Birth of a Giant Planet? Candidate Protoplanet Spotted Inside Its Stellar Womb

                                                                                                                                   

Birth of a Giant Planet?  Candidate Protoplanet Spotted Inside Its Stellar Womb

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130228103341.htm

Astronomers, using an ESO’s very large telescope, have found what is most likely the first ever observed formation of a new planet.  As of now, the planet is surrounded and embedded with a thick disc of gas and dust.  Astronomers predict that the new planet will most likely be something like Jupiter, which is made of gas.  According to current theory known as the protoplanet hypothesis, giant planets grow by capturing some of the gas and dust that remains after the formation of a star, and astronomers have found evidence that supports this theory with this recent discovery.  This newly formed planet would be different from the eight known planets because it orbits around a different star.  This is not the first planet to be discovered orbiting another sun-like star but this might be the most significant.  The planet orbits about 70 times farther than the Earth orbits from the Sun.  Astronomers are still attempting to discovery whether the possible planet has been in its current position for a long time or if it has migrated from another region.

                  This is one of the most important discoveries about the solar system in the last couple years.  Although the discovery has yet to be proven true, the discovery will greatly improve scientists understanding of how planets form.  In addition, it will allow astronomers to test the current theories, concerning planet formation and the solar system.  I think this is a groundbreaking discovery, which will lead to a better understanding of planets.  Astronomers will be able to continually observe the planet for a long time, which may lead to more discoveries.  I hope the scientists will continue to build upon the discovery, such as what the composition of the planet is.  Moreover, I would like to know if NASA plans to send a satellite to map the newfound possible planet.

                  Although the article provided useful information, I would have liked the author to tell the reader more about the tools that the astronomers used to find the planet.  Moreover, there was not a quite from the scientists and I was wondering the scientists position and opinion on the discovery.  All in all, it was a great article that taught me a lot about the formation of planets and the significance of the discovery.

Earth Science Students Model Impact Craters

Impact craters are geologic structures formed when a large meteoroid, asteroid or comet smashes into a planet or a satellite. All the inner bodies in our solar system have been heavily bombarded by meteoroids throughout their history. The surfaces of the Moon, Mars and Mercury, where other geologic processes stopped millions of years ago, record this bombardment clearly. On the Earth, however, which has been even more heavily impacted than the Moon, craters are  continually erased by erosion and redeposition as well as by volcanic resurfacing and tectonic activity. Thus only about 120 terrestrial impact craters have been recognized, the majority in geologically stable craters of North America, Europe and Australia where most exploration has taken place. Spacecraft orbital imagery has helped to identify structures in more remote locations for further investigation.

Meteor Crater (also know as Barringer Crater) in Arizona was the first-recognized terrestrial impact crater, currently 170 impact craters have been identified on the Earth.

The students were using six different types of projectiles to form their impact craters. They dropped them from different heights, calculated their kinetic energies, made measurements of diameter and depth of the craters.  They will use this data to compare the craters formed by different projectiles.

Construction papers are used to try to capture the rays formed by the materials that are thrown out of the point of impact.

Crater with its "projectile" still intact. The projectiles used were of different sizes and made of materials with different masses.

Matt D. Vivian M. Danny G and Xiao H. are obviously enjoying the controlled destruction they can mete out to their model planet surface. You can see some of the varied "projectiles" in the weighing cup on the lab table.

Brendan W. and Jack M. are carefully removing the "projectile" b

Scientists Find 'Holy Grail' of Evolving Modular Networks

http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Jan13/modNetwork.html

I read the article Scientists find 'holy grail' of evolving modular networks by Anne Ju of the Cornell Chronicle. The article explains how organisms use modules, or interconnected clustered parts, to organize the bodies complex systems, such as the nervous system and DNA sequencing. The same process is used in cars and computers. It is much easier to create and more cost effective to create modules than jumbled systems. Cornell Scientists say that modularity evolved so that organisms have less “cost” when creating and maintaining systems. Similar to reduced wiring. All complex organisms use modularity. The Cornell Scientists also created a computer program that simulates the evolution of the modules. When the “cost” is increased, more modules are created. The program is a giant step for understanding the complex systems within organisms’ bodies.

This new program helps humanity better understand organisms. The modules help us understand the complexity in organisms, further prove evolution, and take a step forward into robotics. The module systems can be used to replicate the complex systems of a body into a robot, allowing robots to function as humans do. A module is important in multiple different fields and pertains to all who are interesting in anatomy, evolution, and robotics.

The article itself, even though it displayed something very important, was a bit short on information. It did not fully explain how the program worked and how the discovery of modules was made. It talks more about the importance in multiple fields. Although the article has flaws, it was still very well written and enjoyable.

Wale Shark Conservation

I read the article, Wale Shark Conservation. This article was about taking pictures of sharks and finding new studies about tracking them. We can track these movements of the sharks by seeing pictures of them. The study looked at 100 of images taken by vacationers that scientists were studying and looking at, by looking at these photos they were able to track the sharks. A scientist Davies, hopes that this will give the public a new look at these Wale Sharks and confidence to use this free source of data.

                The significance of this article is to get new research for sharks, it was very interesting to see how they are gathering research now by pictures taken by tourists and how by these photos they are able to track these sharks. They are focusing on collecting photographs from tourists for their research.

                This article was great to read, it increased by knowledge and was definitely interesting to read. I do think it could have used a little more information, I was confused on how this wale shark was of any importance to humanity, but I was able to figure it out. I also wish there was more quotes from the scientists because there was only 1 or 2 from Davies. Overall I thought that article was great and I really enjoyed reading it.

http://www.macroevolution.net/whale-shark-conservation.html

Glaciers: Quick response to temperature change

http://www.macroevolution.net/glaciers-melting.html

         In the article, “Glaciers: Quick response to temperature change,” the author talks of how glaciers can either melt or grow due to shifts in temperature. It also says that with new research scientists have come to the conclusion, as stated in the article that, “ice sheets reacted rapidly in the past to cooling or warming, raising concerns that they could do so again as the Earth heats up.”  The article also explains that these ice sheets are very sensitive to any changes in the temperature.

            The important message from this article, the fact that glaciers are becoming more and more susceptible to changes in temperature and that ice sheets are either melting or growing from these changes in weather, is important to everyone today because, as we recently learned in class, glaciers hold the majority of fresh water in our world.

            This article was extremely interesting and contains important information that everyone deserves to know about. The article contains many quotes and insight from scientist from both the experiment and others who contain opinions on the topic. The author of the article also adds the perfect amount of explanation for how the scientists came to this conclusion, but also could have added some more actual data from the finds. 

Asteroid 2012 DA14-Earth Flyby Reality Check

NASA- National Aeronautics and Space Administration." NASA. N.p.,n.d. Web. 04 Feb. 2013.

The article “Asteroid 2012 DA14-Earth Flyby Reality Check” talks about the encounter with an asteroid Earth will be facing within the next week. On February 15, 2013, an asteroid will enter Earth’s ring of geosynchronous weather and communication satellites. NASA has determined the path of this asteroid and it will not collide with Earth, for now. The asteroid measures approximately 150 feet in diameter and will be 17, 200 miles above Earth surface at the closest approach. This unique asteroid has a similar rotation around the Sun that Earth does, making the collision rate higher. As it enters the Earth system, it will stay for about 33 hours and exit on February 16. It was first discovered on February 23, 2012 by the La Sagra Sky Survey, which is operated in Spain. Then, it was 2.7 million miles away from Earth, leading to the suspicion how many more just like DA14 are left undiscovered. Scientists are very interested in the small near-Earth object and hope that this will bring about new discoveries as well. Scientists believe that if an asteroid similar to DA14 were to impact Earth, it would cause regional devastation. It would release around 2.5 megatons of energy, which would cause some destruction, and flattening of the land it impacts. However, the asteroid DA14 will not cause any destruction or damage and will only be visible in Europe, Africa, and Asia.

The information presented in this article is significant to humanity because it builds our knowledge on space and the risks it can have on Earth. With this asteroid coming as close as it is to Earth, it gives teams of scientist the opportunity to learn more about asteroids so they can gain further knowledge for the future. They will look through radars to find out fundamental properties so ways to prevent and collision with Earth with another asteroid can be constructed. NASA is developing new programs to go along with their other Near Earth Object programs. The more NASA knows about objects in space that can collide or affect Earth the more safe Earth will be.

This article, because NASA gave the information, holds truthful and reliable information about the upcoming events and the future plans for the safety of Earth. Diagrams and videos, as well as the undying important facts, help bring a better understanding to those who are interested in the topic, but who might be confused. The article was well written and had separate questions that could be of concern or that would bring about a better understanding about the event occurring in the next few days. NASA made sure to state that we would not be in any harm. Overall the article was very interesting because no one ever mentions certain topics like this in school that could be of interest to students. If any students like hearing about new facts about space, the NASA website holds many more articles about different things going on in our universe.

Posted for B. Alberghine