Enjoy Athens city in this festive atmosphere!
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Timeline of Summer Work-Wear
Many people might be wondering what clothes are appropriate in the grueling heat of summer. If you can’t run to comfortable footwear and cooling clothing, what are you to do when the thermostat is set to broil? Many people have chosen to wear elegant sandals that make casual summer clothing seem updated and professional, as well as linen suits and breathable cotton. .... more @ Source:Adecco USA
Monday, December 26, 2011
Friday, December 23, 2011
Ten Successful Years of Mapping the Middle Atmosphere
On December 7, 2001, a Delta II rocket launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base carrying a spacecraft designed to observe a little known area of the atmosphere that experiences some of the most dramatic energy fluctuations in the near-Earth environment.The area stretches from about 40 to 110 miles above the surface of the Earth, encompassing the lower thermosphere and the mesosphere. This is where incoming energy from the sun transforms into the lights of the aurora, where glowing night-time noctilucent clouds appear, and where a dynamic electromagnetic system experiences space weather effects that can interrupt man-made satellites and human communications. For 10 years, the mission called TIMED (Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics) has gathered more data on this region than has ever been seen before and has created a whole new picture of Earth's environment, as well as how it responds to changes in the sun."One of the most exciting things, is that we have collected data over almost an entire solar cycle, which lasts about 11 years," says Richard Goldberg, a space scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. and NASA's project scientist for TIMED. "We've been able to watch how the atmosphere responds to the sun moving from solar max to solar minimum and back again."The instruments on TIMED were designed to provide a comprehensive overview of the composition of this mesosphere and lower thermosphere/ionosphere (MLTI) region of Earth's atmosphere, and to watch how it changes over time. A wide variety of sources can add energy to the MLTI region, some from above such as the solar wind and solar flares, and others from below, including human-induced effects.
via nasa.gov
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
December 22 is a Solstice Day in 2011
The December solstice occurs when the sun reaches its most southerly declination of -23.5 degrees. In other words, it is when the North Pole is tilted 23.5 degrees away from the sun. Depending on the Gregorian calendar, the December solstice occurs annually on a day between December 20 and December 23. On this date, all places above a latitude of 66.5 degrees north (Arctic Polar Circle) are now in darkness, while locations below a latitude of 66.5 degrees south (Antarctic Polar Circle) receive 24 hours of daylight.
Use the Sunrise and Sunset calculator to calculate the number of daylight hours in many cities worldwide during the December solstice.
The sun is directly overhead on the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere during the December solstice. It also marks the longest day of the year in terms of daylight hours for those living south of the equator. Those living or travelling south from the Antarctic Circle towards the South Pole will see the midnight sun during this time of the year.
On the contrary, for an observer in the northern hemisphere, the December solstice marks the day of the year with the least hours of daylight. Those living or traveling north of the Arctic Circle towards the North Pole will not be able to see the sun during this time of the year.
more : via timeanddate.com
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
The Habitable Exoplanets Catalog, a new online database of habitable worlds
Scientists are now starting to identify potential habitable exoplanets after nearly twenty years of the detection of the first planets around other stars. Over 700 exoplanets have been detected and confirmed with thousands more still waiting further confirmation by missions such as NASA Kepler.
Most of these are gas giants, similar to Jupiter and Neptune, but orbiting very dangerously close to their stars. Only a few have the right size and orbit to be considered suitable for any life.
Now the Planetary Habitability Laboratory (PHL) of the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo (UPR Arecibo) presents a new assessment of the habitability of these worlds as part of its Habitable Exoplanets Catalog (HEC).
The catalog not only identifies new potential habitable exoplanets, including exomoons like the Pandora world in the movie Avatar, but also ranks them according to various habitability indices.
"One important outcome of these rankings is the ability to compare exoplanets from best to worst candidates for life", says Abel Mendez, Director of the PHL and principal investigator of the project.
According to Mendez, "New observations with ground and orbital observatories will discover thousands of exoplanets in the coming years. We expect that the analyses contained in our catalog will help to identify, organize, and compare the life potential of these discoveries."
The catalog lists and categorizes exoplanets discoveries using various classification systems, including tables of planetary and stellar properties. One of the classifications divides them into eighteen mass and thermal categories, creating a table similar to a periodic table for exoplanets.
Additional resources of the catalog will include scientific visualizations and stellar maps of exoplanets. Various undergraduate students participated in the project.
Only two confirmed exoplanets so far match the criteria for habitability in the catalog, Gliese 581d and HD 85512b, both still marginally Earth-like. However, the catalog identifies over 15 exoplanets and 30 exomoons as potential habitable candidates.
Future observations with new instruments, such as the proposed NASA Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF), will be necessary to confirm the suitability for life of any of these candidates.
"I hope this database will help increase interest in building a big space-based telescope to observe exoplanets directly and look for possible signatures of life," says Jim Kasting, an expert on planetary habitability science from Penn State.
The catalog is available now online at the PHL website phl.upr.edu. A poster will be presented at the First Kepler Science Conference from December 5th to 9th, 2011 in NASA Ames, Moffet Field, California.
The PHL is a research and educational virtual laboratory dedicated to studies of the habitability of Earth, the Solar System, and exoplanets. The PHL is managed by the UPR Arecibo with the international collaboration of scientists from various institutions including NASA and SETI.
The catalog uses new habitability assessments like the Earth Similarity Index (ESI), the Habitable Zones Distance (HZD), the Global Primary Habitability (GPH), classification systems, and comparisons with Earth past and present. It also uses data from other databases, such as the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia, the Exoplanet Data Explorer (exoplanets.org), the NASA Kepler Mission, and other sources.
via spacedaily.com
Thursday, December 1, 2011
πρώτα να πιάσω τον σφυγμό σου...
Πρώτα να πιάσω τα χέρια σου
Να ψηλαφίσω το σφυγμό σου
Ύστερα να πάμε μαζί στο δάσος
Ν᾿ αγκαλιάσουμε τα μεγάλα δέντρα
Που στον κάθε κορμό έχουμε χαράξει
Εδώ και χρόνια τα ιερά ονόματα
Να τα συλλαβίσουμε μαζί
Να τα μετρήσουμε ένα-ένα
Με τα μάτια ψηλά στον ουρανό σαν προσευχή.
Το δικό μας το δάσος δεν το κρύβει ο ουρανός.
Δεν περνούν από δω ξυλοκόποι.
forum για την Ελλάδα: «ΑΝΤΙΔΡΑΣΗ στη Νεανική Ανεργία, ΔΡΑΣΗ στην Παιδεία»
Σας προσκαλούμε το Σάββατο 3 Δεκεμβρίου και ώρα 11:00, στην εκδήλωση που διοργανώνει το "forum για την Ελλάδα" με θέμα «ΑΝΤΙΔΡΑΣΗ στη Νεανική Ανεργία, ΔΡΑΣΗ στην Παιδεία» .
Η εκδήλωση θα πραγματοποιηθεί στο Κέντρο Γαία του Μουσείου Φυσικής Ιστορίας Γουλανδρή, Όθωνος 100, Κηφισιά, τηλ. 210 801 5870, website : www.gnhm.gr.
1) Ανδρέας Ανδριανόπουλος, τέως υπουργός Ανάπτυξης, πρόεδρος του Forum για την Ελλάδα
2) Τάκης Μίχας, δημοσιογράφος, διεθνολόγος, πολιτικός αναλυτής
3) Βασίλειος Παπάζογλου, καθηγητής Ε.Μ.Π., ειδικός γραμματέας υπουργείου Παιδείας
4) Βάσω Κιντή, αναπληρώτρια καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Μεθοδολογίας, Ιστορίας & Θεωρίας των Επιστημών (ΜΙΘΕ)
5) Νίκος Χριστοδούλου, διευθυντής ορχήστρας – συνθέτης
Την εκδήλωση θα συντονίσει ο Δημήτρης Κατσούδας, επιστημονικός διευθυντής του “forum για την Ελλάδα”.Στην εκδήλωση θα συμμετάσχουν μαθητές σχολείων και φοιτητές, ενώ -μέσω Skype- νέοι από την υπόλοιπη Ελλάδα και τον κόσμο θα παρέμβουν στη συζήτηση. Πόλεις που συμμετέχουν: ΘΕΣΣΑΛΟΝΙΚΗ, ΚΟΜΟΤΗΝΗ, ΗΡΑΚΛΕΙΟ, ΛΑΡΙΣΑ, ΛΟΝΔΙΝΟ, ΜΑΣΣΑΧΟΥΣΕΤΗ.
Στο τέλος της εκδήλωσης θα παρουσιαστούν καλλιτεχνικά δρώμενα υπό τον τίτλο :
ART INTERVENTION ( Παρέμβαση της Τέχνης).Η αστική μη κερδοσκοπική εταιρία “forum για την Ελλάδα” αποτελεί ένα think tank, σημείο συνάντησης δημιουργικών δυνάμεων, των σκεπτόμενων δημιουργικών και φιλελεύθερων ανθρώπων της σύγχρονης Ελλάδας, οι οποίοι με την ανταλλαγή ιδεών, την παραγωγή συγκεκριμένων προτάσεων, την προβολή λύσεων και την ανάληψη πρωτοβουλιών, αποσκοπούν στην εθνική κινητοποίηση για την αλλαγή και τον εκσυγχρονισμό, στη δημιουργία μιας νέας προσέγγισης για το μέλλον της χώρας.Η εκδήλωση θα μεταδοθεί ζωντανά, μέσω internet, από την ιστοσελίδα:www.forumgreece.tv, όπου και θα βρείτε περισσότερες λεπτομέρειες.
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