We take a look at estimating dinosaur weight, pollution data, exoplanets, mosquitos, Johnson Space Center, Io, updates on Venus transit and Neutrinos, spacecraft updates and as always take a peek back into history and up in the sky this week.
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Dino’s on diets?
- The low down
- One of the most important things palaeobiologists need to know about fossilised animals is how much they weighed
- In the past scientists have used several means of estimating dinosaur weight
- One of those means of estimation include measuring the volume of an artist’s sculpture
- Scientists have now developed a new technique to accurately measure the weight and size of dinosaurs and discovered they are not as heavy as previously thought.
- Significance
- Using lasers scientists have measured the minimum amount of skin required to wrap around the skeletons of modern-day mammals, including reindeer, polar bears, giraffes and elephants
- This technique showed that the animals had almost exactly 21% more body mass than the minimum skeletal ‘skin and bone’ wrap volume
- Previous estimates of the giant Brachiosaur weight have varied, with estimates as high as 80 tonnes
- Applying this approach reduced that figure to just 23 tonnes
- This calculation method has the advantage of requiring minimal user intervention and is therefore more objective and far quicker
- This new technique will apply to all dinosaur weight measurements
- Its primary limitation, for now, is that the specimen should consist of a complete skeleton as possible
- Of Note
- In general estimated weights for many species of dinosaur have been dropping since about the early 1960’s
- The information from these calculations can also be applied to sophisticated locomotor reconstructions, such as the running simulations produced in the past
- One problem with the technique is that none of the animals used in the laser calibration had the long fleshy tails that dinosaurs have, so this model may be to be altered in the future
- Further Reading / In the News
- Dinosaurs were lighter than previously thought, new study shows | Phys.org
- Dinosaurs Skinnier Than Previously Thought | news.Discovery.com
— NEWS BYTE —
Chinese Pollution Data
- The low down
- China has said foreign embassies are acting illegally in issuing their own air quality readings and that only the government could release data on the nation’s heavy pollution.
- China says publishing China’s air quality are related to the public interests and as such are powers reserved for the government
- According to the latest Environmental Performance Index compiled by Yale University, China ranked 128th out of 132 countries for air quality.
- Until recently, official air quality measurements from China regularly rated their air quality as good while data from the US embassy in Beijing showed off-the-chart pollution
- Most Chinese cities base their air-quality information on particles of 10 micrometres or larger
- Beijing announced earlier this year it would change the way it measured air quality to include the smaller particles experts say make up much of the pollution in Chinese cities, after a vocal campaign
- Further Reading / In the News
- China tells US to stop reporting Beijing’s bad air | phys.org
- China tells embassies to stop issuing pollution data | phys.org
Giant exoplanet imposters?
- The low down
- The Kepler spacecraft produces potential exoplanet data by watching for the darkening of a star, but not everything that darkens a star is a planet
- A new study suggests that there is a one in three chance that it’s not really a planet at all when it’s a giant planet closely orbiting a star
- Significance
- Out of Kepler’s more than 2,300 possible planets, only 46 were categorized as very large exoplanets with estimated orbit very close to their star
- 11 of those systems were already known and the team confirmed 9 more
- Of the remaining 26 candidates were : 13 unknowns, two failed brown dwarf stars, and 11 members of binary star systems
- From this the team arrived at the 35 percent false-positive rate
- While this may seem very significant, scientists don’t consider it a serious flaw for Kepler
- Even with a 35% false positive rate for very large, closely orbiting exoplanets the percentage is still very low compared to all other transit programs
- Of Note
- Short period transiting planets are exotic objects, not expected to be everywhere
- In addition the false positive rate does not affect any smaller or long orbiting planets
- Further Reading / In the News
- Some newfound planets are something else | ScienceNews.org
Mosquito
Channel : andrew52987 | Channel : coegatech
- The low down
- The collision between a raindrop and a mosquito is analogous to a collision between a human and a bus, except for the part where the mosquito survives
- Significance
- What makes the difference is the (relatively) huge, fast drop doesn’t transfer much of its momentum to a little wisp of an insect
- Instead the falling droplet sweeps the insect along on the downward plunge
- The drawback is that mosquitoes hitchhiking on water experience acceleration 100 to 300 times the force of Earth’s gravity, so survival is dependent on breaking away before hitting the ground
- Of Note
- This effect may inspire engineers designing swarms of tiny flying robots, or interest physicists and mathematicians studying complex fluid dynamics at this scale
- Multimedia
- YouTube : Mosquito raindrop BW | andrew52987
- YouTube : Low Mass Saves Mosquitoes from Death by Raindrop | coegatech
- Further Reading / In the News
- How a mosquito survives a raindrop hit | ScienceNews.org
— TWO-BYTE NEWS —
Touring NASA’s Johnson Space Center
Image Credit : science.ksc.nasa.gov
- Of Note
- NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida has announced that beginning on Friday, June 15 a limited number of daily tours will take guests into the spaceport’s historic Launch Control Center (LCC)
- This will be the first time in 30 years that the home of 152 countdowns to launch including both Apollo and shuttle programs has been opened to the public
- The KSC Up-Close: Launch Control Center (LCC) Tour will run through the end of the year. It costs $25 for adults and $19 for children in addition to the regular admission to the visitor complex.
- Further Reading / In the News
- Inside Historic Launch Control Center | Space.com
Jupiter’s moon Io
Image Credit : NASA/JPL-Caltech/Bear Fight Institute
- Of Note
- A new map of Jupiter’s moon Io has revealed the most comprehensive ever compiled of Io’s hundreds of active volcanoes
- When studying the layout of the volcanos the distribution of the heat flow is that it is not in keeping with the current preferred model of tidal heating of Io at relatively shallow depths
- The main thermal emission occurs about 40 degrees eastward of where we would expect with tidal heating
- In addition that heat comes from Io’s depths along with its shallower reaches
- The study also found that known active volcanoes account for only about 60 percent of Io’s emitted heat
- Further Reading / In the News
- Jupiter Moon Io’s Volcanoes Revealed in New Map | Space.com
— Updates —
Additional Venus Transit stories and photo’s
- Last time on SciByte
- Spinal Cord Injuries & Venus Transit | SciByte 49 [June 5, 2012]
- Interesting photo’s and galeries
- Wow! Venus and Hubble Telescope Cross Sun Together in Spectacular Picture | Space.com
- flickr:SDO’s Ultra-high Definition View of 2012 Venus Transit – 171 Angstrom | flickr.com
- Further Reading / In the News
- Transit of Venus Redux: More Great Images | UniverseToday.com
- Venus transit has historical significance for Australia | phys.org
- Venus Transit As Seen from the International Space Station | universetoday.com
- Eyes turn skyward as Venus travels across the sun | phys.org
- Amazing Transit of Venus Images From Around the World | Universetoday.com
- Venus Transit 2012: Amazing Photos by Skywatchers | Space.com
Neutrinos
- Last time on SciByte
- Neutrinos & Tatooine | SciByte 17 (Oct 18, 2011) – Faster than light Neutrinos
- Spacecraft Updates | SciByte 23 [November 30, 2011] – Faster than light Neutrinos : Update
- The low down
- In October of 2011, OPERA researchers at CERN published and announced a paper claiming that neutrinos made the trip roughly 60 nanoseconds faster than expected if they were traveling at light speed. (~ 0.0025% faster)
- Significance
- Five different teams of physicists have now independently verified that neutrinos do not travel faster than light
- A month after the loose fiber optic cable was found researcher measured the speed of neutrinos fired from CERN and found that they travel at light speed, as predicted
- All four particle detectors at Gran Sasso have now found that the neutrinos speed is consistent with the speed of light
- Some OPERA team members thought the whole episode had besmirched the collaboration’s reputation, and in March, two of the team’s elected leaders lost a vote of no confidence and resigned Gran Sasso houses four particle detectors
- Social Media
- Twitter account for CERN @CERN
- Further Reading / In the News
- Once Again, Physicists Debunk Faster-Than-Light Neutrinos | news.ScienceMag.org
- Einstein was right, neutrino researchers admit | phys.org
- Leaders of Faster-Than-Light Experiment Step Down | news.ScienceMag.org
- Italian physicist behind ‘faster-than-light’ test resigns
SPACECRAFT UPDATE
Shuttle Enterprise’s last landing
- Of Note
- A sudden microburst of wind, measured at 35 knots, caused the rub panel foam protective layer of the wingtip of the Enterprise to graze the protective wood piling bumpers in the water designed to bumper vessels
- Further Reading / In the News
- Shuttle Enterprise Lands on the Deck of Intrepid in Manhattan
- Space shuttle ‘grazes’ wing in final river voyage
Dragon back on the ground
- Of Note
- SpaceX capsule arrived by barge at the Port of Los Angeles on June 5.
- Dragon is now headed to the company’s rocket factory in McGregor, Texas, for unloading
- Station astronauts filled the capsule with 1,400 pounds (635 kilograms) of old equipment
- Further Reading / In the News
- Shuttle Enterprise Lands on the Deck of Intrepid in Manhattan
- Space shuttle ‘grazes’ wing in final river voyage
NASA’s Aquarius measuring ocean salinity
- Of Note
- NASA’s Aquarius instrument Aquarius measure ocean salinity pathfinder celebrates one year in orbit changes in salinity, or salt concentration, in the surface of the oceans has now celebrated one year in space
- Further Reading / In the News
- Aquarius: Ocean salinity pathfinder celebrates one year in orbit | Phys.org
Mars Curiosity Rover
Image Credit : NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA/DLR/FU Berlin/MSSS
- Of Note
- With a scheduled landing of Aug 5 and increased confidence in precision landing technology NASA has narrowed the target for its most advanced Mars rover, Curiosity
- NASA has narrowed the target for its most advanced Mars rover, Curiosity
- Further Reading / In the News
- NASA Mars Rover Team Aims for Landing Closer to Prime Science Site | jpl.nasa.gov](https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2012–168)
SCIENCE CALENDAR
Looking back
- June 13, 1611 : 401 years ago : Sunspots : A publication on the newly discovered phenomenon of sunspots was dedicated. Narratio de maculis in sole observatis et apparente earum cum sole conversione. (“Narration on Spots Observed on the Sun and their Apparent Rotation with the Sun”). This first publication on such observations, was the work of Johannes Fabricius, a Dutch astronomer who was perhaps the first ever to observe sunspots. On 9 Mar 1611, at dawn, Johannes had used his telescope to view the rising sun and had seen several dark spots on it. He called his father to investigate this new phenomenon with him. The brightness of the Sun’s center was very painful, and the two quickly switched to a projection method by means of a camera obscura.
- June 15 1752 : 260 years ago : Lighting and Kites : In 1752, Franklin published a third-person account of his pioneering kite experiment in the The Pennsylvania Gazette, without mentioning that he himself had performed it It was at a later date that he admited to performing the experiment himself. Evidence shows that he was insulated from the kite, while others trying to repeat the experiment were electrocuted in the following months. The entire process, led to the invention of the lightning rod in September of the same year.
Looking up this week
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Keep an eye out for …
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Wed, June 13 : Mercury is becoming more easily visible after sunset. Look for it low in the west-northwest in the fading twilight.
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Sun, June 15–17 : Venus and Jupiter are emerging in the E-NE skies about 45 before sunrise, with Jupiter higher and to the right of Venus. The moon will be progressively getting closer to the two and on Sun, Jun 17 it will lie just below and to the left of Jupiter at sunrise.
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Further Reading and Resources
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More on what’s in the sky this week
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Constellations of the Southern Hemisphere : astronomyonline.org