Madame Butterfly

Ships Crew
  • Content Count

    2,797
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by Madame Butterfly


  1. Titan moon occupies 'sweet spot'

    By Paul Rincon

    BBC News science reporter, in Cambridge

     

     

     

    Wind, rain and volcanism play a big role on Titan

    Earth and Saturn's moon Titan show striking similarities because both occupy "sweet spots" in our Solar System, researchers have said.

     

    Many processes that occur on Earth also take place on this moon, say scientists participating in the US-European Cassini-Huygens mission.

     

    Wind, rain and volcanism and tectonic activity all seem to play a role in shaping Titan's surface.

     

    One scientist even sees a way that life could survive on the freezing world.

     

    "Titan is perhaps the most Earth-like place in the Solar System other than Earth, in terms of the balance of processes," says Jonathan Lunine, of the University of Arizona, who is an interdisciplinary scientist for Cassini-Huygens.

     

    Titan is perhaps the most Earth-like place in the Solar System other than Earth

     

    Jonathan Lunine, University of Arizona

    "Wind-driven processes, river channels, evidence of rain, possible lakes and geological features that may have to do with volcanism and tectonism."

     

    Different chemistry

     

    But the chemistry that drives these processes is radically different between the two worlds. For example, methane seems to perform many of the same roles on Titan that water plays on Earth.

     

    Dr Lunine believes that Earth and Titan both have similar processes occurring because they occupy "sweet spots" in the Solar System. Being in one these spots requires striking a balance between size, or mass, and distance from the Sun.

     

    To demonstrate the idea, Dr Lunine considered three planets in the inner Solar System: Venus, Earth and Mars.

     

    The mass of a body corresponds to an ability to sustain heat flow from its interior, while distance from the Sun is correlated with the ability to retain liquid water, a driver of geological activity on Earth.

     

    Venus is about the same size as Earth. But it is so close to the Sun that any water it had must have boiled off. As such, there is no hydrological cycle and no tectonic activity, says Lunine.

     

    Mars is distant enough from the Sun to retain water. But its small size caused it to cool quickly, turning water to ice and ending large-scale geological activity. Earth occupies an intermediate position - the "sweet spot".

     

    The researcher then turned to three bodies in the outer Solar System: Ganymede, Titan and Triton. The chemistry is different, but similar principles apply.

     

    Jupiter's moon Ganymede, the closest of the three to the Sun, is similar in size to Titan, but lacks the methane and nitrogen that drive liquid processes on the saturnian moon: "It's a kind of baked out version of Titan," said Lunine.

     

    Neptune's moon Triton, much further from the Sun than both Ganymede and Titan, possesses methane and nitrogen. But its small size caused them to freeze, ending any prospect of geological activity.

     

    Scientists have been revealing new details about Titan at the meeting in Cambridge. Ralph Lorenz of the University of Arizona, said that the river channels and flows on Titan are fashioned by "monsoon" events.

     

    'Catastrophic rains'

     

    It takes a relatively long time for methane to build up to a point where it can rain down on Titan's surface. Scientists, therefore, think rains are only occasional, but catastrophic, when they occur.

     

    Evidence also suggests Titan is constantly being resurfaced by a fluid mixture of water and ammonia spewed out by volcanoes and hot springs, explaining why Titan is not littered with impact craters like its neighbours

     

     

    Many processes that occur on Earth also take place on Titan

    A surface feature called Ganesa Macula may show just such a flow emanating from a volcanic crater.

     

    The moon's icy surface is also covered with a film, or patina, of organic compounds, Cassini-Huygens data show.

     

    One researcher has even proposed a way for life to survive on the giant Saturnian satellite. It is too cold for organisms to survive on the surface of Titan, where temperatures are about -178C (-289F).

     

    But David Grinspoon of the Southwest Research Institute says organisms could occupy specific niches, such as hot springs. They could use acetylene, in reaction with hydrogen gas, to release enough energy to power metabolism, and possibly to heat their environments.

     

    The Cassini spacecraft entered orbit around Saturn on 1 July 2004 on a mission to explore the ringed planet and its satellites. In December, it released the piggybacked Huygens probe on a collision course with Titan. Two weeks later, Huygens tumbled through the moon's atmosphere and made a successful touchdown on the surface.

     

    New results from the mission were presented at the American Astronomical Society Division of Planetary Sciences meeting in Cambridge.


  2. :) I just realized I forgot to mention any of mine!! :lol:

     

    *cough*

     

    :hug: B)

     

     

    I'm the youngest child.

     

    Great deal of age difference between myself and my two oldest siblings.

     

    Because I was the last one in diapers, my eldest brother affectionately dubbed me, Pooh.

     

    Wait, it gets worse. :hug: :)

     

     

    So my two youger brothers decided it should be Pooh-ey.

     

     

     

    Wait, it gets worse. :rolleyes: :lol:

     

     

     

    Then they saw a television program about farms, and they showed how they called pigs.

     

    So they took the pooh-ey, and began to call me as they do with pigs to get them to come home for "dinner".

     

     

    To this day they call me poohey like a pig when they want me or are in the mood to tease. :)


  3. My brother has an Irish name that begins with B, and my Mom dubbed him Boo, which we of course worsened by calling him "Boo Boo", like Yogi Bears little friend.

     

    One of his best friends from childhood got married and my parents were invited. The Inn where they stayed had an open courtyard, and my brother and his wife were sitting there having drinks with people they hadn't seen since high school and university.

     

    My Mother stepped out on the balcony attached to the room my folks were in, started waving her arm [she can put any air traffic controller to shame]and in her best Edith Bunker voice started yelling,

     

    "BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

     

    BOO BOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

     

    YOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

     

    Needless to say my brother was embarrassed beyond belief and did his best to ignore her. :rolleyes:


  4. Worrying that my horror-themed website won't be ready by Halloween.

    There are many days between then and now,but the project is huge and I am the only person working on it. :hug:

     

    I don't want as much a message board as a resource site for horror film fans.So I'm adding a lot of information,which is very time consuming.

    I spent more than 10-hours this past weekend just posting an index of horror films (not the entire index....just the "A" and "B" sections.the index is in alphabetical order),and the "A" section of the horror television series index.

    I have also spent several hours doing research at places like Wikipedia and TV Tome,to name a few.

     

    Its a labor of love.

    I hope I'll be done by Halloween.Then all of you can check it out,whenever you need info on a movie,director,actor,or whatever.Or just drop by and post a "hello."

    351754[/snapback]

     

    It sounds like it will be a great site, especially with all the work you are doing.

     

    :rolleyes:


  5. I once had a job that monthly had "activities" to increase morale and friendships at the office.

     

    We'd go bowling once a quarter, and it was the event we most looked forward too.

     

    Got a bit tipsy too, but that was half the fun.


  6. Cosmic bowling is special lights on, normal lights off.

     

    Typically the walls in that room are painted specific colors, so that it casts a certain "glow in the dark" quality about the room.

     

    Typically glow in the dark balls are used during that time also.


  7. SHANNON

    WORDS AND MUSIC BY HENRY GROSS

    @1976 BLENDINGWELL, ASCAP

     

    ANOTHER DAY IS AT END

    MAMA SAYS SHE'S TIRED AGAIN

    NO ONE CAN EVEN BEGIN TO TELL HER

     

    I HARDLY KNOW WHAT TO SAY

    BUT MAYBE IT'S BETTER THAT WAY

    IF PAPA WERE HERE I'M SURE HE'D TELL HER

     

    SHANNON IS GONE I HOPE SHE'S DRIFTING OUT TO SEA

    SHE ALWAYS LOVED TO SWIM AWAY

    MAYBE SHE'LL FIND AN ISLAND WITH A SHADY TREE

    JUST LIKE THE ONE IN OUR BACKYARD

     

    MAMA TRIES HARD TO PRETEND THINGS WILL GET

    BETTER AGAIN

    SOMEHOW SHE'S KEEPING IT ALL INSIDE HER

     

    BUT FINALLY THE TEARS FILL OUR EYES

    AND I KNOW THAT SOMEWHERE TONIGHT

    SHE KNOWS HOW MUCH WE REALLY MISS HER

     

    SHANNON IS GONE I HOPE SHE'S DRIFTING OUT TO SEA

    SHE ALWAYS LOVED TO SWIM AWAY

    MAYBE SHE'LL FIND AN ISLAND WITH A SHADY TREE

    JUST LIKE THE ONE IN OUR BACKYARD

     

    JUST LIKE THE ONE IN OUR BACKYARD


  8. I've been hearing that the charities are swamped with clothes, and that cash is more desperately needed, as it's more flexible, and can be used for anything.

     

    I'd still donate them.

     

    The yoga studio I belong to has a backpack drive going.

     

    Asking the local families to donate their old backbacks and fill them with school supplies.

     

    The Red Cross has already taken about 100 from us.


  9. There was a song back in the 70's

    about a girl loosing her horse in a snowstorm

    and dying looking for it

    Think the name of the song was Wildfire

    Shows the feelings people have for there pets.

    Also a song about a dog who drowned and how

    distraut his owner was. Think it was called Shannon.

    Wow we had some depressing songs in the 70's

    351264[/snapback]

     

     

    "Shannon is falling away, he's drifting off to sea........."

     

    I remember that song, made me cry, especially "maybe he'll find another, with a shady tree"

     

     

    And the horse was Wildfire.

     

    "She ran calling Wildfire"

     

     

    Shannon is an unusual and I think more emotional song.


  10. Um......................no. :(

     

    Though, my Mom used to make this concoction.

     

    butter on bread

     

    peanut butter over that

     

    and a touch of mayo

     

    Then she'd warm this all together under the broiler.

     

    It tasted awful to me, but the smell was comforting. :(


  11. Explorer Says Lost Peru City Is Plundered By Tomb Raiders

    By MONTE HAYES Associated Press Writer

    The Associated Press

     

    LIMA,Peru Sep 5, 2005 — An American explorer says an ancient, pre-Incan metropolis discovered by his father in Peru's remote cloud forest on an earlier expedition has been plundered by tomb robbers.

     

    Sean Savoy, 32, urged the government to take steps to protect the city, which he estimated housed 20,000 people and had hundreds of circular stone buildings in the 7th century.

     

    "It is time for the government to take note. Something has to be done. These places are in danger of destruction," he said.

     

     

    Savoy, just back from leading a 23-day expedition to the site, described it as a massive metropolitan complex spread along a river valley high in Peru's rain forest on the eastern slopes of the Peruvian Andes.

     

    The expedition to the Gran Saposoa ruins, located 335 miles north of Lima, included more than 50 people, counting government archaeologists, architects, a stonemason, an expert on Andean art, armed police and 30 mule drivers.

     

    Savoy, son of famed 78-year-old explorer Gene Savoy, who has discovered more than 40 lost cities in Peru since the 1960s, said in an interview with The Associated Press Saturday that the city is much bigger than his father had calculated. He estimated the metropolitan area covers more than 80 square miles.

     

    The elder Savoy discovered it in 1999, naming it Gran Saposoa, and concluded it was one of the cities of the Chachapoyas kingdom.

     

    Spanish chronicles from the 16th century tell of a network of seven Chachapoyas cities strung like a necklace along the heights of the high jungle of northern Peru.

     

    Savoy described the Chachapoyas as tall, fierce warriors who were defeated in the late 15th century by Inca ruler Tupac Yupanqui just decades before the Spanish conquest of Peru.

     

    This year's trip marked the fifth time the site has been explored since the Savoys first trekked over a wind-swept, 14,500-foot-high Andean pass and hacked their way down into the overgrown mountainous jungle to discover it.

     

    Sean Savoy said members of this year's expedition were stunned to find that a sculptured stone head at the most important set of ruins had been ripped from its place in a stone wall. But they were in for an even more unpleasant surprise.

     

     

    "We encountered a site, previously unknown to us, but obviously to others, where over 50 cliffside tombs were destroyed. Not just sacked and looted, the tombs themselves destroyed. Torn apart with picks and axes," he said.

     

    He believes the once-urban valley was home to at least 20,000 people, double the previous estimate. He said the latest expedition discovered a sixth citadel, located at 12,000 feet with a 64-foot-wide avenue. He said the six interconnected districts discovered during five expeditions contain hundreds of circular stone buildings.

     

     

     

    "I had no idea of the scale of the ruins. The scale was humongous, mind-boggling," said Patrick Manning, an Irish architect who took part in the expedition. "There are hundreds of buildings."

     

    He said he understands how hard it is for a poor nation like Peru to protect its many pre-Columbian ruins.

     

    "The big problem is the lack of funding," Manning said.

     

    The Savoys live most of the year in Reno, Nev., where Gene Savoy directs the Andean Explorers Foundation. After his last trip to Gran Saposoa en 2001, the elder Savoy has dedicated his time to writing a book about his last 15 years of exploration, his son said. He has already authored three books on his expeditions.

     

    The elder Savoy is credited with finding three of Peru's most important ruins: Vilcabamba, the last refuge of the Incas; Gran Pajaten, a citadel city atop a jungle-shrouded peak; and Gran Vilaya, a complex of more than 20,000 stone buildings.

     

    Much of his work has focused on the Chachapoyas, whose empire extended along a 135-mile stretch of the Andes' fogbound eastern slopes. He has now found six of the seven fabled Chachapoyas cities


  12. Saturn ring particles 'fluffy'

    By Paul Rincon

    BBC News science reporter, Cambridge

     

     

     

    Scientists determined the spin rate by studying the temperature profiles of the ring particles

    The particles that make up Saturn's rings are more like "fluffy" snowballs than hard ice cubes, as some scientists had previously described them.

     

    And these grains have been found to be spinning more slowly than thought, according to new data from the US-European Cassini space probe.

     

    This is even the case in parts of the rings that are densely packed and where there should be many collisions.

     

    Details were presented at an American Astronomical Society meeting in the UK.

     

    "The ring particles, in our conclusion, are rotating slowly. This tells you something about the physical particles themselves," said Linda Spilker, deputy project scientist for the Cassini mission.

     

    "It would be wonderful to take a butterfly net and scoop up the ring particles, bring them back and look at them. But we have to indirectly infer what a ring particle might look like, and they're probably more like a fluffy snowball."

     

    Scientists determined the spin rate by studying the temperature profiles of the ring particles. They thought that collisions in the dense A and B rings would have resulted in these particles having a more uniform temperature.

     

    We have never seen anything like this before

     

    Dr Carolyn Porco, Space Science Institute

    Instead, they found that the temperature of the particles drops by about 15 degrees (Kelvin) when they are not exposed to the Sun. This suggested they were spinning slowly enough for them to cool off when they were not in sunlight.

     

    Observations from Cassini also show several faint, thread-like ringlets, or minor rings, around Saturn's F ring in fact form a single spiral arm that encircles the planet.

     

    The spiral is constantly being created and destroyed through its interactions with one of Saturn's moons.

     

    "We have never seen anything like this before. There are spiral structures in the rings, there are gravity and density waves, but they are completely different things," said Dr Carolyn Porco, of the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado.

     

    When a small moon of Saturn gets close enough to the ringlets, or strands, the gravitational force it exerts scatters the particles. After about a year, these organise themselves into a single spiral arm. But successive interactions with the satellite destroy the spiral after two years.

     

    The results were presented at the American Astronomical Society Division of Planetary Sciences meeting in Cambridge, UK.