Failed Wheels

Mission Logo - Courtesy NASA & Caltech

NASA's awesome planet-hunting mission, the Kepler Space Telescope, has been hobbled for a while by failed wheels (failed gyroscopes, essentially).  Even though it's planet hunting days are over, it will probably still serve as an able space-based platform to aid astronomers.

Read on for more at Scientific American...
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=kepler-new-mission-asteroseismology

You can download NASA's awesome 'app' Eyes on the Solar System, here...
http://eyes.nasa.gov/download.html

It's an awesome little program; and they're constantly adding stuff to it.

Gravity...How Strong Is It?

Covering some of the fascinating early astronomers and their achievements casts some light on their genius.  Consider the fact that these early greats, these early 'giants,' had no computers to crunch numbers.  Wow!

Her's a fascinating slide show article from Scientific American about the attempts at measuring 'G,' the gravitational constant in Newton's Law of Gravitation.

Scientific American - Gravitational Constant

Where Are All the Hurricanes?

Image Credit - NOAA Visualization Lab (Enhanced satellite of Sandy post-landfall)

In terms of hurricanes, it's been unusually quiet in the Atlantic Basin this year.  The linked article from NOAA is telling us all to still be on guard.

As the article points out, one month (an August without a hurricane) does not a season  make.

NOAA Article - Atlantic Hurricane Season 2013

Exactly what did cause the extinction of the woolly mammoths? This National Geographic article sheds some light on one of the newest explanations.

National Geographic article - Mammoths

Post Fukushima Japan

One area of Japan is still reeling from the triple disaster of 2011 - Great Tohoku Earthquake, its resulting tsunami, and the ongoing nuclear disaster at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi power plant run by TEPCO.  Radiation still leaks from the plant due to the abundant groundwater in the area.  Both the Japanese government and TEPCO appear increasingly unable to deal with such a complex situation at the wrecked power plant.

Neighboring countries grow increasingly concerned over contaminated water making its way into the Pacific Ocean.


Image Credit: ASR

Click to the superb linked article and related slide show at the NY Times.

NY Times - Fukushima Daiichi Cleanup Article