Science Cheerleader

Dave here. Back for another round of weekly links.  And now these links can travel.  You can find them at the ScienceWednesdays page on Delicious and you can even add the links to your own blog by either grabbing the RSS feed or the Wednesdays on Science Cheerleader widget.  The picks this week offer some nice variety, I think…

Pompeii official site. 1900 years ago this week a volcano named Vesuvius erupted, spewing tons of ash and completely burying the city  Pompeii.  The town was rediscovered quite by accident in the 1590’s, revealing a remarkably preserved ancient city that had essentially been “frozen” in ash.  Millions of tourists visit Pompeii each year, where they get a chance to learn not only about the history of ancient Italy but also the science of volcanoes and of archeology.  (The Google Street View of Pompeii is pretty cool too.)

Crowd Viewing the Moon. Over at the Science for Citizens blog, Michael Gold shares news of the “worldwide moon-up” – also known as International Observe The Moon Night. It’s a great opportunity to talk about astronomy with your kids or just learn more about what NASA is doing these days.

Mother Tigers Pass Down Territory to Their Daughters. Brian Switek discusses a study conducted by American and Russian researchers that suggests a reason why mom Tigers defend more territory than they really need to live – it seems they reserve some of that territory for their female cubs to have a space of their own. (No, the study wasn’t sponsored by the National Association of Realtors.)   The study also shows how poachers who capture one female tiger have a negative impact on successive generations of tigers.

A new take on necking (in giraffes, that is). Delene Beeland examines the ever popular question,” why are giraffes’ necks so long?” A growing number of scientists are saying male giraffes have long necks to increase their chances at a little wow-chicka-WOW-WOW. C’mon, guys – size isn’t everything…

Tomorrow (Friday, Oct 9) at 7:31:19 a.m. EDT and 7:35:45 a.m, Centaur and LCROSS spacecraft (Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite) will search for water ice on the Moon by making two impacts into the moon’s Cabeus crater at the lunar South Pole. And YOU can watch this unfold. Here’s all you need to know about this “not to be missed” event, from Universe Today:

“Guide to Seeing the LCROSS Lunar Impact”

Written by Nancy Atkinson ShareThis

LCROSS impact site. Credit: NASA

The LCROSS spacecraft is going to impact the Moon on Friday, October 9, and here’s your chance to watch the action, either just for fun, or to contribute to scientific observations. Whether you want to observe with your own equipment or watch the event on television or a webcast, below you’ll find all the information and links you should need to be a part of history. Amateur astronomers need a 10-inch or bigger telescope to make observations.

The LCROSS mission is going sending a upper stage of a Centaur rocket and a smaller spacecraft to impact the Moon. The two objects will create a crater — The 5,000-pound (2,270-kilogram) Centaur is expected to slam into Cabeus Crater on the Moon’s south pole at a sharp angle at a speed of 5,600 mph (9,000 kilometers per hour). The Centaur’s collision is expected to create a crater roughly 60 or 70 feet wide (20 meters wide) and perhaps as much as 16 feet (5 meters) deep, ejecting approximately 385 tons of lunar dust and soil — and hopefully some ice.

The LCROSS spacecraft itself, weighing in at 1,500-pounds (700-kilograms), will follow the Centaur by about four minutes and fly through the regolith plume thrown up by the collision, just before it too slams into the lunar surface, kicking up its own smaller plume of debris, all the while using its sensors to look for telltale signs of water, beaming the information back to Earth.

So, yes, it will make a rather big crater on the Moon.

So intuitive, so organic. We look to the stars as adults and as kids, like this little boy pictured here. The (renowned) artist, Wendell Minor, told me this is his favorite image included in the recently released book, “Look To The Stars,” by Buzz Aldrin (the second person to step foot on the moon, 40 years ago this month).

I’ll post a review shortly but in the interim here’s a lovely, frank review written by a young boy named Josh Chinn here in Philadelphia. Great job, Josh! (Josh: bet your “Space Quiditch for Muggles” game will be a hit some day!) His father adds, “He actually liked the book more than he implies in his review and for what it’s worth I really like this book…the art’s beautiful, too.”
Ok: Take it away, Josh. (more…)