The Aurora

The Aurora (the northern Lights) are a thing that have been capturing the human mind for ages. Stories of lights the shine threw the night with colors like peices of broken glass have been told for many years all around the world. But what is the aurora? the Aurora is a show of lights that appear in the northen parts of the earth. What happens is atmospheric gasses have a collision and cause a shower of electrons and protons. When these particils hit the earths magnetic field they produce different lights and alas the Aurora is born. And to think this is all happining 115 miles above our heads.Wow!

http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=2088

Spaceships Transit the Sun

In astronomy, a "transit" is when an object passes in front of a much larger object. It's sort of like an eclipse, only the object in front is WAY too small to block the object behind.

Here is a photograph of the ISS (International Space Station) and the Space Shuttle Atlantis transiting the Sun in sometime in the past week:

This photo was taken by Ricardo de Nasso of Pisa, Italy. I found it on http://www.spaceweather.com/. (Sorry, I can't find any direct URL there so that's the best link I can post!)

The Sun, Moon, and Earth, oh my!

My first post is on lunar eclipses.

Lunar eclipses are caused when the sun's light is blocked by the earth and out of the moon's range. When this happens the moon goes through a "shadow cone called an umbra at which time the moon is invisible to the earth sky."(microsoft encarta corporation) The amount of time the moon stays in the umbra is dependant on how long the moon is out of the suns light. When there is a full lunar eclipse the moon may gain a red tint. I found this article interesting due to the lunar eclipse that is coming up in a couple of days.

http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761568140/eclipse.html

My second cite is on sunspots.

Sunspots are circles of black areas on the moon. Sunspots are caused by a "magnetic disruption across the sun's surface" causing it to cool.(microsoft encarta corporation) When this happen magnetic storms are created which travel to earth and can overload many electric items. Sunspots can last a fews days to a few months and can get as big as 384,500km. I liked this article on sunspots because I am fascinated by magnetism and electrical current.

http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_701879658/Sunspots.html

posted by Zak A.

Michael Collins, Please Remember to Put Titles on All Your Posts!

Hey guys, check this out! It's really cool!

http://www.popsci.com/diy/article/2008-02/trap-lightning-block

New Solar System!

Astronomers have discovered a new solar system. It is 5,000 light years away. They discovered it by observing "gravitational lensing." This new solar system has "small" planets in it as well as big planets.

Here is the link:

• http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=scaled-down-solar-system

Do you want to know what "gravitational lensing" is? http://wikipedia.org/ has some good pictures and animations. Here's the link:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_lensing

Aurora Photos from Earth and Space

http://www.spaceweather.com/ has posted an Aurora Photo Gallery for February, 2008. The pictures show solar radiation entering the earth's atmosphere in places all around the Northern Hemisphere. Here is the link:

http://www.spaceweather.com/aurora/gallery_01feb08.htm

Some of the photos are taken from outer space by the astronauts on board the International Space Station!

(The photo to the right comes from Hanneke Luijting in Tromsø, Norway.)

These are fun photos to look at while reading The Golden Compass...

Music, Noise, and Words

Should we be practicing our guitar playing instead of studying our spelling words? Scientists at Northwestern University might think so. Here is the link to an article about how music helps you do better in languages:

• http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070926123908.htm

Then again, if your house gets too LOUD, your verbal skills might suffer! Here is the link to an article about how babies learn more slowly when there are more distractions in their homes:

• http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2005/0908-mind_amp_brain.htm

Both these stories came from: www.sciencedaily.com