Heavens

NASA's Aqua satellite passed over a developing low pressure area in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico and captured infrared data on what is now the latest destination for NASA's Hurricane and Severe Storms Sentinel mission. On Sept. 19, NASA's HS3 mission sent an unmanned Global Hawk aircraft to investigate and gather data from low pressure System 95L, located in the Bay of Campeche.

Higher calorie diets produce twice the rate of weight gain compared to the lower calorie diets that currently are recommended for adolescents hospitalized with anorexia nervosa, according to a study by researchers at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital.

The radar on the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite captured an image of Supertyphoon Usagi near the end of a 24-hour period in which Usagi intensified by 65 knots. This is more than twice the commonly used 30-knot threshold for defining rapid intensification.

Imagery from NOAA's GOES-East satellite on Sept. 19 showed Tropical Depression Humberto had lost its organization, while one tropical low struggled near Bermuda, and another one was taking shape in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico. NASA's HS3 hurricane mission is sending an unmanned Global Hawk aircraft to investigate the developing system in the Gulf.

NASA's TRMM satellite passed over Manuel on Sept. 19 at 0116 UTC and measured its rainfall as it was strengthening into a hurricane. TRMM noticed heavy rainfall and some hot towering thunderstorms, which were indications that the storm was intensifying. NASA's Aqua satellite captured an infrared image that showed Manuel was making landfall during the morning of Sept. 19, and at 11 a.m. EDT, Hurricane Manuel officially made landfall near Culican, Mexico.

What was a tropical storm rapidly intensified into Typhoon Usagi within 24 hours as it moves through the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. NASA satellite data revealed a 20-mile-wide eye and bands of thunderstorms spiraling into the center of the monster storm.

Habitable conditions on Earth will be possible for at least another 1.75 billion years – according to astrobiologists at the University of East Anglia.

Findings published today in the journal Astrobiology reveal the habitable lifetime of planet Earth – based on our distance from the sun and temperatures at which it is possible for the planet to have liquid water.

The research team looked to the stars for inspiration. Using recently discovered planets outside our solar system (exoplanets) as examples, they investigated the potential for these planets to host life.

Microscopic, bottle-like structures with corks that melt at precisely-controlled temperatures could potentially release drugs inside the body or fragrances onto the skin, according to a recently published study.

By analyzing the distinctive cracks lining the icy face of Europa, NASA scientists found evidence that this moon of Jupiter likely spun around a tilted axis at some point.

This tilt could influence calculations of how much of Europa's history is recorded in its frozen shell, how much heat is generated by tides in its ocean, and even how long the ocean has been liquid.

A team of researchers led by King's College London has for the first time identified a new gene which may have the ability to prevent HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, from spreading after it enters the body.

Published in Nature today, the study is the first to identify a role for the human MX2 gene in inhibiting HIV. Researchers say this gene could be a new target for effective, less toxic treatments where the body's own natural defence system is mobilised against the virus.

Powerful thunderstorms wrapped around Tropical Storm Usagi's center and its southern quadrant in visible data from NASA's Aqua satellite on Sept. 18.

When NASA's Terra satellite passed over Tropical Storm Humberto on Sept. 17, the MODIS instrument aboard took a picture of the storm and it resembled the letter "A" as it moves through the northeastern Atlantic Ocean.

NASA's Aqua satellite caught the birth of the eighteenth tropical depression of the northwestern Pacific Ocean tropical cyclone season. Tropical Depression 18W was born in the South China Sea and is expected to be short-lived after a quick landfall in central Vietnam.

Infrared data provides a look at cloud top temperatures in tropical cyclones and there were very cold cloud tops in the thunderstorms banding around the south of newborn Tropical Storm Usagi's Center.

On Sept. 16, low pressure System 99W strengthened into Tropical Depression 17W. The depression became Tropical Storm Usagi very late in the day.

Located around 6000 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Scorpius (The Scorpion), the nebula formally known as IC 4628 is a huge region filled with gas and clumps of dark dust. These gas clouds are star-forming regions, producing brilliant hot young stars. In visible light, these stars appear as a blue-white colour, but they also emit intense radiation in other parts of the spectrum — most notably in the ultraviolet [1].