Written by Dr. Tony Phillips
Science at NASA
Washington, D.C. – The world is changing. As greenhouse gases accumulate in the atmosphere, global temperatures are on the rise. Sea levels inch upward as polar ice retreats. Crops are growing in new places.
The world is changing. The question is, can life change with it?
A batch of genetically engineered plants orbiting Earth on board the International Space Station (ISS) may have something to say about this.
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NASA scientists report on long term Global Warming Trend
January 16, 2013 |
Written by Dr. Tony Phillips
Science at NASA
Washington, D.C. – NASA scientists say 2012 was the ninth warmest of any year since 1880, continuing a long-term trend of rising global temperatures. With the exception of 1998, the nine warmest years in the 132-year record all have occurred since 2000, with 2010 and 2005 ranking as the hottest years on record.
NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York, which monitors global surface temperatures on an ongoing basis, released an updated analysis Tuesday that compares temperatures around the globe in 2012 to the average global temperature from the mid-20th century. The comparison shows how Earth continues to experience warmer temperatures than several decades ago.
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NASA’s AIM researchers discover Meteor Smoke in the makeup of Noctilucent Clouds
August 9, 2012 |
Written by Dr. Tony Phillips
Science at NASA
Washington, D.C. – Anyone who’s ever seen a noctilucent cloud or “NLC” would agree: They look alien. The electric-blue ripples and pale tendrils of NLCs reaching across the night sky resemble something from another world.
Researchers say that’s not far off. A key ingredient for the mysterious clouds comes from outer space.
“We’ve detected bits of ‘meteor smoke’ imbedded in noctilucent clouds,” reports James Russell of Hampton University, principal investigator of NASA’s AIM mission to study the phenomenon. “This discovery supports the theory that meteor dust is the nucleating agent around which NLCs form.”
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NASA prepares to study the Mysterious Arc of Venus during it’s Transit of the Sun June 5th
June 5, 2012 |
Written by Dr. Tony Phillips
Science at NASA
Washington, D.C. – When Venus transits the sun on June 5th and 6th, an armada of spacecraft and ground-based telescopes will be on the lookout for something elusive and, until recently, unexpected: The Arc of Venus.
“I was flabbergasted when I first saw it during the 2004 transit,” recalls astronomy professor Jay Pasachoff of Williams College. “A bright, glowing rim appeared around the edge of Venus soon after it began to move into the sun.”
For a brief instant, the planet had turned into a “ring of fire.”
 The Arc of Venus observed during the planet's 2004 transit by amateur astronomer André Rondi using a 10-cm refractor near Toulouse, France.
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