NASA Scientists Build First-Ever Wide-Field X-ray Imager

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NASA.gov - 2/07/13, Lori Keesey

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/725289main_STORM%20Sounding%20Rocket.JPG

This Black Brant IX rocket carried two instruments designed to study charge exchange, a physical phenomenon that occurs when the solar wind collides with Earth's exosphere and neutral gas in interplanetary space. Credit: NASA

Three NASA scientists teamed up to develop and demonstrate NASA's first wide-field-of-view soft X-ray camera for studying "charge exchange," a poorly understood phenomenon that occurs when the solar wind collides with Earth's exosphere and neutral gas in interplanetary space.

The unique collaboration involved heliophysics, astrophysics and planetary science divisions at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and resulted in the first successful demonstration of the Sheath Transport Observer for the Redistribution of Mass (STORM) instrument and a never-before-flown X-ray focusing technology called lobster-eye optics.

To watch the videos and read the rest of this story, visit NASA.gov.

15 Songs Inspired by Weather, Nature

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Weather.com - 2/08/13, Jess Baker

'Here Comes the Sun'

'Here Comes the Sun' is among the trifecta of George Harrison's Beatles' classics, along with 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' and 'Something.' (Image: John Pratt/Keystone/Getty Images)

Songwriters explore the world around them, and the power and mystique of weather - and nature - is often something from which our favorite lyricists draw inspiration.

 

 

 

 

To read the rest of this story, visit Weather.com.

 

Blizzard alert: Northeast snowstorm could be among the worst of all time

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Source: The Extinction Protocol - 2/08/13

February 8, 2013 – BOSTON, MA – A crippling and potentially historic winter storm barreled toward the Northeast on Thursday, threatening tens of millions of people with 2 feet of snow. Boston canceled school and braced for one of its worst blizzards of all time. Airlines encouraged fliers to change their plans and get out of the way. There were already delays of more than two hours at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, where tangles can snarl air traffic across the country, and hundreds of flights were canceled. The culprits were a so-called clipper system moving through the Upper Midwest and a low-pressure system headed for the waters off New England. When they converge, probably late Friday, they are expected to sock the region with its heaviest snow in at least two years, and perhaps much longer. “When this hits, it’s going to come down very hard,” said Tom Niziol, a meteorologist for The Weather Channel. “This is something we haven’t seen in a while, particularly in New England.”

State of disaster declared on Santa Cruz Islands, as earthquake swarm continues

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Source: The Extinction Protocol - 2/08/13

February 8, 2013 – SANTA CRUZ, ISLS - The Government today has officially declared a State of Disaster for Santa Cruz Islands in Temotu Province following Wednesday’s deadly 8.0 magnitude quake and subsequent tsunami that claimed lives and property. The Minister for Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology, Hon Bradley Tovusia made the declaration following a decision reached by the National Disaster Council on February 7.

 

The National Disaster Council has satisfied itself that the logistical challenge inherent in responding to the disaster in Temotu means that support has delayed departing Honiara to reach the affected population. This challenge coupled with the number of dead already reported, the huge disruption to normal functioning in the province and that the capacity at the local, provincial and national levels to deal with it alone has been exceeded there has led to the NDC recommending a declaration of disaster be made. –Scoop

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