Learning Science Through Technology
Newsletter for August 2002
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SCIENCE NEWS AND LINKS
Here Comes the Perseids
The annual Perseid shower is one of the year's best. This year the shower peaks on August 12th and 13th. Experts say it should be remarkably good. The Perseids have been strong in recent years--a promising sign for 2002. And the moon sets early in mid-August; lunar interference will not be a problem. Sky watchers can expect to see dozens to hundreds of meteors per hour.
Perseid meteors come from comet Swift-Tuttle. Every 130 years, the comet swoops in from deep space (beyond Pluto) and plunges through the plane of the solar system not far from Earth's orbit. Astronomers once worried that Swift-Tuttle might hit our planet, but recent data and calculations show otherwise. There's no danger of a collision for at least a millennium and probably much longer.
Even so, little pieces of Swift-Tuttle do hit Earth. The comet's orbit is littered with bits of dusty debris. They bubble away from the comet's icy nucleus (propelled by evaporating ice) when Swift-Tuttle nears the Sun. These grains form a cloud that we plow through once a year. [more]
*Text and Photo courtesy NASA
Flying Through the CME
On September 18, 2000, astronauts aboard space shuttle Discovery had a once-in-a lifetime treat, (as if just being on the shuttle weren't enough of a treat). They got to fly through a geomagnetic storm. All around were colorful auroras. "It was indescribable," says Astronaut Dan Burbank.
Burbank was one of seven people orbiting Earth onboard the space shuttle Atlantis (STS-106). They were on a 12-day mission to prepare the space station for its first crew. There was a lot to do, and no one had much time for stargazing.
But everyone paused for this: below and around the orbiter danced glowing ribbons of orange, yellow and green light. Above, the sky was red. As Burbank looked on, "bright spots would suddenly appear and fade away again."
A few days before the storm, a giant magnetic loop poking out of the Sun had collapsed. The resulting explosion hurled a coronal mass ejection (CME) toward Earth. CMEs are clouds of super-heated magnetic gas. This one raced toward our planet at 1000 km/s (two million mph). [more]
The crew of the space shuttle Discovery took the above picture of Southern Lights from Earth-orbit in 1991.
*Photo courtesy NASA
Arctic Theme Page
Are you a bit warm this summer? Want to take a cool break? Check out the newest NOAA Web Cam at the North Pole. The live images from the camera will track the North Pole snow cover, weather conditions and the status of North Pole instrumentation, which includes meteorological and ice sensors.
While you are there, take a look at all the very cool resources on the Arctic Theme Page web site. Learn about the Northern Lights, arctic animals or view graphics, images, forecasts and in-depth analyses. [visit]
*Photo courtesy NOAA
Teachers. Are You Getting Ready For a New School Year?
This is a great resource page for lesson plans and activities. It is an extensive list to get through, but we were very pleased with many of the sites listed here. Like many lists of URLs that you find on the Internet, this one has its share of broken links, but we think it's worth your while to check it out. [visit]
But Summer is Still with Us
Before you get too involved with planning for the next school year, take some time to enjoy summer. A great place to get some outdoor ideas is at the USGS Recreation Site where you can learn about nature watching, boating, camping, climbing, fishing, hiking/biking and hunting, all in one place. [visit]
*Credits & Contacts
Third party images and text are deemed to be in the public domain.
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