Planetary System,,,[ 2794 ]

Compact Planetary System

This artist's concept depicts a planetary system so compact that it's more like Jupiter and its moons than a star and its planets.

 Astronomers using data from NASA's Kepler mission and ground-based telescopes recently confirmed that the system, called KOI-961, hosts the three smallest exoplanets currently known to orbit a star other than our sun. An exoplanet is a planet that resides outside of our solar system.

The star, which is located about 130 light-years away in the Cygnus constellation, is a red dwarf that is one-sixth the size of the sun, or just 70 percent bigger than Jupiter. The star is also cooler than our sun, and gives off more red light than yellow.

The smallest of the three planets, called KOI-961.03, is actually located the farthest from the star, and is pictured in the foreground. This planet is about the size of Mars, with a radius of 0.57 times that of Earth. The next planet to the upper right is KOI-961.01, which is 0.78 times the radius of Earth. The planet closest to the star is KOI-961.02, with a radius 0.73 times the Earth's.

All three planets whip around the star in less than two days, with the closest planet taking less than half a day. Their close proximity to the star also means they are scorching hot, with temperatures ranging from 350 to 836 degrees Fahrenheit (176 to 447 degrees Celsius). The star's habitable zone, or the region where liquid water could exist, is located far beyond the planets.

The ground-based observations contributing to these discoveries were made with the Palomar Observatory, near San Diego, Calif., and the W.M. Keck Observatory atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Greece, the Santorini caldera...[ 2793 ]

Santorini: The ground is moving again in paradise

Posted here, Wed.,14 Mar 2012

Published: Tuesday, March 13, 2012 - 10:33 in Earth & Climate

Georgia Institute of Technology

Do a Google image search for "Greece." Before you find pictures of the Parthenon or Acropolis, you'll see several beautiful photos of Santorini, the picturesque island in the Aegean Sea. The British Broadcasting Company named it the world's best island in 2011. 

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Santorini is a tourist magnet, famous for its breathtaking, cliff side views and sunsets. It's also a volcanic island that has been relatively calm since its last eruption in 1950. Until now. 

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The Santorini caldera is awake again and rapidly deforming at levels never seen before. Georgia Tech Associate Professor Andrew Newman has studied Santorini since setting up more than 20 GPS stations on the island in 2006.

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"After decades of little activity, a series of earthquakes and deformation began within the Santorini caldera in January of 2011," said Newman, whose research is published by Geophysical Research Letters. "Since then, our instruments on the northern part of the island have moved laterally between five and nine centimeters. The volcano's magma chamber is filling, and we are keeping a close eye on its activity."

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Newman, a geophysicist in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, cannot be certain whether an eruption is imminent since observations of such activity on these types of volcanoes are limited. In fact, similar calderas around the globe have shown comparable activity without erupting. However, Newman says the chamber has expanded by 14 million cubic meters since last January. That means enough magma has been pumped into the chamber to fill a sphere three football fields across.

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Should Santorini erupt, Newman says it will likely be comparable to what the island has seen in the last 450 years.

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"That could be dangerous," notes Newman. "If the caldera erupts underwater, it could cause local tsunamis and affect boat traffic, including cruise ships, in the caldera. Earthquakes could damage homes and produce landslides along the cliffs."

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More than 50,000 tourists a day flock to Santorini in the summer months (from May to October). It's common to see as many as five cruise ships floating above the volcano.

Santorini is the site of one of the largest volcanic events in human history. The Minoan eruption, which occurred around 1650 B.C., buried the major port city of Akrotiri with more than 20 meters of ash and created Santorini's famous, present-day cliffs. 

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Newman says such history will likely not repeat itself any time soon. Such an eruption comes along once every 100,000 years, and the current inflation in the magma chamber is less than 1 percent of the Minoan blast.

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This project was supported in part by the National Science Foundation (NSF) (Award No. EAR-1153355). The content is solely the responsibility of the principal investigators and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NSF.

Source: Georgia Institute of Technology

The 2011 Earthquake and Tsunami near Sendai, Japan...[ 2792 ]

Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami: Looking Back from Space

In 2011, the fourth largest earthquake in history rocked the coast of Japan, spawning a devastating tsunami. Satellites and scientists had an unprecedented view of both. 

This gallery offers a glimpse of the broad scale of the destruction, of the recovery a year later, and of some new scientific understanding that emerged.

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Closeup of Tsunami Damage, Rikuzentakata

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Tsunami Damage, Rikuzentakata

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The Seafloor Focuses and Merges Tsunami Waves

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Tsunami Flooding around Ishinomaki

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Land Recovery in Ishinomaki

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Tohoku Earthquake Shaking Intensity

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Quake and Tsunami Makes Waves in the Atmosphere

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Tsunami Sends Kitakami River Far Over Its Banks

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Kitakami River, One Year after the Tsunami

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Antarctic Icebergs Chipped off by Japan Tsunami

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Tsunami Damage Viewed for the Space Station

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Sendai Bay - March 2011

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Sendai Bay - February 2012

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Electricity Losses in Northeastern Japan

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Strong Quake 6,8 R off Honshu...[ 2791 ]

Strong earthquake hits Japan

By the CNN Wire Staff

March 14, 2012 -- Updated 1111 GMT (1911 HKT)

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6.8 magnitude quake off Japan coast

Tokyo (CNN) -- A 6.8-magnitude earthquake shook northeastern Japan on Wednesday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The Japanese Meteorological Agency issued a brief tsunami advisory, warning of a half-meter wave. The tsunami advisory was called off a short time after the agency issued it.

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The quake was centered about 270 kilometers (170 miles) off the east coast.

There were no immediate reports of damage, police said.

This temblor comes three days after the one-year anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami that killed thousands in Japan, and triggered the world's worst nuclear crisis in a quarter century.

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CNN's Junko Ogura contributed to this report.

Flood southern Louisiana...[ 2790 ]

Rains soak, flood southern Louisiana

By the CNN Wire Staff

March 13, 2012 -- Updated 1221 GMT (2021 HKT)

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Rains flood Cajun country

(CNN) -- Record floodwaters inundated parts of southern Louisiana early Tuesday after intense rains caused flash flooding and prompted hundreds of rescues.

Estimates by the National Weather Service put total rainfall at 12 to 18 inches across the region, with possible amounts of 20 or more inches in some areas. A flood warning has been issued until late Tuesday.

Floodwaters were cresting overnight for Bayou Vermilion at Carencro at 5.5 feet over flood stage and 12 inches above the record set in May 2004.

"We're still conducting rescues," Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office spokesman Kip Judice said Monday evening. "We've done over 150 rescues throughout the day today."

One of those involved 16 middle school students whose bus became stuck after more than 4 feet of water covered the road.

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"It was really scary because we couldn't get out of the bus ... the water was closing it in," said student Cory McCall. "It was thundering and lightning."

Boats and dump trucks were used to reach the children and bring them to safety, Judice said.

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The town of Carencro was among the hardest hit communities in Lafayette Parish, according to Capt. Craig Stansbury, who is also from the Parish Sheriff's Office. He noted there were reports of water as high as 8 feet on some roadways.

Stansbury said fire department vehicles, tractors and conventional boats and airboats were being used to reach those stranded in homes and cars.

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"A lot of things that we have at our disposal, we're just going to go ahead and utilize," he said. "Whatever it takes to get to the people."

The parish declared a state of emergency in the midst of the high water.

"We are working with local officials to ensure they get the resources and support they need to respond to the flooding," said Kevin Davis, director of the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. "We urge residents to be mindful ... and to take precautionary measures."

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A state of emergency was also declared in St. Landry Parish, where Government Administrative Director Jessie Bellard estimated that some 2,000 people had been affected.

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People were driving dump trucks to rescue residents who have flooding in their homes and can't get out. Bellard said several minor and major roads, including part of U.S. Highway 190, have experienced significant flooding.

"It's just a terrible situation," Bellard said.

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Maj. Ginny Higgins of the St. Martin Parish Sheriff's Office said flooding affected at least 15 to 20 roads Monday in that parish. Several people were safely rescued after being trapped in their vehicles, she said.

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A state of emergency has been declared for that parish, Higgins said.

Stansbury, from Lafayette Parish, said residents knew Monday would be wet but didn't foresee the volume or intensity.

"There was a forecast of some heavy rains, but I don't think anybody could have predicted that amount of rain," he said.

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And while the worst precipitation is over, the headaches are not.

Intermittent rain continued to fall.

Judice, from Lafayette Parish, said water levels were continuing to rise in his area.

"It's still a very crazy situation," he said.

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CNN's Joe Sutton and Barbara Hall contributed to this report.