Science is for Sharing

🌞Eclipses 🌚  are heavenly visual feasts of celestial bodies hide and seek game with light and shadow. Indeed, they are rare events ! We need to be in the right place 🗺 and at right time  ⌚ to watch an eclipse unfurl. 💥How about watching a future eclipse now ? Yes, it is possible !   Curious to know ? 🤔 We can simulate it in our PC 💻 and enjoy. No need to travel far off. It would be truly interesting to watch it in advance and later wait at the right place to witness it. ❓ How to simulate a heavenly event ? Use the free open source Astronomy software  "Stellarium"  - to enjoy the realistic sky.⭐🌟⋆ It can be downloaded at  https://stellarium.org/ Set the location (latitude, longitude), change the time, play and watch !!! This would be really interesting and rewarding activity.  Now, let us see how an  Annular Solar Eclipse of  26 December 2019  📅 look like. An Annular Solar Eclipse...

Every year during winter time (Aug-Sep) , extend of Antarctic sea ice  increases. But this year...... it has reached record largest extend.... Reports NASA. Interesting .....!  Isn't it....? Read the following graph to compare the changes in sea ice extend. Read More: Antarctic Sea Ice Reaches New Maximum Extent Why should it grow....? It's an interesting field of research....! There are few hypothesis... Read More http://theconversation.com/why-is-antarctic-sea-ice-growing-19605  Courtesy: NASA earth observatory

Climate model projections that show a greater rise in global temperature are likely to prove more accurate than those showing a lesser rise. The study was published in the journal - Science. National Center for Atmospheric Research scientists John Fasullo and Kevin Trenberth analyzed how well 16 leading sophisticated climate models reproduce observed relative humidity in Earth's tropics and subtropics. They used observations from two NASA satellite instruments - the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument on NASA's Aqua spacecraft and the Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) . Climate model projections showing a greater rise in global temperature are likely to prove more accurate than those showing a lesser rise, according to them. Read in detail:  https://www2.ucar.edu/atmosnews/news/8264/future-warming-likely-be-high-side-climate-projections-analysis-finds http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/earth20121108.html

Have you heard of Cirrus cloud descending .........? What is it ......? Is it a frequent phenomenon .....? Does it have seasonal dependence ....? Where does it occur ......? Why do cirrus descend .....? What is it's impact .......? We have discovered the phenomenon using 3 years of lidar observations over Thiruvananthapuram, near southern tip of India that Cirrus clouds frequently DESCEND.....! After analysing the data together with other observations and models, we have come up answers to the above questions.  The observations and results are now accepted by the scientific community and it finds a place in the Journal of Geophysical Research - JGR (Atmosphere). Read more... Here is the link:  http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2012/2011JD017406.shtml   Nair, A. K. M. , K. Rajeev, M. K. Mishra, B. V. Thampi, and K. Parameswaran  ( 2012 ),  Multiyear lidar observations of the descending nature of tropical cirrus clouds ,...

Clouds and aerosol particles have bedevilled climate modellers for decades. Now researchers are starting to gain the upper hand. Researchers say they are beginning to turn a corner in simulating clouds and aerosols. In recent months, climate scientists have started rolling out initial results from the newest generation of models, which represent atmospheric chemistry and microphysics in much more sophisticated ways than previous incarnations. These models allow clouds and aerosols to evolve as they interact with each other and respond to factors such as temperature, relative humidity and air currents.  Read more : http://www.nature.com/news/climate-forecasting-a-break-in-the-clouds-1.10593 Nature International weekly journal of science Go Advanced search

La-Nina ended...... in April 2012. Pacific is in Neutral conditions....... See this animation......... Read More: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=77828&src=youtube Animation CLICK HERE Courtesy: Nasa Earth Observatory

Physicists on the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS)  have announced the first results  from their collaboration, revealing  the most precise measurements  ever made of the large-scale structure of the universe between five to seven billion years ago. They achieved this by observing the primordial sound waves that propagated through the cosmic medium a mere 30,000 years after the Big Bang. Read in detaill:  Most Precise Measurement of Scale of the Universe : Discovery News http://news.discovery.com/space/whos-the-boss-most-accurate-measurement-of-scale-of-the-universe-120406.html

My colleague Mr.Sobhan Kumar Kompalli, Scientist in Space Physics Laboratory has clicked more than 100 snaps of the beautiful 'Lunar Eclipse' that entertained earthlings on 10-Dec-2011. Here is a matrix of few selected snaps by the  amateur  photographer. Also have a view of the Simulated Lunar Eclipse ( animation)  which I generated using the open source software 'Stellarium'. You are welcome to watch  the drama unfold......! Photograph by Mr.Sobhan Kumar Kompalli (sobhan1urs@gmail.com)