Quackers
Quackers's JournalNOAAs GOES-16 Satellite Sends First Images to Earth
GOES-16, the first spacecraft in NOAA’s next-generation of geostationary satellites, has sent the first high-resolution images from its Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) instrument. Included among them are a composite color full-disk visible image of the Western Hemisphere captured on January 15, 2017. Created using several of the ABI’s 16 spectral channels, the full-disk image offers an example the satellite’s advanced technology.
The ABI can provide a full disk image of the Earth every 15 minutes, one of the continental U.S. every five minutes, and has the ability to target regional areas where severe weather, hurricanes, wildfires, volcanic eruptions or other high-impact environmental phenomena are occurring as often as every 30 seconds. The ABI covers the Earth five-times faster than the current generation GOES imagers and has four times greater spatial resolution, allowing meteorologists to see smaller features of the Earth’s atmosphere and weather systems.
More at link:
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/goes-16-sends-first-images-to-earth
I remember when they launched this as GOES-R last year. They said that it would provide more astrological and meteorological data in 6 months than we've collected in the past 40 years. After leaving Earth, it takes 6 months for the satellite to unpack itself and be fully functional. This is one of my favorite projects that I follow closely. GOES-S should be ready to launch this year.
Scientists Will Live in a Dome for 8 Months to Simulate Mars
Six carefully selected scientists have entered a man-made dome on a remote Hawaii volcano as part of a human-behavior study that could help NASA as it draws up plans for sending astronauts on long missions to Mars.
The four men and two women moved into their new simulated space home Thursday afternoon on Mauna Loa, settling into the vinyl-covered shelter of 1,200 square feet, or about the size of a small, two-bedroom home, for an eight-month stay.
They will have no physical contact with people in the outside world and will work with a 20-minute delay in communications with their support crew, or the time it would take for an email to reach Earth from Mars.
The NASA-funded project will study the psychological difficulties associated with living in isolated and confined conditions for an extended period.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/nasa-study-hawaii-paving-human-travel-mars-44877457
Larsen ice crack continues to open up
Originally posted by WhiteTara in LBN. I wanted to share it here as it definitely applies to our group and because this is of great interest and importance to me.
The rift in the Larsen C Ice Shelf has grown a further 10km since 1 January.
If the rift propagates just 20km more, it will free a tabular berg one-quarter the size of Wales.
That would make it one of the biggest icebergs ever recorded, according to researchers at Swansea and Aberystwyth universities, and the British Antarctic Survey.
News of the lengthening crack in the 350m-thick floating ice shelf on the eastern side of the Antarctic Peninsula comes from the EU’s Sentinel-1 satellite system.
Comprising two spacecraft, this orbiting capability can continuously monitor Larsen C no matter what the weather is doing because its radar sensors see through cloud.
Their data indicates the fissure now extends for some 195km. But just how long it will take before the 5,000 sq km block finally breaks free is anyone’s guess, says Swansea's Prof Adrian Luckman.
"The rift tip has just entered a new area of softer ice, which will slow its progress," he told BBC News.
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-38686626
Just a reminder, ULA launch tonight
They are launching an Atlas 5 rocket with a USAF payload.
http://www.ulalaunch.com
Launch broadcast begins in 30 minutes.
Explosion reported at DP&L Stuart Station
This is local to me. It just happened and hasn't made the local news yet. It's a coal and diesel plant.
An explosion has been reported at DP&L's Stuart Power Generating Station near Aberdeen.
Early reports indicate there may be injuries and multiple ambulances were on the scene. A Maysville fire truck was also spotted by a reporter. A Manchester ambulance left the scene with lights flashing and sirens wailing, apparently headed toward Maysville and Meadowview Regional Medical Center with an injured person.
Witnesses said they heard an explosion in Manchester and black smoke was seen coming from one of the stacks at the generating plant. The plant has been evacuated, according to witnesses.
We are now receiving unsubstantiated reports of fatalities and people trapped. Also there are reports that it was Unit 1 which blew up and that the side is gone from one building although there is no information on what building that is.
http://www.maysville-online.com/updated-explosion-reported-at-dp-l-stuart-station/article_9c72dbd5-9b7f-5f90-99e8-5f8fcd74cb99.html
January guide to the bright planets
I thought I would share this. I happened to look outside earlier tonight and seen Venus as bright as airplane landing lights. I pulled up my star chart app and noticed the little red dot above it was Mars. It got me thinking about what is visible this month. I found this and thought I would share.
Two of the five bright planets rise to great prominence in January 2017 sky. Venus rules over the evening sky while Jupiter rules the morning. Venus, the brightest planet, blazes in the west first thing at dusk, and reaches its greatest elongation as the “evening star” on January 12. Jupiter, the second-brightest planet, lords over the eastern half of sky between midnight and sunrise. Mars is near Venus in the evening sky, but it’s higher up and much fainter than Venus, setting in the west shortly after Venus does. Meanwhile, Saturn appears in the southeastern sky before dawn. Mercury a short hop beneath Saturn, just as darkness is giving way to morning twilight. Follow the links below to learn more about planets in January 2017.
http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/visible-planets-tonight-mars-jupiter-venus-saturn-mercury
School just called. Our first snow day of the school year is here!
I'm in southern Ohio and this will be our first accumulating snow this season. We're supposed to get 2-4 inches and the kids get a day off. Yay!
4 arrested in beating broadcast on Facebook Live
Source: CNN
(CNN)A young woman who broadcast the beating of a man on Facebook Live has been arrested with three others in connection with the gruesome attack, Chicago Police said Wednesday.
The disturbing 30-minute video shows a man tied up and his mouth covered, cowering in the corner of a room. His attackers laugh and shout "f*ck Donald Trump" and "f*ck white people" as they kick and punch him and and cut into his forehead with a knife.
Police described the victim as an 18-year-old with special needs who was taken from the suburbs. Patrol officers found the disoriented young man wandering the street "in crisis" Wednesday afternoon and brought him to a hospital.
Shortly afterward, officers responded to a battery call at a residence near where he was found and saw signs of a struggle and property damage, police said. After viewing the video they determined the victim was the man found on the street and that the people arrested were involved, Chicago Police Department Superintendent Eddie Johnson said.
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/04/us/chicago-facebook-live-beating/index.html
This is in GD but I haven't seen it here yet. Story just updated on CNN.
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