National Geographic - 6/12/13, Ker Than

The American West is becoming an increasingly dusty place: So-called "dust emissions"—including giant dust storms reminiscent of the Dust Bowl era—have increased in the past 17 years, according to a new study.

Scientists understand only some of the reasons for the surge.

"About half of the changes [we see] are due to drought and high-wind events. We're seeing more of these larger storms that can move dust," said Jason Neff, a geological scientist at the University of Colorado at Boulder and a co-author of the study. "The other half [of dust storms we see remains] unexplained, but candidates include off-road vehicle use, oil and gas development, urban and rural development, and grazing."

For more on this story please see NationalGeographic.com

Suspicious Observers, 6/13/13

Published on Jun 13, 2013

Volcanodiscovery-June 12,2013

Seismic tremor continued to slowly but steadily increase yesterday, then dropped temporarily and has been increasing again today. AVO reports an intermittent, low-level steam plume issuing from the central cone within the caldera. No elevated surface temperature were visible in satellite images. No other activity was confirmed by AVO.

Read More: http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/alaska.html

Csmonitor.com, 6/7/13

This was not a tale that should have had a happy ending. When Comet Lovejoy sped into the Sun’s corona in 2011, scientists did not expect the daredevil to survive. Astronomers had already tracked 2,000 similar comets making the same inadvisable trip. None had made it, all melting into the sun’s super-hot glow.

But Lovejoy did live – and it is now telling scientists new tales about our sun.

"It's absolutely astounding," says Karl Battams, of the Naval Research Lab in Washington DC, in a press release. "I did not think the comet's icy core was big enough to survive plunging through the several million degree solar corona for close to an hour, but Comet Lovejoy is still with us."

For more on this story please see Csmonitor.com

Earthsky.org - 6/12/13

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View of the Heel Stone at summer solstice sunrise, as seen from inside the Stonehenge monument. Image Credit: Stonehenge: Hele and Station Stones

IIt’s nearly summer solstice for us in the Northern Hemisphere. This solstice occurs at the instant the sun reaches its most northerly point on the celestial sphere, the imaginary sphere of stars surrounding Earth. If you stood inside the Stonehenge monument on the day of the northern summer solstice, facing north-east through the entrance towards a rough hewn stone outside the circle – known as the Heel Stone – you would see the sun rise above the Heel Stone, as illustrated in the image above.

Link: EarthSky.org