Planets and more

The other night the National Geographic channel had a couple of programs that inspired me to capture some photos. One show was on the planets and the other featured Hubble images.

This first picture is an artist's interpretation of a supernova explosion showing heavy elements that are created and sent into the cosmos at the end of the star's life.



A black hole...



The beginning of a new solar system...





A collision between two planets...



An infant planet being formed from accretion.







The following image is a pulsar.  A pulsar is a highly magnetized, rotating neutron star that emits a beam of electromagnetic radiation. This radiation can only be observed when the beam of emission is pointing towards the Earth, much the way a lighthouse can only be seen when the light is pointed in the direction of an observer, and is responsible for the pulsed appearance of emission.



Another accretion image...



Hubble...



An actual Hubble image of a meteor crater on Jupiter.



Hubble images of nebulae....

Morning Dune Hike -- Post 2

Today I'll be in Munising at the Falling Rock Cafe from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. I'll be giving my agate talk, will have some mineral art and rocks available for sale, and will be doing a book signing. While I am in Munsing, the museum will be open -- thanks to my friend, Jill.

For this blog posting, I'll include the rest of the photos from my dune hike the other morning.

It was a beautiful morning...





Detail in the sand...



Century old telegraph pole down....













Breakwall update....  I didn't see the news report, but friends did.  Apparently the Army Corps of Engineer has halted the awarding of their portion of the money needed to finish the breakwall.  I'll research this and post the details in the next few days.  Since this story appeared on the TV6 News, I have to believe it may be true.  I am not sure what that means for the breakwall.

Morning Dune Hike -- Post 1

Yesterday morning friend, Jill, and I went on a morning dune hike. I have decided to make more time for not only exercising, but also for making art. Since I am leaving for the two Minnesota shows in less than a month, I have decided there will not be enough time to finish the online rockhounding adventures before I leave. I am still going to intorduce the adventures at the international show in Minneapolis, but I will say "coming soon." Not only do I have to make art for these two shows, but I also have custom orders to make. I'll continue working on the online rockhounding adventurs and then will test them and have others review them prior to launch. I want to launch the program with two adventures. Between them there will be nine segments plus the self evaluations. I have completed the design for seven of the segments and have the research completed for the last two segments. Thus, I should still be able to complete the design and hope to formally launch the program by the end of the summer. stay tuned....

After a couple of days of very hot weather, it was nice to have cool weather return yesterday. Jill and I headed up into the dunes.

The recent rain seems to be making the forest perk up.





The shelf fungi are everywhere due to all the diseased beech trees.





It was absolutely beautiful in the dunes.









The wild roses are in bloom.







The wild strawberries are now ripe, but they are very small.

Michigan Agates

During the last week or so I have received a series of agate photos submitted via email from David Schuder who lives in the Keweenaw Peninsula in the western U.P. of Michigan.  He loves to cut open rough looking Lake Superior agates in hope of finding interesting inclusions or other formations.  Most of the agates were found in the Sedar Bay area.  All the photos were taken by David.












The following agate was found by David's neighbor, Sue Lake Duester.

Happy Summer Solstice

I don't think I have ever posted two blog updates in one day, but today I will. I just realized that today is summer solstice.

 

Summer begins in the Northern Hemisphere on June 20, 2012, at 7:09 P.M. (EDT). Each year, the timing of the solstice depends on when the Sun reaches its farthest point north of the equator. This occurs annually on June 20 or June 21 in North America, depending on your time zone.

The word solstice is from the Latin solstitium, from sol (sun) and stitium (to stop), reflecting the fact that the Sun appears to stop at this time (and again at the winter solstice).

In temperate regions, we notice that the Sun is higher in the sky throughout the day, and its rays strike Earth at a more direct angle, causing the efficient warming we call summer. In the winter, just the opposite occurs: The Sun is at its southernmost point and is low in the sky. Its rays hit the Northern Hemisphere at an oblique angle, creating the feeble winter sunlight.

The Sun is directly overhead at its most northern point at "high-noon" on the summer solstice, creating more sunlight in the Northern Hemisphere on this day then any other.

Why isn’t the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, also the hottest day of the year? The reason is that the Earth’s atmosphere, land, and oceans absorb part of the incoming energy from the Sun and store it, releasing it back as heat at various rates. Water is slower to heat (or cool) than air or land. At the summer solstice, the Northern Hemisphere receives the most energy (highest intensity) from the Sun due to the angle of sunlight and day length. However, the land and oceans are still relatively cool, due to spring’s temperatures, so the maximum heating effect on air temperature is not felt just yet. Eventually, the land and, especially, oceans will release stored heat from the summer solstice back into the atmosphere. This usually results in the year’s hottest temperatures appearing in late July, August, or later, depending on latitude and other factors. This effect is called seasonal temperature lag.

Happy summer to all. May it be a good one for you.

New Hominid Fossils Found in China

Today while working the museum I had several quality conversations and interactions. Thanks to all of you who participated in these conversations. One conversation divulged that a new hominid fossil was found in China. I decided that I want to know more about it, so today's blog posting will serve as the excuse for learning.

In March of this year scientists announced that four skeletens have been found in
two separate caves in China. Up until this year, no hominid (non-homo sapien) fossils younger than 100,000 years old have been found in mainland East Asia resembling any species other than Homo sapiens. Analysis of the new fossils is underway, but f this is a new species it would re-write the assumption that the land was empty until we migrated into Asia. At this point scientists believe that the new fossils date between 11,500 znc 14,300 years ago.

Here is an artist's conception of what we think this new hominid looked like:

The bones include a partial skull, skull cap, jaws and teeth. They were uncovered from Longlin Cave in Guangxi Province and Malu Cave in Yunnan Province. In comparing the Chinese bones with those of modern man as well as with homo sapiens living during the Pleistocene, Neanderthals and Homo erectus, the researchers concluded the Chinese fossils have a unique mix of modern features and traits rarely, if ever, seen in recent and Pleistocene humans, such as a very broad face and a protruding jaw.

The most dramatic interpretation of the fossils is that they represent a newly discovered species. It is also possible that the fossils are related to others found a few years ago in a cave in Siberia. These latter fossils, called the Denisovans, have been dated to 30,000 to 48,000 years ago. The DNA didn’t align with that of modern humans or Neanderthals, the only species known to inhabit the area at the time. Researchers are in the process of trying to retrieve DNA from the Chinese fossils to classify and compare the DNA with homo Sapien  as well as other known hominid species. It may be that this is a new branch of the Homo Sapien  family tree, or even that the remains are the product of interbreeding between archaic and modern man.

Another hypothesis is that these hominids, being called the "Red Deer People" because of the animals they hunted, were members of an early, unknown migration of Homo Sapien out of Africa. (Genetic evidence indicates there were at least two migrations into Eurasia: one at 60,000 to 70,000 years ago and another at 30,000 to 40,000 years ago.) Once these people settled in East Asia, they somehow remained isolated from other human populations for thousands of years and eventually died out without leaving behind descendants. Under this scenario, the population’s unusual features suggest our species was more diverse thousands of years ago than it is today. This possibility is supported by other fossils found in Africa.