You are browsing the archive for Ryan Anderson.
27 August 2008
What Makes Volcanoes Erupt?
The local newspaper here in Ithaca posts weekly science questions, with answers from experts at Cornell. I’ve answered a couple of questions about astronomy in the past, but that’ not why I’m mentioning it. I mention it because today’s question ties in nicely with my recent volcano – themed posts! So if you want to know why volcanoes erupt, check it out! Edit: It looks like the Ithaca journal link …
25 August 2008
Hot Lava: Types of Lava
We’ve talked about how lava becomes molten, now let’s discuss how it behaves once it erupts. As liquid rock erupts from a volcanic vent it is glowing hot and can be very fluid. But, it cools rapidly, and as it does so it behaves more like rock and less like a liquid. Depending on the rate of eruption (among other things) there are two main types of lava flow: a’a …
22 August 2008
Hot Lava: Where does it come from?
You’ve seen it in movies, documentaries, and photographs. Mario and other video game heroes have died countless terrible deaths falling into pits of the stuff, but how much do you really know about lava? Where does it come from? Well, volcanoes. And the lava in volcanoes comes from deep in the earth where everything is molten, right? Wrong! It’s true that as you go deeper into the earth, things heat …
"Webcam" at Mars
Check this out. One of the engineering cameras on Mars Express (originally used to make sure that the Beagle lander had detached from the orbiter) has been turned back on! So now you can go check out the view from Mars orbit! More detail over at Bad Astronomy. The picture above shows the four giant volcanoes of the Tharsis bulge: Olympus Mons is half in shadow and the other three, …
20 August 2008
How to Look at Mars
There is so much Mars data out there that it hard to keep track of all of it! Thankfully there are some useful tools that let anyone look easily look at orbital data of anywhere on the planet. The first is a program called “jmars“. This java-based program distributed by Arizona State University lets you overlay all sorts of global datasets, from MOLA topography to THEMIS nighttime infrared maps to …
18 August 2008
Volcano Pictures!
The folks at the Boston Globe clearly knew ahead of time that I would be making a series of posts about volcanoes, and therefore chose to feature some spectacular eruption photos in their “big picture” section. Check it out! Update: Also, I just noticed that there is an incredible amount of stupid going on in the comments to those photos, with people pointing at the CO2 release from volcanoes and …
Thoughts on the Planet Debate
You should all go check out Emily Lakdawalla’s post about the Great Planet Debate. I agree with everything she said, including how silly the debate can get, and especially the following bit about priorities in science education: I think the weakest argument I heard today was that Pluto should be a planet because if we redefine “planet” in such a way that there are now only eight of them, that …
17 August 2008
Shield Volcanoes
I recently returned from a really awesome trip to Hawaii, where I participated in the 2008 NASA Planetary Volcanology workshop! The idea behind the workshop is that planetary scientists who are trying to interpret orbital data of other planets should have some experience doing the same on Earth. Now that I’m back, I have a lot to tell you about volcanoes. Today we will start by talking about shield volcanoes, …
15 August 2008
Carnival of Space #67
Alas, I missed the deadline for this week’s Carnival of Space, but that’s no reason not to check it out! Head on over to Next Generation and see what’s up in space this week.
13 August 2008
Dusk at Cape Verde
Hello everyone! I am back from my adventures in Hawaii, and have learned a lot about volcanism and conducted some valuable research on the consistency of Hawaiian beach sand… I have a bunch of emails to catch up on before making a real substantive post, but I couldn’t resist sharing the latest view of Cape Verde from Opportunity. This mosaic was taken at dusk after the sun had set, and …
