Solar Eclipse!!

Listen up peeps! There is going to be a solar eclipse on August 1st! This is the first one we've had in two years, so it's a big deal!! However, there is one teeny tiny flaw to the whole thing..... you won't be able to see it in Florida. At all. But at least none of the other states will get to see it either, so HA! But if you happen to live WAAAAY up north then you are now the object of my envy. I'm turning green..... sooooo green.
And here's a video of a solar eclipse seen from NASA's STEREO spacecraft, which is a pretty nifty view, not going to lie.
Full link to article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20080725/sc_space/viewersguideaug1solareclipse

Earth Songs!

This is the sound that Earth makes and that aliens and whatnot could hear if they really wanted to. This lovely sound is created when charged solar particles slam into our magnetic field. Luckily for us, our ionsphere blocks this from actually reaching us. And this is amazingly good because this sound is a radio wave that oh so happens to be 10,000 times stronger than anything that we've got and that would totally explode our radio stations.... which might be fun to watch but what are you supposed to listen to when you are driving?

Scientists have known about the radiation since the 1970s. It is created high above the planet, where charged particles from the solar wind collide with Earth's magnetic field. It is related to the phenomenon that generates the colorful aurora, or Northern Lights.

And here's the full article, which will not link once again. We are seriously getting very friendly with mister cut and paste. http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/080701-st-earth-sounds.html

Mars had a Little Accident

Since the 1970's Viking missions to Mars, scientists have been wondering why the northern and southern hemispheres are so drastically different. Now studies find that an asteroid could have struck the poor hapless planet and literally blown the crust off of half the planet..... which is pretty damn cool. What makes it cooler is the fact that it hit Mars and not us. I don't think we would be in the position to appreciate such niftyness on the account that we would be dead. And by dead I mean really dead. Unless you're a mutant of some kind. And if that's the case then I am severely jealous.

According to Nimmo's analysis, shock waves from the impact would travel through the planet and disrupt the crust on the other side, causing changes in the magnetic field recorded there. The predicted changes are consistent with observations of magnetic anomalies in the southern hemisphere, he said.

And here's the full article, which I know all of you will read with delight: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080625140659.htm
And for some reason it won't link properly. Probably because I'm extremely computer illiterate. But I'm sure that you can copy and paste it and everything will be alright and the sky won't come crashing down and the world will stay intact due to its non-exploding.

Real Life Death Star!

Okay okay, you got me. It's actually the real life death of a star. Just curious, how many Star Wars fans did I fool? None? Oh. Okay, moving on.....

"We believe that this light, emanating from deep within the star, was generated after its core collapsed and compressed the gas
surrounding it to around one million degrees Kelvin.’ Around four hours after this light was observed a shockwave from the collapsed core, travelling at 50 million kilometres an hour, would have hit the surface of the star and blown it apart."

This is absolutely amazing! This has never been seen before, so it is VERY exciting. And one million degrees Kelvin is a little toasty. And by "toasty" I mean a burning, searing hot 1799540.33 degree Fahrenheit.

Full Article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080613134315.htm