Asteroid 2005 YU55 To Approach Earth Nov 8 2011
spacedaily.com
Near-Earth asteroid 2005 YU55 will pass within 0.85 lunar distances from the Earth on November 8, 2011. The upcoming close approach by this relatively large 400 meter-sized, C-type asteroid presents an excellent opportunity for synergistic ground-based observations including optical, near infrared and radar data.
An animated illustration by JPL shows the Earth and moon flyby geometry for November 8th and 9th when the object will reach a visual brightness of 11th magnitude and should be easily visible to observers in the northern and southern hemispheres.
Click to view the projected movement in action
The closest approach to Earth and the Moon will be respectively 0.00217 AU and 0.00160 AU on 2011 November 8 at 23:28 and November 9 at 07:13 UT.
Discovered December 28, 2005 by Robert McMillan of the Spacewatch Program near Tucson Arizona, the object has been previously observed by Mike Nolan, Ellen Howell and colleagues with the Arecibo radar on April 19-21, 2010 and shown to be a very dark, nearly spherical object 400 meters in diameter.
Because of its approximate 20-hour rotation period, ideal radar observations should include tracks that are 8 hours or longer on multiple dates at Goldstone (November 3-11) and when the object enters Arecibo’s observing window on November 8th. Read more…
London set to limit right to protest
Based on a proposal by Home Secretary Theresa May, the police may be given new powers to prevent so-called hooligans from attending rallies and marches while officers will also be authorized to force demonstrators, who do not want to be known, to remove their face-scarves and balaclavas.
The announcement has raised concerns among MPs who say no hasty decision should be made on the issue as the police may abuse the “stop and search” powers to target ordinary people rather than “known hooligans”.
May outlined her plans during an emergency Commons briefing on the violent incidents, which marred the Saturday rally Read more…
Mongolia Might Store Foreign Spent Nuclear Fuel, Senior U.S. Official Says
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has held informal talks with Mongolia about the possibility that the Central Asian nation might host an international repository for its region’s spent nuclear fuel, a senior U.S. diplomat said yesterday (see GSN, March 9, 2010).
(Mar. 30) - A herder last year guides cattle through a frozen area in Mongolia's Tuv province. The United States and Mongolia have informally discussed the possibility of the Asian nation hosting a spent nuclear-fuel repository for the region, a high-level U.S. diplomat said yesterday (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images).
U.S. Energy Department officials and their counterparts in Ulaanbaatar, the Mongolian capital, are in the early stages of discussion and there has been no determination yet about whether to proceed with the idea, according to Richard Stratford, who directs the State Department’s Nuclear Energy, Safety and Security Office.
Speaking at the biennial Carnegie International Nuclear Policy Conference, Stratford said a spent-fuel depot in the region could be of particular value to Taiwan and South Korea, which use nuclear power but have few options when it comes to disposing of atomic waste.
“If Mongolia were to do that, I think that would be a very positive step forward in terms of internationalizing spent-fuel storage,” he said during a panel discussion on nuclear cooperation agreements. “My Taiwan and South Korean colleagues have a really difficult time with spent fuel. And if there really was an international storage depot, which I have always supported, then that would help to solve their problem.”
Stratford is Washington’s lead envoy for nuclear trade pacts, which are sometimes called “123 agreements” after the section of the Atomic Energy Act that governs them.
The United States provides fresh uranium rods to selected trade partners in Asia, including South Korea and Read more…
Ancient Tablet Found: Oldest Readable Writing in Europe
Marks on a clay tablet fragment found in Greece are the oldest known decipherable text in Europe, a new study says.
Considered “magical or mysterious” in its time, the writing survives only because a trash heap caught fire some 3,500 years ago, according to researchers.
Found in an olive grove in what’s now the village of Iklaina (map), the tablet was created by a Greek-speaking Mycenaean scribe between 1450 and 1350 B.C., archaeologists say.
The Mycenaeans—made legendary in part by Homer’s Iliad, which fictionalizes their war with Troy—dominated much of Greece from about 1600 B.C. to 1100 B.C. (See “Is Troy True? The Evidence Behind Movie Myth.”)
So far, excavations at Iklaina have yielded evidence of an early Mycenaean palace, giant terrace walls, murals, and a surprisingly advanced drainage system, according to dig director Michael Cosmopoulos.
But the tablet, found last summer, is the biggest surprise of the multiyear project, Cosmopoulos said.
“According to what we knew, that tablet should not have been there,” the University of Missouri-St. Louis archaeologist Read more…
EARTHQUAKE and now BUBBLING SULPHURIC GAS in Quebec Canada!
Wow That Was Fast! Libyan Rebels Have Already Established A New Central Bank Of Libya
The rebels in Libya are in the middle of a life or death civil war and Moammar Gadhafi is still in power and yet somehow the Libyan rebels have had enough time to establish a new Central Bank of Libya and form a new national oil company. Perhaps when this conflict is over those rebels can become time management consultants. They sure do get a lot done. What a skilled bunch of rebels – they can fight a war during the day and draw up a new central bank and a new national oil company at night without any outside help whatsoever. If only the rest of us were so versatile! But isn’t forming a central bank something that could be done after the civil war is over?
According to Bloomberg, the Transitional National Council has “designated the Central Bank of Benghazi as a monetary authority competent in monetary policies in Libya and the appointment of a governor to the Central Bank of Libya, with a temporary headquarters in Benghazi.” Apparently someone felt that it was very important to get pesky matters such as control of the banks and control of the money supply out of the way even before a new government is formed.
Of course it is probably safe to assume that the new Central Bank of Libya will be 100% owned and 100% controlled by the newly liberated people of Libya, isn’t it?
Most people don’t realize that the previous Central Bank of Libya was 100% state owned. The Read more…
World powers agree to set up contact group to map out Libya’s future
“Participants of the conference agreed to establish the Libya Contact Group,” said a statement issued by Mr Hague, who chaired Tuesday’s meeting of more than 35 countries plus the UN and Nato.
“Qatar has agreed to convene the first meeting of the group as soon as possible,” the statement said.
The group will provide “leadership and overall political direction to the international effort in close co-ordination with the UN (United Nations), AU (African Union), Arab League, OIC (Organisation of the Islamic Conference) and EU (European Union) to support Libya.”
The London conference was called to map out Libya’s future following the fighting between forces loyal to the country’s leader, Muammar Gaddafi, and rebels opposed to his four-decade rule.
Britain, France and the United States had launched military strikes on Libya ten days ago to Read more…
Severe floods claim 11 lives in southern Thailand
BANGKOK, March 30 — The number of current flood-related deaths in the southern provinces now stands at 11 with the most casualties–seven persons–registered in Nakhon Si Thammarat followed by three victims in Surat Thani and one in Phatthalung, Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Director-General Vibul Sanguanpong said on Wednesday.
Their Majesties the King and Queen have given funds to the Red Cross for emergency help to flood victims in southern provinces, naval and other ships are involved in rescue and supply operations, and the prime minister and flood relief coordinator Satit Wonghnongtaey have Read more…
Deaths and thousands infected with dengue in Paraguay and Bolivia
“We have 18 dengue deaths confirmed in Paraguay and 2.500 infected of which 1.300 are hospitalized” said Ivan Allende head of the Sanitary Vigilance Department in Asuncion. He also called on the population to immediately report to a clinic or hospital on suspicion of having contracted the disease, which again reappeared with extreme force in late December with the rainy season.
“In previous years we never had so many people hospitalized” added Allende who indicated that only zero temperatures can help eliminate the mosquito larvae. “Until then we must insist people must collaborate watching out for stagnant water in bottles, old tyres, and flower pots and obviously in toilets and sewage”.
In Bolivia the death toll has climbed to 20 and the number of infected totals 1,670. Read more…
Drought In Amazon Could Lead To Accelerated Global Warming
A new study reveals a drought last year in the Amazon basin caused the forest to lose significant levels of vegetation, which in turn could accelerate the pace of global warming.
The study, conducted by an international team of scientists and funded by NASA, uses specific satellite imaging data provided by the agency to draw its conclusions. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellites provided more than a decade’s worth of data for scientists who studied the de-vegetation of the Amazon rainforest.
(Photo: NASA/BU) NASA satellite sensors, such as MODIS, showed an average pattern of greenness of vegetation on South America: Amazon forests which have very high leaf area are shown in red and purple colors, the adjacent cerrado (savannas) which have lower leaf area are shown in shades of green, and the coastal deserts are shown in yellow colors.
The scientists say changing climates with warmer temperatures and altered rainfall could lead to the rainforests turning into grasslands or woody savannas. This causes carbon stored in the rotting wood to be released into the atmosphere, which would add to the greenhouse gases present.
“The greenness levels of Amazonian vegetation — a measure of its health — decreased dramatically over an area more than three and one-half times the size of Texas and did not recover to normal levels, even after the drought ended in late October 2010,” Liang Xu, the study’s lead author from Boston University, said in a statement.
“The MODIS vegetation greenness data suggest a more widespread, severe and long-lasting impact to Amazonian vegetation than Read more…
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