Universe Today

A Cuneiform clay tablet that has puzzled researchers for over 150 years is now believed to describe an asteroid impact in 3123 BC in Austria. Researchers believe the tablet, which seemingly describes a cataclysmic event, may account for the biblical tale of Sodom and Gomorrah. No mention of pillars of salt however, on the clay tablet.

Geologists discovered evidence of a giant landslide centered at Köfels, Austria back in the 19th century. At 500 meters thick and five kilometers in diameter, this landslide mystified researchers trying to figure out why such an event occurred. Some researchers thought the landslide may have been caused by a meteorite impact, because of the evidence of crushing pressures and explosions. But there was no crater, so it didn’t look as an impact site should, and the impact theory fell out of favor. But researchers knew this wasn’t just an ordinary landslide.

But new research brings the impact theory back into play. It centers on another 19th century mystery, a Cuneiform tablet in the British Museum, known as “the Planisphere”. It was found in the remains of the library in the Royal Place at Nineveh, and was made by an Assyrian scribe around 700 BC. It is an astronomical work with drawings of constellations and the text has known constellation names. The clay tablet has attracted a lot of attention but until now no one has come up with a convincing explanation as to what it is.

Alan Bond and Mark Hempsell from Bristol University used computer programs to simulate trajectories and reconstruct the night sky thousands of years ago to establish what the Planisphere tablet refers to. It is a copy of the night notebook of a Sumerian astronomer as he records the events in the sky before dawn on the 29 June 3123 BC (Julian calendar). Half the tablet records planet positions and cloud cover, but the other half of the tablet records an object large enough for its shape to be noted even though it is still in space. The astronomer made an accurate note of its trajectory relative to the stars, which to an error better than one degree is consistent with an impact at Köfels.

The observation suggests the asteroid is over a kilometer in diameter and the original orbit about the Sun was an Aten type, a class of asteroid that orbits close to the earth, that is resonant with the Earth’s orbit. This trajectory explains why there is no crater at Köfels. The incoming angle was very low (six degrees) and means the asteroid clipped a mountain near the town of Längenfeld, 11 kilometers from Köfels, and this caused the asteroid to explode before it reached its final impact point. As it travelled down the valley it became a fireball, about five kilometers in diameter (the size of the landslide). When it hit Köfels it created enormous pressures that pulverized the rock and caused the landslide but because it was no longer a solid object it did not create a classic impact crater.

Mark Hempsell, hinting at the possible fate of Sodom and Gomorrah, added, “Another conclusion can be made from the trajectory. The back plume from the explosion (the mushroom cloud) would be bent over the Mediterranean Sea re-entering the atmosphere over the Levant, Sinai, and Northern Egypt. The ground heating though very short would be enough to ignite any flammable material – including human hair and clothes. It is probable more people died under the plume than in the Alps due to the impact blast.”

This evidence seems to coincide with the biblical story of the legendary dens of vice (“Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah – from the Lord out of the heavens” – Genesis 19:24) but it’s never been categorically proven that the towns actually existed in their suspected location close to the Dead Sea. And the story of Lot’s wife turning into a pillar of salt for turning around to witness the mayhem is just biblical legend as well.

The full translation of the tablet together with the analysis supporting these conclusions can be found in the book, “A Sumerian Observation of the Kofels’ Impact Event” by Bond and Hempsell.

Original News Sources: Bristol University and The Register

We’re getting closer to finding an Earth-like planet out there in the universe. Spanish astronomers announced the discovery of the smallest exo-planet found to date, located 30 light years from earth. “I think we are very close, just a few years away, from detecting a planet like Earth,” team leader Ignasi Ribas said at a news conference on Wednesday April 9, 2008. The newest planet, “GJ 436T” was discovered by a team led by Ribas through its gravitational pull on other planets already discovered around the same star in the constellation of Leo.

The planet has a mass five times the size of Earth, which makes it the smallest extrasolar planet among the roughly 300 identified so far, Ribas said. The astronomers believe the planet could possibly be a rocky, Earth-like planet because of its size. Most of the planets found so far are gas giants like Jupiter.

But Ribas said the new planet is uninhabitable due to the close distance that it orbits its star, which is far less than that between the earth and the sun. Planet GJ 436 orbits close to its small, relatively cool star once every 5.2 Earth days and rotates every 4.2 Earth days.

This latest planet was found by analyzing distortions in the orbit of another, larger planet around the star GJ 436, a technique similar to that used more than 100 years ago to discover Neptune.

“Planets with a mass similar to Earth situated at a distance from their star which allows liquid water on the surface, in other words, a habitable planet, we’re probably a bit further from (discovering those), but we surely will in a decade,” said Ribas of Spain’s CSIC scientific research institute.

Original News Source: Reuters

Wondering when the next eclipse is going to be? Book these dates into your calendar now so you won’t miss them.

Next Lunar Eclipse
The next lunar eclipse is going to be on August 16, 2008, the second eclipse of the year. Unfortunately, this will only be a partial eclipse, with the Moon passing only partly through the Earth’s shadow. The entire eclipse will be visible from Africa and Europe, and partially visible from viewers in South America, Asia and Australia.

There will be another partial eclipse on February 9, 2009. We’ll have to wait until December 21, 2010 for the next total lunar eclipse.

Next Solar Eclipse
The next solar eclipse will be on August 1, 2008. Fortunately, this will be a total solar eclipse, where the Moon passes directly in front of the Sun. Unfortunately, the path of totality passes through very northern regions. It starts in Arctic Canada, sweeps through Greenland into Northern Russia. Only in the end does it dip down into Mongolia and China.

If you’ve got some ideas about how to deflect an asteroid or comet heading towards Earth, there’s an opportunity out there to have your concept reviewed by some of the world’s top astronomers and physicists. The only restriction is that you must be a student or a young professional under the age of 33. This announcement comes on the heels of notices of other opportunities for young people to get involved with space missions. The space sector must be listening to recent complaints that the younger generation feels a disconnect to space-related activities. At any rate, these are great opportunities.

Here’s more on the asteroid competition, as well as more ways for students to get involved with space missions:

The “Move An Asteroid 2008” competition is sponsored by the Space Generation Advisory Council. It’s an international technical paper competition looking for unique and innovative concepts for how to deflect an asteroid or comet that may impact the Earth. The competition is open to individuals or teams, and they must write and submit a 3-10 page original technical paper on their innovative concept. The 1st place award is a trip to present the winning paper at this year’s Space Generation Congress (SGC) and International Astronautical Congress (IAC) which take place in Glasgow, Scotland from late September until early October 2008. The 2nd place award is a trip to present at the SGC. Entries are due on June 9, 2008 and winners will be announced on June 30, 2008, the 100th anniversary of the Tunguska Event, the largest asteroid/comet impact event in Earth’s recent history.

Another opportunity is the Cassini Scientist for a Day contest. The contest is open to all students in the U.S. between grades 5 and 12, working alone or in groups of up to four students. This is a competition for the privilege of deciding where to point the cameras onboard the Cassini spacecraft on June 10, 2008. There will be 55 minutes of time where the winners will control of spacecraft, plenty of time to turn it as needed and point the cameras at pretty much any target you’d like. In case you’re not sure what targets would be best, the Cassini team has narrowed the field of possible targets. Deadline for submission is Noon, Pacific Daylight Time on May 8, 2008 (3:00 p.m. Eastern time).

Next, there’s the NASA Quest LIMA Challenge for Students in Grades 4-8. In this challenge, students become scientists and propose Antarctic research. The Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica is the first true-color high-resolution satellite view of the Antarctic continent. Using this view of Antarctica, students must develop a research question and debate the value of studying the chosen feature. Registration is currently open and educational resources are available online. This is going on right now, with the deadline for preliminary proposals due on April 20, 2008, so check this one out soon.

Also, there’s a chance for U.S. students to involved working with the mission operations associated with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and specificially the CRISM (Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars) on board MRO, currently orbiting Mars. The project is called Mars Exploration Student Data Teams. This is an ongoing program for high school students, and one adult facilitator is required. This program is facilitated through a cooperative effort by NASA and Arizona State University. Another similar program is the Mars Student Imaging Project that works with the Mars Odyssey orbiter. You can find more info on that program here.

Also ongoing is the ISS EarthKAM (Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle school students)program, a NASA education program which gives students teachers the chance to choose targets on Earth for pictures to be taken from the International Space Station. Learn more about that program here.

Original News Source: Space Generation Advisory Council

As computers become more advanced, the microprocessors inside them shrink in size and use less electrical current. These new, energy efficient chips can be crammed closer together, increasing the number of calculations that can be done per second, therefore making the computer more powerful. But even the mighty supercomputer has its Achilles heel: an increased sensitivity to interference from charged particles originating beyond your office. These highly energetic particles come from space and may cause critical hardware to miscalculate, possibly putting lives at risk.

Foreseeing this problem, microchip manufacturer Intel has begun devising ways to detect when a shower of charged particles may hit their chips, so when they do, calculations can be re-run to iron out any errors…

Cosmic rays originate from our Sun, supernovae and other unknown cosmic sources. Typically, they are very energetic protons that zip through space close to the speed of light. They could be so powerful that on impact with the upper atmosphere of the Earth it has been postulated that they may create micro black holes. Naturally these energetic particles can cause some damage. In fact, they may be a huge barrier to travelling beyond the safety of Earth’s magnetic field (the magnetosphere deflects most cosmic radiation, even astronauts in Earth orbit are well shielded), the health of astronauts will be severely damaged during prolonged interplanetary flight.

But what about on Earth, where we are protected from the full force of cosmic rays? Although a small portion of our annual radiation dose comes from cosmic rays (roughly 13%), they can have extensive effects over large volumes of the atmosphere. As cosmic rays collide with atmospheric molecules, a cascade of light particles is produced. This is known as an “air shower”. The billions of particles within the air shower from a single impact are often highly charged themselves (but of lesser energy than the parent cosmic ray), but the physics behind the air shower is beginning to grow in importance, especially in the realms of computing.

It seems computer microprocessor manufacturer Intel has been pondering the same question. They have just released a patent detailing their plans should a cosmic ray penetrate the atmosphere and hit one of their delicate microchips. The problem will come when computing becomes so advanced that the tiny chips may “misfire” when a comic ray impact event occurs. Should the unlucky chip be hit by a cosmic ray, a spike of electrical current may be exerted across the circuitry, causing a miscalculation.

This may sound pretty benign; after all, what’s one miscalculation in billions? Intel’s senior scientist Eric Hannah explains:

“All our logic is based on charge, so it gets interference. […] You could be going down the autobahn [German freeway] at 200 miles an hour and suddenly discover your anti-lock braking system doesn’t work because it had a cosmic ray event.” – Eric Hannah.

After all, computers are getting smaller and cheaper, they are being used everywhere including critical systems like the braking system described by Hannah above. As they are so small, many more chips can occupy computers, increasing the risk. Where a basic, one processor computer may only experience one cosmic ray event in several years (producing an unnoticed calculation error), supercomputers with tens of thousands of processors may suffer 10-20 cosmic ray events per week. What’s more, in the near future even humble personal laptops may have the computing power of today’s supercomputer; 10-20 calculation errors per week would be unworkable, there would be too high a risk of data loss, software corruption or hardware failure.

Orbital space stations, satellites and interplanetary spacecraft also come to mind. Space technology embraces advanced computing as you get far more processing power in a smaller package, reducing weight, size and cost. What happens when a calculation error occurs when a cosmic ray hits a satellite’s circuitry? A single miscalculation could spell the satellite’s fate. I’d dread to think what could happen to future manned missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond.

It is hoped that Intel’s plan may be the answer to this ominous problem. They want to manufacture a cosmic ray event tracker that would detect a cosmic ray impact, and then instruct the processor to recalculate the previous calculations from the point before the cosmic ray struck. This way the error can be purged from the system before it becomes a problem.

There will of course be many technical difficulties to overcome before a fast detector is developed; in fact Eric Hannah admits that it will be hard to say when such a device may become a practical reality. Regardless, the problem has been identified and scientists are working on a solution, at least it’s a start…

Source: BBC