How an 11 Year old Girl got to Name the Planet Pluto … !!!

February 19, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

An 11-year-old British girl is responsible naming the planet Pluto, the once ninth planet of our solar system, after her grandfather read about the dwarf planet’s discovery at the family breakfast table.

The girl, Venetia Burney, recalled the event in an interview with NASA in 2006,

“I think it was on March the 14th, 1930 and I was having breakfast with my mother and my grandfather. And my grandfather read out at breakfast the great news and said he wondered what it would be called. And for some reason, I after a short pause, said, “Why not call it Pluto?” I did know, I was fairly familiar with Greek and Roman legends from various children’s books that I had read, and of course I did know about the solar system and the names the other planets have. And so I suppose I just thought that this was a name that hadn’t’t been used. And there it was. The rest was entirely my grandfather’s work.”

Burney’s grandfather, Falconer Madan, the ex-head librarian at the Bodleian at Oxford, was so pleased by his granddaughter’s proposed name that he suggested it to Herbert Hall Turner, a retired astronomer who held the title of Astronomer Royal.

Turner immediately wired the idea to American astronomers at Lowell Observatory. The planet was officially named a in May 1930.

Despite many rumors that Burney named the planet Pluto after the Greek god of the underworld or that the first two letter “PL” are in honor of Percival Lowell, the founder of Lowell Observatory, Burney seems to have named the planet Pluto because it sounded good to her. “I just thought it was a name that hadn’t been used so far, and might be an obvious one to have,” Burney told NASA.

There was also a rumor that the planet was named after Pluto the dog because both, the cartoon and the planet, came out in 1930. However, Pluto the dog was originally named Rover in 1930. It wasn’t until 1931 that the beloved cartoon dog took the name Pluto, meaning that the dog took the name of the planet.
This article originally appeared at Modern Notion. Copyright 2015. Follow Modern Notion on Twitter
Read more: http://modernnotion.com/little-girl-named-pluto/#ixzz3SELJkgOQ

SOURCE::::

JOSH HRALA, MODERN NOTION

http://www.businessinsider.com

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Have you Heard about these Aircraft Designs … ?

Link February 19, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

The 20th century saw an amazing array of new vehicles – from cars to ships to submarines and airplanes. Some of these designs are still used today, their basic premise being so dead on. However, some designs were less than ideal, and what follows are the aircraft designs that just weren’t as good as the rest, but are still fascinating to see. Enjoy this collection of strangely designed planes.

SOURCE:::: http://www.ba-bamail.com

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This Date in Science….Feb 11 2010……When a Spacecraft Destroyed a Sundog…

February 12, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

February 11, 2010. On this date – the coolest space launch ever for us sky fans! I ran into this image and video yesterday via a post on Google+. I was interested when I saw a quote from the person who runs the world’s absolute best website for sky optics, Les Cowley of the website Atmospheric Optics. It turns out this story has been around a few years, but I liked it and thought you might, too. It began with the launch five years ago of NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), one of several observatories that keep an eye on our sun. It seems that when SDO lifted off from Cape Canaveral on February 11, 2010, on its mission to observe the sun, it first destroyed a sundog in Earth’s atmosphere – in the process bringing to light the new form of ice halo – and teaching those who love and study sky optics new things about how shock waves interact with clouds.

The video above shows SDO’s 2010 launch via an Atlas V rocket. Watch it now, and turn up the volume to hear people cheer when the spacecraft’s passage through the atmosphere destroyed the sundog – which is a bright spot in the sky, formed by refraction of sunlight through plate-shaped ice crystals, which drift down from the sky like leaves fluttering from trees. If you have to, watch it twice to see the luminous column of white light that appears next to the Atlas V.

Les Cowley explained in this 2011 post at Science@NASA:

When the rocket penetrated the cirrus, shock waves rippled through the cloud and destroyed the alignment of the ice crystals. This extinguished the sundog.

The sundog’s destruction was understood. The events that followed were not. Cowley said:

A luminous column of white light appeared next to the Atlas V and followed the rocket up into the sky. We’d never seen anything like it.

Cowley and colleague Robert Greenler at first couldn’t explain this column of light. Then they realized that the plate-shaped ice crystals were organized by the shock wave from the Atlas V. Cowley explained:

The crystals are tilted between 8 and 12 degrees. Then they gyrate so that the main crystal axis describes a conical motion. Toy tops and gyroscopes do it. The earth does it once every 26000 years. The motion is ordered and precise.

Love it!

View larger. | When the Solar Dynamic Observatory (bright streak in lower right quadrant of photo) lifted off from Cape Canaveral on February 11, 2010, its launch enabled optics experts to discover a new form of ice halo. Image via NASA/Goddard/Anne Koslosky

Bottom line: When NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SD0) lifted off from Cape Canaveral on February 11, 2010, on its mission to observe the sun, it first destroyed a sundog in Earth’s atmosphere – in the process bringing to light the new form of ice halo – and teaching those who love and study sky optics new things about how shock waves interact with clouds.

Via Science@NASA website

SOURCE:::: http://www.earthskynews.org

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Image of the Day….A Fantastic View From ISS.. ” !!!

February 11, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti took this photograph from the International Space Station and posted it to social media on Jan. 30, 2015. Cristoforetti wrote, “A spectacular flyover of the Gulf of Aden and the Horn of Africa. #HelloEarth”

Image Credit: NASA/ESA/Samantha Cristoforetti

SOURCE:::: www. nasa.gov.

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Image of the Day… Rare triple transit of Jupiter’s moons…!!!

February 7, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

The images were taken with NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 on January 23, 2015.

Hubble captures these moons in great clarity they can also be seen here on Earth with a small telescope or even a decent pair of binoculars.

The images on the left shows the Hubble observation at the beginning of the event. On the left is the moon Callisto and on the right, Io. The shadows from Europa, which cannot be seen in the image, Callisto, and Io are strung out from left to right. The images on the right shows the end of the event, approximately 42 minutes later. Europa has entered the frame at lower left with slower moving Callisto above and to the right of it. Meanwhile Io — which orbits significantly closer to Jupiter and so appears to move much more quickly — is approaching the eastern limb of the planet. Whilst Callisto’s shadow seems hardly to have moved Io’s has set over the planet’s eastern edge and Europa’s has risen further in the west. Image via NASA/ESA

Jupiter’s four largest moons are Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, known as the Galiliean moons, after the 17th century scientist Galileo Galilei, who discovered them. Their complete orbits around Jupiter range from two to 17 days in duration. The moons can commonly be seentransiting the face of Jupiter and casting shadows onto its layers of cloud. But seeing three of them transiting the face of Jupiter at the same time is rare, occurring only once or twice a decade.

Missing from sequence of images is the Galilean moon Ganymede which was outside Hubble’s field of view.

The moons of Jupiter have very distinctive colors. The smooth icy surface of Europa is yellow-white, the volcanic sulphur surface of Io is orange and the surface of Callisto, which is one of the oldest and most cratered surfaces known in the solar system, is a brownish color.

Bottom line: New images taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope on January 23, 2015 capture a rare occurrence as three of Jupiter’s largest moons – Europa, Callisto and Io – parade across the giant planet’s banded face.

This Boy’s Space Idea Takes him to NASA…

February 4, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Sanjay Lakshminarayana

Sanjay will present a paper with a set of plans to explore the outer solar system and beyond

A 20-year-old Bengaluru boy is on his way to Texas to present a paper at the prestigious National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Sanjay Lakshminarayana, a mechanical engineering student, has been selected to present his ideas and attend conventions. These will study important observations made by recent planetary missions and emerging nuclear technologies for space exploration and travel.

The youngster, who has been interested in space since childhood, will present a set of plans to explore the outer solar system and beyond. The ideas will have a significant focus on nuclear systems as enabling technologies.

Sanjay said he would use this opportunity to discuss the knowledge gaps in exploration of extra-terrestrial environments and the most recent discoveries in this area.

The youngster, who also has an interest in car designing, told BM that his background in mechanical engineering provided a base for his interest in space exploration and his consistent research in the area.

Unexpected invite

The meetings on Sanjay’s agenda have been sponsored by NASA and the American Nuclear Society. Speaking on the unexpected invite, Sanjay said, “It was at a meeting in Russia, that a professor from NASA noticed my interest and sent me an invite for this year”.

Commenting on what this opportunity meant for him, he said, “I want to learn a lot about the latest developments and share my ideas with scientists from across the world. I am looking to gain immense knowledge, a sense of direction and meet people who will be able to help me in my research. ”

The meetings are scheduled between February 3 and March 16. These will be held at various locations including the Lunar Planetary Institute in Houston. Sanjay has also been invited to present his paper titled “The Magneto-Confined Fusion Ion Thruster” at the 2015 Nuclear and Emerging Technologies for Space (NETS-2015) conference to be held in Albuquerque.

Sanjay’s schedule

1. 2015 Nuclear and Emerging Technologies for Space (NETS-2015) conference, March 23rd-26th, Albuquerque

2.Workshop on Early Solar System Impact Bombardment III, February 4th-6th, Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston.

SOURCE:::: Apurva Venkat, Bangalore Mirror Bureau in http://www.bangaloremirror.com

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Picture of the Day… ” Cloud Streets in the Sea…” !!!

February 3, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Ice, wind, cold temperatures and ocean waters combined to created dramatic cloud formations over the Bering Sea in late January, 2015. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite passed over the region and captured this true-color image on Jan. 23.

The frozen tundra of Russia lies in the northwest of the image, and snow-covered Alaska lies in the northeast. Sea ice extends from the land well into the Bering Sea. Over the dark water bright white clouds line in up close, parallel rows. These formations are known as “cloud streets”.

Air blowing over the cold, snowy land and then over ice becomes both cold and dry. When the air then moves over relatively warmer and much moister water and lead to the development of parallel cylinders of spinning air. On the upper edge of these cylinders of air, where the air is rising, small clouds form. Where air is descending, the skies are clear. This clear/cloudy pattern, formed in parallel rows, gives the impression of streets.

The clouds begin over the sea ice, but they primarily hang over open ocean. The streets are neat and in tight rows closest to land, while further over the Bering Sea the pattern widens and begins to become more random. The rows of clouds are also not perfectly straight, but tend to curve. The strength and direction of the wind helps create these features: where the wind is strongest, nearest to shore, the clouds line up most neatly. The clouds align with the wind direction, so the direction of the streets gives strong clues to prevailing wind direction.

Image Credit: NASA/Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC

SOURCE:::: http://www.nasa.gov

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Image of the Day… View From Space…India by Night and By Day …

February 3, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

The night image of the Indian peninsula was taken from the International Space Station (ISS) on January 15, 2015. It shows with clarity and surprising detail the human geography of cities of different sizes, such as Kochi and Coimbatore, and the highways that connect cities. The almost unpopulated hilly escarpment, known as the southern Ghats, is a dark zone parallel to the coast. A patch of clouds are illuminated by a nearly-full moon.

The daylight photo was taken by the crew of the Gemini 11 spacecraft back in September 1966. You can see coastlines and land surface color, but no details of human geography. This classic view was taken on an early space flight at a similar altitude to that of the ISS. Patterns of bright white cloud cover much of the land surfaces of India and Sri Lanka.

Bottom line: Two astronaut photos, one from 2015 and one from 1966, show the southern peninsula of India by night and by day.

Via NASA Earth Observatory

SOURCE::::: http://www.earthskynews.org

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This Date in Science….Feb 11 2010……When a Spacecraft Destroyed a Sundog…

This Boy’s Space Idea Takes him to NASA…