Asteroid flyby

Newly-discovered asteroid 2009 BD is slowly passing by Earth today only 400,000 miles away. The approximately 10 meter-wide space rock poses no significant threat, but it merits attention anyway: The orbit of 2009 BD appears to be almost identical to the orbit of Earth. 2009 BD may be a rare "co-orbital asteroid," circling the sun in near-tandem with our planet. If current measurements of the asteroid's orbit are correct, 2009 BD will remain in Earth's neighborhood for many months and possibly years to come.

Fire preparation

Fire authorities in Victoria are preparing for the state's first sustained heatwave of the summer.The Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) and the Country Fire Authority (CFA) said on Monday Victoria was very dry and there was a higher risk of lightning-caused fires later in the week.DSE and CFA say they are ready for this week's heat wave - the first sustained conditions of this type for the season - but those living in bushfire regions should finalise preparations."Most importantly, people need to decide if they are going to stay and defend or leave, if they have not already done so," CFA operation manager Tony Bearzatto said.The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast maximum temperatures of between 29 and 36 degrees celsius for Melbourne until Saturday before a cool change hits.Higher temperatures are expected in the north of the state

2009~International Year of Astronomy

2009 is the International Year of Astronomy.
Be prepared to read much information on astronomy and related topics, as this is an interest of mine.

Stargazers around the world are busy being part of the International Year of Astronomy. A staggering 135 nations are collaborating to bring the Universe closer to Earth. Events and activities will take place over the coming 365 days and beyond, in a spectacle of cosmic proportions.IYA2009 marks the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first astronomical observation through a telescope. It is nothing short of a worldwide celebration, promoting astronomy and its contribution to society and culture, with events at regional, national, and global levels.The International Year of Astronomy has been launched by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) under the theme, "The Universe, yours to discover". Thousands of IYA2009 events are described on the national websites, as well as on astronomy2009.org, and a few of the global projects are listed here. Many nations are showing their dedication to the Year. Don't be surprised to see telescopes on the streets in your local town or city.

One project, 100 Hours of Astronomy is a worldwide event taking place from 2-5 April 2009, with a wide range of public outreach activities including live webcasts, observing events and more. One of the key goals of 100 Hours of Astronomy is to have as many people as possible look through a telescope, just as Galileo did for the first time 400 years ago.The World at Night is an IYA2009 Special Project that is producing and bringing to the public a collection of stunning photographs and time-lapse videos of the world's landmarks with the sky in the background. The World at Night is preparing more than 30 exhibitions and educational events around the world.One of IYA2009's aims is to raise awareness of light pollution, and how the beauty of the night sky is progressively being drowned out, particularly over urban areas. The project Dark Skies Awareness is tackling these issues head-on in a practical, inclusive manner. One way in which it is doing this is by holding star-counting events, where the public are encouraged to see how many stars in a particular area of the sky are actually visible from their location. When compared with data from truly dark sites, the results are often very surprising! The "How Many Stars" event will run from January 2009.A list of event highlights is available on the official IYA2009 website, www.astronomy2009.org/highlights.

During 2009, the sky will provide some exciting events, including the longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century, occurring on 22 July 2009 and lasting 6 minutes 39 seconds over a narrow corridor through countries including India, Bangladesh and China. A strong shower of Leonid meteors is also expected in mid-November 2009, with forecasters predicting upwards of an incredible 500 shooting stars per hour. Jupiter will show the public its moons. These are an impressive sight through even a small amateur telescope.IYA2009 seeks to involve the public at large in its activities. 135 countries have committed themselves to the Year, all pulling together toward the common aim of making astronomy accessible to the public. IYA2009 will reinforce the links between science education and science careers, stimulating a long-term increase in student enrolment in the fields of science and technology and an appreciation for lifelong learning."With such a range of activities planned, now is the ideal time to learn more about the cosmos and our place within it. The International Year of Astronomy 2009 promises to make the Universe yours to discover, beginning on 1 January 2009.

A special welcome video for IYA2009 is available. For download from www.astronomy2009.org. Hosted by Catherine Cesarsky, President of the International Astronomical Union, it is approximately five minutes in length and available in English, French and Spanish.

The times we live in

What did our ancestors tell us about these Times?. Some of the prophecies that the Mayan elders have been recently allowed to reveal and predictions have already taken place while others lie just ahead. When we investigage recent scientific findings more closely, we find startling resemblances to what the Elders from around the world have foretold in documents, petroglyphs, hieroglyphs, scrolls, storytelling, mythology, and rituals. The Maya tell us of the end of one world, and the beginning of another. The Hopi tell us the end of the 4th World and the beginning of a 5th. The Bible tells us the Heavens will open, and one day there will be 'Heaven on Earth'. Stone monuments like the Egyptian pyramids, Newgrange, Stonehenge, Chaco Canyon reveal cultures that built elaborate structures to facilitate the passing into another dimension or existence.

Solar Cycle 24 has begun - and it has been predicted by NASA, NOAA and ESA to be up to 50% stronger than its 'record breaking' predecessor Cycle 23 which produced the largest solar flare ever recorded. The Sun will reach its 'apex' (maximum) in late 2011 into 2012.

Scientific research along with ancient text documents suggests the Mayan Calendar ending on December 21st 2012 may very well be connected to solar activity. Mitch Battros' research shows that charged particles emitted by the Sun in the way of solar flares, CME's and coronal holes are the cause of extreme earth changes such as earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, and tornadoes. His research also indicates the very same magnetic flux which effects the Earth, will also affect humans. The magnetic field which surrounds the Earth is similar to the magnetic field which surrounds every living thing."I believe it will be the magnetic influence produced by the Sun which will usher in what is described by our ancient ancestors as "the transition" bringing us to a new state-of-being". (Mitch Battros)

Where to live in Oz

Worried about climate change? Move to Darwin.New research shows the top half of Australia will be little affected by climate change, while from Brisbane south the effects will get stronger and stronger.Dr Tim Barrows, from the Australian National University, has prepared a hit-list of the cities which will be most affected as the climate warms up.Canberra tops the list because it doesn't have the ocean to moderate temperatures.Next come Melbourne , Hobart, Adelaide and Perth.Sydney and Brisbane will fare a little better, although their climates will still change significantly.And the north will escape the worst of climate change, although it will get wetter.Dr Burrows predicted people - and farmers - would move northwards as the climate changed in the south. But he cautioned against an immediate move to Darwin."It'll still be hot," he said.Dr Burrows' findings are presented in an article in the journal Nature Geoscience, issued on Monday.As a palaeoclimatologist he studies how the climate has changed over tens of thousands of years. He bases his conclusions on how Australia's climate changed during the last ice age, which he measured by studying plankton fossils and sediment from the sea floor.He found tropical areas like Australia's north were less affected by climate change because they had plenty of clouds, which acted as a buffer by keeping out the sun."The tropical areas tend to be remarkably insensitive to climate change."Dr Burrows draws a distinction between naturally-occurring climate change and human-induced change.Climates do change over time - there were glaciers and icebergs around Australia during the last ice age 10,000 years ago. Temperatures rose by as much as ten degrees when the ice age ended, Dr Burrows said, and that was not caused by humans.Recent debate has focussed on whether humans are now causing the world to warm by releasing lots of carbon dioxide.Dr Burrows said this was not his area of expertise, but there was more research to be done on how much of the recent warming was caused by humans."I'm not a climate change denier but we need to be cautious about what does change our climate," he said.Dr Burrows said the climate should be cooling as the world headed for another ice age in 20,000 years time. So if temperatures were rising, that was alarming."If we put enough CO2 in the atmosphere we'll prevent an ice age happening."

Drinking heavy atoms and youthfulness

In a back room of New Scientist's offices in London, I sit down at a table with the Russian biochemist Mikhail Shchepinov. In front of us are two teaspoons and a brown glass bottle. Shchepinov opens the bottle, pours out a teaspoon of clear liquid and drinks it down. He smiles. It's my turn.I put a spoonful of the liquid in my mouth and swallow. It tastes slightly sweet, which is a surprise. I was expecting it to be exactly like water since that, in fact, is what it is - heavy water to be precise, chemical formula D₂O. The D stands for deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen with an atomic mass of 2 instead of 1. Deuterium is what puts the heavy in heavy water. An ice cube made out of it would sink in normal water.My sip of heavy water is the culmination of a long journey trying to get to the bottom of a remarkable claim that Shchepinov first made around 18 months ago. He believes he has discovered an elixir of youth, a way to drink (or more likely eat) your way to a longer life.Many anti-aging medications are based on supplementing your body's own defenses with antioxidant compounds such as vitamin C and beta-carotene, though there is scant evidence that this does any good.Shchepinov realized there was another way to defeat free radicals. While he was familiarizing himself with research on aging, his day job involved a well-established - if slightly obscure - bit of chemistry called the isotope effect. On Christmas day 2006, it dawned on him that putting the two together could lead to a new way of postponing the ravages of time.The basic concept of the isotope effect is that the presence of heavy isotopes in a molecule can slow down its chemical reactions.All of this is conventional chemistry: the isotope effect was discovered back in the 1930s and its mechanism explained in the 1940s. The effect has a long pedigree as a research tool in basic chemistry for probing the mechanisms of complex reactions.Shchepinov, however, is the first researcher to link the effect with aging. It dawned on him that if aging is caused by free radicals trashing covalent bonds, and if those same bonds can be strengthened using the isotope effect, why not use it to make vulnerable biomolecules more resistant to attack? All you would have to do is judiciously place deuterium or carbon-13 in the bonds that are most vulnerable to attack, and chemistry should take care of the rest.

Source:New Scientist November 27, 2008

damaged wind turbine

LONDON (Reuters) - Green energy company Ecotricity is investigating what mangled a wind turbine in England over the weekend, a spokeswoman for the company said.Press cited locals reporting a bright light at the time of the incident, in which one of the blades snapped off, and speculation that unidentified flying objects may have been responsible.
After inspecting the site, however, the Health and Safety Executive said on Thursday that the turbine at the Fen Farm wind farm in Lincolnshire had not been hit by an object. "It wasn't a collision," an HSE spokesman said, adding that investigations were continuing.The farm's operator, Ecotricity, was ruling nothing out."We are carrying out investigations at the site and until those have been concluded we don't want to speculate what the cause is but we can't rule anything out," the Ecotricity spokeswoman said."It happened early Sunday morning or late Saturday night," she said. "It's a completely unique incident ... it's just this single turbine."A spokesman for the manufacturer of the turbine, Germany's Enercon, said investigations were continuing.
The blades on Enercon's E-48 wind turbine are each more than 20 metres (65 ft) long, made of fibreglass and designed to withstand lightening strikes.Enercon is one of the world's largest wind turbine manufacturers with a 14 percent global market share in 2007.
"It's a good machine," said Jefferies analyst Michael McNamara of the Enercon product.
"All turbine manufacturers suffer breaks. It's what causes the break that's the issue," he said.Indian turbine maker Suzlon Energy had to recall blades in the United States when some cracked and broke, McNamara said.(Reporting by Daniel Fineren and Gerard Wynn

RUSSIA-UKRAINE 'COLD WAR' GRIPS EUROPE

KIEV - Schools closed, heating shut down and nearly a dozen European nations reported a cutoff of natural-gas supplies in one of the coldest winters in recent memory. Russia and Ukraine blamed each other in a dispute as bitter as the temperature with a cold front blanketing Europe. Thermometers fell to minus 13 degrees Fahrenheit in some capitals. "We can´t transit anything if there is nothing to transit," said Ihor Didenko, assistant chairman of Ukraine's Naftogaz, which operates pipelines that deliver 80 percent of Russia's natural gas to the rest of Europe. On a day when Orthodox Christians celebrated Christmas, Romania declared a state of emergency. Thousands of households in the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, went without heat and Bulgaria turned off heating on buses and trains in Sofia. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin ordered the state-owned energy giant Gazprom to cut all deliveries to Ukraine, and Ukrainian officials said the pipelines ran dry shortly after 7 a.m.Mr. Putin said gas would be turned on if international observers were in place to prevent Ukraine from stealing gas destined for the rest of Europe.
Russia supplies about 40 percent of Europe's natural gas. The U.S. sided with Ukraine. "Cutting off these supplies during winter to a vulnerable population is just something that is unacceptable to us," State Department spokesman Robert Wood said. National Security Adviser Stephen J. Hadley warned Russia that using gas for leverage over its neighbors could backfire. "A Russia that continues to threaten its neighbors and manipulate their access to energy will compromise any aspirations for greater global influence," he said. Supply disruptions were reported as far west as France. European leaders called on Moscow and Kiev to resolve the conflict, while energy ministers planned to meet in Brussels on Thursday. "Russia will resume its deliveries when the observer groups are in place," Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek told reporters in Prague. The Czech Republic holds the rotating presidency of the European Union. Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko called on Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to end the energy embargo, which began Jan. 1 over a commercial dispute between the two nations over the price of gas.
In a letter to the Kremlin, Mr. Yushchenko said Russia must "immediately renew the operative daily transit [of gas] to European countries." He also said he was "deeply concerned" by the worsening conflict between the two nations. "Without prior warning to the Ukrainian side, the Russian side closed the last crossing of Russian gas to Ukraine ... and in that way stopped the export of Russian gas to Europe," Oleh Dubina, head of Naftogaz, told reporters. Alexei Miller, head of Russia´s Gazprom, said the move was necessary because, he said, Ukraine was siphoning gas meant for European customers. "Unfortunately, there has been an open stealing of gas," he told journalists during a news conference in Brussels. "Russia has become a prisoner of Ukraine´s blame game." This is not the first time Kiev and Moscow have been at loggerheads over gas prices. Russia cut supplies to Ukraine in January 2006, causing similar supply disruptions throughout much of Europe. But that suspension only lasted a day, and since then both countries have tried to present themselves as reliable partners to the West - Russia as a gas supplier and Ukraine as a transporter. The current crisis has gone further than both sides anticipated. Neither has been able to agree on the price Kiev should pay Moscow for gas, or what Russia should pay Ukraine in transit fees. Natalia A. Feduschak in Kiev, The Washington Times, Thu, Jan 8, 2009

LINK: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jan/08/russia-ukraine-cold-war-grips-europe/

Gulf conditions ripe for cyclone says WB

The prospect of a cyclone developing over the next few days has firmed as flooding increases across parts of western and northern Queensland.The weather bureau says a strong monsoon low is expected to form in the northern Gulf of Carpentaria today and will intensify over the coming days, bringing more rain to the region.Meteorologist Peter Otto says a cyclone could develop over the next few days."There is a low pressure system over land at the moment, but the monsoon flow to its north into the northern Gulf is looking like increasing during Friday and even further on Saturday," he said.Higher than normal tides and coastal flooding are expected along western Cape York."We are looking at heights that people may have experienced in several strong monsoons over the last few years," Mr Otto said."It is definitely just the western Cape at the moment - so between Torres Strait and Pormpuraam."The possibility that that low on the southern Gulf coast may linger into the Gulf of Carpentaria waters over the weekend and could develop into a cyclone is a possibility."

The State Government has activated a disaster coordination centre to manage relief assistance to 12 disaster declared areas in the state's north-west.The damage bill has risen to more than $21 million.The State Government has sent a helicopter from Townsville to Mount Isa to help deliver emergency supplies.It is also on standby to carry out any evacuations.Transport to the region remains limited after a maintenance train derailed near Cloncurry yesterday, while many roads remain cut by floodwaters.A number of rivers have broken their banks and rain continues today.The flooding rains in Queensland's central west could be worth millions of dollars to the state's agricultural industry.Winton Mayor Ed Warren says the region was facing extremely dry conditions as little as two weeks ago, with cattle having to be moved out of the shire."To have the shire sort of extinguished of the ravages of drought is something that we always look forward to and it appears, at this stage, that we've got a good season in front of us," he said.

P&G tidal wave

Thousands of people living in coastal areas and in floating houses in Manokwari, West Papua province, fled to hills or other elevated places as a tidal wave hit the area at 12 am local time on Monday January 5 2009.The tidal wave which reached heights of up to five meters swept through the coastal villages of Borasi, Pasar Borobudur, Wirsi, Sanggeng, Wosi, Rendani, Kampung Ambon, Pasir Putih and also reached the city center.Earlier in the day, an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.5 on the Richter scale shook the Manokwari and Sorong areas but the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) said the temblor did not have the potential of triggering a tsunami.The earthquake caused cracks in the walls of a number of urban buildings, including Hadi Mall, Bank Mandiri, Bank Papua and Sanggeng Department Store. But there were no immediate reports of casualties. The epicenter of the earthquake was located at 1.17 degrees southern latitude and 131.94 degrees eastern longitude at a depth of 50 km below sea level, 78 km southeast of Sorong, 199 km southwest of Manokwari and 144 km northwest of Kaimana, West Papua province.Water from the tidal wave also reached streets at the Manokwari city center causing thousands of people to rush out of buildings to find safer places. They took refuge in the hills of Reremi, Wosi, Rendani, Gunung Meja, Manggopai and at the University of Papua (Unipa) campus which is located in an area about 500 meters above sea level.)

http://visz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index.php?smp=&lang=eng