Storms

This photo of Cyclone Yasi was made by the MODIS instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite February 2 at 2:15 p.m. Australia local time. The center of Yasi had already moved inland. Yasi has been called the most powerful storm to strike Australia in a century. Flooding in Queensland in the past few months has cost 35 lives. Miraculously, Yasi's centre passed between our major cities of Cairns and Townsville.

On the far side of the world, the GOES-13 satellite on January 31 made this photo of the huge storm covering most of the US. So far it has led to 50 centimetres of snow in Chicago and chilly conditions as far South as Texas. In Houston, Johnson Space Center and most schools are closed Friday morning. How is the weather where you are?

Diamonds Are Almost Forever

In the Jack Hills of Western Australia, geologists have identified the oldest diamonds ever found, more than 4 billion years old. Diamonds offer clues to Earth's early history. We saw August 6 in Meteor Science that zircon crystals help determine how long a body was molten. Zircons in meteorites showed that asteroid Vesta cooled within the first 10 million years of its existence.

Zircon crytals are resistant to melting, and provide clues to ancient events. Analysis of zircons containing the Australian diamonds indicate that Earth cooled within 300 million years of formation. Diamonds require enormous pressures to form, needing a thick continental crust. These diamonds indicate that Earth's crust and oceans could be 4.4 billion years old.

There are many mysteries about the planet beneath our feet. How Earth condensed from a gas has long been a mystery. Particles colliding at orbital velocity will not attract each other gravitationally unless those particles have the mass of mountains. One way to start a planet forming would via with a tiny Black Hole with the mass of a mountain.

This week Planetary Society Blog hosts the Carnival Of Space!

Wild Life in Australia

(This photo was taken by my camera.) A North Queensland rancher named David George was rescued after being trapped 6 days in a tree by crocodiles. He had just two sandwiches, but fortunately found water in the tree. Of course the crocs were constantly inviting him for lunch. We are reminded why Koalas live in trees. After being rescued by helicopter, David George happily devoured a Cherry Ripe bar.

Mr. George's 5 days up a tree is oddly similiar to a problem that could be faced in Space. 55 hours and 53 minutes hours into flight Apollo 13 suffered an explosion in an oxygen tank. All power and oxygen was lost in the Command Module. By improvising and using the LEM as a lifeboat, the crew survived until splashdown at 142:54 hours. If their spacesuits had enough endurance, Lovell and crew need only have lowered their visors.

An emergency on the Moon might require astronauts to return in an unpressurised ship. NASA would like a suit that can support life for 120 hours. Humans can't last that long without water. You can survive 5 days without food, but we wouldn't want you at the controls of a spaceship. Current spacesuits have a plastic drink bag stuffed into the helmet. During Apollo 16's walks on the Moon, bags of orange juice burst inside the astronauts' helmets. Yuck!

Another hazard we are warned about in Queensland are the jellyfish. Giant Australian Spotted Jellyfish have been invading the Gulf of Mexico. Phyllorhiza punctata are not dangerous to humans, but if let out of their natural habitat they can grow super-sized. In the Gulf some have been caught weighing 25 pounds. The abundant fish in the Gulf allow the jellies to fatten up all they want.

Despite the danger, jellies are strangely beautiful. We often observe them swimming upside down or even inside out. They are truly adapted to life in zero gravity. It is easy to imagine similiar life forms evolving in oceans of Europa or the minor planets. Extraterrestrial life could look very much like this.