 to 70 light-years away. Instead they have studied the temperature and position of the star's swirling mass of debris, which they say shows evidence of chaotic collisions among rocks that creates the dust needed to sustain such a disk... Zeta Leporis, also called HR 1998, is between 50 million and 400 million years old, compared to our middle-aged Sun, which is about 4.5 billion years old. Along with some other young stars, it was found in the 1980s to have a ring of dusty debris. And in 1991 astronomers learned that this debris ring was unusually warm and close to its parent star, unlike other disks that are farther out, and hence colder. This dust, given its known properties, should spiral into a star within 20,000 years, according to current theories of physics and star formation, scientists say. But this star is much older.
by Robert Roy Britt
4 June 2001
Huge Asteroid to Fly Past Earth July 3
Space.com | June 26, 2006 | Joe Rao
Posted on 06/27/2006 10:33:56 AM EDT by DaveLoneRanger
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1656398/posts
Deep ImpactA recent study portrays the paths of asteroids in the inner solar system as a vast Los Angeles-style traffic system crisscrossed with superhighways along which are hurtling huge, rocky projectiles. The study estimates that an armada of asteroids, 900 strong, all a kilometer in diameter or larger, present a potential hazard to life on Earth. Some pass within a few moon distances of Earth every year. William Bottke at Cornell University is lead researcher on a U.S.-French team that has discovered the spatial and size distribution of a large group of asteroids called NEAs (for near-Earth asteroids), a vast system of orbiting rocks in inner space, ranging in size from mere specks to more than 64 kilometers (40 miles) in diameter. Most of the asteroids in the solar system revolve around the sun on independent orbits, corralled between Mars and Jupiter in a formation known as the main belt.
July 23, 2001
Asteroid-impact Study Finds Effects Of Collisions Or Explosions On Small Asteroids May Be Hard To PredictAstronomer Erik Asphaug, a UCSC research associate, used computer simulations to study the effects of powerful impacts on asteroids with different internal structures. He and his colleagues found that the outcome of such impacts depends on the degree to which the asteroid has been fractured and made porous by earlier collisions. "It's a lot more difficult to nudge these asteroids around than we had thought."
by Tim Stephens
June 8, 1998Deflecting Asteroids Harder Than Once ThoughtThe fractured, porous nature of many asteroids may make it difficult to use nuclear weapons or other explosions to nudge them off collision courses with the Earth. The effects of a collision or explosion on an asteroid depend strongly on the interior structure of the asteroid. A solid asteroid, they found, might easily shatter when hit by another asteroid. However, a more porous asteroid, one fractured by previous collisions, would tend to damp out the effects of the collision.
June 4, 1998
Greg Martin space art:
http://www.space.com/php/multimedia/downloads/wallpapers/collection.php?collection=gregmartin
one of my faves, "Cataclysm":
http://a52.g.akamaitech.net/f/52/827/1d/www.space.com/entertainment/downloads/spaceart/images/cataclysm_1024.jpg
Ice sheets drive atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, inverting previous ice-age theory
EurekAlert! News | July 24, 2006 | Staff
Posted on 07/26/2006 3:10:49 PM EDT by DaveLoneRanger
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1672716/posts
Satellites in prograde motion receive a momentum transfer from the rotating parent body, gradually rising in altitude.N2K Information For Star HD149026The orbital period of HD149026b is remarkably short, 2.88 days. In fact, for this "Hot Saturn", an entire "year" takes place over a single weekend! Orbiting at a distance of just 0.042 AU, the planet's would have a scorching temperature of 1,500 K... HD149026 is in the constellation Hercules in this part of the sky... Radial Velocities of the star HD149026 not only reveal the wobble due to the planet, but also deviate from a perfect sine wave when the planet passes in front of the rotating star. This is called the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect and has been observed for other transiting planets.
San Francisco State University
Mass limit on Nemesis
Bull. Astr. Soc. India | after 10 February 2005 | Varun Bhalerao and M.N. Vahia
Posted on 08/04/2006 12:24:16 AM EDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1677507/posts
Asteroid 1950 DAWhen high-precision radar meaurements were included in a new orbit solution, a potentially very close approach to the Earth on March 16, 2880 was discovered to exist. Analysis performed by Giorgini et al and reported in the April 5, 2002 edition of the journal Science ("Asteroid 1950 DA's Encounter With Earth in 2880: Physical Limits of Collision Probability Prediction") determined the impact probability as being at most 1 in 300 and probably even more remote, based on what is known about the asteroid so far. At its greatest, this could represent a risk 50% greater than that of the average background hazard due to all other asteroids from the present era through 2880, as defined by the Palermo Technical Scale (PTS value = +0.17). 1950 DA is the only known asteroid whose hazard could be above the background level.
Don Yeomans, Site Manager
NASA Near Earth Object Program
garbageseeker, I tossed your name on the end because I know you've expressed interest in something like this.
Explosions In Space May Have Initiated Ancient Extinction On Earth
Science Daily | 4/12/05 | NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Posted on 04/12/2005 4:12:15 PM EDT by doc30
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1382310/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1048934/posts?page=44#44
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1048934/posts?page=46#46
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1070173/posts?page=21#21
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1278524/posts?page=30#30
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1354126/posts?page=28#28
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1608702/posts?page=14#14
Starburst caused Ordovician mass extinction: scientists
Posted on : Mon, 11 Apr 2005 00:00:00 GMT | Author : Nigel Wright
News Category : Space
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/2373.html
