In addition to the fierce winds and powerful surge, Haiyan brought copious amounts of rainfall to the central Philippines along with Tropical Storm 30W and another tropical disturbance (90w), which all passed through the the central Philippines within in the past ten days. The combined rainfall from these tropical cyclones is shown in the TRMM-based, near-real time Multi-satellite Precipitation data (TMPA) analysis shown above during the period from November 2-12, 2013 (first image to the right).
Heavens
WASHINGTON D.C. Nov. 14, 2013 -- Jupiter's Great Red Spot is one of the solar system's most mysterious landmarks. Based on what scientists understand about fluid dynamics, this massive storm – which is big enough to engulf the Earth two or three times over – should have disappeared centuries ago.
Some of NASA's best and brightest will showcase more than 30 of the agency's exciting computational achievements at SC13, the international supercomputing conference, Nov. 17-22, 2013 in Denver.
Highlights include:
Haiyan, known locally in the Philippines as Yulonda, will go down as a historic storm, making landfall in the central Philippines as perhaps the most powerful tropical cyclone to ever make landfall with sustained winds estimated at 195 mph (~315 kph). So far, over 2300 people are confirmed to have been killed by the storm, and the number is likely to climb higher with many still missing and not all areas unaccounted for. Katrina, which devasted the US Gulf coast in 2005, was responsible for 1833 fatalities.
Astronomers studying gas halos around nearby galaxies were surprised when detailed studies with the National Science Foundation's Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) showed that one of their subjects is not a single galaxy, but rather two, nearly perfectly superimposed on the sky to masquerade as one. The discovery allowed them to use the alignment to learn otherwise-unobtainable facts about the nearer galaxy.
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured the best ever image of the globular cluster Messier 15, a gathering of very old stars that orbits the centre of the Milky Way. This glittering cluster contains over 100 000 stars, and could also hide a rare type of black hole at its centre.
This multi-coloured firework display is a cluster of stars known as Messier 15, located some 35 000 light-years away in the constellation of Pegasus (The Winged Horse). It is one of the oldest globular clusters [1] known, with an age of around 12 billion years.
An international team of astronomers has answered a long standing question about the enigmatic jets emitted by black holes, in research published today in prestigious journal Nature.
Jets are narrow beams of matter spat out at high speed from near a central object, like a black hole.
"Although they have been observed for decades, we're still not sure what they are made of, or what powers them," ESO astronomer Dr María Díaz Trigo, lead author of the study, said.
The former tropical storm known as 30W that moved from the western North Pacific Ocean basin into the northern Indian Ocean appears to be ramping up for a short stint at depression status again. NASA's TRMM satellite noticed some areas of heavy rainfall in the re-generating low pressure area.
As the Fukushima crisis continues to remind the world of the potential dangers of nuclear disposal and unforeseen accidents, scientists are reporting progress toward a new way to detect the radioactive materials uranium and plutonium in waste water. Their report on the design of a highly sensitive nanosensor appears in ACS' The Journal of Physical Chemistry C.
When schools adopt healthful nutrition policies and practices, kids' diets improve.
According to new research led by Michigan State University and published in the current issue of Childhood Obesity, when schools offered snacks in lunchtime a la carte or vending that were mostly or entirely healthful, students responded with improvements in their diets, said Katherine Alaimo, MSU associate professor of food, science and human nutrition.
Squeeze and you shall measure -- squeezed coherent states shown to be optimal for gravitational wave
Extremely precise measurements of distances are key in all techniques used to detect gravitational waves. To increase this precision, physicists have started using quantum effects linked with photons. A paper published in "Physical Review A" by Polish and German physicists shows that it is not necessary to use quantum light states more refined than the squeezed coherent states available currently.
Most stars do not form alone, but with many siblings that are created at about the same time from a single cloud of gas and dust. NGC 3572, in the southern constellation of Carina (The Keel), is one of these clusters. It contains many hot young blue-white stars that shine brightly and generate powerful stellar winds that tend to gradually disperse the remaining gas and dust from their surroundings.
The sun emitted a significant solar flare that peaked at 12:14 a.m. EST on Nov. 10, 2013. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however -- when intense enough -- they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel.
Washington, D.C.— Reconstructing the rise of life during the period of Earth's history when it first evolved is challenging. Earth's oldest sedimentary rocks are not only rare, but also almost always altered by hydrothermal and tectonic activity. A new study from a team including Carnegie's Nora Noffke, a visiting investigator, and Robert Hazen revealed the well-preserved remnants of a complex ecosystem in a nearly 3.5 billion-year-old sedimentary rock sequence in Australia. Their work is published in Astrobiology.
Tropical Cyclone 03A made landfall in Somalia and moved inland where it is dissipating over eastern Ethiopia today, Nov. 12. NASA's Aqua, Terra and TRMM satellites passed over the cyclone an captured images of 03A before and after it made landfall.
Somalia is located in the Horn of Africa and its coastline lies on the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden. It is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, and Djibouti to the northwest.