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20 August 2011
Weekend Science Digest
Images, blog posts, quotes and other geeky science things that caught my eye this week. Rivers of Ice The image above is from research published in SCIENCE this week by Eric Rignot et al. NASA released a fantastic movie that shows the flow much better: Note to HM- Give Cox a Knighthood. The BBC reported Friday that there has been a sharp increase in the number of students taking …
8 July 2011
Symphony of Science- The Story of Us
On the day that the last space shuttle climbs through the Florida skies, this is an especially poignant video to post. I cannot help but wonder if historians 75 years from now will mark this day as the end of the American century. A century of innovation and exploration unmatched in history. Let’s hope not, but either way man will continue to explore the unknown, because we are the most …
7 June 2011
Spectacular Coronal Mass Ejection on Sun. NASA Scientist Calls it “An Amazing Event!”
The flare was one of the most dramatic ever recorded by the solar dynamics observatory but thankfully it was not directed toward Earth. This will have little or no effect on Earth but it is a powerful reminder of how dynamic our nearest star is! The entire history of human evolution is but a slow yawn in the lifetime of the sun. Here is a video with commentary by a …
20 May 2011
Our Very Thin Atmosphere
Click to see all the ones and zeroes as they were meant to be seen. From NASA today.
14 March 2011
Your Chance to See Mercury
Most people have never seen the planet Mercury. It’s so close to the sun, that it’s always near the horizon at sunset or sunrise. This week is a really great viewing opportunity. Here’s where to look from the folks at Sky and Telescope Mag. If you have students in the house, you should grab a subscr. and leave it around 😉 Little is known about Mercury and later this week …
6 March 2011
NASA Scientist (Here in Huntsville!) Says He Sees Alien Fossils in Meteorite
Dr. Richard Hoover has submitted a paper to the Journal of Cosmology that is about to get the whole world talking! He looked at slices of three very rare meteorites using Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESM–a type of electron microscope) and saw what look like micro-fossils of Cyanobacteria. If these are indeed micro-fossils of bacteria, (as Hoover believes) they almost certainly didn’t come from Earth. (That will be the …
4 March 2011
A Wonderful Illustration of Just how Thin Our Atmosphere Is
We live in a very, very shallow layer of life giving air. It only takes the space shuttle 2 short minutes to get into space. The rest of the engine burn time is just for getting higher and going fast enough to reach orbit. Look at the video below taken from a camera on the solid rocket booster. It separates from the shuttle at 2 minutes into the flight. When …
17 February 2011
“Wow” Video of X-Class Flare From NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory
Take a look at this! The X class flare was caught by the SDO and it’s expected to kick off a nice geomagnetic storm starting tonight. I am betting on some great pics of the Aurora by tomorrow morning! The incredible video, of the flash below, is from two spacecraft. The sun itself is from the Solar Dynamics Observatory and the red region around it is from the SOHO spacecraft. …
13 January 2011
Deep South Snow from Aqua Satellite
NASA’s Aqua and Terra satellites with their MODIS sensor have produced some incredible images of Earth. I spent some time looking at the images today, and found a gorgeous view of the snow cover from Memphis to Atlanta. I put a few landmarks on it but the fun is to find cities like Memphis and Chattanooga. Can you spot Birmingham, AL? How about the jet contrail over Kentucky? Hint: Use …
2 January 2011
Let’s Hope 2011 is a Brighter Year for Science than 2010 Turned Out To Be
I write this blog because the natural world is amazing and I want to share what I find out with others. My background is in atmospheric science but I try to post frequently on any aspect of science that meets my definition of wild. It’s sad that so many people get caught up in these end of world myths like 2012. Even more are seduced by such laughable myths like …
Dan Satterfield has worked as an on air meteorologist for 32 years in Oklahoma, Florida and Alabama. Forecasting weather is Dan's job, but all of Earth Science is his passion. This journal is where Dan writes about things he has too little time for on air. Dan blogs about peer-reviewed Earth science for Junior High level audiences and up.