GlacierDogMapMe: Can Black Holes Shoot Out Matter?

“Bullet-Shooting Black Hole”: “Black holes are known for sucking in matter, but researchers find they can shoot it out as well.  Observations of a black hole called H1743-322, which harbors five to 10 times the mass of the sun and is located about 28,000 light-years from Earth, revealed it apparently pulled matter off a companion star, then spat some of it back out as gigantic “bullets” of gas moving at nearly a quarter the speed of light.  The black hole’s “belch” is actually a bipolar jet of plasma (ionized gas) that discharges particles from the centre of an accretion disc (a structure that moves material toward its centre - in this case, the black hole).  This galactic belch ejects particles, scattering them amongst stars and planets, and may also affect magnetic fields in the galaxy.” Credit: Greg Sivakoff/University of Alberta.

http://www.space.com/15941-strangest-black-holes-universe-countdown.html

GlacierDogMapMe Website: http://www.glacierdogpublishing.com

OH BOY!!!  Coffee Gives Jolt To Life Span

It’s the news that coffee addicts have been waiting for: Drinking several cups of coffee every day may help you live longer. A study of more than 400,000 people finds that drinking coffee may reduce the risk of death from heart disease, stroke and even infections, researchers report in the May 17 New England Journal of Medicine.

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/340733/title/Coffee_gives_jolt_to_life_span

GlacierDogMapMe Website: http://www.glacierdogpublishing.com

GlacierDogMapMe: What is the Most Southerly Active Volcano on Earth?

* Antarctica’s Mount Erebus. 12,448 feet above sea level, Mount Erebus is the most southerly active volcano on the planet. “Its slopes are covered with snow and ice, glaciers, crevasses, and the occasional lava flow, but steam usually rises from its summit, betraying the heat within. If Erebus were a dessert, it would be a reverse baked Alaska—frozen on the outside, hot in the middle.”

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/07/mount-erebus/judson-text

GlacierDogMapMe Website: http://www.glacierdogpublishing.com

GlacierDogMapMe:  Jul 2, 2012 “At 10:52 UT, active region 1515 (AR1515) unleashed a M5.6-class solar flare bathing the Earth’s atmosphere with X-ray and extreme ultraviolet radiation. At that energy, the flare wasn’t that far from becoming an X-class flare — the most powerful variety of solar eruption.”

http://news.discovery.com/space/solar-flare-ionizes-europe-skies-120702.html

GlacierDogMapMe Website: http://www.glacierdogpublishing.com

GlacierDogMapMe:  Do You Know Where To Find Milky Way’s Central Black Hole?

* “At the center lurks the Milky Way’s central black hole, also known as Sagittarius A* (pronounced “A-star”) because it lies in the constellation Sagittarius. Most galaxies have such a central black hole around which stars, gas and dust swirl as if going down a drain. Sagittarius A* is a heavyweight among black holes, coming in at around 4 million times the mass of the Sun (although it is only about 15 times as wide).”

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/341117/title/At_Home_in_the_Universe

GlacierDogMapMe Website: http://www.glacierdogpublishing.com

GlacierDogMapMe: Is there a Planet Made of Diamonds?

* A planet made of diamond crystals has been discovered in the Milky Way’s plane of stars in the constellation of Serpens.

* The “Diamond Planet” has a 2 hr, 10 min orbit around fast-spinning pulsar J1719-1438.  J1719-1438 is called a millisecond pulsar and rotates more than 10,000 times/minute.  The planet is at a very close distance of 600,000 km to its pulsar.  In fact, it is so close, it is believed that if the planet was larger the pulsar’s gravity could rip it apart.

* The planet is very dense and believed to possibly be all that remains of a once-massive star, most of whose matter was siphoned off towards the pulsar.  It is believed to be largely carbon and oxygen, crystalline, and a large part of it may be similar to a diamond.

Refs: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-08/uom-apm082311.php

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/08/diamond-planet/

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GlacierDogMapMe: Is it a Planet or a “Failed Star”?

* This “massive, puffed-up oddity” planet is located in the constellation Andromeda.  Called, KELT-1b, it is so massive that it may better be described as a ‘failed star’ rather than a planet.  A super hot, super dense ball of metallic hydrogen, KELT-1b is located so close to its star that it whips through an entire “yearly” orbit in a little over a day - all the while being blasted by six thousand times the radiation Earth receives from the sun.  It is one of the most bizarre transiting companions ever detected.  The planet is slightly larger than Jupiter, but contains 27 times the mass.  Thus, it qualifies as a ‘failed star,’ or “brown dwarf.”  “This is the first definitively ‘inflated’ brown dwarf found, and exactly how this happened is a complete mystery that should keep theorists busy for a while,” Gaudi said.  KELT-1b is a strange world, indeed.  If you could stand on the surface, the “sun” would take up one quarter of the sky overhead.  Although it is made primarily of hydrogen, it is so massive and compressed that its density matches that of the densest naturally occurring element on Earth: osmium - a shiny, bluish metal found in platinum ore that is approximately twice as dense as lead.  Because it orbits its host star once every 30 hours, a solar “year” on KELT-1b passes in a little more than one Earth day.  And because it orbits so closely, it is blasted with 6,000 times the amount of stellar radiation than we are exposed to on Earth.  Its surface temperature is likely above 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit (about 2,200 degrees Celsius).  By comparison, the planet Mercury orbits our sun once every 88 days, and the hottest temperature on the surface reaches only 800 degrees Fahrenheit (more than 425 degrees Celsius).

* Fewer than 1 percent of the extrasolar planets ever discovered have been both extremely massive and extremely close to their host stars.  “This is a great system for studying orbital dynamics,” said Siverd, who is the lead investigator on the KELT-1 discovery.  “It has the strongest tides of any brown dwarf system found so far,” he added.

http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2012/06/two-new-alien-planets-discovered-in-andromeda-resets-the-bar-for-weird.html

GlacierDog also does books - math, weight-loss & time-travel: http://www.glacierdogpublishing.com/

GlacierDogMapMe: Where Was the Largest Volcanic Eruption of the 20th Century?

* 100 years ago in June 1912, the 20th century experienced its largest, most voluminous, explosive volcanic eruption.  It occured in Alaska and formed the huge lava dome, Novarupta.  In what is now Katmai National Park and Preserve, over 3 cubic miles (about 13.5 cubic kilometers) of magma blasted through the floor of a broad glacial valley for 60 hours.  Clouds of ash rose high into the atmosphere and drifted downwind, dropping more than a foot of ash on Kodiak, dusting Puget Sound, and eventually circling the globe.  The ash and gas cloud colored the Mediterranean sky and measurably depressed global temperatures.  The eruption was also correlated with some 50 earthquakes recorded at distant seismic stations (including 14 shocks of magnitude 6.0 to 7.0) and produced a series of ash flows that filled what became the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes.

* 6 miles from erupting Novarupta, Mount Katmai collapsed into a deep, steep-walled, steaming crater.  For many years Katmai was believed to be the volcano creating the massive eruption.  But in the 1950s geologist Garniss Curtis carefully mapped ash thicknesses that identified Novarupta as the culprit. 

Refs: http://www.avo.alaska.edu/Katmai2012/timeline.php

http://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/1791/

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GlacierDogMapMe Finds Massive Amount of Water in a Surprising Place!

* In 2011, astronomers discovered the largest and farthest reservoir of water ever detected in a quasar more than 12 billion light-years away called APM 08279+5255!  The water is equivalent to 140 trillion times all the water in Earth’s oceans.

* Quasar APM 08279+5255 is one of the most powerful known objects in the universe and has an energy output of 1,000 trillion suns.  

* A quasar is powered by a massive black hole that steadily consumes a surrounding disk of gas and dust.  As it sucks everything in, the quasar spews out huge amounts of energy.

* In this particular quasar, the water vapor is distributed around the black hole in a gaseous region spanning hundreds of light-years in size (a light-year is about six trillion miles).  The environment around quasar APM 08279+5255 is thought to be unique since it is producing such a large mass of water.  The quasar is bathing the surrounding gas in X-rays and infrared radiation, and the gas appears to be unusually warm and dense.  

* By comparison, in our Milky Way, the mass of gaseous water is found in a limited number of regions and is some 4,000 times smaller than that in the quasar.  Most of the water in the Milky Way galaxy is frozen into ice.  

http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2012/06/image-of-the-day-12-billion-year-old-quasar-surrounded-by-140-trillion-times-the-water-in-earths-oce.html

http://www.science20.com/news_articles/apm_082795255_largest_water_mass_universe_so_far-81124

GlacierDog’s Website: http://www.glacierdogpublishing.com/

GlacierDogMapMe Finds Evidence of Ancient Life in an Unlikely Place!

* Just below the surface of crumbly dirt in the year 2005, Lewis and Ashworth discover dead beetles, wooden twigs, pieces of dried moss, and bits of other plants.  Where?  The Friis Hills in Antarctica!  Today, the Friis Hills, which sit on a flattop mountain, 60 km (37 mi) from the coast, experience cold winds shooting off the Antarctic Ice Sheet, some 30 km farther inland.  The Friis Hills see -50°Celsius (-58°F) winter temperatures, and even a warm summer day rarely exceeds -5°C (23°F).  When Lewis and Ashworth placed those bits of the ancient frozen moss in water, the plants swelled into tiny soft, squishy sponges.

* The Friis Hills are a 6 mile-long, 1,750 meter (5,741.5 ft) high cluster of hills at the north side of the bend in Taylor Glacier in Victoria Land.

* Today Antarctica is barren and icy, void of much life other than seals, penguins, and other birds along the shores.  However, the ancient bits of bugs and plants discovered by Lewis and Ashworth reveal a different past - one filled with moss, various critters, and forests of leafy trees! 

* Nevertheless, even today, Antarctica’s terrain is not completely dead.  Small regions of bare, ice-free rock can hide crevices with a faint crust of green algae-stained dirt housing a few creepy-crawly critters which may include worms, tiny flies, six-legged springtails, or small eight-legged mites that are related to ticks.

http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2012/06/the-oldest-place-on-earth/

GlacierDog’s Website: http://www.glacierdogpublishing.com/

GlacierDogMapMe is Still in Space - Where’s Stellar Nursery R136?  Wow!

* This Hubble image (taken Oct. 20-27, 2009) displays the spectacular power of the Creator at work in the largest stellar nursery in our local galactic neighborhood!

* This massive stellar grouping called R136 is in the 30 Doradus Nebula, a highly active star-forming region in the nearby Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). The icy-blue stars are among the most massive stars known.

* The Large Magellanic Cloud is 170,000 light-years away and is a member of the Local Group of Galaxies, which also includes the Milky Way. “The image, taken in ultraviolet, visible, and red light by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3, spans about 100 light-years.”

Source: http://spacefellowship.com/news/art17051/incredible-new-hubble-image-full-of-stars.html

GlacierDog’s Website: http://www.glacierdogpublishing.com/

GlacierDog Leaves Earth - Where’s Exploded Star, E0102?  Wow!

* “E0102 is the debris of a very massive star that exploded in the neighboring galaxy known as the Small Magellanic Cloud [SMC]. Chandra first looked at this object nearly ten years ago, just months after the telescope was launched. Analysis of new Chandra data gives information on the geometry of the supernova explosion. The best model based on the data is that the ejecta is shaped like a cylinder that we see end-on.”

* The Small Magellanic Cloud is a neighbor at only 190,000 light years from our Milky Way.

http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2009/e0102/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2009/e0102/e0102_smc.jpg

GlacierDog’s Website: http://www.glacierdogpublishing.com/

GlacierDogMAPME:  Where and What Is Denali?

* Denali, also called Mount McKinley, is North America’s tallest peak at 20,320 feet and is located in Alaska about 150 mi NNW of Anchorage.  “Measured from the 2,000-foot lowlands to its snowy summit at 20,320 feet, the mountain’s vertical relief of 18,000 feet is greater than that of Mount Everest.”  http://www.nps.gov/dena/

* While temperatures at Denali’s summit are severe even during the summer, winds can gust to over 150 mph and the winter temps at an elevation of just 14,500 feet can dive to colder than -95°F!  Permanent snowfields cover more than 50% of the mountain, feeding its many glaciers.  Denali’s granite and slate core is covered by ice that in some areas is hundreds of feet thick.

* “Denali”, meaning the “High One” in native Athabascan language, crowns in the Alaska Range in a huge national park.  The park and the mountain were first named for President William McKinley, but later renamed Denali National Park and Preserve.  The mountain now goes by either Denali or Mount McKinley.  

* Denali Park is a largely unspoiled wilderness.  In addition to viewing the mountain, visitors can spend the incredibly long summer days taking wildlife tours and are able to see moose, bear, Dall sheep, goats, and eagles.

http://www.nps.gov/dena/ and http://www.nature.nps.gov/geology/parks/dena/

GlacierDog’s Website: http://www.glacierdogpublishing.com/