November 19, 2017 sunset by Peter Lowenstein in Mutare, Zimbabwe. Photos on this page: Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ60 in sunset and night scenery modes.
Half an hour after sunset on November 19, the very young crescent moon slowly became visible above a veil of thin cloud just to the right of a fan of broad crepuscular rays (see photos below). The moon gradually became brighter as darkness approached, and it descended towards the distant horizon behind Chikanga Township.
Thankfully have the photography and surrounding natural beauty to help keep my mind off the precarious situation here.
Read more: Behind Mugabe’s Rapid Fall: A Firing, a Feud and a First Lady
Crepuscular rays following November 19 sunset, by Peter Lowenstein.
View larger. | Young moon comes into view after sunset. Photo by Peter Lowenstein.
November 19 young moon behind a veil of clouds, by Peter Lowenstein.
November 19 young moon above Chikanga Township, by Peter Lowenstein.
Bottom line: November 19, 2017 sunset and young moon photos from Mutare, Zimbabwe.
November 19, 2017 sunset by Peter Lowenstein in Mutare, Zimbabwe. Photos on this page: Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ60 in sunset and night scenery modes.
Half an hour after sunset on November 19, the very young crescent moon slowly became visible above a veil of thin cloud just to the right of a fan of broad crepuscular rays (see photos below). The moon gradually became brighter as darkness approached, and it descended towards the distant horizon behind Chikanga Township.
Thankfully have the photography and surrounding natural beauty to help keep my mind off the precarious situation here.
Read more: Behind Mugabe’s Rapid Fall: A Firing, a Feud and a First Lady
Crepuscular rays following November 19 sunset, by Peter Lowenstein.
View larger. | Young moon comes into view after sunset. Photo by Peter Lowenstein.
November 19 young moon behind a veil of clouds, by Peter Lowenstein.
November 19 young moon above Chikanga Township, by Peter Lowenstein.
Bottom line: November 19, 2017 sunset and young moon photos from Mutare, Zimbabwe.
Edwin Hubble
November 20, 1889. Happy birthday, Edwin Hubble! The Hubble Space Telescope is named for this astronomer. Why? It’s because Hubble’s work was pivotal in changing our cosmology: our idea of the universe as a whole.
Most astronomers 100 years ago believed that the whole universe consisted of just one galaxy, our own Milky Way. In the 1920s, Hubble was among the first to recognize that there is a universe of galaxies located beyond the boundaries of our Milky Way.
He also showed that our universe of galaxies is expanding.
During the 1920s, Edwin Hubble observed stars that vary in brightness in a patch of light known at the time as the Andromeda nebula. He knew that these stars changed in brightness in a way that depended on their true brightness. He then saw how bright they looked to find the distance to the Andromeda nebula.
At the time, many astronomers believed that the Andromeda nebula was a forming solar system, located within the Milky Way’s boundaries. Hubble showed that this patch of light was really a separate galaxy – what we know today as the Andromeda Galaxy – the nearest large spiral galaxy beyond our Milky Way.
This image is the Hubble eXtreme Deep Field, released in 2012. Nearly every speck of light here is a separate galaxy, beyond our Milky Way. Read more about this image here.
As soon as other nebulae were revealed as separate galaxies, the known universe got much bigger!
But was this huge universe stationary? Or was it expanding, or contracting?
The answer involved the light of galaxies as a whole. Astronomers observed that the light of distant galaxies was shifted toward the red end of the light spectrum. This red shift was interpreted as a sign that the galaxies are moving away from us. Hubble and his colleagues compared the distance estimates to galaxies with their red shifts. And – on March 15, 1929 – Hubble published his observation that the farthest galaxies are moving away faster than the closest ones.
This insight became known as Hubble’s Law. It was the first recognition that the galaxies are moving away from each other – that our universe is expanding.
It’s said that Albert Einstein was elated to hear of Hubble’s work. Einstein’s Theory of Relativity implied that the universe must either be expanding or contracting. But Einstein himself rejected this notion in favor of the accepted idea that the universe was stationary and had always existed. When Hubble presented his evidence of the expansion of the universe, Einstein embraced the idea. He called his adherence to the old idea “my greatest blunder.”
The Andromeda galaxy and two satellite galaxies as seen through a powerful telescope. In Hubble’s time, astronomers believed this object resided within our own Milky Way galaxy. Hubble used a class of variable stars called Cepheid variables to show that the Andromeda galaxy is an island of stars in space, external to our Milky Way. Image via NOAO
Hubble was a multi-talented man. Although he majored in science as an undergraduate at the University of Chicago, a promise to his dying father caused him to take up a study of the law. He was also an amateur heavyweight boxer, and reportedly turned down the chance to fight professionally. He returned to science as a graduate student at Yerkes Observatory in Wisconsin. In 1919, he accepted a position at the prestigious Mount Wilson Observatory in California.
But the story of Hubble’s great insights begins earlier. In 1908, an astronomer named Henrietta Leavitt had discovered a relationship between the period and luminosity of a class of pulsating stars called Cepheid variables. By timing its period, astronomers could work out the true luminosity of a Cepheid – and by comparing the true luminosity with the observed brightness, they could work out its distance.
This worked fine for judging distances inside the Milky Way, but it wasn’t until the 1920s that telescopes existed that were powerful enough to observe Cepheids in other galaxies. Hubble spotted his first Cepheid in the Andromeda ‘spiral nebula’ in 1924.
It was Vesto Slipher of Lowell Observatory whose study of spiral nebulae showed that these objects exhibit red shifts. Afterwards, Hubble and another astronomer, Milton Humason, observed the Cepheids in 18 of Slipher’s objects, using the new 100-inch Hooker Telescope at Mount Wilson.
The pulsation of the Cepheid variables let them estimate true distances to these objects. That’s how they showed that the objects are really separate galaxies, located extremely far away.
The nearest galaxy, the Andromeda galaxy, is 2.2 million light-years beyond our Milky Way. But other galaxies extend around us in space for many billions of light-years.
Bottom line: Edwin Hubble’s birth date was November 20, 1889. Hubble showed there are galaxies beyond our Milky Way. Then he showed that the universe of galaxies is expanding. The Hubble Space Telescope is named for him.
Deepest view we have yet, into our universe: the Hubble eXtreme Deep Field
Edwin Hubble
November 20, 1889. Happy birthday, Edwin Hubble! The Hubble Space Telescope is named for this astronomer. Why? It’s because Hubble’s work was pivotal in changing our cosmology: our idea of the universe as a whole.
Most astronomers 100 years ago believed that the whole universe consisted of just one galaxy, our own Milky Way. In the 1920s, Hubble was among the first to recognize that there is a universe of galaxies located beyond the boundaries of our Milky Way.
He also showed that our universe of galaxies is expanding.
During the 1920s, Edwin Hubble observed stars that vary in brightness in a patch of light known at the time as the Andromeda nebula. He knew that these stars changed in brightness in a way that depended on their true brightness. He then saw how bright they looked to find the distance to the Andromeda nebula.
At the time, many astronomers believed that the Andromeda nebula was a forming solar system, located within the Milky Way’s boundaries. Hubble showed that this patch of light was really a separate galaxy – what we know today as the Andromeda Galaxy – the nearest large spiral galaxy beyond our Milky Way.
This image is the Hubble eXtreme Deep Field, released in 2012. Nearly every speck of light here is a separate galaxy, beyond our Milky Way. Read more about this image here.
As soon as other nebulae were revealed as separate galaxies, the known universe got much bigger!
But was this huge universe stationary? Or was it expanding, or contracting?
The answer involved the light of galaxies as a whole. Astronomers observed that the light of distant galaxies was shifted toward the red end of the light spectrum. This red shift was interpreted as a sign that the galaxies are moving away from us. Hubble and his colleagues compared the distance estimates to galaxies with their red shifts. And – on March 15, 1929 – Hubble published his observation that the farthest galaxies are moving away faster than the closest ones.
This insight became known as Hubble’s Law. It was the first recognition that the galaxies are moving away from each other – that our universe is expanding.
It’s said that Albert Einstein was elated to hear of Hubble’s work. Einstein’s Theory of Relativity implied that the universe must either be expanding or contracting. But Einstein himself rejected this notion in favor of the accepted idea that the universe was stationary and had always existed. When Hubble presented his evidence of the expansion of the universe, Einstein embraced the idea. He called his adherence to the old idea “my greatest blunder.”
The Andromeda galaxy and two satellite galaxies as seen through a powerful telescope. In Hubble’s time, astronomers believed this object resided within our own Milky Way galaxy. Hubble used a class of variable stars called Cepheid variables to show that the Andromeda galaxy is an island of stars in space, external to our Milky Way. Image via NOAO
Hubble was a multi-talented man. Although he majored in science as an undergraduate at the University of Chicago, a promise to his dying father caused him to take up a study of the law. He was also an amateur heavyweight boxer, and reportedly turned down the chance to fight professionally. He returned to science as a graduate student at Yerkes Observatory in Wisconsin. In 1919, he accepted a position at the prestigious Mount Wilson Observatory in California.
But the story of Hubble’s great insights begins earlier. In 1908, an astronomer named Henrietta Leavitt had discovered a relationship between the period and luminosity of a class of pulsating stars called Cepheid variables. By timing its period, astronomers could work out the true luminosity of a Cepheid – and by comparing the true luminosity with the observed brightness, they could work out its distance.
This worked fine for judging distances inside the Milky Way, but it wasn’t until the 1920s that telescopes existed that were powerful enough to observe Cepheids in other galaxies. Hubble spotted his first Cepheid in the Andromeda ‘spiral nebula’ in 1924.
It was Vesto Slipher of Lowell Observatory whose study of spiral nebulae showed that these objects exhibit red shifts. Afterwards, Hubble and another astronomer, Milton Humason, observed the Cepheids in 18 of Slipher’s objects, using the new 100-inch Hooker Telescope at Mount Wilson.
The pulsation of the Cepheid variables let them estimate true distances to these objects. That’s how they showed that the objects are really separate galaxies, located extremely far away.
The nearest galaxy, the Andromeda galaxy, is 2.2 million light-years beyond our Milky Way. But other galaxies extend around us in space for many billions of light-years.
Bottom line: Edwin Hubble’s birth date was November 20, 1889. Hubble showed there are galaxies beyond our Milky Way. Then he showed that the universe of galaxies is expanding. The Hubble Space Telescope is named for him.
Deepest view we have yet, into our universe: the Hubble eXtreme Deep Field
Giuseppe Pappa caught a very young moon – just 1.5% illuminated – just after sunset on November 19. Notice that, because the moon is so low in the sky (where you are looking at it through an extra thickness of Earth’s atmopshere), it appears distorted. Canon 760d and 300mm lens.
In the days following new moon, a young moon – a waxing crescent – always appears in the west shortly after sunset. The moon has returned to the evening sky now, and you’re likely to see this little moon early this week.
Some people think a moon visible in the west after sunset is a rising moon. But it’s not; it’s a setting moon. All objects in our sky rise in the east and set in the west, due to Earth’s spin under the sky. When you see a waxing crescent, you know the Earth, moon and sun are located nearly on a line in space. If they were more precisely on a line, as they are at new moon, we wouldn’t see the moon. The moon would travel across the sky during the day, lost in the sun’s glare.
The planets Mercury and Saturn are also low in the western sky after sunset now, and the moon will be sweeping up past them, as shown on our chart below.
Let the moon help guide your eye to the planets Mercury and Saturn on November 19, 20 and 21. Read more.
View larger. | Ken Christison in northeastern North Carolina caught the moon and Mercury on November 19, 2017. He wrote: “Mercury is to the right of the 2nd tree from the left.”
Note also that a crescent moon has nothing to do with Earth’s shadow on the moon. The only time Earth’s shadow can fall on the moon is at full moon, during a lunar eclipse. There is a shadow on a crescent moon, but it’s the moon’s own shadow. Night on the moon happens on the part of the moon submerged in the moon’s own shadow. Likewise, night on Earth happens on the part of Earth submerged in Earth’s own shadow.
Because the waxing crescent moon is nearly on a line with the Earth and sun, its illuminated hemisphere – or day side – is facing mostly away from us. We see only a slender fraction of the day side: a crescent moon. Each evening, because the moon is moving eastward in orbit around Earth, the moon appears farther from the sunset glare. It is moving farther from the Earth-sun line in space. Each evening, as the moon’s orbital motion carries it away from the Earth-sun line, we see more of the moon’s day side. Thus the crescent in the west after sunset appears to wax, or grow fatter each evening.
The pale glow on the darkened portion (night side) of a crescent moon is called earthshine. Is caused by light reflected from Earth’s day side onto the moon. After all, when you see a crescent moon in Earth’s sky, any moon people looking back at our world would see a nearly full Earth. Read more: What is earthshine?
November 19, 2017 waxing crescent moon from Nuno Lopes in Barreiro, Portugal.
November 19, 2017 young moon from Patrick Casaert in Meaux, France of the Facebook page La Lune The Moon.
As Earth spun on November 19, the moon slowly edged away from the Earth-sun line. Thus, by the time the moon appeared for observers in North America, it looked it a bit more substantial. November 19, 2017 photo of a 2.2% illuminated moon by Suzanne Murphy in Wisconsin.
As the moon orbits Earth, it changes phase in an orderly way. Follow these links to understand the various phases of the moon.
Four keys to understanding moon phases
Where’s the moon? Waxing crescent
Where’s the moon? First quarter
Where’s the moon? Waxing gibbous
What’s special about a full moon?
Where’s the moon? Waning gibbous
Where’s the moon? Last quarter
Where’s the moon? Waning crescent
Where’s the moon? New phase
Check out EarthSky’s guide to the bright planets.
Photos of the August 21, 2017 eclipse here
How ISS astronauts saw the August 21 eclipse
Giuseppe Pappa caught a very young moon – just 1.5% illuminated – just after sunset on November 19. Notice that, because the moon is so low in the sky (where you are looking at it through an extra thickness of Earth’s atmopshere), it appears distorted. Canon 760d and 300mm lens.
In the days following new moon, a young moon – a waxing crescent – always appears in the west shortly after sunset. The moon has returned to the evening sky now, and you’re likely to see this little moon early this week.
Some people think a moon visible in the west after sunset is a rising moon. But it’s not; it’s a setting moon. All objects in our sky rise in the east and set in the west, due to Earth’s spin under the sky. When you see a waxing crescent, you know the Earth, moon and sun are located nearly on a line in space. If they were more precisely on a line, as they are at new moon, we wouldn’t see the moon. The moon would travel across the sky during the day, lost in the sun’s glare.
The planets Mercury and Saturn are also low in the western sky after sunset now, and the moon will be sweeping up past them, as shown on our chart below.
Let the moon help guide your eye to the planets Mercury and Saturn on November 19, 20 and 21. Read more.
View larger. | Ken Christison in northeastern North Carolina caught the moon and Mercury on November 19, 2017. He wrote: “Mercury is to the right of the 2nd tree from the left.”
Note also that a crescent moon has nothing to do with Earth’s shadow on the moon. The only time Earth’s shadow can fall on the moon is at full moon, during a lunar eclipse. There is a shadow on a crescent moon, but it’s the moon’s own shadow. Night on the moon happens on the part of the moon submerged in the moon’s own shadow. Likewise, night on Earth happens on the part of Earth submerged in Earth’s own shadow.
Because the waxing crescent moon is nearly on a line with the Earth and sun, its illuminated hemisphere – or day side – is facing mostly away from us. We see only a slender fraction of the day side: a crescent moon. Each evening, because the moon is moving eastward in orbit around Earth, the moon appears farther from the sunset glare. It is moving farther from the Earth-sun line in space. Each evening, as the moon’s orbital motion carries it away from the Earth-sun line, we see more of the moon’s day side. Thus the crescent in the west after sunset appears to wax, or grow fatter each evening.
The pale glow on the darkened portion (night side) of a crescent moon is called earthshine. Is caused by light reflected from Earth’s day side onto the moon. After all, when you see a crescent moon in Earth’s sky, any moon people looking back at our world would see a nearly full Earth. Read more: What is earthshine?
November 19, 2017 waxing crescent moon from Nuno Lopes in Barreiro, Portugal.
November 19, 2017 young moon from Patrick Casaert in Meaux, France of the Facebook page La Lune The Moon.
As Earth spun on November 19, the moon slowly edged away from the Earth-sun line. Thus, by the time the moon appeared for observers in North America, it looked it a bit more substantial. November 19, 2017 photo of a 2.2% illuminated moon by Suzanne Murphy in Wisconsin.
As the moon orbits Earth, it changes phase in an orderly way. Follow these links to understand the various phases of the moon.
Four keys to understanding moon phases
Where’s the moon? Waxing crescent
Where’s the moon? First quarter
Where’s the moon? Waxing gibbous
What’s special about a full moon?
Where’s the moon? Waning gibbous
Where’s the moon? Last quarter
Where’s the moon? Waning crescent
Where’s the moon? New phase
Check out EarthSky’s guide to the bright planets.
Photos of the August 21, 2017 eclipse here
How ISS astronauts saw the August 21 eclipse
Tonight – November 20, 2017 – finds the slender lunar crescent pairing up with the planet Saturn after sunset. As dusk gives way to darkness, look in the southwest sky, and rather close to the sunset point on the horizon, for the lovely celestial couple, the moon and Saturn. Start your search no later than an hour or so after sundown. These two worlds will follow the sun beneath the horizon at or around nightfall.
You may – or may not – see the planet Mercury below the moon and Saturn tonight. Mercury is rather difficult to catch from northerly latitudes, but is easier to spot from the Southern Hemisphere. We include Mercury on the sky chart below.
Click here for a recommended almanac providing the setting times for the sun, moon, Saturn and Mercury in your sky.
Our sky charts above and below are for mid-northern North American latitudes, where the waxing crescent moon and Saturn appear especially close together after sunset on November 20, 2017. From the world’s Eastern Hemisphere – Europe, Africa, Asia, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand – tonight’s moon appears more to the west of Saturn (and closer to the planet Mercury). See the sky chart below.
The moon, Mercury and saturn as viewed from mid-northern North American latitudes. On the same date in the Eastern hemisphere, people will see the moon offset toward the previous date.
On the same date in the Eastern Hemisphere, the moon is more offset to the west of Saturn (and closer to Mercury) than it is in North America. Moreover, the farther east you are in the Eastern Hemisphere (far-eastern Asia, Australia and New Zealand), the more the moon is offset toward the previous date on the sky chart. For instance, from far-eastern Asia, Australia and New Zealand on November 20. 2017, the moon appears closer to Mercury than to Saturn as darkness falls on November 20.
Of course, when we say the moon is close to Saturn or Mercury, we’re really saying that the moon resides close to Saturn or Mercury on the sky’s dome. The moon is actually nowhere close to these planets in space. Tonight’s moon is only around 252,000 miles (406,000 km) distant from Earth. But Saturn and Mercury lie much father away, at about 4,000 and 400 times the moon’s distance from Earth, respectively.
Click here to find out the moon’s present distance from Earth and click here to find out the present distance of Saturn and Mercury from Earth.
Day by day, watch for Saturn to slowly but surely sink downward and closer to Mercury on the sky’s dome. Look for these two worlds to be in conjunction (near the same line of sight) on November 28, 2017.
This evening – after sunset November 20, 2017 – look for the moon and Saturn in the southwest sky. You may – or may not – spot Mercury beneath the moon and Saturn.
Tonight – November 20, 2017 – finds the slender lunar crescent pairing up with the planet Saturn after sunset. As dusk gives way to darkness, look in the southwest sky, and rather close to the sunset point on the horizon, for the lovely celestial couple, the moon and Saturn. Start your search no later than an hour or so after sundown. These two worlds will follow the sun beneath the horizon at or around nightfall.
You may – or may not – see the planet Mercury below the moon and Saturn tonight. Mercury is rather difficult to catch from northerly latitudes, but is easier to spot from the Southern Hemisphere. We include Mercury on the sky chart below.
Click here for a recommended almanac providing the setting times for the sun, moon, Saturn and Mercury in your sky.
Our sky charts above and below are for mid-northern North American latitudes, where the waxing crescent moon and Saturn appear especially close together after sunset on November 20, 2017. From the world’s Eastern Hemisphere – Europe, Africa, Asia, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand – tonight’s moon appears more to the west of Saturn (and closer to the planet Mercury). See the sky chart below.
The moon, Mercury and saturn as viewed from mid-northern North American latitudes. On the same date in the Eastern hemisphere, people will see the moon offset toward the previous date.
On the same date in the Eastern Hemisphere, the moon is more offset to the west of Saturn (and closer to Mercury) than it is in North America. Moreover, the farther east you are in the Eastern Hemisphere (far-eastern Asia, Australia and New Zealand), the more the moon is offset toward the previous date on the sky chart. For instance, from far-eastern Asia, Australia and New Zealand on November 20. 2017, the moon appears closer to Mercury than to Saturn as darkness falls on November 20.
Of course, when we say the moon is close to Saturn or Mercury, we’re really saying that the moon resides close to Saturn or Mercury on the sky’s dome. The moon is actually nowhere close to these planets in space. Tonight’s moon is only around 252,000 miles (406,000 km) distant from Earth. But Saturn and Mercury lie much father away, at about 4,000 and 400 times the moon’s distance from Earth, respectively.
Click here to find out the moon’s present distance from Earth and click here to find out the present distance of Saturn and Mercury from Earth.
Day by day, watch for Saturn to slowly but surely sink downward and closer to Mercury on the sky’s dome. Look for these two worlds to be in conjunction (near the same line of sight) on November 28, 2017.
This evening – after sunset November 20, 2017 – look for the moon and Saturn in the southwest sky. You may – or may not – spot Mercury beneath the moon and Saturn.
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Quote of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... Climate Feedback Reviews... SkS Week in Review... 97 Hours of Consensus...
UN Climate Talks Wrap Up with World Leaving Trump Behind
‘However much Trump wants to take us backward on climate change, the rest of the world — and the rest of the U.S. — is intent on moving forward.’
Two weeks of international climate talks in Bonn made only incremental progress toward resolving disputes that have been lingering since the Paris Agreement of 2015. The main achievement may have been cementing a firebreak to prevent the Trump administration from torching the whole process.
The strategy is to assert a broad new leadership among nations big and small, to bolster their resolve with high-profile commitments from American cities and states, to muster corporations and financial institutions in an attempt to kickstart renewable energy and assist poor countries, and to leave Washington isolated on the world stage.
It's a strategy pinned on the hopes—although diplomats would never put it so bluntly—that either Donald Trump will change his mind or that the United States will change its leader.
"The story of these climate talks was that however much Donald Trump wants to take us backward on climate change, the rest of the world—and the rest of the U.S.—is intent on moving forward," said Nathaniel Keohane, vice president for global climate at the Environmental Defense Fund.
UN Climate Talks Wrap Up with World Leaving Trump Behind by John H Cushman Jr, InsideClimate News, Nov 16, 2017
“This is the worst moment for the Americans to start behaving like a five-year old all of a sudden,” Christian Ehler, a German member of the European Parliament who speaks on EU and U.S. relations at the climate change talks, said in an interview. “The leader of the western world is stepping out of the multilateral framework used to tackle the most dramatic problem the world might be facing in the next 100 years.”
U.S. Is Acting ‘Like a 5-Year-Old’ Over Global Warming, EU Official Says by Jess Shankleman, Bloomberg News, Nov 17, 2017
Climate Feedback asked its network of scientists to review the article, The three-degree world: the cities that will be drowned by global warming by Dom Phillips, Helen Roxburgh, Jonathan Watts, Josh Holder, Justin McCurry, Niko Kommenda, Richard Luscombe & Ruth Michaelson, Guardian, Nov 3, 2017
A majority of reviewers tagged the article as: Insightful and Misleading.
Review Summary
This story in The Guardian includes maps of, and reporting from, five coastal cities that will be affected by continued sea level rise. The story discusses the impact sea level rise will have on those cities, and what they are doing to prepare and adapt.
However, scientists who reviewed the story found that it fails to explain one very important thing to readers: nowhere is it explained that the magnitude of sea level rise shown (for a scenario in which the world warms by 3 °C) is the amount that would occur after the planet has had centuries to millennia to come into equilibrium with elevated temperatures. Readers are likely to assume that the story’s maps illustrate sea level rise that could occur before the end of the 21st century, but this is not the case.
See all the scientists’ annotations in context
UPDATE (15 November 2017): The article has been updated to include some explanation in an expandable box. It states, in part, “How quickly will oceans rise? It could take decades or centuries, but change will be locked in by a 3C temperature rise, which would extensively melt ice caps, shrink glaciers and thermally expand the oceans so many current coastlines and low-lying plains would be under sea level.”
Guardian explores sea level rise impact on cities, but fails to make timescale clear, Climate Feedback, Nov 10, 2017
James White's bio page and Quote source
High resolution JPEG (1024 pixels wide)
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Quote of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... Climate Feedback Reviews... SkS Week in Review... 97 Hours of Consensus...
UN Climate Talks Wrap Up with World Leaving Trump Behind
‘However much Trump wants to take us backward on climate change, the rest of the world — and the rest of the U.S. — is intent on moving forward.’
Two weeks of international climate talks in Bonn made only incremental progress toward resolving disputes that have been lingering since the Paris Agreement of 2015. The main achievement may have been cementing a firebreak to prevent the Trump administration from torching the whole process.
The strategy is to assert a broad new leadership among nations big and small, to bolster their resolve with high-profile commitments from American cities and states, to muster corporations and financial institutions in an attempt to kickstart renewable energy and assist poor countries, and to leave Washington isolated on the world stage.
It's a strategy pinned on the hopes—although diplomats would never put it so bluntly—that either Donald Trump will change his mind or that the United States will change its leader.
"The story of these climate talks was that however much Donald Trump wants to take us backward on climate change, the rest of the world—and the rest of the U.S.—is intent on moving forward," said Nathaniel Keohane, vice president for global climate at the Environmental Defense Fund.
UN Climate Talks Wrap Up with World Leaving Trump Behind by John H Cushman Jr, InsideClimate News, Nov 16, 2017
“This is the worst moment for the Americans to start behaving like a five-year old all of a sudden,” Christian Ehler, a German member of the European Parliament who speaks on EU and U.S. relations at the climate change talks, said in an interview. “The leader of the western world is stepping out of the multilateral framework used to tackle the most dramatic problem the world might be facing in the next 100 years.”
U.S. Is Acting ‘Like a 5-Year-Old’ Over Global Warming, EU Official Says by Jess Shankleman, Bloomberg News, Nov 17, 2017
Climate Feedback asked its network of scientists to review the article, The three-degree world: the cities that will be drowned by global warming by Dom Phillips, Helen Roxburgh, Jonathan Watts, Josh Holder, Justin McCurry, Niko Kommenda, Richard Luscombe & Ruth Michaelson, Guardian, Nov 3, 2017
A majority of reviewers tagged the article as: Insightful and Misleading.
Review Summary
This story in The Guardian includes maps of, and reporting from, five coastal cities that will be affected by continued sea level rise. The story discusses the impact sea level rise will have on those cities, and what they are doing to prepare and adapt.
However, scientists who reviewed the story found that it fails to explain one very important thing to readers: nowhere is it explained that the magnitude of sea level rise shown (for a scenario in which the world warms by 3 °C) is the amount that would occur after the planet has had centuries to millennia to come into equilibrium with elevated temperatures. Readers are likely to assume that the story’s maps illustrate sea level rise that could occur before the end of the 21st century, but this is not the case.
See all the scientists’ annotations in context
UPDATE (15 November 2017): The article has been updated to include some explanation in an expandable box. It states, in part, “How quickly will oceans rise? It could take decades or centuries, but change will be locked in by a 3C temperature rise, which would extensively melt ice caps, shrink glaciers and thermally expand the oceans so many current coastlines and low-lying plains would be under sea level.”
Guardian explores sea level rise impact on cities, but fails to make timescale clear, Climate Feedback, Nov 10, 2017
James White's bio page and Quote source
High resolution JPEG (1024 pixels wide)
Johns Hopkins University biologist Jocelyne DiRuggiero has launched a citizen science/crowdsourcing project, called Rockiology, to help her find rocks – but not just any rocks.
What DiRuggiero wants for her lab are rocks that harbor microorganisms that can eke out life in Earth’s most hostile conditions, creatures that are so tough they might even survive on other planets or moons.
DiRuggiero specializes in studying these single-cell microbes, called extremophiles – for the extreme conditions in which they survive. To know more about them she needs more samples, and to gather more samples she needs help reaching the most dry, barren places on Earth: deserts, dry valleys in Antarctica, places that resemble other planets.
DiRuggiero said in a statement:
We can go to some places and collect rocks, but we can’t go everywhere.
That’s why she’s asking for help from citizen scientists. To join the project, go to the Rockiology website, where you’ll find instructions on what sort of rocks to look for and how to send in photos of the rocks – and perhaps eventually the rocks themselves – as well as information on where they were found.
DiRuggiero has been cracking Earth’s rocks while engaged in the work of astrobiology, which NASA defines this as the study of the origins, evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe.
Although, so far, no actual astrobiology off the Earth has been found, DiRuggiero believes that the cosmos is too vast, and its perhaps 2 trillion galaxies too crowded with stars and planets for there not to be life out there somewhere.
To shed light on the mystery of whether life could exist elsewhere, DiRuggiero hopes to know more about creatures that live in conditions on Earth that resemble that on other planets. Some of those places are very dry, or very salty, or both.
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Bottom line: How to join the Rockiology citizen scientist project to help an astrobiologist learn about extremophiles living in rocks.
Read more from Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University biologist Jocelyne DiRuggiero has launched a citizen science/crowdsourcing project, called Rockiology, to help her find rocks – but not just any rocks.
What DiRuggiero wants for her lab are rocks that harbor microorganisms that can eke out life in Earth’s most hostile conditions, creatures that are so tough they might even survive on other planets or moons.
DiRuggiero specializes in studying these single-cell microbes, called extremophiles – for the extreme conditions in which they survive. To know more about them she needs more samples, and to gather more samples she needs help reaching the most dry, barren places on Earth: deserts, dry valleys in Antarctica, places that resemble other planets.
DiRuggiero said in a statement:
We can go to some places and collect rocks, but we can’t go everywhere.
That’s why she’s asking for help from citizen scientists. To join the project, go to the Rockiology website, where you’ll find instructions on what sort of rocks to look for and how to send in photos of the rocks – and perhaps eventually the rocks themselves – as well as information on where they were found.
DiRuggiero has been cracking Earth’s rocks while engaged in the work of astrobiology, which NASA defines this as the study of the origins, evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe.
Although, so far, no actual astrobiology off the Earth has been found, DiRuggiero believes that the cosmos is too vast, and its perhaps 2 trillion galaxies too crowded with stars and planets for there not to be life out there somewhere.
To shed light on the mystery of whether life could exist elsewhere, DiRuggiero hopes to know more about creatures that live in conditions on Earth that resemble that on other planets. Some of those places are very dry, or very salty, or both.
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Bottom line: How to join the Rockiology citizen scientist project to help an astrobiologist learn about extremophiles living in rocks.
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