We take a look at treating migraines, remembering John Dobson, sending your name to space, story and spacecraft updates, and as always take a peek back into history and up in the sky this week.

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— FauxShow Sticker Awards: —

• FauxShow Sticker Awards

A Blood Pressure Drug That Might Help Migraines

• Researchers have found that the drug Candesartan, used to help lower blood pressure, is as effective in combating migraines as the commonly prescribed drug
• The Study
• This finding is a follow up of a ten-year study from NTNU
• The results were confirmed based on triple a blind test where the doctors, patients and even the researchers were unaware whether the patient was given a placebo or the real drug.
• The study had 72 participants, who suffered migraine attacks at least twice every month
• The patients were given placebo, 16 mg of candesartan or 160 mg of propranolol for 12 weeks each and were given a break of 4 weeks without the medicines before the start of the drug and in between too.
• Study Results
• More than 20 percent of those suffering with migraine attacks felt better even when they were given a placebo.
• The blind test revealed that the candesartan works preventively for more 20-30 percent migraine patients
• The study confirmed that 16 mg of candesartan was as effective as 160 mg of propranolol in treating migraine attacks
• Researchers say that the drug Candesartan may be prescribed for those who get no relief from propranolol, the most commonly used medication to help prevent migraines
• Further Reading / In the News
• Migraine Attacks Can be Prevented with High Blood Pressure Drug Candesartan | ScienceWorldReport.com
• New Hope for Migraine Sufferers | ScienceDaily.com

— NEWS BYTE —

In Memory Of – John Dobson [Sep 14, 1915 – Jan 15, 2014]

• John Dobson is most notable for being the promoter of a design for a large, portable, low-cost Newtonian reflector telescope that bears his name, the Dobsonian telescope
• Dobsonian Telescopes
• Dobsonian Telescope | Wikipedia
• The design is considered revolutionary since it allowed amateur astronomers to build fairly large telescopes
• The design is a very simple, low cost [alt-azimuth mounted Newtonian] telescope that employs common materials such as plywood, formica, PVC closet flanges, cardboard construction tubes, recycled porthole glass, and indoor-outdoor carpet
• He was reluctant to take credit, however, pointing out that he built it that way because it was all he needed
• Sidewalk Astronomers
• Sidewalk Astronomers
• John Dobson was also the co-founder of the amateur astronomical group, the San Francisco Sidewalk Astronomers
• Has members throughout the world, and continues to promote public service astronomy by putting telescopes on street corners in urban areas
• Members of the organization also visit national parks giving slide show presentations, providing telescope viewing
• Misc
• Earned a masters degree in chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley in 1943, working in E. O. Lawrence\’s lab
• Dobson’s interest in telescope building was in part to better understand the universe, and in part to inspire in others a curiosity about the cosmos
• In 2005, the Smithsonian magazine listed John Dobson as among 35 individuals who have made a major difference during the lifetime of that periodical
• Multimedia
• YouTube | Have Telescopes, Will Travel | theimageweaver
• Further Reading / In the News
• John Dobson (amateur astronomer) | Wikipedia

— TWO-BYTE NEWS —

Send Your Name to an Asteroid on OSIRIS-REx

• NASA has invited the public to submit their names that will be engraved on a microchip aboard a spacecraft that will head to the 1,760-foot-wide asteroid 101955 Bennu
• OSIRIS-Rex
• The aim of the OSIRIS-Rex mission is to address the basic questions on the composition of the early solar system.
• The spacecraft will be sent to the asteroid where it will collect about two ounces of surface material and return with it to Earth in a sample-return capsule in 2023
• Once the samples return to the Earth, the spacecraft will be placed into a long term solar orbit around the sun, along with the microchip on which the names are engraved.
• Your Name in Space
• If you want to do this you must submit your name online before September 30 at \’Message to Bennu.\’
• OSIRIS-REx | The Planetary Society | Messages to Bennu
• Your name won\’t just stays up there for the 500 day mission but will remain in space even after the spacecraft returns the capsule to Earth.
• Meanwhile Here On Earth
• Those who have submitted their names can download and print a certificate documenting their participation in the OSIRIS-REx mission
• Participants who have registered their names and who \’follow\’ or \’like\’ the asteroid mission on Facebook and Twitter will get notifications on the status of their name in space from the time it is launched and until the samples are returned to Earth in 2013.
• Multimedia
• YouTube | NASA | OSIRIS-REx Investigates Asteroid Bennu | NASA Goddard
• Further Reading / In the News
• OSIRIS-REx | The Planetary Society | Messages to Bennu
• Send Your Names to an Asteroid, NASA Says | ScienceWorldReport
• Hitch a Ride on the Next Mission to an Asteroid | UniverseToday.com
• OSIRIS-REx | Asteroid Sample Return Mission | osiris-rex.lpl.arizona.edu

— Updates —

\”Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey\”

• Last Time on SciByte
• SciByte 53 | Higgs Boson | July 10, 2012
• Cosmos: A Personal Voyage [1981]
• Cosmos: A Personal Voyage | Wikipedia
• Was a thirteen-part television series written by Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan, and Steven Soter, with Sagan as presenter in 1981
• The series was first broadcast by the Public Broadcasting Service in 1980 and was the most widely watched series in the history of American public television until 1990
• It won an Emmy and a Peabody Award and has since been broadcast in more than 60 countries and seen by over 500 million people.
• \”Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey\” [2014]
• Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey | Wikipedia
• \”Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey,\” a 13-part series that will debut March 9 on Fox, that will also air on the National Geographic Channel.
• MacFarlane has been working to bring Sagan’s Cosmos series back to television, with Neil deGrasse Tyson reprising Sagan’s role for a while now,
• Carl Sagan’s Personal Archive
• Last year, SciByte 53, MacFarlane provided an “undisclosed sum of money” to the Library of Congress to purchase Carl Sagan’s personal archive from Sagan’s widow Ann Druyan, who had kept the papers preserved in storage
• When McFarlane got a peek at the collection he said it “ranges from childhood report cards to college term papers to eloquent letters written just before his untimely death in 1996 at age 62.”
• Multimedia
• YouTube | COSMOS: A SPACETIME ODYSSEY – Coming in 2014 | National Geographic Channel AU
• Further Reading / In the News
• NewsDaily: Seth MacFarlane brings his love of science to TV | NewsDaily.com
• Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey | Wikipedia
• Cosmos: A Personal Voyage | Wikipedia

— SPACECRAFT UPDATE—

Mystery Rock for Opportunity

• An intriguing recent mystery is a strange rock that suddenly appeared in photos from the Opportunity rover in a spot where photos taken just 12 sols earlier showed no rock
• The team is currently busy taking measurements on the rock, and discussing its origins
• Mars Exploration Rovers, mission principal investigator Steve Squyres
• Described the rock as “white around the outside, in the middle there’s low spot that is dark red that \”looks like a jelly donut\”
• “We had driven a meter or two away from here and somehow maybe one of the wheels managed spit it out of the ground. That’s the more likely theory.”
• “One theory is that we somehow flicked it with a wheel\” … \”the other theory is that there might be a smoking hole in the ground nearby and this may be crater ejecta. But that one is less likely,”
• Another idea suggested by others is that it may have tumbled down from a nearby rock outcrop
• \”We’ve taken pictures of both the donut part and the jelly part,”
• “The jelly part is like nothing we’ve seen before on Mars. It’s very high in sulfur and magnesium and it has twice as much manganese as anything we’ve seen before\”
• \”I don’t know what any of this means. We’re completely confused, everybody on the team is arguing and fighting. We’re having a wonderful time!”
• Further Reading / In the News
• Mars Exploration Rover Mission: Home | marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov
• The Rock that Appeared Out of Nowhere on Mars | UniverseToday
• Mystery Rock \’Appears\’ in Front of Mars Rover | Space.com

New Horizons Journey to Pluto

• Last Time on SciByte
• SciByte 30 | Solar Storms & Private Space Flight | Jan 24, 2012
• Closest approach
• Closest approach is scheduled for July 2015 when New Horizons flies only 10,000 km [6,200 mi] from Pluto
• If New Horizons flew over Earth at the same altitude, it could see individual buildings and their shapes
• Other than a few indistinct markings seen from afar by Hubble, Pluto\’s landscape is totally unexplored
• Approaching Pluto
• The first step, in January 2015, is an intensive campaign of photography by the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager or \”LORRI.\”
• This will help mission controllers pinpoint Pluto\’s location, which is uncertain by a few thousand kilometers, 1000-3000 km [ 621 – 1864 mi ]
• The scientists will then use the images to refine Pluto\’s distance from the spacecraft, and then fire the engines to make any necessary corrections
• By late April 2015, the approaching spacecraft will be taking pictures of Pluto that surpass the best images from Hubble
• Multimedia
• YouTube | New Horizons Spacecraft Halfway to Pluto | NASAgovVideo
• Further Reading / In the News
• New Horizons | NASA
• Countdown to Pluto | Phys.org

SCIENCE CALENDAR

Looking back

• January 26, 1700 : 314 years ago : Canadian Earthquake : In 1700, an earthquake, the most intense Canada has ever seen, hit the sea floor off the British Columbia coast. Long before Europeans first landed on Vancouver Island, native legend tells of a great disaster. The sea rose in a heaving wave, and landslides buried a sleeping village. Myth was resolved with science in 2003 by government research. Earthquakes of that intensity cause tidal waves, and Japanese written history tells of a massive tsunami striking fishing villages the next day along the coast of Honshu, killing hundreds. Coupled with geological evidence of the level 9 quake, the connection was clear. Mythology and seismology came together to validate history. 1700 Cascadia earthquake | Wikipedia

Looking up this week

• Keep an eye out for …
• Wed, Jan 22 | ~midnight | The moon rises very close Spica, variable blue giant star, with Mars to the upper left. By dawn they are to the SW with Mars to the upper right
• Thurs, Jan 23 | 1am local | Mars-Spica are now to the upper right, about an hour after they rise Saturn can be seen to the lower left. By dawn they are lined up horizontally
• Planets
• Venus | Early Dawn | Rises in the E-SE, moving higher each day
• Mars | 11-12 pm | Rises in the E-NE with the variable blue giant star is about 6* below it, rising the highest point in the S at early dawn [5* three middle fingers together at arms length]

• Jupiter | Evening | Rises in the E sky, moving overhead around 11pm

• Further Reading and Resources

• Sky&Telescope
• SpaceWeather.com
• StarDate.org
• For the Southern hemisphere: SpaceInfo.com.au
• Constellations of the Southern Hemisphere : astronomyonline.org
• Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand : rasnz.org.nz
• AstronomyNow
• HeavensAbove