Give me five minutes and I’ll give you Saturn in 2016

In October 2013, Cassini flew high above Saturn, looking down toward its north pole. It took a series of shots that were then assembled into this amazing mosaic by software engineer Gordan Ugarkovic.

Saturn is the sixth planet outward from the sun and farthest world that’s easily visible to the unaided eye. You need a telescope to see the planet’s wide, encircling rings, but Saturn is also fun to watch with the eye alone. It shines with a steady light and golden color. Follow the links below to learn more about seeing Saturn throughout 2016.

When can I see Saturn in 2016?

To find Saturn in 2016, look for the star Antares and the Crown of the Scorpion.

Saturn is closest, brightest, opposite the sun on June 3.

Where will Saturn be in the second half of 2016?

Saturn basics.

Use the moon to find the planets Mars and Saturn, and the star Antares in late February and early March. Mars will eventually catch up with Saturn, to stage a conjunction of these two words on August 25, 2016. The green line depicts the ecliptic – the sun’s path in front of the constellations of the Zodiac. Read more.

When can I see Saturn in 2016? In February and March, you have to stay up late or wake up before dawn to view Saturn in the southeastern sky. Get up early on the mornings of February 29, March 1 and March 2 to see the waning crescent moon coupling up with Saturn in the predawn sky. See the sky chart above.

Saturn will rise about two hours earlier for each month that follows this one. From mid-northern latitudes, in late March 2016, it’ll rise around midnight local time – that’s midway between sunset and sunrise.

South of the equator, Saturn can be seen earlier. It’ll rise around midnight in late February or early March.

By late April 2016, Saturn will climb into our sky by around mid-evening, and by late May – as seen from around the world – you’ll see Saturn coming up at nightfall or early evening.

June and July will be especially good months in 2016 to view Saturn. The planet will be out all night long, or nearly so. The reason is that we’ll pass between Saturn and the sun on June 3.

At that time, Saturn will be opposite the sun as seen from Earth, to rise in the east at sunset, climb highest up at midnight and to set in the west at sunrise.

In late March 2016, watch for the waning gibbous moon to swing by the planets Mars and Saturn, plus the star Antares. Read more.

View larger. | To verify that you’re looking at Saturn, find Antares and the compact line of three stars – sometimes called the Scorpion’s Crown – to the west of Antares.

To find Saturn in 2016, look for the star Antares and the Crown of the Scorpion. Saturn lodges fairly close to a bright zodiacal star throughout 2016, Antares in the constellation Scorpius. If you’re handy with a planisphere, you can estimate Antares’ position in your sky – then use this star to locate Saturn.

Although Saturn and Antares shine relatively close together on the sky’s dome this year, you can distinguish Saturn from Antares by color. Saturn exhibits a golden hue whreas Antares glowers red.

If you have difficulty discerning color, try using binoculars.

Scorpius is one of the few constellations that looks like its name. You can recognize the entire constellation for the graceful fishhook shape of the stars of the Scorpion’s Tail.

Antares is the bright star at the Heart of the Scorpion. To be sure the object you’re seeing is Saturn, look for three closely-knit, modestly-bright stars to the west (right) of Antares. These stars are an asterism – or very recognizable star pattern – known as the Crown of the Scorpion.

In 2016, the golden light near the Crown of the Scorpion will be the planet Saturn.

Not to scale. An opposition takes place when Earth goes between Saturn and the sun. Via theakumalian.com

Saturn is closest, brightest, opposite the sun on June 3. On June 3, 2016, we will go between the sun and Saturn. Astronomers call this an opposition of Saturn, because the planet will appear opposite the sun in our sky, rising in the east as the sun sets in the west.

June 3 – the opposition date – features the ringed planet at its closest to Earth and brightest in our sky. Saturn is the faintest of the bright planets. It’s still pretty bright, but, normally, you wouldn’t pick it out from among the stars. But around May or June of 2016, you can view Saturn fairly easily, because Saturn appears as bright as the brightest stars. Saturn shines a even brighter than Antares, the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius.

Because we will pass Saturn – the sixth planet outward from the sun – from an inside track around the sun, the ringed planet will look as if it’s going backward (retrograde) in front of the fixed stars of the Zodiac for several months.

In 2016, Saturn retrogrades from March 25 until August 13.

By the way, Saturn’s yearly opposition happens about two weeks later with each passing year. The 2009 opposition was on March 8. The 2010 opposition was on March 21. The 2011 opposition was on April 3. The 2012 opposition was April 15. The 2013 opposition was April 28. The 2014 opposition happened on May 10. The 2015 opposition occurred on May 23, and the 2016 opposition will be on June 3.

So you see that Saturn – like most objects in the heavens – is really very orderly in its comings and goings in our sky. Once you learn to identify it, you can recognize it from year to year.

View larger. | Golden Saturn as seen by the Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1980

Where will Saturn be in the second half of 2016? Saturn is nearly always somewhere in our sky, for most of every year. In the second half 2016, as Earth moves away from Saturn in its orbit, we’ll see Saturn shift its location in our evening sky. After Saturn’s opposition in June 2016, Saturn will appear farther to the west as darkness falls each month thereafter. Finally, in November of 2016, Saturn will disappear in the western twilight after sunset.

One last thing, for you telescope users: from February 11, 1996, to September 4, 2009, the south side of Saturn’s rings was facing in Earth’s direction. Since then, we’ve been looking at the north side of the rings. Throughout the most of 2016, the rings are inclined at about 26^o from edge-on. The inclination will increase to a maximum of nearly 27^o by the end of the year.

Saturn yearly observations comparison by Abhijit Juvekar. The rings are even more open in 2016, at a inclination of 26^o on the opposition date of June 3, 2016.

Saturn basics. Earth travels around the sun once a year, while Saturn takes about 29-and-a-half years to orbit the sun once. Earth’s orbit is smaller, and we move faster than this outer planet. So once a year, we pass between Saturn and the sun and gain another lap on the planet.

You might realize from what I just said that Saturn is relatively slow-moving in orbit and, therefore, slow to change its position against the background stars. That’s why the early stargazers called it the oldest of the old sheep.

Like all planets, Saturn is lovely to gaze upon. Its golden color is fascinatingly reminiscent of wonderful spacecraft photos of Saturn. It’s a real place, after all, not just a light in the sky. Plus, Saturn’s brightness waxes and wanes in a subtle way throughout every year, making it fun to watch.

Can you see the rings of Saturn if you look with the eye alone? No, you need a small telescope to see the rings. But, to the unaided eye, Saturn will appear as a bright golden “star” … very beautiful.

And unlike the twinkling stars, Saturn will shine with a steady light. That might help you identify it.

Saturn eclipsing the sun, as seen by Cassini spacecraft in 2006. More about this image. Credit: CICLOPS, JPL, ESA, NASA

Bottom line: The best time for viewing the planet Saturn in 2016 comes in June and July. The ringed planet will be at its brightest and in the sky all night, or nearly so. Why? Because we’ll pass between Saturn and the sun on June 3. Saturn can be found near the Crown of the Scorpion and the star Antares. Enjoy!

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/Ra0DGS

In October 2013, Cassini flew high above Saturn, looking down toward its north pole. It took a series of shots that were then assembled into this amazing mosaic by software engineer Gordan Ugarkovic.

Saturn is the sixth planet outward from the sun and farthest world that’s easily visible to the unaided eye. You need a telescope to see the planet’s wide, encircling rings, but Saturn is also fun to watch with the eye alone. It shines with a steady light and golden color. Follow the links below to learn more about seeing Saturn throughout 2016.

When can I see Saturn in 2016?

To find Saturn in 2016, look for the star Antares and the Crown of the Scorpion.

Saturn is closest, brightest, opposite the sun on June 3.

Where will Saturn be in the second half of 2016?

Saturn basics.

Use the moon to find the planets Mars and Saturn, and the star Antares in late February and early March. Mars will eventually catch up with Saturn, to stage a conjunction of these two words on August 25, 2016. The green line depicts the ecliptic – the sun’s path in front of the constellations of the Zodiac. Read more.

When can I see Saturn in 2016? In February and March, you have to stay up late or wake up before dawn to view Saturn in the southeastern sky. Get up early on the mornings of February 29, March 1 and March 2 to see the waning crescent moon coupling up with Saturn in the predawn sky. See the sky chart above.

Saturn will rise about two hours earlier for each month that follows this one. From mid-northern latitudes, in late March 2016, it’ll rise around midnight local time – that’s midway between sunset and sunrise.

South of the equator, Saturn can be seen earlier. It’ll rise around midnight in late February or early March.

By late April 2016, Saturn will climb into our sky by around mid-evening, and by late May – as seen from around the world – you’ll see Saturn coming up at nightfall or early evening.

June and July will be especially good months in 2016 to view Saturn. The planet will be out all night long, or nearly so. The reason is that we’ll pass between Saturn and the sun on June 3.

At that time, Saturn will be opposite the sun as seen from Earth, to rise in the east at sunset, climb highest up at midnight and to set in the west at sunrise.

In late March 2016, watch for the waning gibbous moon to swing by the planets Mars and Saturn, plus the star Antares. Read more.

View larger. | To verify that you’re looking at Saturn, find Antares and the compact line of three stars – sometimes called the Scorpion’s Crown – to the west of Antares.

To find Saturn in 2016, look for the star Antares and the Crown of the Scorpion. Saturn lodges fairly close to a bright zodiacal star throughout 2016, Antares in the constellation Scorpius. If you’re handy with a planisphere, you can estimate Antares’ position in your sky – then use this star to locate Saturn.

Although Saturn and Antares shine relatively close together on the sky’s dome this year, you can distinguish Saturn from Antares by color. Saturn exhibits a golden hue whreas Antares glowers red.

If you have difficulty discerning color, try using binoculars.

Scorpius is one of the few constellations that looks like its name. You can recognize the entire constellation for the graceful fishhook shape of the stars of the Scorpion’s Tail.

Antares is the bright star at the Heart of the Scorpion. To be sure the object you’re seeing is Saturn, look for three closely-knit, modestly-bright stars to the west (right) of Antares. These stars are an asterism – or very recognizable star pattern – known as the Crown of the Scorpion.

In 2016, the golden light near the Crown of the Scorpion will be the planet Saturn.

Not to scale. An opposition takes place when Earth goes between Saturn and the sun. Via theakumalian.com

Saturn is closest, brightest, opposite the sun on June 3. On June 3, 2016, we will go between the sun and Saturn. Astronomers call this an opposition of Saturn, because the planet will appear opposite the sun in our sky, rising in the east as the sun sets in the west.

June 3 – the opposition date – features the ringed planet at its closest to Earth and brightest in our sky. Saturn is the faintest of the bright planets. It’s still pretty bright, but, normally, you wouldn’t pick it out from among the stars. But around May or June of 2016, you can view Saturn fairly easily, because Saturn appears as bright as the brightest stars. Saturn shines a even brighter than Antares, the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius.

Because we will pass Saturn – the sixth planet outward from the sun – from an inside track around the sun, the ringed planet will look as if it’s going backward (retrograde) in front of the fixed stars of the Zodiac for several months.

In 2016, Saturn retrogrades from March 25 until August 13.

By the way, Saturn’s yearly opposition happens about two weeks later with each passing year. The 2009 opposition was on March 8. The 2010 opposition was on March 21. The 2011 opposition was on April 3. The 2012 opposition was April 15. The 2013 opposition was April 28. The 2014 opposition happened on May 10. The 2015 opposition occurred on May 23, and the 2016 opposition will be on June 3.

So you see that Saturn – like most objects in the heavens – is really very orderly in its comings and goings in our sky. Once you learn to identify it, you can recognize it from year to year.

View larger. | Golden Saturn as seen by the Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1980

Where will Saturn be in the second half of 2016? Saturn is nearly always somewhere in our sky, for most of every year. In the second half 2016, as Earth moves away from Saturn in its orbit, we’ll see Saturn shift its location in our evening sky. After Saturn’s opposition in June 2016, Saturn will appear farther to the west as darkness falls each month thereafter. Finally, in November of 2016, Saturn will disappear in the western twilight after sunset.

One last thing, for you telescope users: from February 11, 1996, to September 4, 2009, the south side of Saturn’s rings was facing in Earth’s direction. Since then, we’ve been looking at the north side of the rings. Throughout the most of 2016, the rings are inclined at about 26^o from edge-on. The inclination will increase to a maximum of nearly 27^o by the end of the year.

Saturn yearly observations comparison by Abhijit Juvekar. The rings are even more open in 2016, at a inclination of 26^o on the opposition date of June 3, 2016.

Saturn basics. Earth travels around the sun once a year, while Saturn takes about 29-and-a-half years to orbit the sun once. Earth’s orbit is smaller, and we move faster than this outer planet. So once a year, we pass between Saturn and the sun and gain another lap on the planet.

You might realize from what I just said that Saturn is relatively slow-moving in orbit and, therefore, slow to change its position against the background stars. That’s why the early stargazers called it the oldest of the old sheep.

Like all planets, Saturn is lovely to gaze upon. Its golden color is fascinatingly reminiscent of wonderful spacecraft photos of Saturn. It’s a real place, after all, not just a light in the sky. Plus, Saturn’s brightness waxes and wanes in a subtle way throughout every year, making it fun to watch.

Can you see the rings of Saturn if you look with the eye alone? No, you need a small telescope to see the rings. But, to the unaided eye, Saturn will appear as a bright golden “star” … very beautiful.

And unlike the twinkling stars, Saturn will shine with a steady light. That might help you identify it.

Saturn eclipsing the sun, as seen by Cassini spacecraft in 2006. More about this image. Credit: CICLOPS, JPL, ESA, NASA

Bottom line: The best time for viewing the planet Saturn in 2016 comes in June and July. The ringed planet will be at its brightest and in the sky all night, or nearly so. Why? Because we’ll pass between Saturn and the sun on June 3. Saturn can be found near the Crown of the Scorpion and the star Antares. Enjoy!

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/Ra0DGS

Leap babies

View larger. | The small “block calendars” in the Astronomical Calendars for these two years, with blue color denoting moon-free nights.

Story by Guy Ottewell. Used with permission.

Leap day coming on Monday. The calendars above are a “common” year and a leap year side by side.

You can see that January 1 is a Thursday, then becomes in the next year a Friday; and this one-day jump is what ordinarily happens to all the dates in the year. But after the inserted February 29, all the dates take a two-day “leap”: March 1 leaps from Sunday to Tuesday, and so on. That is the presumed reason for this usage in English of the word “leap,” though it seems unproved. There are other terms for the added day: bissextile day (which takes some explaining), intercalary day.

The leap day is stuck into every 4th year (except century years not divisible by 4 – thus, 97 times in each 400 years). Why? To bring th average calendar year to 365.2425 days, closer to the solar year of 365.2422: the true seasonal year, measured by astronomy from one point in our journey around the sun to our next arrival at that point.

If you’re born on a leap day, do you have birthdays only once every four years? We can bet that such people claim to be only 15 when they’re 60, yet have it both ways by accepting birthday gifts and greetings arpund the ends of the leapless Februaries too. The number of leap-day babies is presumably about 97/(400*365.2425) = 0.0006663942 of the world’s population; something like 4 million. Or more, if conception is above average in May.

Not rare, anyway. Rarer is for the birth on a leap day to be twins; rarer again, triplets. Or for a mother to bear a baby on a leap day, and again on another leap day. Rarer again, on a third leap day. Rarer again, for those births to be twins; rarer again, triplets. I read somewhere that Mrs. Henriksen, Norwegian, bore triplets on 1960 February 29, 1964 February 29, and 1968 February 29. And Mrs. Louise Estes of Provo, Utah, achieved the same on the leap days of 2004, 2008, and 2012.

Self-portrait by Guy Ottewell

And beyond? What is all but impossible for physiology is easy for imagination. Quadruplets would be more appropriate, since February is the month of four weeks. Once upon a time, there was a queen who … And her children set out to find the four corners of the world. They had time to reach their goals, since they each lived to be 280.

Follow Guy Ottewell on Twitter: @guyottewell

Article written and published originally by astronomer, artist and poet Guy Ottewell, whose beloved Astronomical Calendar is now in its 43rd and final year. Visit Guy’s website Universal Workshop or his blog. Used with permission.

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1UsjEBD

View larger. | The small “block calendars” in the Astronomical Calendars for these two years, with blue color denoting moon-free nights.

Story by Guy Ottewell. Used with permission.

Leap day coming on Monday. The calendars above are a “common” year and a leap year side by side.

You can see that January 1 is a Thursday, then becomes in the next year a Friday; and this one-day jump is what ordinarily happens to all the dates in the year. But after the inserted February 29, all the dates take a two-day “leap”: March 1 leaps from Sunday to Tuesday, and so on. That is the presumed reason for this usage in English of the word “leap,” though it seems unproved. There are other terms for the added day: bissextile day (which takes some explaining), intercalary day.

The leap day is stuck into every 4th year (except century years not divisible by 4 – thus, 97 times in each 400 years). Why? To bring th average calendar year to 365.2425 days, closer to the solar year of 365.2422: the true seasonal year, measured by astronomy from one point in our journey around the sun to our next arrival at that point.

If you’re born on a leap day, do you have birthdays only once every four years? We can bet that such people claim to be only 15 when they’re 60, yet have it both ways by accepting birthday gifts and greetings arpund the ends of the leapless Februaries too. The number of leap-day babies is presumably about 97/(400*365.2425) = 0.0006663942 of the world’s population; something like 4 million. Or more, if conception is above average in May.

Not rare, anyway. Rarer is for the birth on a leap day to be twins; rarer again, triplets. Or for a mother to bear a baby on a leap day, and again on another leap day. Rarer again, on a third leap day. Rarer again, for those births to be twins; rarer again, triplets. I read somewhere that Mrs. Henriksen, Norwegian, bore triplets on 1960 February 29, 1964 February 29, and 1968 February 29. And Mrs. Louise Estes of Provo, Utah, achieved the same on the leap days of 2004, 2008, and 2012.

Self-portrait by Guy Ottewell

And beyond? What is all but impossible for physiology is easy for imagination. Quadruplets would be more appropriate, since February is the month of four weeks. Once upon a time, there was a queen who … And her children set out to find the four corners of the world. They had time to reach their goals, since they each lived to be 280.

Follow Guy Ottewell on Twitter: @guyottewell

Article written and published originally by astronomer, artist and poet Guy Ottewell, whose beloved Astronomical Calendar is now in its 43rd and final year. Visit Guy’s website Universal Workshop or his blog. Used with permission.

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1UsjEBD

2016 SkS Weekly Digest #9

SkS Highlights... El Niño News... Toon of the Week... Quote of the Week... He Said What?... SkS Spotlights... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... 97 Hours of Consensus...

SkS Highlights

Earth is warming 50x faster than when it comes out of an ice age by Dana Nuccitelli garnered the most comments of the articles posted on SkS during the past week. Fossil fuel funded report denies the expert global warming consensus by John Abraham attracted the second highest number. Both articles were written for the Climate Consensus - the 97% blog hosted by the Guardian newspaper. 

El Niño News

A new NASA visualization shows the 2015 El Niño unfolding in the Pacific Ocean, as sea surface temperatures create different patterns than seen in the 1997-1998 El Niño. Computer models are just one tool that NASA scientists are using to study this large El Nino event, and compare it to other events in the past.

NASA sees a different kind of El Nino by Kate Ramsayer, Phys.org, Feb 25, 2016 

Toon of the Week

 

Quote of the Week

"Tar sands are a climate killer and the Obama Administration was right to block Keystone XL," said Colin Roche, extractives campaigner for Friends of the Earth Europe. "Trade policy should not be a backdoor for corporations to challenge or dissuade measures to tackle climate change. It's time to drop investor-state dispute mechanisms in any form, stop harmful trade deals and start taking necessary action to stop climate destruction."

Opposing Corporate Coup, Campaigners Block Trade Talk Doors by Deirdre Fulton, Common Dreams, Feb 22, 2016

He Said What?

As Donald Trump continued to gain momentum in his bid for the White House, Republican officials, donors, and members of Congress declined on Wednesday to join forces against him.

“We’ve heard this kind of alarmism before,” a senior Republican senator told Slate, responding to warnings that a Trump nomination would doom the Republican Party. “Remember global warming? Gases, temperatures, the sky is falling? It’s all speculation. I’ll believe this Trump wave when I see it.”

An Inconvenient Trump by William Saletan, Slate, Feb 24, 2016

SkS Spotlights

The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is the intergovernmental body which assesses the state of biodiversity and of the ecosystem services it provides to society, in response to requests from decision makers. IPBES is placed under the auspices of four United Nations entities: UNEP, UNESCO, FAO and UNDP and administered by UNEP. Its secretariat is hosted by the German government and located on the UN campus, in Bonn, Germany. One thousand scientists from all over the world currently contribute to the work of IPBES on a voluntary basis. They are nominated by their government or an organisation, and selected by the MEP. Peer review forms a key component of the work of IPBES to ensure that a range of views is reflected in its work, and that the work is complete to the highest scientific standards.

The mission of IPBES is to strengthen the science-policy interface for biodiversity and ecosystem services for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, long-term human well-being and sustainable development.

Coming Soon on SkS

• Climate scientists laugh as anti-climate think tank GWPF forgets about physics (Dana)
• Mapped: The sensitivity of the world’s ecosystems to climate (Robert McSweeney)
• Guest post (John Abraham)
• Centuries of Melting Already Locked in for Polar Ice, Scientists Say (Phil Mckenna)
• Will Fossil Fuel Prices Fully Recover? (Riduna)
• 2016 SkS Weekly News Roundup #10 (John Hartz)
• 2016 SkS Weekly Digest #10 (John Hartz) 

Poster of the Week

 

SkS Week in Review 

• 2016 SkS Weekly News Roundup #9 by John Hartz
• How Exxon Overstates the Uncertainty in Climate Science By John H Cushman Jr (InsideClimate News)
• US seafood species highly vulnerable to climate change, study says by Robert McSweeney (Carbon Brief)
• Earth is warming 50x faster than when it comes out of an ice age by Dana Nuccitelli (Climate Consensus - the 97%, Guardian)
• The Uncertainty Handbook: Download and Translations by BaerbelW
• Fossil fuel funded report denies the expert global warming consensus by John Abraham (Climate Consensus - the 97%, Guardian) 
• 2016 SkS Weekly Digest #8 by John Hartz

97 Hours of Consensus: James McCarthy

James McCarthy's bio page

Quote derived from:

"[A]ll the professional societies of climatologists, meteorologists, oceanographers that have ever looked at this problem have made very consistent statements that climate is changing, it's changing in unusual ways, and the only way that change can be explained is as a result of human activities. Most people have no idea that something between 95 and 100 % of climate scientists completely agree with that statement."

from Skeptical Science http://ift.tt/1Sa9Lb2

SkS Highlights... El Niño News... Toon of the Week... Quote of the Week... He Said What?... SkS Spotlights... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... 97 Hours of Consensus...

SkS Highlights

Earth is warming 50x faster than when it comes out of an ice age by Dana Nuccitelli garnered the most comments of the articles posted on SkS during the past week. Fossil fuel funded report denies the expert global warming consensus by John Abraham attracted the second highest number. Both articles were written for the Climate Consensus - the 97% blog hosted by the Guardian newspaper. 

El Niño News

A new NASA visualization shows the 2015 El Niño unfolding in the Pacific Ocean, as sea surface temperatures create different patterns than seen in the 1997-1998 El Niño. Computer models are just one tool that NASA scientists are using to study this large El Nino event, and compare it to other events in the past.

NASA sees a different kind of El Nino by Kate Ramsayer, Phys.org, Feb 25, 2016 

Toon of the Week

 

Quote of the Week

"Tar sands are a climate killer and the Obama Administration was right to block Keystone XL," said Colin Roche, extractives campaigner for Friends of the Earth Europe. "Trade policy should not be a backdoor for corporations to challenge or dissuade measures to tackle climate change. It's time to drop investor-state dispute mechanisms in any form, stop harmful trade deals and start taking necessary action to stop climate destruction."

Opposing Corporate Coup, Campaigners Block Trade Talk Doors by Deirdre Fulton, Common Dreams, Feb 22, 2016

He Said What?

As Donald Trump continued to gain momentum in his bid for the White House, Republican officials, donors, and members of Congress declined on Wednesday to join forces against him.

“We’ve heard this kind of alarmism before,” a senior Republican senator told Slate, responding to warnings that a Trump nomination would doom the Republican Party. “Remember global warming? Gases, temperatures, the sky is falling? It’s all speculation. I’ll believe this Trump wave when I see it.”

An Inconvenient Trump by William Saletan, Slate, Feb 24, 2016

SkS Spotlights

The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is the intergovernmental body which assesses the state of biodiversity and of the ecosystem services it provides to society, in response to requests from decision makers. IPBES is placed under the auspices of four United Nations entities: UNEP, UNESCO, FAO and UNDP and administered by UNEP. Its secretariat is hosted by the German government and located on the UN campus, in Bonn, Germany. One thousand scientists from all over the world currently contribute to the work of IPBES on a voluntary basis. They are nominated by their government or an organisation, and selected by the MEP. Peer review forms a key component of the work of IPBES to ensure that a range of views is reflected in its work, and that the work is complete to the highest scientific standards.

The mission of IPBES is to strengthen the science-policy interface for biodiversity and ecosystem services for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, long-term human well-being and sustainable development.

Coming Soon on SkS

• Climate scientists laugh as anti-climate think tank GWPF forgets about physics (Dana)
• Mapped: The sensitivity of the world’s ecosystems to climate (Robert McSweeney)
• Guest post (John Abraham)
• Centuries of Melting Already Locked in for Polar Ice, Scientists Say (Phil Mckenna)
• Will Fossil Fuel Prices Fully Recover? (Riduna)
• 2016 SkS Weekly News Roundup #10 (John Hartz)
• 2016 SkS Weekly Digest #10 (John Hartz) 

Poster of the Week

 

SkS Week in Review 

• 2016 SkS Weekly News Roundup #9 by John Hartz
• How Exxon Overstates the Uncertainty in Climate Science By John H Cushman Jr (InsideClimate News)
• US seafood species highly vulnerable to climate change, study says by Robert McSweeney (Carbon Brief)
• Earth is warming 50x faster than when it comes out of an ice age by Dana Nuccitelli (Climate Consensus - the 97%, Guardian)
• The Uncertainty Handbook: Download and Translations by BaerbelW
• Fossil fuel funded report denies the expert global warming consensus by John Abraham (Climate Consensus - the 97%, Guardian) 
• 2016 SkS Weekly Digest #8 by John Hartz

97 Hours of Consensus: James McCarthy

James McCarthy's bio page

Quote derived from:

"[A]ll the professional societies of climatologists, meteorologists, oceanographers that have ever looked at this problem have made very consistent statements that climate is changing, it's changing in unusual ways, and the only way that change can be explained is as a result of human activities. Most people have no idea that something between 95 and 100 % of climate scientists completely agree with that statement."

from Skeptical Science http://ift.tt/1Sa9Lb2

Power Surge: ONR, Energy Efficiency in the Spotlight

Dr. Umesh Mishra, at the University of California-Santa Barbara

By David Smalley
Office of Naval Research

A scientist sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) has been named to the National Academy of Inventors for groundbreaking work in energy efficiency using Gallium Nitride (GaN)-with resulting improvements in everything from warfighter communications to hybrid cars.

Dr. Umesh Mishra, at the University of California-Santa Barbara, is a pioneer in research to reduce the amount of energy lost as electrical currents pass through commonly used but inefficient voltage adaptors-where much of the current dissipates as heat. His innovative use of GaN, a semiconductor compound, in materials and electric devices has already made dramatic impacts for Sailors and Marines.

“The world has to waste less energy while it powers its needs for the next century,” he said. “This includes communications, the Internet and transportation, to name a few.

“To provide our nation’s defenders with an unfair advantage we need to provide them with the very best performance systems for communications, computation and detection-while being compact and lightweight,” he added.

“GaN provides this at a reasonable cost.”

ONR has supported Mishra’s research for two decades, and his accomplishments in advancing energy efficiency have become significant for the warfighter and the nation, experts say.

Dr. Paul Maki, ONR program officer for electronic devices, notes thatMishra’s GaN research has already improved air and missile defense radar, broadband electronic warfare platforms and other GaN-based devices relying on radio-frequency technology.

“Gallium Nitride is being deployed in the Navy right now,” Maki said. “GaN precision electronics more accurately control switching waveforms-and the end result is greater efficiencies.”

The Navy and Marine Corps are particularly interested in improved energy efficiency as new and powerful weapon systems like lasers and electronic railguns advance, both of which demand significant shipboard power capabilities for firing and cooling.

In addition, Maki notes, longer battery life-another benefit of new uses for GaN-will be critical for unmanned vehicles and fuel-cell vehicles.

“It’s these improvements in energy efficiencies that have gotten him this well-deserved recognition,” he said of Mishra. “He has been very supportive of naval science and technology.”

Maki said Mishra has led a series of successful multidisciplinary university research initiatives funded by ONR. As Mishra’s research advanced, the frequency performance required for naval platforms improved by a factor of 20-and the power output/power density improved by five times.

Mishra said ONR’s sustained support for long-term research was essential to the success of his results.

“I cannot emphasize enough how important is the sustained support that ONR provides in a mission-oriented framework,” he said. “This has been critical for GaN and it is an absolute fact that without ONR support, GaN development in the U.S. would have been second rate, if that.”

Election to the National Academy of Inventors is considered a prestigious professional distinction, awarded to innovative academic inventors whose work has made a noteworthy impact on quality of life, economic development and societal welfare.

While Mishra’s GaN-inspired work on power conversion will be key for the future force, the corollary impact on data servers, solar inverters and electric and hybrid motor drives will have broad impact across society.

David Smalley is a contractor for ONR Corporate Strategic Communications

Follow Armed with Science on Twitter!

Disclaimer: The appearance of hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the Department of Defense of this website or the information, products or services contained therein. For other than authorized activities such as military exchanges and Morale, Welfare and Recreation sites, the Department of Defense does not exercise any editorial control over the information you may find at these locations. Such links are provided consistent with the stated purpose of this DOD website.

 

from Armed with Science http://ift.tt/1n7T2Iz

Dr. Umesh Mishra, at the University of California-Santa Barbara

By David Smalley
Office of Naval Research

A scientist sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) has been named to the National Academy of Inventors for groundbreaking work in energy efficiency using Gallium Nitride (GaN)-with resulting improvements in everything from warfighter communications to hybrid cars.

Dr. Umesh Mishra, at the University of California-Santa Barbara, is a pioneer in research to reduce the amount of energy lost as electrical currents pass through commonly used but inefficient voltage adaptors-where much of the current dissipates as heat. His innovative use of GaN, a semiconductor compound, in materials and electric devices has already made dramatic impacts for Sailors and Marines.

“The world has to waste less energy while it powers its needs for the next century,” he said. “This includes communications, the Internet and transportation, to name a few.

“To provide our nation’s defenders with an unfair advantage we need to provide them with the very best performance systems for communications, computation and detection-while being compact and lightweight,” he added.

“GaN provides this at a reasonable cost.”

ONR has supported Mishra’s research for two decades, and his accomplishments in advancing energy efficiency have become significant for the warfighter and the nation, experts say.

Dr. Paul Maki, ONR program officer for electronic devices, notes thatMishra’s GaN research has already improved air and missile defense radar, broadband electronic warfare platforms and other GaN-based devices relying on radio-frequency technology.

“Gallium Nitride is being deployed in the Navy right now,” Maki said. “GaN precision electronics more accurately control switching waveforms-and the end result is greater efficiencies.”

The Navy and Marine Corps are particularly interested in improved energy efficiency as new and powerful weapon systems like lasers and electronic railguns advance, both of which demand significant shipboard power capabilities for firing and cooling.

In addition, Maki notes, longer battery life-another benefit of new uses for GaN-will be critical for unmanned vehicles and fuel-cell vehicles.

“It’s these improvements in energy efficiencies that have gotten him this well-deserved recognition,” he said of Mishra. “He has been very supportive of naval science and technology.”

Maki said Mishra has led a series of successful multidisciplinary university research initiatives funded by ONR. As Mishra’s research advanced, the frequency performance required for naval platforms improved by a factor of 20-and the power output/power density improved by five times.

Mishra said ONR’s sustained support for long-term research was essential to the success of his results.

“I cannot emphasize enough how important is the sustained support that ONR provides in a mission-oriented framework,” he said. “This has been critical for GaN and it is an absolute fact that without ONR support, GaN development in the U.S. would have been second rate, if that.”

Election to the National Academy of Inventors is considered a prestigious professional distinction, awarded to innovative academic inventors whose work has made a noteworthy impact on quality of life, economic development and societal welfare.

While Mishra’s GaN-inspired work on power conversion will be key for the future force, the corollary impact on data servers, solar inverters and electric and hybrid motor drives will have broad impact across society.

David Smalley is a contractor for ONR Corporate Strategic Communications

Follow Armed with Science on Twitter!

Disclaimer: The appearance of hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the Department of Defense of this website or the information, products or services contained therein. For other than authorized activities such as military exchanges and Morale, Welfare and Recreation sites, the Department of Defense does not exercise any editorial control over the information you may find at these locations. Such links are provided consistent with the stated purpose of this DOD website.

 

from Armed with Science http://ift.tt/1n7T2Iz

177/366: Landmark Interior [Uncertain Principles]

I’ve included at least two photos of the Nott Memorial in this series, so I’m a little hesitant to do another. But here’s an angle on it that doesn’t show up as much:

SteelyKid and The Pip looking down from the third floor railing inside the Nott Memorial,

We went over to campus yesterday looking for a bigger open space in which to fly SteelyKid’s RC helicopter, which turned into something of a quixotic quest– most of the big open spaces I had access to had students in them studying. But this did get us inside the Nott, where the kids enjoyed the view from the third floor down into the art exhbit and the cool tiled floor.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1oQkJHK

I’ve included at least two photos of the Nott Memorial in this series, so I’m a little hesitant to do another. But here’s an angle on it that doesn’t show up as much:

SteelyKid and The Pip looking down from the third floor railing inside the Nott Memorial,

We went over to campus yesterday looking for a bigger open space in which to fly SteelyKid’s RC helicopter, which turned into something of a quixotic quest– most of the big open spaces I had access to had students in them studying. But this did get us inside the Nott, where the kids enjoyed the view from the third floor down into the art exhbit and the cool tiled floor.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1oQkJHK

176/366: Scale Invariance [Uncertain Principles]

Again, random and artsy, but this tree in the garden behind the Reamer Campus Center at Union struck me as interesting:

A very symmetric tree, looking a lot like the veins in a leaf.

Is sort of looks like one of those pictures you sometimes see of oblong leaves where most of the surface has been eaten away, just leaving the delicate vein structure in place. (This kind of thing.) At least, that’s what it looked like to me, and why I took a shot of it.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1oQkJHG

Again, random and artsy, but this tree in the garden behind the Reamer Campus Center at Union struck me as interesting:

A very symmetric tree, looking a lot like the veins in a leaf.

Is sort of looks like one of those pictures you sometimes see of oblong leaves where most of the surface has been eaten away, just leaving the delicate vein structure in place. (This kind of thing.) At least, that’s what it looked like to me, and why I took a shot of it.

from ScienceBlogs http://ift.tt/1oQkJHG

Black holes banish matter into cosmic voids

A slab cut from a cube generated by the Illustrious computer simulation of the universe. It shows the distribution of dark matter, with a width and height of 350 million light-years and a thickness of 300,000 light-years. Galaxies are found in the small, white, high-density dots. Image via Markus Haider / Illustrious collaboration.

In recent decades, astronomers have cultivated a picture of the universe dominated by unseen matter, in which – on the largest scales – galaxies and everything they contain are concentrated into honeycomb-like filaments stretching around the edge of enormous voids. Until a recent study, the voids were thought to be almost empty. Now astronomers in Austria, Germany and the United States say these dark areas in space could contain as much as 20% of the ordinary matter of our cosmos. They also say that galaxies make up only 1/500th of the volume of the universe. The team, led by Dr. Markus Haider of the Institute of Astro- and Particle Physics at the University of Innsbruck in Austria, published these results in a new paper in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society on February 24, 2016.

Looking at cosmic microwave radiation, modern satellite observatories like COBE, WMAP and Planck have gradually refined our understanding of the composition of the universe, and the most recent measurements suggest it consists of 4.9% ordinary matter (i.e., the matter that makes up stars, planets, gas and dust, and living things), while 26.8% is the mysterious and unseen dark matter, and 68.3% is the even more mysterious dark energy.

Complementing these missions, ground-based observatories have mapped the positions of galaxies and, indirectly, their associated dark matter over large volumes, showing that they are located in filaments that make up a vast cosmic web.

Haider and his team investigated this web in more detail, using data from the Illustris project, a large computer simulation of the evolution and formation of galaxies. Using this computer simulation, they measured the mass and volume of the filaments in space making up the cosmic web, and the galaxies within them.

The same slice of data, this time showing the distribution of normal or baryonic matter. Image via Markus Haider / Illustrious collaboration.

The Illustrious project simulates a cube of space in the universe, measuring some 350 million light-years on each side. It starts when the universe was just 12 million years old, a small fraction of its current age, and tracks how gravity and the flow of matter changes the structure of the cosmos up to the present day.

The simulation deals with both normal and dark matter, with the most important effect – in the computer simulation, as in the actual universe – being the gravitational pull of the dark matter.

When the scientists looked at the data, they found that about 50% of the total mass of the universe is in the places where galaxies reside, compressed into a volume of 0.2% of the universe we see, and a further 44% is in the enveloping filaments.

Just 6% is located in the voids, which make up 80% of the volume of space studied.

But Haider’s team also found that a surprising fraction of normal matter — 20% — is likely to have been transported into the voids. The culprit appears to be the supermassive black holes found in the centers of galaxies. Some of the matter falling towards the holes is converted into energy. This energy is delivered to the surrounding gas, and leads to large outflows of matter, which stretch for hundreds of thousands of light-years from the black holes, reaching far beyond the extent of their host galaxies.

Apart from filling the voids with more matter than thought, the result might help explain the missing mass problem, where astronomers do not see the amount of normal matter predicted by their models.

Dr. Haider commented:

This simulation, one of the most sophisticated ever run, suggests that the black holes at the center of every galaxy are helping to send matter into the loneliest places in the universe. What we want to do now is refine our model, and confirm these initial findings.

Illustris is now running new simulations, and results from these should be available in a few months, with the researchers keen to see whether for example their understanding of black hole output is right. Whatever the outcome, it will be hard to see the matter in the voids, as this is likely to be very tenuous, and too cool to emit the X-rays that would make it detectable by satellites.

Read more from the Royal Astronomical Society

EarthSky’s once-a-year fundraiser going on now. Please donate to help us keep going!

Bottom line: Using a computer simulation, astronomers probe the ‘cosmic web’ of the universe, its honeycomb-like structure on the largest scales. Among other things, they find that supermassive black holes in the centers of galaxies may have transported a substantial fraction of the ordinary matter of the universe into the dark voids between filaments in the web.

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/213CQW1

A slab cut from a cube generated by the Illustrious computer simulation of the universe. It shows the distribution of dark matter, with a width and height of 350 million light-years and a thickness of 300,000 light-years. Galaxies are found in the small, white, high-density dots. Image via Markus Haider / Illustrious collaboration.

In recent decades, astronomers have cultivated a picture of the universe dominated by unseen matter, in which – on the largest scales – galaxies and everything they contain are concentrated into honeycomb-like filaments stretching around the edge of enormous voids. Until a recent study, the voids were thought to be almost empty. Now astronomers in Austria, Germany and the United States say these dark areas in space could contain as much as 20% of the ordinary matter of our cosmos. They also say that galaxies make up only 1/500th of the volume of the universe. The team, led by Dr. Markus Haider of the Institute of Astro- and Particle Physics at the University of Innsbruck in Austria, published these results in a new paper in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society on February 24, 2016.

Looking at cosmic microwave radiation, modern satellite observatories like COBE, WMAP and Planck have gradually refined our understanding of the composition of the universe, and the most recent measurements suggest it consists of 4.9% ordinary matter (i.e., the matter that makes up stars, planets, gas and dust, and living things), while 26.8% is the mysterious and unseen dark matter, and 68.3% is the even more mysterious dark energy.

Complementing these missions, ground-based observatories have mapped the positions of galaxies and, indirectly, their associated dark matter over large volumes, showing that they are located in filaments that make up a vast cosmic web.

Haider and his team investigated this web in more detail, using data from the Illustris project, a large computer simulation of the evolution and formation of galaxies. Using this computer simulation, they measured the mass and volume of the filaments in space making up the cosmic web, and the galaxies within them.

The same slice of data, this time showing the distribution of normal or baryonic matter. Image via Markus Haider / Illustrious collaboration.

The Illustrious project simulates a cube of space in the universe, measuring some 350 million light-years on each side. It starts when the universe was just 12 million years old, a small fraction of its current age, and tracks how gravity and the flow of matter changes the structure of the cosmos up to the present day.

The simulation deals with both normal and dark matter, with the most important effect – in the computer simulation, as in the actual universe – being the gravitational pull of the dark matter.

When the scientists looked at the data, they found that about 50% of the total mass of the universe is in the places where galaxies reside, compressed into a volume of 0.2% of the universe we see, and a further 44% is in the enveloping filaments.

Just 6% is located in the voids, which make up 80% of the volume of space studied.

But Haider’s team also found that a surprising fraction of normal matter — 20% — is likely to have been transported into the voids. The culprit appears to be the supermassive black holes found in the centers of galaxies. Some of the matter falling towards the holes is converted into energy. This energy is delivered to the surrounding gas, and leads to large outflows of matter, which stretch for hundreds of thousands of light-years from the black holes, reaching far beyond the extent of their host galaxies.

Apart from filling the voids with more matter than thought, the result might help explain the missing mass problem, where astronomers do not see the amount of normal matter predicted by their models.

Dr. Haider commented:

This simulation, one of the most sophisticated ever run, suggests that the black holes at the center of every galaxy are helping to send matter into the loneliest places in the universe. What we want to do now is refine our model, and confirm these initial findings.

Illustris is now running new simulations, and results from these should be available in a few months, with the researchers keen to see whether for example their understanding of black hole output is right. Whatever the outcome, it will be hard to see the matter in the voids, as this is likely to be very tenuous, and too cool to emit the X-rays that would make it detectable by satellites.

Read more from the Royal Astronomical Society

EarthSky’s once-a-year fundraiser going on now. Please donate to help us keep going!

Bottom line: Using a computer simulation, astronomers probe the ‘cosmic web’ of the universe, its honeycomb-like structure on the largest scales. Among other things, they find that supermassive black holes in the centers of galaxies may have transported a substantial fraction of the ordinary matter of the universe into the dark voids between filaments in the web.

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/213CQW1