Cloud structure in The Venusian atmosphere, revealed by ultraviolet observations

September is the last full month to observe Venus at dusk. That’s because Venus has by now come around to Earth’s side of the sun on its faster, inner orbit.  Thus, Venus now begins to overtake the Earth, passing between the Earth and sun on October 29.  We’ll therefore see Venus shift farther to the left of Mars and then drop down below it.  In October, Venus exits the evening sky quite quickly as it shifts back towards the sun.  September and October 2010 is an excellent period for observing Venus’ crescent phase in telescopes.  Anytime Venus is on our side of the sun, more of its night side faces us, resulting in a crescent like appearance when magnified.

Saturn is far to the lower right of Venus and Mars as you face west at dusk.  You’ll need a horizon clear of tall buildings and trees to see it before it sets.  You’ll also need to look early in the month, as Saturn is practically behind the sun by month’s end.  

Jupiter dominates this month’s skies.  On Tuesday morning, September 21, Earth aligns with the sun and Jupiter, bringing Jupiter to opposition (because the sun and Jupiter are then on opposite sides of the Earth).  On the night of September 20-21 we see Jupiter rise at sundown and set at sunup—Jupiter is up literally all night long.  During the whole month, though, Jupiter is visible virtually the whole night.  It outshines all stars in the sky, so it’s easy to find.  Face east in late evening or south southwest at dawn to see it.  The planet Uranus is less than one degree above Jupiter this month; the two planets are closest on September 18.

The Big Dipper is setting in the northwest at dusk; you now need a horizon clear of trees and tall buildings to get a good look at it. You can extend the curve of its handle to ‘arc to Arcturus’, which is in the west at dusk tonight.  Arcturus, by the way, is the fourth brightest star we ever see at night, but the brightest one Americans ever see on a September evening.

As the Dipper gets lower, look for five stars in the shape of an ‘M’ directly across the North Star from the Big Dipper’s handle.  This is Cassiopeia, the Queen—the ‘M’ is the outline of her throne.  Her stars are about as bright as the North Star and the stars of the Big Dipper, so she’s not too hard to find. 

photo credit: livepine

High overhead, look for the enormous Summer Triangle, consisting of the stars Deneb, Vega, and Altair.   This triangle was up all night long from June to early August, hence its name.  Scorpius, the Scorpion, is in the southwest at dusk.  Sagittarius, the Archer, known for its ‘teapot’ asterism, is to its left.  Between these two star patterns is the center of our Milky Way—the brightest part of that band as wee see it.  On a cloudless night far from the big city, see if you notice the Milky Way glow near the ‘teapot’ of Sagittarius. 

Look for the Great Square of Pegasus rising in the east.  The vast stretch of sky under Pegasus is largely devoid of bright stars—ancients called this the ‘Celestial Sea”. 

Moon Phases in September 2010:

Last Quarter                  September 1, 12:22 am, September 30, 10:52 pm

New Moon                       September 8, 5:29 am

1st Quarter                     September 15, 12:49 am 

Full Moon                        September 23, 4:18 am

At 10:13 pm on Wednesday, September 22, the sun is directly overhead at the equator.  As a result, everyone on earth has the same amount of daylight and the same amount of night.  That’s why it is called the equinox (‘equal night’ in Latin).  In the Northern Hemisphere, we’ve seen the days get a little shorter and the midday Sun a little lower each day since June 21.  For us, the season changes from summer to fall at the equinox.  In the Southern Hemisphere, people have seen the days lengthen and the midday Sun get a little higher each day since June.  For them, the season changes from winter to spring.

© 2009 Houston Museum of Natural Science, One Hermann Circle Drive, Houston, TX 77030

The estimate for the flow of the well has changed many times over the past 3 months. It seems to be topping out at around 62,000 barrels a day. This is much higher than the original estimates, but how do they calculate the flow? The USGS used video of the oil spill, mass balance calculations and remote sensors to determine how much crude oil was flowing out of the break.

photo credit: lagohsep

So what has happened to all the oil? Well, the White House says that 75% has been dispersed, collected, burned off or evaporated. Other reports have different numbers. In July the old cap on the well was replaced with a new and better one that captured most of the oil. Then a static kill, which uses mud to force pressure down in the well, helped to stanch the flow. The relief wells have been drilled and there seems to be no seeping. All of that means that the oil spill is over. 4.9 million barrels was pumped out in the Gulf, making this the largest oil spill in the Gulf and the third largest oil spill in history.

BP is waiting on a pressure test to see if they need to initiate a bottom kill. A bottom kill is when they drill to the bottom of the well and pump in mud and cement through the bottom of the well.

The spill has caused a lot of things to change. A moratorium on offshore drilling in the Gulf was put into effect. There have been several challenges to this.

photo credit: uscgd8

Also the Mineral Management Services (MMS) has been broken up into the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. The MMS was responsible for conservation and environmental protection on federal land used by energy companies as well as collecting royalties and enforcing regulations on companies that used federal lands to produce crude oil and natural gas. They were plagued with accusations of corruption and ineptitude. The new Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, or Bureau of Ocean Energy, has been subdivided into the Offshore Energy and Minerals Management and Minerals Revenue Management. This means that the people who enforce the regulation are not the same people who collect the revenue.

The 4.9 million barrels that were pumped out into the ocean will have long reaching environmental consequences. Some scientists worry that all the natural bacteria that ate the oil will help to form an area that is low in oxygen. However, a mass killing of fish does not require an oil disaster. Numerous beaches were closed to tourists and locals alike. Also some areas set aside for fishing (and shrimping) were closed because of the oil spill. Unfortunately, it will take a long time to see what the real lasting effects of the spill are. In fact, it will take years to determine the true effects. Most of the beaches and fishing areas have been reopened.

Waking up on April 20, no one would have thought that we would be dealing with an unprecedented disaster in the Gulf. No one thought that such a disaster would be linked with how we perceive the modern world or our every day life. Will we take steps to prevent the next one?

© 2009 Houston Museum of Natural Science, One Hermann Circle Drive, Houston, TX 77030

Zac is a Houston native.  He received a degree in horticulture from Sam Houston State College in 2007, and subsequently worked at Newton Nurseries here in Houston.  Then, inspired by a trip to Costa Rica, he picked up stakes and moved to Hawaii, where he spent a year working for a bromeliad grower.  Luckily for us, he returned to Texas last year so we could hire him to join our team. 

Zac is an enthusiastic and knowledgeable plantophile, and is especially fond of epiphytes such as orchids, Nepenthes pitcher plants, and of course, bromeliads.  He is also an accomplished nature photographer, and has his own website where you can see his work:  BanyamImages.com.  The photos on display in the gallery include a series of photos taken in Hawaii and Costa Rica, featuring plants (of course) as well as insects, other animals, and scenics.  On the other side of the display wall are photos of plants and butterflies he has taken in the Butterfly Center since starting work here last January. 

Be sure to stop by to see Zac’s photos when you next visit the Butterfly Center.  Professionals and amateurs alike will be inspired to see the beauty of the Center seen through a photographer’s eye! 

© 2009 Houston Museum of Natural Science, One Hermann Circle Drive, Houston, TX 77030

During the month of August 2010, several stories hit the wire that the DNA of Oetzi, the famous Iceman mummy had been sequenced. The Iceman was discovered emerging from a glacier on the border between Austria and Italy. His mitochondrial DNA is now the oldest complete H. sapiens mtDNA genome generated to date.

This is where we segue to the Tarim Basin mummies, discovered thousands of miles away from the Alps. As it turns out, Oetzi’s find spot was very close to Alpine pastures where Dr. Victor Mair’s family once took their animals to graze, and that brings us to the Tarim Basin Mummies, a long term focus of Dr. Mair’s research.

A gratuitous link between these two areas, you say? Not necessarily, if one considers what has just been announced in Italy and the potential of what could happen with the mummies in China. Moreover, one of the reasons Dr. Mair got to be so interested in ancient human remains was the discovery of Oetzi in 1991. This occurred a few years after he had seen the Tarim Basin mummies on display in a museum in Urumqi.

The Beauty of Xiaohe. Courtesy of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Museum in Urumqi.

Oetzi lived about 5000 years ago; while the Beauty of Xiaohe lived about 1,000 years later, around 2000 BC.  In both cases, DNA research has been carried out on these early human remains. It seems that the Beauty of Xiaohe and her kinfolk had very close links with areas to the west of the Pamir Mountains. (In a previous blog, the Pamirs are mentioned as part of the geography of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region).  Specifically, “Mitochondrial DNA analysis showed that the Xiaohe people carried both the East Eurasian haplogroup (C) and the West Eurasian haplogroups (H and K), whereas chromosomal DNA analysis revealed only the West Eurasian haplogroup R1a1a in the male individuals.”

Oetzi is of European origin; the Tarim Basin Mummies are often referred to as Eurasian, and Caucasian, without much further information about where they may have originated from, other than “west of the Pamir mountains.” This is where the reference made above, to the potential of future research comes in. The techniques exist to investigate the Tarim Basin mummies in much greater detail. The research has not happened yet.

In addition, there are ways to establish where individuals were born and raised, one of the most famous examples being the remains of an archer found close to Stonehenge. Tests showed that he originated in the Alps, probably Switzerland, Austria or Germany. He somehow made his way into what is now the United Kingdom, where he was buried. A similar scientific approach could be applied to the Xiaohe remains. I am sure that one day this will happen.

Currently the Beauty of Xiaohe is receiving visitors at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Oetzi, on the other hand, remains safely ensconced in his refrigerated display unit in Bolzano, Italy. No word yet if he is interested in coming over to visit his long lost relative.

Don’t miss Secrets of the Silk Road, open now at HMNS. See strikingly well-preserved mummies, tall in stature and fair in complexion, that have lain in the parched Tarim Basin of western China for 3,800 years along with 150 objects drawn from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Museum and the Xinjiang Institute of Archaeology in Urumqi.
 

© 2009 Houston Museum of Natural Science, One Hermann Circle Drive, Houston, TX 77030