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Venus Venture
Credit: ESA
ESA (Europe) and JAXA (Japan) but not NASA (US) are still curious about Venus, the Earth's "twin planet".
Credit: NASAIt is fair to say that NASA has contributed substantially to our understanding of Venus as can be seen in the excellent topographic map of the planet above (based on radar data collected by the Magellan spacecraft). It is also fair to say that NASA still show interest in this planet, they just haven't come around to gather all the resources they need yet...
The article in Geotimes is exceptionally good. Read it! :-)
Hubble High
Credit: NASAThe Hubble Space Telescope moves slowly away from Discovery following its release. The photo was taken during Servicing Mission 2 in 1997.Hubble really turns me on. Man, did you see those 59 amazing colliding (or more modestly put, interacting) galaxies that were released in connection with the 18th anniversary? How awesome is that? I spin, my heart beats faster and I cannot breath - that's how bad I love this space telescope. I'm high on Hubble!
I cross my fingers for the fix that we are going to give Hubble in what now looks like a few weeks. :-)
ESA & NASA
The Hubble Space Telescope (HST), or just `Hubble', is a collaboration between ESA and NASA. It is a long-term, space-based observatory. The observations are carried out in visible, infrared, and ultraviolet light. In many ways, Hubble has revolutionised modern astronomy, not only as an efficient tool for making new discoveries, but also by driving astronomical research in general.
Vulnerability to climate change - dense shelf water
Carthographer: Hugo Ahlenius, UNEP/Grid Arendal
Dense shelf water cascades
Dense shelf water cascading is a global climate-driven oceanographic phenomenon common not only on high latitude continental margins, but also on mid latitude and tropical margins. Winter heat losses and evaporation induced by persistent, cold and dry northerly winds cause densification and mixing of coastal waters, which sink, overflow the shelf edge, and cascade downslope at high current speeds.
Through this phenomenon, dense shelf waters carrying large quantities of dissolved and particulate matter are rapidly advected hundreds of meters deep, mainly through submarine canyons, acting as a significant natural carbon sequestration and as a deep-sea ecosystem fueling mechanism. This climate-driven process, which is subjected to the intensity and duration of northerly winds and the amount of freshwater inputs, occurs annually.
Dense shelf water cascading is highly sensitive to increases in temperature, and hence, climate change.
Chang'e-1 - Moon
Credit: China National Space Administration (CNSA)
China's first picture of the moon captured by Chang'e-1, China's first lunar orbiter.
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