A new habitable planet is discovered… and it’s only 20.5 light years away

Throw away your hybrid cars, stop recycling and waste more food…we now have an ‘habitable planet’ we can move to and abuse.

Admittedly, it is 20.5 lights years away (It would take 20.5 years to reach it while travelling at the speed of light).

Putting that to one side, this planet, imaginatively called GJ 581d, is believed to have a surface temperature that is cool enough to allow water to pool on the surface, which means it could possibly support life.

Only last year, this potential new home for the human race was thought to be simply ‘stellar activity masquerading as planet’ but luckily this has now been disproved by researchers from Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and University of Hertfordshire based on new audio evidence

Leading author of the paper, Dr Guillem Anglada-Escudé, wrote in Sciencemagazine: ‘The existence, or not, of GJ 581d is significant because it was the first Earth-like planet discovered in the “Goldilocks-zone” around another star and it is a benchmark case for the Doppler technique.’

The Goldilocks-zone is simply the distance from a star that will allow a planet habitable conditions – the physics equivalent of the just right temperature of porridge.

How about we come up with a better name for the planet? Any suggestions?

Like New North Wales – Always felt sorry that South Wales got an area named after it while its northern neighbour got ignored.

Exercises

1.        Location:

2.         What happened:Scientists discovered a new habitable planet called GJ 581d (Gliese 581d) and it only it is only 20.5 light years away. This planet is part of the Goldilocks-zone (the region around a star within which planets can support water at their surfaces)  as it has got a cool temperature allowing water to pool on the surface. In theory the human race can survive here.

3.         Impact:
This discovery takes place is a part of cosmography as it has something to do with the universe. This discovery is very important for the human race. The new habitable planet can be a new place to live on when our earth is about to die out. It also gives us new knowledge of the universe and its sercrets.

URL: http://metro.co.uk/2015/03/05/a-new-habitable-planet-is-discovered-and-its-only-20-5-light-years-away-5090750/

Volcano eruption in Papua New Guinea


            

On september the 2nd, the Tuvurvur volcano in Papua New Guinea erupted. Many people uploaded videos of the eruption, they were incredible. The volcano exploded with such intensity that it created a sonic boom. (This also happens when a jet breaks the sound barrier.) There were no people killed by the eruption. The volcano, which is one of the most active in the region, destroyed the town of Rabaul in 1994 when it erupted simultaneously with nearby Mount Vulcan.

The civilization isn't well developed in Papua New Guinea, but it didn't have a big impact on the local civilization because there was no population around the volcano. During the eruption, all flights around that area were redirected to an other flight-route.

(CNN) -- A volcano erupted in Papua New Guinea on Friday, spurting ash tens of thousands of feet into the sky.

The eruption of Mount Tavurvur on the island of New Britain began early Friday, said Craig Earl-Spurr, a meteorologist at the Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Center in Australia.

The volcano spewed a thick tower of ash that reached as high as 60,000 feet above sea level.

Dramatic photos posted on social media showed Tavurvur belching fire and ash from across a bay. The volcano is situated only a few kilometers from the township of Rabaul.

In 1994, Tavurvur erupted at the same time as nearby Mount Vulcan, destroying Rabaul.

Aralmeer droogt op

Taak 4 – Actualiteit 

Question 1:

The geographic location I am going to talk about is the Aral Sea, it was one of the world's fourth-largest lake.The Aral Sea is located in the Republic of Kazakhstan in Central Asia.

On the map I encircled where the event happened that I am going to talk about in red.

Question 2:

As I said the Aral Sea was once the world's fourth-largest lake. And until 1960 the Aral Sea was being fed by the two rives: The Amu Darya and the Syr Darya they brought snowmelt from mountains to the southeast together with local rainfall. However in the 1960s the Soviet union diverted the water from the two rivers into canals to supply the agriculture in the region. Because of this the lake began to recede and its salinity levels began to rise. As the lake-bed became exposed the wind blew the contaminated soil onto the surrounding croplands meaning that more water was needed to make the land suitable for agriculture  according to Earth Observatory release.

I think I can place this in one of the two major sub-fields of geography which is:               Physical geography which deals with the study of processes and patterns in the natural environment like the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and geosphere, as opposed to the cultural or built environment, the domain of human geography.

Question 3:  

Recently there have been efforts to divert more water back into that sea, but it’s unfortunately unlikely that it will ever regain its former size and glory. The Aral Sea is easily one the biggest human-caused environmental flub in history. And because of the falling water levels the local climate changed too. Because without the lake water to moderate temperatures the winters became colder and summers hotter, according to the Earth Observatory. Today, after two decades of intense demographic growth, the situation has clearly changed the average of the population growth rate in the Aral Basin has diminished.

Question 4:

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/09/30/world/asia/aral-sea-drying/ 

Once-vast Aral Sea dries up to almost nothing

By Brad Lendon, CNN

(CNN) -- The Aral Sea was once the world's fourth-largest lake. Now much of it is a vast toxic desert straddling the borders of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, two former Soviet states in central Asia.

In recently released images, NASA's Earth Observatory shows the extent of the lake's recession over the past 14 years.

The damage reached its peak this year, when the eastern lobe of the South Aral Sea -- which actually was the center of the original lake -- dried up completely.

Until the 1960s, the Aral Sea was fed by two rivers, the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, which brought snowmelt from mountains to the southeast, and local rainfall. But in the 1960s the Soviet Union diverted water from the two rivers into canals to supply agriculture in the region.

With the loss of water, the lake began to recede and its salinity levels began to rise. Fertilizers and chemical runoff contaminated the lake bed. As the lake-bed became exposed, winds blew the contaminated soil onto the surrounding croplands, meaning even more water was needed to make the land suitable for agriculture, according to an Earth Observatory release.

The falling water levels changed the local climate, too. Without the lake water to moderate temperatures, winters became colder and summers hotter, the Earth Observatory said.