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Figures & Facts
Magnificent Planet. 2012 version of Nasa's 'Blue Marble' - Earth space images (composite), taken by new Suomi satellite: Jan 4
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Last week, NASA released its 2012 version of the famous "Blue Marble" image. By using a planet-pointing satellite, Suomi NPP, the space agency created an extremely high-resolution photograph of our watery world.
The photo centered on the western hemisphere, highlighting North and Central America. It went viral and got even more hits on Flickr than the iconic "Situation Room" photo, taken at the time of the assassination of Osama bin Laden.
Now, responding to public demand, the agency has created a companion image: this time focusing its lens toward the East and showing Africa, Saudi Arabia and India.
The Suomi NPP satellite hugs the Earth too closely to get this kind of image in one shot. It’s in a polar orbit with an altitude of 824 kilometers, but the perspective of the Eastern hemisphere Blue Marble is from 12,743 kilometers away.
As such, Nasa Goddard oceanographer Norman Kuring used images from six different orbits of the satellite over an eight-hour time period on Jan. 23, then stitched the photos together to achieve the final composite. read more »
Strongest solar storm in years, bombarding Earth w/ radiation... aurora borealis that swept across the night sky
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Jan. 22, 2012 - Solar storm sparks dazzling northern lights
NASA observed a flare Sunday night at 11 p.m. EST Jan. 22, 2012, shows a solar flare erupting on the Sun's northeastern hemisphere, the strongest solar storm in more than six years, bombarding Earth with radiation with more to come. The biggest concern from the speedy eruption is the radiation, which arrived on Earth an hour later and will likely continue through Wednesday. It's mostly an issue for astronauts' health and satellite disruptions. It can cause communication problems for airplanes that go over the poles. Scientists have been expecting solar eruptions to become more intense as the sun enters a more active phase of its 11-year cycle, with an expected peak in 2013. read more »
"Your heart is a legend". KungFu movie superstar Jackie Chan calls for action to help children's educaion & to protect wildlife
Happy and harmonious Lunar Year of the Dragon 2012!
"Build a School For a Dollar" - In the past 5 years, Jackie's fans have donated over US $90,000 and Jackie has matched this donation for a total of over US $180,000, enough to build 2-3 schools...
Jackie Chan's Diary January 17, 2012 "...a story that I wanted to share with you. Maybe you remember the little boy, Will Shadley, who starred in "The Spy Next Door" with me several years ago. He's twelve years old now and living in California and has been spending a lot of his time doing charity work..."
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Flawless and faultless beauty - seals: creatures of Nature, children of Snow. Photo: cutest adorable baby seal with big smile
What's wrong with us? Who are we to stand by and watch the brutal clubbing of flawless and faultless beauty - seals: creatures of Nature, children of Snow? From StopTheSealHunt: "Sadly, in Canada close to 300,000 poor, defenseless baby seal pups (most between 2 weeks and 3 months of age) are brutally murdered every year in the annual, government-sanctioned commercial seal hunt - all for the sake of fashion, vanity, politics, money and greed. Many are even skinned alive while conscious. (What kind of heartless human being could even think of doing such a thing!?)"
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Meet the incredible smiling seal! read more »
Australia's doorstep: imprisoned citizens request"return us to shore in AU, remove urself fr our waters"; Taiji: Dutchman jailed
Is it "kidnapping" if they are taken away instead of sent back to Australia as AU citizens have requested - "return us to shore in Australia and then remove yourself from our waters"? - Traveling fr one side of globe to the other, armed"Gov. of Japan" ship detains 3 AU citizens while Taiji detains 5 CoveGuardians - Jan. 7, 2012: 14 miles off Australian coast (at the doorstep of their own homeland, of their own country's territory, within the Australian EEZ waters), three Australian citizens from Forest Rescue - Geoffrey Owen Tuxworth (47) of Perth, Simon Peterffy (44) of Bunbury, and Glen Pendlebury (27) of Fremantle - are now detained as prisoners on an armed Japanese ship "Government of Japan" with military personnel in Australian territorial waters. Per Forest Rescue statement - Simon Peterffy said: “We are onboard this ship because our government has failed to uphold its pre-election promise to end whaling in the Southern Ocean”, which sounds quite contrary to what the Chilean government is determined to do (though both Australia and Chile have declared sanctuaries, where whaling is prohibited) - read more »
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