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Mars Base

Auroras Seen on Uranus For First Time - 0 views

news.nationalgeographic.com/...s-auroras-science-space-hubble

AprMedia scibyte43 hubble uranus

shared by Mars Base on 20 Apr 12 - No Cached
  • Two fleeting, Earth-size auroral storms were imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope as they flared up on the dayside of the gas giant in November 2011. (
  • Auroras tend to surround a planet's poles, where magnetic field lines converge and funnel incoming charged solar particles into the planet's atmosphere. There, the particles collide with air molecules, making the molecules glow
  • Scientists tried unsuccessfully to detect auroras on Uranus in 1998 and 2005
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • team learned of an impending solar storm directed toward Uranus, which sits about 2.5 billion miles (4 billion kilometers) from Earth.
  • timed their Hubble observations specifically to coincide with the solar storm, and about six weeks later, Hubble spotted the auroras flaring up in Uranus's upper atmosphere
  • the other seven planets, Uranus's magnetic axis is 60 degrees off from its spin axis
  • spin axis itself has a bizarre 98-degree tilt relative to the solar system's orbital plane
  • , the planet seems to roll around on its side as it orbits the sun.
Mars Base

Aurora Oddity: Northern Lights Flare Up Without Big Sun Eruption | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/e-northern-lights-display.html

scibyte34 aurora ymhs

shared by Mars Base on 18 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • Northern Lights Display Dazzles Without Big Sun Flare
  • reasons scientists can't yet explain, the northern lights blazed up in a dazzling display this week
  • despite the apparent lack of a major solar flare typically associated with these celestial light shows
  • ...13 more annotations...
  • began on Valentine's Day (Feb. 14),
  • uptick in activity in Earth's magnetic field sparked a geomagnetic storm
  • Sometimes the sky surprises us
  • with little warning, geomagnetic activity rippled around the Arctic Circle
  • producing an outbreak of auroras
  • among the best in months
  • some early speculation that a Feb. 10 sun storm, known as a coronal mass ejection (CME), may have triggered the northern lights show, but this solar outburst has not yet been confirmed.
  • occur when charged particles from the sun interact with Earth's upper atmosphere
  • creating ripples of glowing light
  • charged particles are funneled to Earth's poles by the planet's magnetic field
  • typically only visible to skywatchers in far northern or far southern latitudes
  • northern lights are called the aurora borealis
  • southern lights are dubbed the aurora australis
Mars Base

ScienceShot: Hubble Spots Auroras on Uranus - ScienceNOW - 0 views

news.sciencemag.org/...shot-hubble-spots-auroras.html

AprMedia scibyte43 hubble uranus

shared by Mars Base on 18 Apr 12 - No Cached
  • auroral glows in the atmosphere above our planet can flicker for hours
  • those seen on the planet's sunlit side—apparently last for only a couple of minutes
  • Researchers caught their first glimpse of the brief auroras from our planet's neighborhood with the Hubble Space Telescope in November 2011, 3 months after a strong gust in the solar wind raced past Earth on its way to Uranus
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • Previously, scientists had observed the planet's auroras only once, during a Voyager flyby in 1986
  • instruments had a much better view of the glows
  • lasted longer, covered a larger area, and festooned the unlit side of Uranus
  • other factors were different
  • planet's rotational axis was pointed almost directly at the sun
  • in 2011 the axis lay almost perpendicular to the flow of solar wind
  • new observations should help scientists better understand Uranus's odd magnetic field, whose axis is both offset from the center of the planet and tilts at an angle of 60° from the rotational axis.
Mars Base

Hubble Reveals Curious Auroras on Uranus - 0 views

www.universetoday.com/...eals-curious-auroras-on-uranus

AprMedia scibyte43 hubble uranus

shared by Mars Base on 20 Apr 12 - No Cached
  • an international team of astronomers
  • spotted two instances of auroras on the distant planet… once on November 16 and again on the 29th.
  • Uranus — which has an 84-year-long orbit
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • Further investigations of Uranus’ auroras and magnetic field can offer insight into the dynamics of Earth’s own magnetosphere and how it interacts with the solar wind, which in turn affects our increasingly technological society.
Mars Base

Drug's 'double hit' overcomes leukaemia resistance - 0 views

medicalxpress.com/...drug-leukaemia-resistance.html

Cancer GrabBag

shared by Mars Base on 13 Jul 12 - No Cached
  • drug that uses a unique ‘double hit’ to kill leukaemia cells could be a potential new treatment for patients with acute myeloid leukaemia
  • 30 per cent of patients with AML have faults in the FLT3 gene
  • linked to more aggressive leukaemias and poor survival
  • ...16 more annotations...
  • drugs that target these faults are available, the disease eventually builds resistance, leaving treatments ineffective.
  • researchers at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in London
  • developed a unique drug that targets AML cells in a “double hit”.
  • blocks the protein made by the faulty FLT3 gene along with another key protein – called Aurora kinase – which are both involved in driving cancer growth
  • healthy blood cells, FLT3 sends a signal to the cells telling them when to proliferate, while Aurora kinase plays a role in cell division
  • Leukaemia cells with faulty FLT3 can proliferate out of control
  • many cancer cells have higher levels of Aurora kinase, causing errors during cell division
  • drug is also unique because it can destroy cells even if they develop new faults in the FLT3 genes that would make them resistant to other inhibitors
  • There has been great interest in using FLT3 drugs to treat AML
  • effectiveness has been limited because leukaemia cells gain new mistakes in the FLT3 gene, causing resistance.
  • new drug has the potential to overcome this and has a range of possible uses in AML
  • those over 60 who don’t tolerate chemotherapy well, and also to treat  leukaemia patients who have relapsed
  • We’re excited about the potential of our new ‘double hit’ drug and are now planning to take it into clinical trials to see if it is effective in patients
  • faults that occur in the FLT3 gene cause rapid cell division
  • Each year around 2,380 people are diagnosed with AML in the UK
  • creating cells in the lab that mimic how drug resistance develops in AML the researchers were able to show that their new drug delivers a ‘double hit’ to halt cancer cells in their tracks
Mars Base

Sun Fires Off 2 Huge Solar Flares in One-Two Punch | Space Weather | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/ge-solar-flares-erupt-sun.html

scibyte37 sun

shared by Mars Base on 07 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • Tuesday
  • One of the flares is the most powerful solar eruption of the year, so far.
  • Both of the huge flares ranked as X-class storms, the strongest type of solar flares the sun can have
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • followed several weaker, but still powerful, sun storms on Tuesday
  • came just days after another major solar flare on Sunday night
  • When aimed directly at Earth, X-class solar flares can endanger astronauts and satellites in orbit, interfere with satellite communications and damage power grids on Earth
  • also amplify the Earth's display of northern and southern lights, also known as auroras
  • five categories: A, B, C, M and X. The A-class flares are the weakest sun storms, while the X-class events are the most powerful solar flares
  • subsets, from 1 to 9, to pinpoint a solar flare's strength. Only X-class solar flares have subcategories that go higher than 9.
  • most powerful solar flare on record occurred in 2003 and was estimated to be an X28 on the solar flare scale
  • The sun is currently going through an active phase of its 11-year weather cycle
  • expected to reach its peak level of activity in 2013
Mars Base

How Supersonic Skydiver Will Freefall Through Earth's Atmosphere | Felix Baumgartner Sp... - 0 views

www.space.com/-skydive-earth-atmosphere.html

scibyte66 RedBullStratos

shared by Mars Base on 06 Oct 12 - No Cached
  • Earth's atmosphere starts 430 miles (690 kilometers) up.
  • upper boundary of the thermosphere, the outermost layer of the atmosphere
  • Solar radiation bombards this layer, striking its sparse air molecules and causing them to emit flashes of light: the auroras
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  • altitude of 53 miles (85 km), the thermosphere transitions into the mesosphere, an atmospheric layer known for its faint clouds, as well as electrical discharge events called red sprites and blue jets.
  • e stratosphere extends from an altitude of 6 miles (10 kilometers) up to about 30 miles (50 km) above the surface. The air pressure drops from 10 percent of its value at sea level to just 0.1 percent
  • , unlike in the layers above and below, absorption of ultraviolet sunlight by ozone causes the temperature to increase as you move up in altitude
  • coupling of temperature with altitude prevents convection from happening, and so the air in this layer is dynamically stable.
  • troposphere, which includes everything from an altitude of 6 miles down over most of Eart
  • re all weather happens, as well as longer-term processes such as the jet stream. In this layer, temperature and pressure both drop as you move up in altitude
Mars Base

Huge Solar Flare's Magnetic Storm May Disrupt Satellites, Power Grids | Space Weather |... - 0 views

www.space.com/magnetic-storm-satellites.html

scibyte37 sun

shared by Mars Base on 08 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • may potentially interfere with satellites in orbit and power grids when it reaches Earth.
  • Early predictions estimate that the CME will reach Earth
  • Typically, CMEs contain 10 billion tons of solar plasma and material
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • March 8) at 7 a.m. EST (1200 GMT), with the effects likely lasting for 24 hours
  • estimates that brightened auroras could potentially be seen as far south as the southern Great Lakes region, provided the skies are clear.
  • The massive sunspot region AR1429 has been particularly active since it emerged on March 2, 2012.CREDIT: NASA/SDO
    • Mars Base
      Mars Base on 08 Mar 12
       
      Image with comparisons of size to earth and jupiter
Mars Base

A Close-up Look at the Massive Solar Storm that Shook the Sun - 0 views

www.universetoday.com/...solar-storm-that-shook-the-sun

scibyte37 sun

shared by Mars Base on 08 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • large X5.4 solar flare that erupted on the Sun on March 7, 2012 at 00:28 UT, (7:28 PM EST on March 6).
  • high-definition views from the Solar Dynamics Observatory also show the subsequent solar tsunami that rippled across the Sun, appearing as though the Sun ‘shook’ from the force of the flare.
  • NASA Goddard’s Space Weather Lab and NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center say surely there will be aurorae from this blast
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • After the first big blast, about an hour later, at 01:14 UT (8:14 PM EST, March 6) the same region let loose an X1.3 class flare. An X1 is 5 times smaller than an X5 flare
  • the region had already produced numerous M-class and one X-class flare,
  • region continues to rotate across the front of the sun, so these latest flares were more Earth-facing than the previous ones
  • big blast did trigger a temporary radio blackout on the sunlit side of Earth that interfered with radio navigation and short wave radio.
  • that solar tsunami
  • waves move at over a million miles per hour
  • one side of the Sun to the other in about an hour
  • movie shows two distinct waves. The first seems to spread in all directions; the second is narrower, moving toward the southeast
  • waves are associated with, and perhaps trigger, fast coronal mass ejections, so it is likely that each one is connected to one of the two CMEs that were associated with the flares
  • Close-up Look at the Massive Solar Storm
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