ADVANCES
HUBBLE ULTRA DEEP FIELD (JUL/AUG 2014)
Over the past few years, more and more detailed images of the Hubble Deep Field, a small, void like area in the southern constellation of Fornax, have been released. Why, though, would the Hubble Spacecraft want to image such a boring area of the sky? The answer to this question lies in what can be seen in the Hubble Deep Field (below). Galaxies billions of years old are photographed in the image that would usually be washed out by bright starlight. Areas that appear as voids to our eyes are some of the most interesting places to photography with long exposure technology. The newest 2014 Hubble Ultra Deep Field image combines the full spectrum visible to the Hubble: visible, near-infrared, and ultraviolet light. The fainter and smaller galaxies shown are some of the oldest and distant galaxies in the observable universe. These objects are so far away that their light has only reached us now. New data gained from the intricate photograph is helping astrophysicists learn much more about early stellar formation.
-Grant Regen
-Grant Regen
SCIENTISTS PROLONG THE LIFE OF FLOWERS (JUL/AUG)
Scientists with the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization in Eastern Japan have claimed to identify the gene responsible for the short flower life of a species of morning glory. The gene responsible has been named EPHEMERAL1, and might one day be extremely important in lengthening flower life. Putting what they learned into action, the team made the effect of this gene weaker and prolonged the flower’s life by almost half. Kenichi Shibuya, one of the main researchers, stated, “Unmodified flowers started withering 13 hours after they opened, but flowers that had been genetically modified stayed open for 24 hours.” He also stated that there is a possibility of similar results in short-lived flowers and that genes of cut flowers could be suppressed, just like he did in the study to live flowers.
-Grant Regen
-Grant Regen
MOON FORMATION 60 MILLION YEARS OLDER THAN THOUGHT (JUL/AUG)
Geologists met Mid-June at the Goldschmidt Geochemistry Conference to discuss new knowledge in the field. Some of the most interesting work presented at the conference explained new date estimates of earth and lunar formation. Guillaume Avice and Bernard Marty of the University of Lorraine examined ancient gasses trapped in quarts crystal. The specific amounts of different atoms revealed to the geochemists that early estimates undershot the true date. While exact dates of formation are impossible to compose, more exact timings of +/- a few million years are crucial to know. The findings of the researchers changed the date of the earth’s atmosphere’s birth back sixty million years than thought before. This new estimate placed the event at about forty million years after the start of the solar system. Another new, very important change would also be true if the earth’s atmosphere was older: the Moon would be older. The leading theory on lunar formation tells of a Mars-sized object called Thea smashing into the earth. A huge chunk of the earth, with some of Thea, later made the Moon. Because the atmosphere would have to be made after this catastrophic event, the event itself must be sixty million years older.
- Grant Regen
- Grant Regen
QUICK TAKES (JUL/AUG)
The Hubble Space Telescope Time Allocation Committee, which decides what the busy spacecraft will record next, is taking a new idea in high consideration. The committee was recommended to use recording time to search for Kuiper Belt Objects, icy rocks about the size of cities at the edge of our solar system, in a very specific area of the sky. The New Horizons spacecraft, planned to visit Pluto in 2015, would then swing by these objects after Pluto. Currently it has no other fly-bys planned. -Grant Regen
Tri-colored Blackbirds are on the brink of exstinction in California. Over the past six years there has been a 64 percent decrease in the number of the birds according to a survey done by UC Davis. -Peter Smith
A new study published by three distinguished organizations shows that Caribbean coral reefs have been declining in population by 50% since the 1970’s. If current treatment continues, the population of coral is thought to drop to close to zero in twenty years. The study also found that the damage could easily be stopped and rebuilt if certain changes were made. -Grant Regen
Tri-colored Blackbirds are on the brink of exstinction in California. Over the past six years there has been a 64 percent decrease in the number of the birds according to a survey done by UC Davis. -Peter Smith
A new study published by three distinguished organizations shows that Caribbean coral reefs have been declining in population by 50% since the 1970’s. If current treatment continues, the population of coral is thought to drop to close to zero in twenty years. The study also found that the damage could easily be stopped and rebuilt if certain changes were made. -Grant Regen