Tracking the origins of speedy space particles

NASA – This is an artist’s rendition of the five THEMIS space spacecraft traveling through the magnetic field lines around Earth.

NASA’s Time History of Events and Macroscale Interaction during Substorms THEMIS spacecraft combined with computer models have helped track the origin of the energetic particles in Earth’s magnetic atmosphere that appear during a kind of space weather called a substorm. Understanding the source of such particles and how they are shuttled through Earth’s atmosphere is crucial to better understanding the Sun’s complex space weather system and thus protect satellites or even humans in space.

The results show that these speedy electrons gain extra energy from changing magnetic fields far from the origin of the substorm that causes them.

THEMIS, which consists of five orbiting satellites, helped provide these insights when three of the spacecraft traveled through a large substorm on February 15, 2008. This allowed scientists to track changes in particle energy over a large distance. The observations were consistent with numerical models showing an increase in energy due to changing magnetic fields, a process known as betatron acceleration.”The origin of fast electrons in substorms has been a puzzle,” says Maha Ashour-Abdalla, the lead author of a Nature Physics paper that appeared online on January 30, 2011 on the subject and a physicist at the University of California, Los Angeles. “It hasn’t been clear until now if they got their burst of speed in the middle of the storm, or from some place further away.

… “When the team looked at their models they saw that electrons near the reconnection sites didn’t gain much energy. But as they looked closer to Earth, where the THEMIS satellites were located, their model showed particles that had some ten times as much energy – just as THEMIS had in fact observed.This is consistent with the betatron acceleration model. The electrons gain a small amount of energy from the reconnection and then travel toward Earth, crossing many changing magnetic field lines. These fields produce betatronic acceleration just as Kivelson predicted in the early 1980s, speeding the electrons up substantially. …

via Tracking the origins of speedy space particles.

Two Simultaneous Major Eruptions on the Sun

Jan. 28th began with not one but two major eruptions on the sun. Separated by more than a million kilometers, the two blasts occurred almost simultaneously on opposite corners of the solar disk….

On the lower left, a magnetic filament became unstable and erupted, hurling a portion of itself into space

. On the upper right, departing sunspot 1149 produced an M1-class solar flare and a bright coronal mass ejection (SOHO movie). Is this all a big coincidence? Maybe not. New research shows that eruptions on the sun can “go global” with widely separated blasts unfolding in concert as they trigger and feed off of one another.

These blasts are going to miss in concert, too. Plasma clouds ejected by the two eruptions will sail wide of our planet, one on the left and one on the right. No Earth-effects are expected; maybe next time.

via Spaceweather.com Time Machine.

Mummy fried – woman sets fire to house while trying to reanimate long-dead sister

A night fire in an apartment block has been caused by a woman who tried to reanimate her long-dead elder sister with electricity.

­The horrific story happened in Ekaterinburg, the biggest city in the Urals.

The suspected arsonist, 69, apparently was not completely of sound mind, judging by her mental health record.

A year ago, her 73-year-old sister died from natural causes, prosecutors told Noviy Region news agency. However, instead of reporting the death, the woman preserved the body with gasoline and had been trying the reanimate it ever since.

Her last macabre experiment on Tuesday night involved “jump starting” the mummified corpse with two wires connecting the body’s hand and neck to the mains.

Despite what Frankenstein movies suggest, the electric current did not revive the body, instead setting it on fire.

The surviving sister is now in hospital suffering from burns and smoke inhalation. …

via Mummy fried – woman sets fire to house while trying to reanimate long-dead sister — RT.

Body snatchers steal dead Italian game show host

Police are investigating after the body of Italy’s best-loved TV quiz show host was stolen from its tomb.

Detectives believe the thieves plan to ransom the remains of Mike Bongiorno, Italy’s equivalent of Bruce Forsyth.

Credited with pioneering the quiz show format in the 1950s, Bongiorno died of a heart attack in Sept 2009 at the age of 85.

Thieves broke into his tomb in a cemetery on the shores of Lake Maggiore, north of Milan, and removed his coffin.

His eldest son, Michele, said his family were “shocked and horrified” by the discovery. “Words cannot describe how we feel,” he said.

Former singer and television star, Iva Zanicchi, now an MEP, described the theft as “monstrous”.

Instead of Bruce Forsyth’s “Nice to see you, to see you – nice!”, Bongiorno’s trademark greeting was “Allegria!” (Happiness!)

Flanked by bikini-clad showgirls, he presented shows such as the Italian version of Wheel of Fortune and Beat the Clock.

Such was his standing that he was given a state funeral in Milan which was attended by thousands of mourners, including Silvio Berlusconi. …

via Thieves steal body of Italian Brucie | Orange UK.

“Ship” reaches “Mars” after 233 days with no women

More than 40 years after Neil Armstrong became the first person to set foot on the surface of the moon, the multinational crew of Russia’s Mars 500 experiment will finally leave their spaceship in the coming weeks, and venture out – into an adjacent sandpit.

The “spaceship” for the simulated journey to Mars is in fact a cylindrical metal pod located in a scientific institute in north Moscow. For the last 233 days the six crew members have been locked inside to simulate the conditions of a trip to Mars. After their gruelling eight-month “journey”, the crew will begin their orbit of the Red Planet on 1 February, and will touch down on 12 February.

They will step out into the sandpit, meant to simulate the surface of Mars, and perform a number of experiments, before re-entering the capsule for the long journey back to Earth.

“They are still motivated, but there is a certain fatigue, which is natural,” said Boris Morukov, the mission director and a former cosmonaut. Talking to reporters in Moscow yesterday, he admitted that as the landing came and went and the crew prepared for another long stint inside the module, monotony would become difficult to bear. “The fatigue and the thought that the mission is over can be fraught with negative consequences.”

The crew have no access to telephones, televisions or any other conveniences, and they are only able to make contact with the control room through emails, which are subject to an increasing time delay the “further away” they get from Earth.

Six men live on board the stationary spaceship – three from Russia, one each from France and China, and one Italian-Columbian. In a recent online blog, the French participant, Romain Charles, explained how the crew celebrated Christmas: “For a good Christmas ambience we needed a fireplace. This kind of device is quite difficult to find in a spaceship,” wrote the almost-astronaut.

“However, Diego had the solution to our problem. He found a picture of a fireplace and printed a big poster of it.” The crew also made a Christmas tree out of cardboard.

Nearly 6,000 people applied to take part in the project, and 20 per cent of them were women. The applicants were whittled down to a shortlist of 15, before the final six – all of whom were men – were chosen.

“There was no policy not to take women, and there were female candidates,” said Mr Morukov yesterday. “But there is a certain psychological barrier for women – it’s difficult for them to leave the environment that they are used to,” he claimed. …

via Out of the spaceship – and into a sandpit – Science, News – The Independent.

Black Widow attempted New Year Moscow attack but blew herself up by mistake

The woman intended to detonate a suicide belt on a busy square near Red Square on New Year’s Eve in an attack that could have killed hundreds …

Andrew Osborn – A “Black Widow” suicide bomber planned a terrorist attack in central Moscow on New Year’s Eve but was killed when an unexpected text message set off her bomb too early, according to Russian security sources.

… The unnamed woman, who is thought to be part of the same group that struck Moscow’s Domodedovo airport on Monday, intended to detonate a suicide belt on a busy square near Red Square on New Year’s Eve in an attack that could have killed hundreds.

Security sources believe a spam message from her mobile phone operator wishing her a happy new year received just hours before the planned attack triggered her suicide belt, killing her but nobody else.

She was at her Moscow safe house at the time getting ready with two accomplices, both of whom survived and were seen fleeing the scene.

Islamist terrorists in Russia often use cheap unused mobile phones as detonators. The bomber’s handler, who is usually watching their charge, sends the bomber a text message in order to set off his or her explosive belt at the moment when it is thought they can inflict maximum casualties.

The phones are usually kept switched off until the very last minute but in this case, Russian security sources believe, the terrorists were careless. …

via Black Widow attempted New Year Moscow attack but blew herself up by mistake – Telegraph.

Yeah, that will make people think twice about getting together in large groups, such as protests and such.

Mystery of 200 Dead Cows in Wisconsin “Solved”

Hugh Collins – Authorities investigating the deaths of 200 cows in Wisconsin have come up with an unlikely culprit: the sweet potato.

The cows were found dead in a Stockton pasture two weeks ago. Locals were left scratching their heads about what caused the mass die-off.

Investigators from the University of Wisconsin have determined that the animals were killed by a poison found in spoiled sweet potatoes that were part of the cattle’s feed.

“It is likely that a mycotoxin from moldy sweet potato was a major factor in the disease and deaths of these steers,” said Peter Vanderloo, associate director of the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.

There’s been a spate of mass animal deaths in recent weeks, from fish in Maryland and Arkansas to birds in Louisiana and South Dakota.

The farmer who owned the cows had thought they might have fallen victim to disease such as infectious bovine rhinotracheitis, according to The Wisconsin Rapids Tribune. Vanderloo and his team ruled that out.

“None of the major respiratory pathogens of cattle were identified in the samples provided to the lab,” said Vanderloo.

He also explained that the toxic sweet potatoes were not in the human food supply chain, so there was no threat to people. …

via Mystery of 200 Dead Cows in Wisconsin Solved.

Travis Walter Donovan – 200 cows were found dead Friday on a farm in Portage County, Wisconsin. The dead cows had to be removed with semi-trucks. The rest of the farm has not been quarantined, as officials say no threat is posed toward humans or other animals, according the The AP.

The owner of the dead cows was working with a local veterinarian, who initially believed a virus such as infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) or bovine virus diarrhea (BVD) could be the culprit, according to The Wausau Daily Herald. WSAW News reports that more recent updates have suggested pneumonia as the cause of the mass cow deaths, though such widespread cases of pneumonia are rare. Tests are still underway to determine what is responsible. See WSAW’s full video report here.

Though likely unrelated, many other incidents of mass animal deaths have been reported in the U.S. and around the world in the past month.  …- via HuffingtonPost

Is that “Solved” or “given a reason to be ignored”? Let’s hope the sweet potato answer is right, because otherwise that UFO spotted emitting a death ray that killed fish has now been tuned to kill large mammals. How long do we have?

Adam Potter and the 1,000ft Mountain Fall Survival

A climber who fell 1,000ft (300 metres) down the face of a Scottish mountain was found by a rescue helicopter, standing up and studying a map and suffering only cuts and bruises.

The 36-year-old man, who has been named as Adam Potter, from Glasgow, was in a group of four climbers who reached the 3,589ft summit of Sgurr Choinnich Mor, about five miles from Ben Nevis, early yesterday afternoon, when he lost his footing and fell. He was kept overnight at the Southern General hospital, in Glasgow, for observation for injuries that were said to be “non life-threatening”.

Police said Potter was happy for his name to be released but would not be giving any interviews. They described him as “the very fortunate climber”.

His first piece of good fortune was that a Royal Navy Sea King helicopter was already in the air on a training exercise and arrived at the scene only 35 minutes later.

The rest of the group pointed rescuers in the direction of Potter’s fall, down the steep and craggy eastern slope of the mountain.

When they spotted somebody standing far below at 792.5 metres and beneath three high craggy outcrops, they assumed it must be the wrong man and flew back to the summit, where they saw bits of Potter’s kit scattered in a vertical line down the face of the mountain.

A paramedic was winched down to check him and found him bruised, with a minor chest injury and some superficial cuts, although he was described as “shaking from extreme emotional shock and the sheer relief of still being alive”.

“We honestly thought it couldn’t have been him as he was on his feet, reading a map,” Lieutenant Tim Barker, the observer for the crew from HMS Gannet, based in Prestwick, Ayrshire, said. “It was quite incredible. He must have literally glanced off the outcrops as he fell, almost flying.”

Potter was winched on board the helicopter, where he was checked again by a doctor before being transferred to hospital in Glasgow. …

via Climber found alive and standing after 1,000ft mountain fall | UK news | guardian.co.uk.

Amazing, but the story above doesn’t say if he was perhaps waving a short stick and muttering “Wingardium Leviosa” when they found him.

Free Music MP3 – Major Tom Saves The Earth

There are several songs I like about a character named Major Tom, the first was by David Bowie and then the one by Peter Schilling, called Major Tom Returns.

[Major Tom Returns by Schilling] is …  a follow-up to David Bowie’s 1969 song “Space Oddity,” and continues the story of Major Tom, an astronaut who cuts off communication with Earth and floats into space.  …

Bowie released his own sequel to “Space Oddity” in 1980 called “Ashes To Ashes,” where Major Tom reestablishes communication with Earth.  – songfacts

My song “Home to You” is another adventure of Major Tom.

It is the year 3066. The Major has survived in top health as part of a human regeneration experiment.  As the most experienced person for the job, he is sent in an experimental ship to divert a solar flare which is about to destroy the earth. While on the mission, he is virtually projected at the same time so he is with his wife in the underground bunker waiting for the end. He saves the earth, but there is a problem and he gets thrown back in time to an earth with dinosaurs.

Download: Home to You (Major Tom Saves The Earth) by Xeno.

Another weird reason I wanted to write this song is that David Bowie and I share the same birthday with Elvis (Jan 8th).

If anyone can reach David Bowie, I’d love to thank him for the inspiration have him hear the song. I couldn’t find his email address. Perhaps one of you who is already a premium member of his site could pass on a link to this blog entry.