133 results found.
... Biology)+ H (Humans)+ B (Behavior)+ 1 (first anomaly in Chapter BHB). Some anomalies and curiosities that are listed below have not yet been cataloged and published in catalog format. These do not have the alphanumerical labels. AA ASTEROIDS AAB CELESTIAL MECHANICS PROBLEMS WITH ASTEROIDS AAB1 Anomalous Asteroid Orbits AAB2 Asteroid Distribution Anomalies AAB3 The High "Internal Energy" of the Asteroid Population AAB4 Peculiar Distribution of Asteroid Spin Rates AAB5 Unexplained Residual Precession of Icarus AAB6 Evidence against an Explosive Origin for Asteroids AB SOLAR SYSTEM "LAWS" AND INTERRELATIONSHIPS ABB DYNAMICS OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM AS-A -WHOLE ABB1 Solar-System Instability ABB2 Circularity of Planetary Orbits ABB3 Anomalous Split of Angular Momentum between Sun and Planets ABB4 Ubiquity of Resonances in the Solar System ABS REMARKABLE RELATIONSHIPS AMONG PLANETARY AND SATELLITE PARAMETERS ABS1 Solar System Laws of Distance ABS2 Similarity of Densities of Composite Terrestrial Planets ABS3 Multiple Primaries in the Solar System ABS4 Supposed Quantization of Planetary Orbital Periods ABS5 Solar System Mass Laws ABS6 The Quantized Nature of Orbital Systems AC COMETS ACB ORBITAL ANOMALIES OF COMETS ACB1 The Appearance of Comets in Cycles ACB2 Nonrandom Direction-of-Approach of Comets to the Sun ACB3 New Comets Have Almost Critical Velocity ACB4 Sun-Grazing Comets: The Kreutz Group ACB5 Changing Cometary Periods ACB6 Jupiter's Family of Comets ACB7 Low-Eccentricity Cometary Orbits ACB8 The Scarcity of Hyperbolic Orbits ACB9 Cometary Groups ACB10 Orbits of New Comets Diverge from Common Point ACB11 Excess of Retrograde Long Period Comets ACB12 Uranus-Neptune Region Favored as Comet Source ACB13 Cometary Perturbations Suggestive of Planet X ACB14 Rapid Attrition of the Oort Cloud by ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 127 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /cat-astr.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 96: Nov-Dec 1994 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Satellite Spies Strange Stripes ERS-1 , Europe's remote-sensing satellite, snapped some pictures of Australia's Nullarbor Plain that have geologists scratching their heads. The Nullarbor Plain, which has long been billed as a vast, featureless desert, is crossed by five long, parallel lines, 15 kilometers wide and 600 kilometers long. These huge stripes would seem to be too big to miss, but ground-based surveys see nothing obvious. Even more curious, infrared sensors on a US weather satellite also see the five stripes. As the Nullarbor Plain cools off at night, the stripes are found to be about 2 C cooler than the surrounding terrain. Could they be fault lines? Geologists have not found any in the area. (Anderson, Ian; "Satellite Spies Strange Stripes in the Desert," New Scientist, p. 10, September 3, 1994.) Comment. Are these stripes akin to the man-made Nazca lines etched upon Peru's high desert? Not likely; they are too big. Instead, we wonder whether they might be associated with the Nullarbor Plain's massive lode of meteorites. (SF#80) From Science Frontiers #96, NOV-DEC 1994 . 1994-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 106 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf096/sf096g10.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 1: September 1977 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Lightning Superbolts Detected By Satellites The Vela satellites carry optical sensors for the detection of terrestrial nuclear explosions. Four Vela satellites keep the entire earth under constant surveillance. In addition to nuclear explosions, these satellites register many intense lightning flashes. Some of the flashes are over 100 times more brilliant than average. Only about five of these "superbolts" occur for every 10 million flashes registered. Superbolt flashes have relatively long durations (about one thousandth of a second) and do not appear to be confined to the upper levels of the clouds. A large fraction of the superbolts are recorded over Japan and the northeast Pacific during intense winter storms. Ground observations during these storms reveal occasional very powerful discharges of long duration from positively charged regions near the cloud tops to the ground. In contrast, typical lightning arises from negatively charged regions of clouds. (Turman, B.N .; "Detection of Lightning Superbolts," Journal of Geophysical Research, 82:2566, 1977.) Reference. Many of lightning's anomalies are described in Chapter GLL in our Catalog: Lightning, Auroras. For ordering information, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #1 , September 1977 . 1977-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 106 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf001/sf001p10.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 101: Sep-Oct 1995 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Strange phenomenon detected by radars and satellites January 12, 1994. Near Monte Vista, Colorado. At 2:55 PM local time, radars of the North American Aerospace Defense Command and satelliteborne instruments detected an unexplained "heat-radiating" phenomenon. Some sort of fire or explosion was suspected, but air and ground searches by local authorities turned up nothing. Possibly relevant: On the night of January 15, a Rio Grande County sheriff's deputy on patrol saw three helicopters, two with large strobe lights, apparently searching the suspect area. Military officials denied having any craft in the area. (Anonymous; "Officials Baffled by Spectacle on Radar," New Mexican , January 27, 1994. Associated Press item. Cr. P. Viemeister) Comment. Infrared sensors on satellites could detect "heatradiating" phenomena, but it is unclear what groundbased radars "saw." If some kind of military operation were involved, it is doubtful that radar and satellite observations would be made public. Caution advised here! From Science Frontiers #101 Sep-Oct 1995 . 1995-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 89 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf101/sf101g14.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 20: Mar-Apr 1982 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Something hot beneath small saturn-satellite surfaces Crater-density studies of the small, icy Saturn satellites Rhea, Dione, Mimas, and Tethys reveal important non-uniformities in crater distribution and age. The anomalies are so large that astronomers have concluded that these objects must have undergone considerable evolution after they were formed by accretion (the currently accepted mode of formation). Unfortunately these four satellites are so small that they could not have accommodated any reasonable energy source capable of causing the observed crustal evolution. The authors suggest strong local concentrations of radioactive heat generators rather than uniformly distributed radiogenic substances, such as those that helped mould the earth's surface. (Plescia, J.B ., and Boyce, J.M .; "Crater Densities and Geological Histories of Rhea, Dione, Mimas and Tethys," Nature, 295:285, 1982.) Comment. Interestingly enough, local concentrations of radioactivity have been discovered on the moon. From Science Frontiers #20, MAR-APR 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 85 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf020/sf020p03.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 84: Nov-Dec 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Odd Growths Found On Satellite We cautiously classify the following phenomenon as "biological," although it might well be inorganic in nature -- perhaps something akin to "whisker growth" seen in metals under some conditions. "Scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration are scratching their heads over how a tiny patch of something managed to grow even though it was exposed to the harshness of outer space for nearly six years. "The mystery growth has been found in a toothpick-sized region on what is known as the Long Duration Exposure Facility. The bussized LDEF was launched in 1984 and was retrieved by a space shuttle in January 1990, a few weeks before its decaying orbit would have sent it crashing back to earth. .. .. . "NASA scientists in Huntsville, Ala., discovered the growth while examining a brownish discoloration on a Tefloncovered section of the satellite. "Using an electron scanning microscope, they saw tiny, stalactite-like structures on the Teflon. Tiny means the longest were about seven microns in size. That's about one-tenth the width of a human hair. "At first NASA scientists thought the growth might be a fungus or a mold that had contaminated the LDEF upon its return. However, their tests came up negative," (Anonymous; "Odd Space Growth on Satellite Baffles NASA," Arkansas Demo crat-Gazelle , September 9, 1992. Cr. ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 82 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf084/sf084b06.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 112: Jul-Aug 1997 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Icy minicomets caught by a satellite camera?A geophysicist really risks his or her reputation if he or she suggests that the earth is bombarded each by 20 house-size, icy minicomets. Well, L. Frank, University of Iowa, did just that in 1986. He was duly pilloried for his trouble. But, at the 1997 spring meeting of the American Geophysical Union, Frank presented new data to back up his previous assertions. The most startling of his new evidence came from a camera aboard a NASA satellite. Time-lapse photos imaged two objects streaking into the atmosphere over Poland and Germany. Frank identified these as clouds of water molecules from disrupted icy minicomets. The clouds had expanded from the house-size minicomets to clouds 3550 miles wide, weighing 20-40 tons. Frank thinks the minicomets come from a cloud of such objects orbiting the sun from earth out to Jupiter and beyond. Why don't they evaporate in the sunlight and near-vacuum of outer space? Perhaps, thought Frank, they are protected by a thin coating of carbon. (Roylance, Frank D.; "Space Snowballs Theory Gains Credence," Baltimore Sun, May 29, 1997. Also: Monastersky, R.; "Is Earth Pelted by Space Snowballs?" Science News, 151:332, 1997. Thanks to all who sent in clippings. There are too many to mention here. Frank' ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 81 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf112/sf112p11.htm
... No. 42: Nov-Dec 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A Different Way Of Looking At The Solar System The current scientific consensus has the sun and its planets forming during the same process of accretion/condensation. In this view, the inner terrestrial planets differ from the outer giant planets only because their volatile elements were driven off by the sun's heat. This scenario has many problems, as recorded in our catalog volume The Moon and the Planets. G.H .A . Cole thinks that astronomers might have more success in explaining the origin of the solar system if they considered it a system of five large bodies of star stuff (light elements), each surrounded by its own retinue of high density satellites (the sun's four satellites would be the inner planets). In effect, then, we would have a quintuple star system in which only one member (the sun) collected enough star stuff to make it to incandescence. The four, large, outer planets would be merely failed stars. The advantages of this change of perspective are threefold: (1 ) All five central bodies are now compositionally similar as a class, (2 ) In each of the five systems, the angular momentum of the central body is greater than that of its satellites, whereas in the unitary solar system the angular momentum of the nine planets is much greater than that of the sun -- an embarrassing anomaly. (3 ) A final "bonus" appears when the distances of the ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 78 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf042/sf042p08.htm
... Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The perseus flasher: mystery solved!So goes the title of an item in Sky and Telescope. Instead of ending with an exclamation point, a question mark would have been more appropriate. The Perseus Flasher, a recurring flash of light in Perseus described in SF#39 and #49, is a topic upon which astronomers also wish to "close the book." So, we must ask ourselves how accurate the above title is. Photographic records of the Perseus Flasher site show no flashes at all in 3,288 hours of monitoring. In fact, a Harvard plate, which was being exposed at the same time that a 0-magnitude flash was reported by naked-eye observers, revealed nothing! The passages of some artificial satellites through the Perseus site have been correlated with naked-eye-observed flashes, suggesting that the flashes are only sun glints. One meteor observer, N. McLeod, claims that there is a background level of flashes from other parts of the sky which can also be attributed to satellite glints. The Sky and Telescope item concludes: "So the mystery is solved!" (Anonymous; "The Perseus Flasher: Mystery Solved!" Sky and Telescope, 73:604, 1987.) Comment. So, science in its relentless, inerrant progress has positively solved still another mystery. (Triumphal background music here!) In case you haven't noticed, the three "exhibits" above do not hang together too well. First, it is implied that the Perseus flashes ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 67 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf053/sf053a05.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 58: Jul-Aug 1988 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Chaotic Dynamics In The Solar System The following abstract appeared in a 1988 issue of Eos, a weekly publication of the American Geophysical Union. "Newton's equations have chaotic solutions as well as regular solutions. The solar system is generally perceived as evolving with clockwork regularity, yet there are several physical situations in the solar system where chaotic solutions of Newton's equations play an important role. There are physical examples of both chaotic rotation and chaotic orbital evolution. "Saturn's satellite Hyperion is currently tumbling chaotically, its rotation and spin axis orientation undergo significant irregular variations on a time scale of only a couple of orbit periods. Many other satellites in the solar system have had chaotic rotations in the past. It is not possible to tidally evolve into a synchronous rotation without passing through a chaotic zone. For irregularly shaped satellites this chaotic zone is attitude-unstable and chaotic tumbling ensues. This episode of chaotic tumbling probably lasts on the order of the tidal despinning timescale. For example, the Martian satellites Phobos and Deimos tumbled before they were captured into synchronous rotation for a time interval on the order of 10 million years and 100 million years, respectively. This episode of chaotic tumbling could have had a significant effect on the orbital histories of these satellites." Theis abstract continues, naming as other candidates for chaotic histories: some of the asteroids, Miranda (a satellite of Uranus), and the planet Pluto. ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 66 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf058/sf058a06.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 128: MAR-APR 2000 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The Ganymede Magnetic Paradox In December 1995, the Galileo space-craft was injected into orbit around Jupiter, thereby becoming the first known artificial satellite of this giant planet. In the five years that have transpired, Galileo has radioed back voluminous data about Jupiter itself and its four large Calilean satellites. These natural satellites have turned out to be a disparate bunch. Three have iron cores, but Callisto breaks the mold with an unusual core of mixed ice and rock. Europa probably possesses an ocean, and Callisto might also. Only one of Jupiter's large satellites, Ganymede, boasts a magnetic field. In fact, Ganymede is apparently the only satellite in the solar system to display an intrinsic, dipole magnetic field like the earth's . Although Ganymere's magnetic field is like that produced by a permanent bar magnet, its core is much too hot for permanent magnetism. Again like the earth, Ganymede's field is theorized to be generated by the convection of electrically conducting liquid in its core -- a dynamo of sorts. All well and good, but Ganymede is so small that it should have cooled off billions of years ago thereby freezing its metallic core. So then, whence its magnetic field? One way out of this box it to suppose that about a billion years ago Ganymede was circling Jupiter in an orbit that took it much closer to this ponderous planet. Then, Jupiter's powerful ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 56 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf128/sf128p04.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 94: Jul-Aug 1994 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Mystery Radio Bursts "Mysterious double bursts of radio emissions, originating near the surface of the earth, have been detected by a small satellite designed to spot nuclear blasts. "Although the powerful pulses of electromagnetic energy occur predominantly at times of day favored by thunderstorms, they are not accompanied by flashes of visible light and they do not resemble the emissions generated by classic lightning." Since November 5, 1993, about 100 of these bursts have been detected by a special radio receiver named "Blackbird" mounted on the Alexis satellite. Most of the bursts have been recorded over Africa and South America, although they may also be frequent elsewhere but are drowned out by man-made radio noise from the ground. The bursts come in pairs that are separated by 40 microseconds. The frequency dispersion of the bursts indicates that the signals have passed through the earth's ionosphere before reaching the satellite. Most bursts are picked up in the afternoon and early morning. There is some speculation that the bursts may be associated with the flashes of light recently reported above storm systems. (SF#90) (Quote from: Sawyer, Kathy; "Electrodynamics: Strange Bursts from the Sky," Washington Post, February 14, 1994. Also: Monastersky, R.; "Puzzling Atmospheric Bursts Spark Interest," Science News, 145:100, 1994. Hecht, Jeff; "Satellite Tunes in to Mystery Radio Bursts, ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 55 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf094/sf094g14.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 40: Jul-Aug 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Neptune's arcs: embryonic moons?The publicity given to the 1984 observations of possible discontinuous rings around Neptune (SF#38) have brought to light two other enigmatic observations. The 1981 sighting of a "third satellite" of Neptune have now been interpreted as still another discontinuous ring at a different radius. A third discontinuous ring seems to be indicated by the reanalysis of some 1968 occultation data. Astronomer Bill Hibbard, at the University of Arizona, speculates that the three separate arcs of material orbiting Neptune are "trying to decide whether to become a satellite." (Hecht, Jeff, and Henbest, Nigel; "Neptune's Arcs -- A Satellite in Formation?" New Scientist, p. 19, Apil 25, 1985.) Comment. If the debris around Neptune is just now accreting into satellites and Saturn's rings really do have youthful features (SF#39), one has to consider some disquieting possibilities: (1 ) Saturn and Neptune have been recently "disturbed," or (2 ) The entire solar system is not as old as the conventional scenario demands. From Science Frontiers #40, JUL-AUG 1985 . 1985-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 53 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf040/sf040p04.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 92: Mar-Apr 1994 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Target Earth Let Jupiter take care of itself! What about us -- Terra, the third planet? A February article in Sky and Telescope begins: "Military satellites have been watching huge meteoroids slam into the Earth's atmosphere for nearly two decades." Secret until recently, infrared scanner data from military satellites have detected 136 atmospheric explosions since 1975 with yields of 1 kiloton or more. There may actually have been as many as four times this number, because the satellites are programmed to look for unnatural events, such as nuclear detonations. They often ignore extraterrestrial projectiles. Why aren't earthbound observers aware of all these atmospheric explosions? Because most are infrared events; few emit enough visible light to attract the attention of ground-based observers. However, two of these "secret" meteoric events might explain some Fortean phenomena recorded over the last two centuries. April 15, 1978. Over Indonesia. A military satellite watched a colossal daylight fireball that, for one second only, would have rivaled the sun to anyone watching from the ground below and alert to such phenomena. The TNT yield was estimated at 5 kilotons. August 3, 1963. Between South Africa and Antarctica. A huge airburst equivalent to a 500 kilotons was picked up by a worldwide network of acoustic detectors. The cosmic interloper this time was believed to have been a small asteroid about 20 meters in diameter. (Beatty, J. Kelly ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 53 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf092/sf092a04.htm
... Subjects Radar Interference And Luminescence March 8/9 , 1989. Arabian Sea. m.v . British Esk "During the night a particularly strong and distinct patch of radar interference was noted by all observing officers. The sketch shows the phenomenon as seen on the 12-n .mile range of the 3-cm radar. The racon type mark varied in length from 1-3 n.miles at a nearest range of 5-10 n.miles. The effect was minimal on the 10-cm radar. "The bearing of the mark remained fairly constant at about 20 abaft the port beam or about 230 . Of particular note was that around 1600 GMT to 1700 GMT (about 2 hours after sunset), when the mark on the radar was very distinct, the satellite communication system suffered a loss in signal strength sufficient to prevent transmission or reception, the bearing of the satellite being almost due south of the vessel. It was thought at the time that the signal mast had become aligned between the aerial and the satellite, but alteration of the ship's head to port or starboard did not cure the low signal strength. .. .. . "Of note, although this may have been a coincidence only, was that the vessel was passing through patches of bioluminescence at the time, mostly only bright enough to show up in the breaking waves of the ship's wake, but during the period of low signal strength, the whole area of white, foamy water along the ship's side frequently shone a bright greenish colour." ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 53 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf078/sf078g13.htm
... can be generated on the face of the moon. The first enlists the "Life-Saver effect (or "sugar-cube effect"). When Life Savers, sugar cubes, or rocks are fractured, light may flash from their broken surfaces. R.R . Zito, from Lockheed, thinks these flashes occur when energetic electrons are emitted from freshly fractured surfaces. Lunar rocks cracking under stress might very well produce flashes visible from earth. Zito also states that newly fractured rocks emit a curious burst of radio waves in the frequency range of 900-5 ,000 Hertz. (Eberhart, J.; "Does the Moon Spark Like a Life-Saver?" Science News, 136: 375, 1989.) The second explanation of lunar flashes blames them on earth satellites passing in front of the moon. Satellite surfaces can flash like a car's windshield in sunlight, thus simulating a lunar flash. It was just this mechanism that was used to explain the mysterious "flasher" in the constellation Perseus. (SF#53) The May 23, 1985, lunar flash, reported in SF#64, may have been a reflection from a large military weather satellite that was transiting the moon at the time of the flash, say R.R . Rast and P. Maley. However, the timing and position of the satellite are not as convincing as some would like. Besides, the outline of the flash in the photograph is "confined by features of the lunar terrain." (Anonymous; "Lunar Flash Mystery: Solved or ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 52 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf067/sf067a07.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 40: Jul-Aug 1985 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Next Let Us Consider Uranus Uranus is so distant that its satellites are difficult to observe. What astronomers do see is unsettling. The orbital eccentricities of the three inner satellites, using reasonable assumptions about tidal interactions, should decay to zero (perfect circles) in 107 -108 years. If the observational data are correct, one implication is that the Uranian satellite system should be evolving rapidly from a state of higher eccentricity. (Squyres. Steven W., et al; "The Enigma of the Uranian Satellites' Orbital Eccentricities," Icarus, 61:218, 1985.) Comment. Here we have one more sign of recent disturbance or solar-system youth. Time spans of 107 -108 years are very small compared to the estimated solar-system age of 5 x 109 years. From Science Frontiers #40, JUL-AUG 1985 . 1985-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 50 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf040/sf040p05.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 83: Sep-Oct 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects When Isotropy Confounds Angular distribution of 153 gamma-ray bursts detected by the GRO satellite in 1991 Take a look at the distribution of 153 gamma-ray bursts registered by the Gamma-Ray Observatory (a satellite). There is no pattern, gamma-ray bursters seem to be evenly distributed in all directions. This is not what the astronomers expected, and the implications of this isotropy are staggering. Gamma-ray bursts emanate from highly localized unseen sources. They may last for a few milliseconds or stretch out for several minutes. The energy in the bursts ranges over 26 orders of magnitude. The rise-times of the bursts are so short that the sources can only be a few hundred kilometers across. Before the accompanying map appeared, most scientists thought that the bursters were nearby, probably in the disk of the galaxy, and were due to asteroids being digested by neutron stars or possibly neutron-star quakes. If such were so, the bursters would be concentrated in the plane of the galaxy (the Milky Way), which clearly they are not. Another theory places the bursters in a distant spherical halo about our galaxy. But, in this case, the bursters would have to be much more energetic than astronomers care to contemplate. In fact, if they exist in a galactic halo, we should also be able to detect the bursters in our neighboring galaxies -- but we do not! A ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 48 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf083/sf083a05.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 16: Summer 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Grooves Of Phobos Still Unexplained The Martian satellite Phobos is etched by curious grooves. Initially, the grooves were thought to be fracture lines formed by the impact that blasted out Stickney, the huge crater seen on Phobos. However, studies of the grooves revealed at least three families of grooves of different ages, with members of each family located on parallel planes cutting right through the body of the satellite. Two recent papers have proposed radically different explanations. A. Horvath and E. Illes wonder whether Phobos might not be a layered structure, having once been part of a larger stratified body. J.B . Murray thinks the families of grooves might have been scraped out by disciplined formations of meteorites that were launched into space by Martian volcanos. (Horvath, A., and Illes, E.; "On the Possibility of the Layered Structure of Phobos," Eos, 62:203, 1981. Also: Murray, J.B .; "Grooved Terrains on Planetary Satellites," Eos, 62:202, 1981.) Comment. It is not easy to conceive of such well-drilled formations of meteorites. Neither is it easy to imagine a large, stratified body that might have given rise to Phobos. From Science Frontiers #16, Summer 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 42 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf016/sf016p02.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 36: Nov-Dec 1984 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Whirlwind spirals in cereal fields: quintuplet formations "In 1983, as British meteorologists are well aware, Britain had one of its better summers of the century, with July proving to be the hottest in the 300-year record. At the same time, 1983 proved to be a bumper summer for the production of 'mystery spirals' (and for heat whirlwinds generally). Moreover, and entirely unexpectedly, some of the spiral formations turned out to be symmetrically complex systems in an extraordinary manner: as many as four sets in different parts of southern England were found to consist of a single circle attended by four smaller satellite ones. "The beauty of these sets of circles caught the attention of the national newspapers, and thence the imagination of the general public. The story about the manner and the sequence of several of the 1983 discoveries has been given by Ian Mrzyglod (Probe Report, vol. 4, 4-11). Here, we shall simply summarize the main facts, many of which have not been detailed before. "Set 1. Set of five circles at Bratton, Wiltshire (NGR ST 902522, below and northeast of the Westbury White Horse), consisting of one large circle (15 m diameter) and four satellites (each 4 m diameter). The distance between opposite pairs of circles was about 40 m (centre to centre)." The other three sets are very similar and ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 42 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf036/sf036p14.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 97: Jan-Feb 1995 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The 627-foot water slide between australia and india The world ocean, when viewed close-up from ship or airplane, displays the familiar microstructure of waves and currents. The view from a satellite, thousands of miles up, is startling to say the least. Huge bulges hundreds of feet high and hundreds of miles in extent appear when satellite radar altimeter data are plotted. Equally large depressions in the ocean surface also show up -- none obvious to surface observers. This unexpected macrostructure of the ocean surface is shaped by variations in the strength of the earth's gravitational field and sea-bottom terrain. Wherever the gravitational field is stronger, it creates a depression on the fluid surface. German geophysicists, in fact, have drawn a global map of the ocean's large-scale topography, as measured from the European Space Agency's ERS-1 satellite. The surface of the world ocean departs wildly from a smooth sphere. On their colored map: "Brilliant pink and red areas are continental-size mounds of water most notable northeast of Australia, where the sea topography is up to 85 meters (280 ft.) higher than the standard ocean level. Just to the west near India, deep blue indicates a 105-meter (346-ft.) deep depression in the sea surface. Major differences in the gravity fields and terrain underlying the two regions cause a variation of 190 meters ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 42 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf097/sf097g10.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 77: Sep-Oct 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Crop circles: daisy patterns and a red ball of light G.T . Meaden, in the second installment of his review of 1990 crop-circle research, singled out for special attention the so-called "daisy patterns." While these are not as intricate and mysterious as the spectacular nine-circle complex at Alton Barnes, the formation of one of the daisy patterns may have been accompanied by luminous phenomena. "Circles in a daisy pattern were reported from Devonshire and Somerset County: the first a centre circle with seven regular satellites, evenly spaced, from Bickington in June; the second a circle with six similar satellites from Butleigh Wootton, near Glastonbury in mid-July. "A third daisy-pattern system, one with ten ringed satellites surrounding a central ringed circle, turned up at the end of July in East Anglia. This last was formed on the night of 30-31 July, possibly in the late evening of 30 July at the time of the observation of a glowing ball of red light. It was seen by the farmer shining above his field at Hopton as viewed from his house on the edge of Gorleston (Norfolk). 'He looked at it through his binoculars and described it as a red central glow with a thinner red outer ring...By the time he had passed the binoculars to his son the thing had gone'" ( Eastern Daily Press ). ( ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 42 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf077/sf077g14.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 9: Winter 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Bermuda Triangle In Orbit Every time the British research satellite Ariel 6 passes over British Columbia and the Caspian Sea, something turns off the high voltage power to two of its experiments, leaving a third power supply unaffected. Even more eerie is the discovery that the sun must be shining on the ground for the phenomenon to occur. The radio commands controlling the switching are coded on a 5 kHz subcarrier superimposed on a l48.25 MHz carrier. The frequencies and coding are so highly specific that it is hard to imagine how the spurious commands arise. Also peculiar is the finding that the undesired switching can be prevented by simply beaming the pure carrier at the satellite just before it enters the two mystery zones. (Schwartz, Joe; "Mystery Beams Affect UK Satellite," Nature, 280:25, 1979.) Comment. This is only the latest in a long series of mysterious spacecraft electronic problems. From Science Frontiers #9 , Winter 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 42 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf009/sf009p13.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 113: Sep-Oct 1997 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects An exploded planet and the "face on mars"Between Mars and Jupiter swirls the main main asteroid belt. In the view of many astronomers, including T. Van Flandern, there resides the debris of an exploded planet. Van Flandern has adduced considerable evidence supporting the exploded planet hypothesis, which we will pass over in favor of a look at the possible effects of said exploding planet upon a large but equally hypothetical satellite of said planet. Such a satellite would have been heavily pelted by debris on the side facing the exploding planet. Furthermore, this battered sphere, having lost its gravitational "anchor," would assume a new orbit around the sun as well as a new orientation in space. Is there any object in the solar system plastered mainly on one side with debris and craters? You guessed it: Mars! What possible connection could there be between this purported cataclysm and the "face on Mars"? The connecting thread is very weak but so beguiling that we must mention it. T. Van Flandern has proposed eight tests for the artificiality of the "face" and its associated "pyramids," "city," etc. One is the three-dimensionality of the "face." Another is the "fractal" test, which is useful in distinguishing between artificiality and naturalness. The "face" readily passes four of the eight tests. A fifth test (bilateral symmetry) cannot be decided ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 42 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf113/sf113p03.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 25: Jan-Feb 1983 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Lageos Falls Too Fast In May of 1976, NASA launched a geodetic satellite into an orbit over the poles about 3700 miles out. The satellite, called Lageos, is covered with laser reflectors so that it can be tracked with high precision. At its altitude of 3700 miles, the earth's atmosphere is supposed to be so thin that friction will bring the satellite only 1/250th of an inch closer to the earth each day. The trouble is that Lageos actually falls at ten times this rate. In 1979 it descended 60% faster than it does now. Lageos will stay in orbit several hundred thou-sand years, but space scientists are understandably concerned about their theories about the upper atmosphere. Many suggestions have been made to explain this anomaly. Some say the atmosphere is thicker than expected; others prefer to think there is more helium than predicted; but the "plasma drag" effect seems to fit the situation the best. Lageos may, in fact, be electrically charged and interacting with the surrounding cloud of electrically charged particles and is ever so slightly braked by the electrical forces. (Maran, Stephen P.; "Fall from Space," Natural History, 91:74, December 1982.) From Science Frontiers #25, JAN-FEB 1983 . 1983-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 39 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf025/sf025p04.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 128: MAR-APR 2000 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Frozen in Time A map of Antarctica produced in 1997 using data from the Canadian satellite Radarsat has revealed some unexpected geological features at the bottom of the planet. Among these are vast areas of previously unrecognized snow dunes -- all lined up in parallel like the ripples on a stream bed. However, these snow dunes are no ripples. They measure up to 100 kilometers in length with separations of 1-2 kilometers. They are, in fact, called "megadunes." At ground level, though, the snow dunes are not obvious because they are only a few meters high. Since Antarctica is often buffeted by fierce winds, one would naturally think that these snow dunes have an aeolian origin like desert sand dunes. This does not seem the be the case. Comparisons made using recently declassified images taken in the 1960s by U.S . military satellites reveal that the snow dunes have not moved in over 30 years! Some-thing besides wind-driven snow must be helping to sculpt these immense stationary patterns. (Tomlin, Sarah; "Vast Snow Dunes Frozen in Time," Nature, 402:860, 1999.) Comment. The fossil "string dunes" of Australia closely resemble the Antarctic snow megadunes in pattern and size, but of course they are composed of sand. "Megaripples" charted by sonar and shaped by water currents on the ocean floors are also comparable. See ETR3 in Carolina ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 35 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf128/sf128p07.htm
... present asymmetrical visages to our telescopes. Mars is a classic case, being much more heavily cratered in its southern hemisphere than its northern. But the dichotomies are not restricted to cratering, as we shall now see. Neptune . Recently, H.B . Hammel, using the University of Hawaii's 2.2 -meter telescope, discovered that Neptune's northern hemisphere is now brighter than its southern -- something never observed before. During the past eight years, the southern hemisphere has been consistently brighter, although the hemispheres were of roughly equal brightness during the late 1970s. The cause of these brightness changes remains a mystery. (Cowen, Ron; "Neptune's Northern Half Grows Brighter," Science News, 144:287, 1993.) Iapetus . This satellite of Saturn is dark on one half and light on the other. Quantitatively speaking, the bright side reflects ten times more incident light than the other. An explanation is suggested by the fact that the dark side points in the satellite's direction of motion. A recent study of 12 Voyager images of Iapetus also imply an exogenous (externally imposed) origin of the dark surface, because they show a gradual rather than sharp transition between the dark and light regions. The thought of planetary scientists is that micrometeoroids bombard the leading hemisphere of Iapetus preferentially and in the process volatilize considerable surface material. The residual deposit: ". .. may be an example of the dark, reddish, possibly organic-rich material which is found on other satellites in the outer solar system and on ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 34 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf091/sf091a04.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 106: Jul-Aug 1996 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects A SAGA OF SOOT: PART I The tale began on March 27, when Comet Hyakutake passed within 15 million kilometers of earth. At this point in its trajectory, it came into the field of view of the X-ray astronomy satellite ROSAT. ROSAT was designed to look at stars whose extremely high temperatures can generate X-rays. It seemed ridiculous to point ROSAT's instruments at a comet composed mainly of ice and dust. How could a comet emit X-rays? When a German-American team of scientists proposed taking a peek at Hyakutake with ROSAT, scientific eyebrowns were raised. What a waste of observing time! At the most, the team thought they might pick up a smudge of weak X-rays where dust grains flying off Hyakutake collided with dust grains normally present in interplanetary space. The team did get ROSAT to take a look, and what the satellite saw ignited a controversy. Some 50,000 kilometers in front of the comet was a bright crescent of X-rays, 100 times brighter than the brightest "smudge" the team of scientists had hoped for. This was completely unexpected. All astronomers could do was come up with three rather unconvincing theories: (1 ) Solar X-rays were absorbed and reemited by the comet (Xray fluorescence); (2 ) Cometary material emitted X-rays when bathed in the solar wind; and (3 ) Charged particles were ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 29 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf106/sf106p02.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 49: Jan-Feb 1987 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Neptune's strange necklace The puzzling occultations of stars by Neptune have led scientists to postulate that discontinuous rings of debris rotate around the planet. (SF#38 and #40) But, given the number of recent failures to detect the ring at all, astronomers have been reduced to thinking about even weirder configurations of matter. The most recent model, by P. Goldreich et al, envisions a necklace of arcs in orbit, as illustrated. They calculate that the resonant effects of a yet undiscovered satellite in an inclined orbit could produce this strange pattern. (Murray, Carl d.; "Arcs around Neptune," Nature, 324:209, 1986.) Comment. Voyager 2 will encounter Neptune in 1989. Hopefully, it will clear things up ringwise. Or, it may photograph something even more exotic, like some 2001-like monoliths in orbit!! A possible configuration for ring and arcs and a confining satellite in orbit around Neptune, according to the theory of Goldreich et al. Radial variations are exagerated. (Would any astronomer, even 10 years ago, have countenanced such a spectacle in the Solar System?) From Science Frontiers #49, JAN-FEB 1987 . 1987-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 29 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf049/sf049p07.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 91: Jan-Feb 1994 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Pairs Of Ghostly Spots Sweep Across Jupiter Atop Hawaii's Mauna Kea, NASA's Infra-red Telescope Facility has detected a pair of infrared-bright spots that race across Jupiter's upper atmosphere in tune with the motion of Io, one of Jupiter's large, Galilean satellites. This synchronism suggests some sort of energy interchange between Io and the top of Jupiter's atmosphere. The theory now in vogue states that Jupiter's rotating magnetic field induces a voltage across 2300-mile-diameter Io, resulting in an electrical current of some 5 million amperes flowing between Io and Jupiter, some 262,000 miles away. In this bizarre electrical circuit, the two moving "terminals" on Jupiter, in the northern and southern hemispheres, are heated by the current flow and show up as fuzzy infrared-bright spots. (Cowen, R.; "Jupiter and Io: Infrared Spots Mark Link," Science News, 144: 325, 1993.) Comment. In passing, it should be remarked that Io is mantled by a cloud of electrically conducting sodium vapor. A weird moon in other respects, too, Io occasionally casts double shadows on Jupiter's upper atmosphere during transits. See AJX4 in The Moon and the Planets. In addition, in AJX2, infrared-hot shadows of the satellites Ganymede and Europa are mentioned. Very strange! To order The Moon and the Planets ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 29 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf091/sf091a05.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 7: June 1979 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Seeing Double And Even Triple On Jupiter Sometimes the shadows cast by Jupiter's satellites on the face of the planet during transit are doubled or, more rarely, tripled. This article draws attention to several recent observations of this most perplexing phenomenon. W.E . Fox points out that these multiple shadows are really not all that uncommon. He does not try to explain them. (Fox, W.E .; "Jupiter: Double and Triple Satellite Phenomena," British Astronomical Association, Journal, 88:360, 1978.) Reference. Our Catalog, The Moon and the Planets, records several observations of double shadows in Section AJX. For a description of this book, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #7 , June 1979 . 1979-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 29 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf007/sf007p05.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 18: Nov-Dec 1981 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Giant Thunderstorm Clusters Conventional wisdom has it that thunderstorms are small-scale phenomena 50100 miles across. However, J.M . Fritsch and R.A . Maddox of NOAA have announced that satellite photos show a radically different situation. The more violent thundersotrms are often organized into roughly circular clusters that may span 1000 miles. Previously, all thunderstorms were considered local convective storms that were regulated by upper air patterns. This view must now be changed because the newly recognized giant thunderstorm clusters actually modify planetary upper air flow. (Bardwell, Steven; "Satellite Data Show New Class of Thunderstorms," Fusion Magazine, p. 50, September 1981.) Comment. In SF#17, cosmic rays were shown to contribute to thunderstorm generation. Now it seems that cosmic rays may affect weather on a planetary scale. From Science Frontiers #18, NOV-DEC 1981 . 1981-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 29 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf018/sf018p11.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 118: Jul-Aug 1998 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Unidentified Light May 4, 1997. North Atlantic Ocean. Aboard the s.t .s . Astrid enroute from the Azores to Dartmouth. "At 0443 UTC a light was sighted high in the sky above the ship. The light was of the style of a satellite in appearance. However, it was seen for about 10-15 seconds moving west to northwest, with a pulsating white light. In addition, it was moving very fast and it also stopped dead a couple of times. "At one point, the light stopped and turned in the direction of the ship. The light no longer pulsated, and for about one second it was in the form of a spotlight lighting the surrounding area. The light then turned back again and moved very, very fast across the sky before it was lost below the horizon in a matter of seconds." (Ulrich, G.; "Unidentified Light," Marine Observer, 68:64, 1998.) Comment. The erratic motion and use of a searchlight are typical of some of the UFO reports seen in newspapers. However, the Marine Observer is a publication of the UK Meteorological Office. In the above "encounter," aircraft, satellites, and meteors do not fit the testimony of the observers. From Science Frontiers #118, JUL-AUG 1998 . 1998-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 29 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf118/sf118p12.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 21: May-Jun 1982 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The earth's other moons Over the past two centuries, night-sky observers have recorded a number of objects that moved too fast to be asteroids and too slowly to be meteors. John P. Bagby has studied this problem for over 20 years, publishing several hotly debated papers during this period. His latest contribution summarizes evidence supporting his contention that the earth has captured chunks of space debris, some of which have disintegrated, some of which are still in orbit amidst tons of artificial-satellite debris. The supporting observations have come from optical surveillance programs, tracking networks, radio-propagation anomalies, and (most interesting to the anomaly collector) old reports of bright objects near the sun (especially the August 1921 object) and the curious group of retrograde objects that passed over Germany in 1880. (Bagby, J.P .; "Natural Earth Satellites," British Interplanetary Society, Journal, 34:289, 1981.) Reference. Material on the August 1921 object is cataloged at AEO1 in our book: The Sun and Solar System Debris. To order, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #21, MAY-JUN 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 29 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf021/sf021p04.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 100: Jul-Aug 1995 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Has jupiter flashed before?Well, not Jupiter itself but its strange Galilean satellite Io. On July 26, 1983, Io suddenly brightened by about 50% for just under 2 minutes. The "flash" represented an emission of energy of some 1028 ergs, which is equivalent to the impact on the satellite of an ice mass 5-kilometers in diameter moving at 60 km/sec. This collision interpretation is encouraged by the 1994 impacts of cometary fragments on Jupiter proper. In the case of Io, however, there is another possibility: electrical arcing. Io's volcanoes are prodigious spewers of metallic sodium, and T. Gold has speculated that colossal arcs may occur in this conducting environment as Io cuts through Jupiter's magnetic field. (See Science Frontiers #10. (O 'Brien, Roger; "Has Jupiter Flashed Before?" British Astronomical Association, Journal, 104:6 , 1994.) Comment. Io is also noted for its erratic brightening after it emerges from Jupiter's shadow. For more on Io's so-called "post-eclipse brightening," see p. 67 in the book Science Frontiers and the catalog volume The Moon and the Planets, both described here . From Science Frontiers #100, JUL-AUG 1995 . 1995-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 27 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf100/sf100a02.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 127: Jan-Feb 2000 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects What's Cooking On Europa?Data streaming back to earth from the Galileo spacecraft encode a curious fact about Europa, one of Jupiter's large, Galilean satellites. The nighttime flow of heat from Europa's polar regions is 1 watt/meter2 higher than can be accounted for by all known mechanisms, such as the tidal heating created as Jupiter's powerful gravitational field flexes the satellite's integument. (Anonymous; "Cozy Nights," New Scientist, p. 27, June 5, 1999.) Comment. What is happening beneath Europa's icy surface? "Something wonderful"? Recall that in the film 2010, humans were "given" all worlds except Europa. Was A.C . Clarke prescient again? From Science Frontiers #127, JAN-FEB 2000 . 1997 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 27 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf127/sf127p05.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 114: Nov-Dec 1997 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects It can't be true because it violates our ideas!This was the collective opinion of many atmospheric scientists when a satellite experiment found approximately 50% more water vapor at an altitude of 75 kilometers than well-established theory predicted. That was back in 1991. Now, a second satellite experiment of different design has confirmed the existence of this "excess" water vapor. Most geophysicists are perplexed, to say the least. Not L. Frank, though, because these experiments are in line with his theory that the upper atmosphere is continuously pelted by house-size, fluffy, icy comets -- some 20 each minute. (SF#112) Frank asserts: "When you get that excess of water vapor up there, it just can't come from the Earth. It must come from space." Even so, other geophysicists are reluctant to accept Frank's icy comets -- that would be too much "crow" to eat! One point levied against Frank's icy comets is that they would introduce more than three times the amount of water vapor actually measured. M. Summers, a theoretician at the Naval Research Laboratory, summed up mainstream opinion: "There's definitely something very unusual going on in the mesosphere that we don't understand at all, but I'm not even close to saying this supports the small-comet hypothesis." (Kerr, ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 27 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf114/sf114p02.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 12: Fall 1980 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects The field is falling, the field is falling NASA's Magnetic Field Satellite has confirmed a trend that goes as far back as Gauss in 1830; namely, that the terrestrial magnetic field is decreasing in strength. At the rate measured by the satellite, the Earth's field will hit zero in about 1200 years. Of course, NASA's scientists warn that the observed decrease may only be a temporary fluctuation. The geological record seems to register a long history of magnetic field reversals, with great biological changes coinciding with the field flips. (Nonymous; "Magsat Down: Magnetic Field Declining," Science News, 117:407, 1980.) Comment. Some field reversals have been within the time of man; 12,000 years ago and less. What happens to life forms dependent upon the earth's field for navigation during a reversal? Can they evolve new navigation methods in only a few thousand years? From Science Frontiers #12, Fall 1980 . 1980-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 27 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf012/sf012p09.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 4: July 1978 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects What caused the grooves on phobos?Photographs from the Viking Orbiters show that the Martian satellite Phobos displays a heavily grooved surface. Enough high-resolution photos have been taken to prove that these grooves emanate from the large crater named Stickney and run around the satellite to its opposite side where they die out. This suggests that the origin of the crater and the grooves are related. Further, the widest and deepest grooves (700 meters wide and 90 meters deep) are located close to Stickney. On the other side of Phobos, grooves are consistently less than 100 meters wide. Despite these hints of impact origin, the grooves are not quite what one would expect from simple fracture by collision. Some show beaded or pitted structures. Other grooves are composed of irregularly bounded segments. Finally, some of the straight-walled sections seem to have slightly raised rims. Evidently, some internal forces, perhaps stimulated by the formation of Stickney, also played a part. (Thomas, P., et al; "Origin of the Grooves on Phobos," Nature, 273:282, 1978.) Reference. The grooves of Phobos and its other anomalies are catalogued at ALL2 and ALL3 in The Moon and the Planets. To order this book, go to: here . Map of the strange grooves on the Martian moon Phobos From Science Frontiers #4 , July 1978 . 1978-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 27 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf004/sf004p03.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 67: Jan-Feb 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Direct observations of hyperion's chaotic motion Hyperion is a 150-kilometer-diameter satellite of Saturn. Hyperion's irregular shape and the gravitational pull of Titan, a larger satellite of Saturn, make it a prime candidate for chaotic motion. After accumulating 53 Hyperion-days of observation, J. Klavetter has confirmed this theoretical suspicion. Hyperion's brightness varies wildly from day to day, as it spins unpredictably. The laws of motion and the largest computers are helpless here; although computer simulation can identify situations where chaos might develop. More alarmingly, some "subtle" chaos also appears in computer simulations of Pluto's motion and "perhaps other planets." (Kerr, Richard A.; "First Direct View of Solar System Chaos," Science, 246: 998, 1989.) Comment. Contemplate what might happen -- or might have happened already -- if any of the other planets moved chaotically. From Science Frontiers #67, JAN-FEB 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 27 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf067/sf067a05.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 19: Jan-Feb 1982 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Why so little lightning at sea?Using satellite data, Richard Orville and Bernard Vonnegut have compiled maps showing the global distribution of lightning at night. (At present, satellites can detect only nighttime flashes.) As might be expected, the flashes are strongly concentrated in the earth's tropical regions. The feature of the maps that is most difficult to understand is the very obvious dearth of lightning over the world's oceans. (Anonymous; "Patterns of Thunderbolts," New Scientist, 92:102, 1981.) Comment. Reinforcing these modern quantitative observations are the centuries-old speculations on why thunder is heard so rarely by mariners. From Science Frontiers #19, JAN-FEB 1982 . 1982-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 27 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf019/sf019p10.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 123: May-Jun 1999 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects They went a byte too far!" A German couple in a luxury car with a computerized satellite-steered navigation system drove into the Havel River near Potsdam Friday night because the computerized satellite-steered navigation system neglected to mention they needed to stop for a ferry at this point." (Anonymous; "Next Time, Ask for Directions," Chicago Sun-Times, December 28, 1998. Cr. J. Cieciel) A TOUR AROUND THE PACIFIC RIM From Science Frontiers #123, MAY-JUN 1999 . 1999-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 27 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf123/sf123p17.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 81: May-Jun 1992 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Unidentified light explained?The strange optical phenomenon reported in SF#80 may have been the consequence of a barium release from a NASA satellite. At 9:17 PM EST, on January 13, 1991, the Combined Release and Radiation Effects Satellite (CRRES) detonated a small canister of barium over South America. The greenish glow was visible from the U.S . southeast coast in the southwestern sky. (Suplee, Curt; "NASA Light Show 'Paints' Earth's Magnetic Field," Washington Post, January 14, 1991. Cr. D. Kreinbrink) Comment: The observation reported in SF#80 was logged as occurring at 0210 UTC, January 13, so there is a time discrepancy that needs to be resolved here. From Science Frontiers #81, MAY-JUN 1992 . 1992-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 27 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf081/sf081g14.htm
... pairs" of magnetic intensity seem to move westward and poleward. In the southern hemisphere, they originate under the Indian Ocean and drift under South Africa into the southern Atlantic. This motion reminds one of sunspot motion, except that sun-spots move equatorward. There may be a connection here. (Ref. 2) The general decrease in the earth's magnetic field over the past few centuries may be due to intensifying core spots, which are magnetized in a sense opposite that of the main field. (Ref. 2) Large, deep earthquakes in 1983 and 1984 produced slow, wavelike changes in the local gravitational field at the surface, as measured by new superconducting gravity meters. The periods were 13-15 hours. (Ref. 2) Gravity and magnetism measurements from satellites show strong, coincident anomalies in the Indian Ocean (3 N 81 E). In fact the whole ocean surface is depressed in this region. To explain these overlapping anomalies, geophysicists suggest that a "valley" 5-10 kilometers deep exists at the coremantle boundary. (Ref. 3) References Ref. 1. Dziewonski, Adam M., and Woodhouse, John H.; "Global Images of the Earth's Interior," Science, 236:37, 1987. Ref. 2. Weisburd, Stefi; "The Inner Earth Is Coming Out," Science News, 131:222, 1987. Ref. 3. "Satellites See Valleys in the Earth's Core," New Scientist, p. 33, May 21, 1987. Comment ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 26 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf052/sf052g14.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 159: May - Jun 2005 Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues Last Issue Next Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Contents Archaeology Incredible Discoveries in Mexico The Too-Ancient Human tools at Valesquillo Reservoir What the Polynesians Brought and What they tool Away Astronomy Rewriting Mars' History Again, Again, Again What's the Matter with Matter? Biology Rover's Leap Be Late and It's All Over between Us! Pleistocene Hanky-Pank? The Inversion of Chromosome 17 Geology Bot a Subtle Signal! Deep-Earth Methane Generation Geophysics Extreme LDEs (long-Delayed Echos) Unclassified 13 Things that don't make sense A Very High Satellite Some very Low Satellites? ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 25 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf159/index.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 125: Sep-Oct 1999 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Two Non-Falls Sometimes things that are predicted to fall or respond dutifully to gravity's dictates do not. No house-size snowballs. Back in 1985, L. Frank saw dark spots on satellite images of the earth's atmosphere. He interpreted them as huge splotches of water created by incoming cometary snowballs. (SF#112, 114, 118, and earlier) Although some other data supported Frank's theory, many scientists scoffed. After some mildly acrimonious debate, a consensus decided that the spots on the satellite photos were merely instrument artifacts. Any lingering doubts as to Frank's house-size snowballs or "icy minicomets" impacting our atmosphere have been dispelled by a radar search by S. Knowles and his colleagues at the Naval Research Laboratory. Using the Naval Space Surveillance System's powerful radar, their scans of the upper atmosphere detected nothing resembling giant snowballs. According to Frank's estimates of the flux of incoming minicomets, the radar should have seen 800-5 ,000 of them. If Frank responds, we'll let you know. This may be the end of this decade-long debate. (Anonymous; "No Snow Show," New Scientist, p. 25, June 12, 1999.) Where water and vehicles run uphill. "Chinese scientists are baffled by a slope in north-western Gansu province where water runs up the incline rather ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 25 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf125/sf125p10.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 43: Jan-Feb 1986 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Waiting for saturn's rings to collapse The more we learn about Saturn's rings, the stranger they seem. One of the latest theoretical models of the rings has them composed of balls of hard ice, which interact through mutual collision and are herded by the gravitational caresses of small moons. The successes of this model have been tempered by the fact that it also implies that Saturn's rings are very young. "Theorists would have no problem with a broad, featureless disk surviving the 4.5 billion years since the early days of the solar system, but features such as spiral density waves are clear evidence that satellites, including the profusion of small ones found near the rings, are draining angular momentum from the rings. The satellites should be spiraling outward into ever larger orbits as they gain angular momentum, and the A-ring should collapse inward into the B-ring in just 100 million years as its particles lose angular momentum." (Kerr, Richard A.; "Making Better Planetary Rings," Science, 229:1376, 1985.) Reference. For other indications of youth in Saturn's rings, see ARL16 in our catalog: The Moon and the Planets. For information on this book, visit: here . From Science Frontiers #43, JAN-FEB 1986 . 1986-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 24 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf043/sf043p04.htm
... of life, particularly advanced life. As a case in point, the polar axis of Mars, with only two tiny moons to dampen its spin excursions, seems to have gone through many wild swings, as indicated in the figure. What deadly climatic changes must have wracked our sister planet! (Touma, Jihad, and Wisdom, Jack; "The Chaotic Obliquity of Mars," Science, 259: 1294, 1993. Also: Laskar, J., and Robutel, P.; "The Chaotic Obliquity of the Planets," Nature, 361:608, 1993.) Comment. The successful evolution of higher life on earth (a presumption!) therefore seems to have depended upon the gravitational shields of Jupiter and Saturn as well as the presence of our unusually large satellite. How likely is this combination of planets and satellites in the rest of the universe? Of course, life-as-we-know-it also requires just the right kind of central star and a planet with good air and water. Perhaps lifeas-we-do-not-know-it is more likely! From Science Frontiers #87, MAY-JUN 1993 . 1993-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 24 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf087/sf087a04.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 70: Jul-Aug 1990 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Wandering Albatrosses Really Wander Tracks of three Wandering albatrosses in the southern Indian Ocean. Six male wandering albatrosses nesting on Crozet Island, between South Africa and Antarctica, were fitted with tiny (180-gram) transmitters and tracked by satellite. Their flights were amazing: "Tracks of wandering albatrosses in the southwestern Indian Ocean showed that they covered between 3,600 and 15,000 km in a single foraging trip during an incubation shift. They flew at speeds of up to 80 km per h and over distances of up to 900 km per day. They remained active at night, particularly on moonlit nights..." (Jouventin, Pierre, and Weimerskirch, Henri; "Satellite Tracking of Wandering Albatrosses,; Nature, 343:746, 1990.) From Science Frontiers #70, JUL-AUG 1990 . 1990-2000 William R. Corliss ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 24 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf070/sf070b07.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 129: MAY-JUN 2000 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects TLPs One Fades, Others Flash The TLP (Transient Lunar Phenomenon) reported in SF#127 involved a 40-minute darkening of an area near the lunar crater Aristarchus on April 23, 1994. The phenomenon was observed independently by some 100 amateur astronomers. The initial analysis of data returned at the same time by the lunar satellite Clementine at first seemed to confirm the amateurs' telescopic impressions. But after correcting the satellite data for lighting geometry and other effects, Clementine's vision of the TLP faded away like the Cheshire Cat. TLP doubters were well-satisfied. (Anonymous; "Lunar Surface Change: A False Alarm," Sky & Telescope, 99:22, March 2000. Cr. D. Barbiero.) Comment. Were the independent observations by 100-or-so geographically dispersed amateurs all hallucinations? The TLP "myth" does not fade away so easily. On the night of November 17/18, 1999, the Leonid meteors pelted the earth's atmosphere and, as one would expect, the moon's surface. The moon's atmosphere, however, is almost non-existent so its share of the Leonid shower did not burn up before hitting the surface. But might not the high-velocity impacts with the surface create luminous phenomena? To find out, a team of observers monitored the dark side of the moon during the peak of the Leonid shower. Sure ...
Terms matched: 1 - Score: 24 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf129/sf129p02.htm