Ultimate Places

I’ve seen various references to a news story about embryonic planets forming the last few days but didn’t get a chance to read the story until now. Here is a snipet of the story from the University of Rochester press.

Astronomers at the University of Rochester are pointing to three nearby stars they say may hold “embryonic planets”—a missing link in planet-formation theories.

As scientists try to piece together how our own planet came to be, they look to the forming planets of other star systems for clues. But astronomers have been unable to find evidence for one of the key stages of planet development, a period early in the planet’s formation when it is only as large as tiny Pluto.

Read more on the story here.

That said. While the story was very interesting, what really drew my eye in, was the image above that I linked to. If there was ever something from the real world that resembled the Eye of Sauron from the Lord of the Rings, this is it. Here is a link to the hi-res version of the image.

Just came across this infrared view of the Ring Nebula, and thought I would share it. Though it lacks the brilliant rainbow of colors given off in visible light, it offers a completely different perspective on the nebula, enough that you would be tempted to call it by another name in my opinion. The rose nebula anyone?

Here is more on the Ring Nebula from Wikipedia, where I came across the image.

The Ring Nebula for those who are not aware, is located in the constellation Lyra, which is quite high in the Northern sky this time of year.

In Alaska the seasons move quickly once the light begins to fade. In a span of a month, or month and a half depending on the year we can slide from a balmy 70-80 degrees, down into the 40’s and 50’s with frost at night. And not long after that you have winter. Which in my book starts at the beginning of October, which is generally when we have the first snow fall that sticks (aka - doesn’t melt until April).

Despite this rather rapid change I am always surprised by the various micro-climates that exist across the state and from one side of a community to another. In Fairbanks for example, in some locations they can grow apple trees, while in some low-lying spots we have permafrost, and surface ice and snow that doesn’t melt until late May. The photo above is a perfect example of this. In most other places in Fairbanks, just about everything was killed off by frost a week ago, and yet down in the center of town, growing out of the base of planter box is this flower. Even near by, just about everything is dead, and yet it perseveres. But winter eventually conquers all, and so it will with this flower.

And they say winter starts with the winter solstice…hah!

Having always been fascinated by the life of Ghengis Khan, and the shear magnitude of what he accomplished (for better or worse), I thought I would pass on this recent news article from the BBC, about a man who spent 3 years of his life retracing Khan’s steps, and apparently he didn’t have the easiest time of it either.

BBC Article 9/23/07)

More on Ghengis Khan:
Wikipedia Article

Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World (Amazon.com)

While I’m not a glaciologist, I do quite a bit of work with folks who love to study snow and ice, which is why compared to many of the images I have seen, this is one of the better ones. And while Alaska is filled with glaciers, many of them beautiful, few if any are so symmetrical.

The image is of glacier in Northeast Greenland called the Elephant’s Foot. Here’s a Google Map of its general location at 81N latitude. I tried finding it zooming in but no luck. Maybe you can find it. All I can think is it must be smaller than it looks

Here’s a similar “piedmont” glacier as they call them, in Alaska, called Malispina Glacier. It by contrast is very obvious.

And if you find glacier photos fascinating, the International Polar Year website has a complete gallery of other photos, from polar bears to icebergs. Check it out.

Here’s a piece of news you don’t hear every day. From BBC.

“Some 600 people in Peru have required treatment after an object from space - said to be a meteorite - plummeted to Earth in a remote area, officials say. More >>

From the sounds of it, the meteorite created a pretty serious hole in the ground - 100 feet wide and 20 feet dee. Here’s more on the story.

Here’s a Google Map of the approximate location.

To those who don’t believe global warming is real. Today brought more news to the contrary. When are politicians going to get a clue as to the real world implications of this? You have to wonder.

Here’s the headline from BBC News.

Here’s where the Northwest Passage is located, with the ice magically stripped away by Google Maps. Who knows one day soon, this may come close to real thing.

Okay, now I will get back off my soap box.

Photo from Wikipedia - Greenland

Well after years of helping maintain remote weather cams and a weather station at Umiat, Alaska, I’m finally going to make my first visit. With two cameras in place for the last 3 years, and another 1-2 two more planned this coming year, I figured a visit was long past due.

Compared to other places in Alaska, Umiat isn’t really much of a town, more an airstrip, and a fairly well established work camp for the many parties doing oil and gas exploration work on the North Slope. The town in the past has varied from 1-2 people in the winter, to a several dozen in the summer. That is likely to change as exploration is anticipated to pick up in the coming years

Umiat is also fairly notorious for being one of the colder places in a Alaska during the winter.

For current weather conditions visit - Umiat.com

And if you have no idea where Umiat is, you can find it here.

Its not every day that you find a fossil sticking right out of the ground where you can just reach down and grab it, but that’s what happen to a 10-year kid locally, as he walked home from school. Being as large as a toaster it was apparently pretty hard to miss. Hopefully he donates it to the local museum where it should find a good home, along with a lot of other Pleistocene era fossils that have been found in Alaska.

You can read more about this story here.

Read more about woolly mammoths.

Here’s another cool shot from NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day shot by Robert Schwarz. While it doesn’t quite get -90 below in Alaska, it does get in the -40’s and some times colder so I know what this guy must of gone through to get this shot.

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