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Siberian meteor up to 15 meters in diameter

by The Watchers

The meteor that exploded over Siberia on Tuesday, December 6, 2016, could be up to 10 - 15 meters (33 - 50 feet) in diameter, Russian News Agency quoted a leading Russian space scientist.

"Obviously, the meteorite wasn’t big. Judging by the fact that it burned up or exploded before reaching surface, it’s obvious that it can hardly be more than 10 or 15 meters in size and that apparently it is not made of iron," Head scientist of Space Research Institute (IKI) of Russian Academy of Sciences Natan Eismont said.

This is far less in size than 20 - 40 m (65 - 131 feet) wide meteorite that exploded over Chelyabinsk in February 2013 and crashed into Lake Chebarkul.

The Novosibirsk Planetarium’s Director, Sergei Maslikov, told TASS on Wednesday that yesterday's object went undetected by ground telescopes as there are not enough astronomical observatories in Siberia.

"No one carries out astronomic research in that area, unfortunately. Krasnoyarsk is the closest city but there is neither a planetarium, nor an observatory there," he said.

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Interstellar spacecraft within a human reach

Yuri Milner, a billionaire from Russia, announced his proposal on developing a lightweight spacecraft capable of journeying about 40 trillion km through space toward Alpha Centauri, our nearest star and it's planets, at a conference held in New York City on April 12, 2016. He invested another $100 million toward the Breakthrough Starshoot project to prove such an undertaking is possible, and many famous scientists, including Stephen Hawking, have shown their support for the idea.

The spacecraft, so-called nanocraft, should weigh less than one gram, and have a solar sail. The strong lasers, which would be waiting in our planet's orbit would give the nanocraft an acceleration of 60 000 g over a couple of minutes. This would enable the craft to reach the nearest star in about 20 years at, approximately, 20% the speed of light.

“It’s the first time in human history that we can do more than just stare at the stars,” Milner said.

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Night sky guide for April 2016

April hosts two meteor showers, but only one major. The first - Virginid meteor shower - will reach its maximum rate of activity on April 12. The Moon will be 5 days old and will present minimal interference. The maximum rate of meteors expected to be visible from a dark location is 5 per hour.

The second meteor shower of the month - Lyrids - will reach the maximum rate of activity on April 23. However, the Moon will be 16 days old, and being so close to Full Moon, will severely limit the observations  The maximum rate of meteors expected to be visible from a dark location is around 10 per hour. 

The best time of the month to observe faint objects such as galaxies and star clusters is April 7.

The Moon will reach full phase on April 22.

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Watch 2016 total solar eclipse live

Early on March 9, 2016 (UTC), the Moon will position itself right in front of the Sun and create a total solar eclipse for viewers in parts of central Indonesia and the Pacific Ocean. South and East Asia, Japan, Korea, Australia, Hawaii and Alaska will get to see varying degrees of the almost equally stunning partial solar eclipse. The rest of us can enjoy it right here on The Watchers, courtesy of Slooh Community Observatory and NASA.

NASA, in partnership with the Exploratorium Science Center in San Francisco, will host live coverage of the eclipse originating from Woleai Island in Micronesia and offer opportunities to talk with solar scientists.

NASA Television (video below) will begin coverage at 01:00 UTC on March 9 (20:00 EST on March 8). Twitter, Google+ and Facebook users will be able to join the conversation and ask questions using the hashtag #eclipse2016. The NASA Twitter account for the eclipse is @NASASunEarth.

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Atoyac River disappears overnight after large sinkhole opens up, Mexico

The Atoyac River, located in the central mountainous area of the Mexican state of Veracruz, has disappeared after a large sinkhole opened up on Sunday, February 28, 2016. In less than 48 hours, the river completely dried out.

The hole, which now crosses the Atoyac riverbed, appeared about 3 km (1.8 miles) from the source of the river, which supplies more than 10 000 families with drinking water.

Llaman a "salvar" el río Atoyac. Agustín Mollinedo dijo que aún se conserva el nacimiento https://t.co/Vkinen4dg2 pic.twitter.com/J5CdTkDGZG

— El Universal (@El_Universal_Mx) March 3, 2016

Juana Sanchez, who lives in the area said: "On Monday we saw that the water had disappeared and went to see what was happening. When we reached the riverbank, we saw a large hole there that was blocking the river."

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Night sky guide for March 2016

There will be, at least, two special celestial events during March 2016 - total solar eclipse at 01:58 UTC on March 9 and penumbral lunar eclipse at 11:48 UTC on March 23.

March Equinox, the first day of spring (vernal equinox) in the northern hemisphere and the first day of fall (autumnal equinox) in the southern hemisphere is at 04:24 on March 20.

The best time of the year to observe faint objects such as galaxies and star clusters because there is no moonlight to interfere - new moon - is on March 9. Over the coming days,  the Moon will become visible in the late afternoon and dusk sky as a waxing crescent, setting an hour later each evening. By the first quarter, in a week's time, it will be visible until around midnight. 

  • March 1 - Moon at last quarter - 23:12 UTC. The Moon will reach its last quarter phase at 23:12 UTC on March 1. Moon's orbital motion carries it around the Earth once every four weeks, and, as a result, its phases cycle from new moon, through the first quarter, full moon and last quarter, back to the new moon once every 29.5 days. This motion also means that the Moon travels more than 12° across the sky from one night to the next, causing it to rise and set nearly an hour later each day.

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Every peer-reviewed paper ever published offered free of charge - illegally, of course

If you are not a scientist trying to publish your latest research in any of the "respected" and high-impact journals or in one of the open access journals, you might not be aware that there is a real battle going on here. The stakes are free knowledge and, ultimately, the advancement of science and human race. This battle is fought between a growing number of scientists and scientific publishers that charge everyone to read what other scientists learn

I invite you to read this article through and learn why and how one team of dedicated people stands against every existing subscription-based scientific publisher.

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Radioactive spill at the nuclear plant site in New York, US

The Indian Point nuclear plant in New York reported a radioactive spill that began on February 5, 2016. Since then, groundwater tests conducted directly at the plant site showed a 65,000% increase in radioactivity, media reported.

The water leak happened when a drain overflowed as the workers were transferring highly radioactive water during a maintenance exercise. Under normal circumstances, a sump pump would filter the water into another system, however, it seems it was out of order at the time of the incident, and the water seeped into the groundwater instead.

It is still not familiar how much water has spilled, but analysis revealed radioactivity levels surpassing 8 million picocuries per liter, the highest regulators recorded so far at the Indian Point nuclear plant. Normal radioactivity levels measure around 12 300 picocuries per liter.

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Night sky guide for February 2016

February 2016 starts with the conjunction between the Moon and Mars. The pair will be located in the constellation Libra and visible to the naked eye or through a pair of binoculars on February 1.

The best time of the month to observe faint objects such as galaxies and star clusters because there is no moonlight to interfere - New Moon - falls on February 8. 

The Moon will reach full phase – making it visible for much of the night, lying almost directly opposite the Sun in the sky at 18:21 UTC on February 22.

  • February 1 - Conjunction between the Moon and Mars - 10:10 UTC. The Moon and Mars will make a close approach, passing within 2°39' of each other. At the moment of closest approach, the Moon will be at mag -11.8, and Mars at mag 0.4, both in the constellation Libra. They will be too widely separated to fit within the field of view of a telescope, but will be visible to the naked eye or through a pair of binoculars.

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New class of atmospheric waves, producing strong temperature ripples, discovered over Antarctica

Researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder discovered a new class of mesospheric waves by observing the high parts of the atmosphere over Antarctica. These waves seem to send constant ripples through the Earth's atmosphere and probably affect high-level winds, climate and Earth-based communications systems.

Newly discovered waves sweep through the mesosphere, the part of Earth's atmosphere beginning at an altitude of about 48 km (30 miles), every 3 to 10 hours, causing significant temperature fluctuations in a short time span.

"These waves are very large perturbations, causing up to 100-degree Fahrenheit changes in temperature in less than five hours, and every time we look, we see them," said lead author Cao Chen, a Ph.D. student in the University of Colorado Boulder’s Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) and Aerospace Engineering Sciences department.

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