A Picture a Day Picnic: Down the NASA Rabbit Hole with the Pelican Nebula and Opals

     Today I discovered this "A Picture a Day" site from NASA. Today's post on the Powers of Ten includes an intriguing video moving away and inward from a picnic by the powers of ten. Each post includes extraordinary images and descriptions by astronomers.

          The past posts from the NASA site lead you down many a fascinating rabbit hole. Click on the "Discover the Cosmos" link at the NASA site to enjoy exploring!

           The March 4, 2015, image from the NASA site of pillars and jets in the Pelican Nebula is particularly striking:

          And this particular Rabbit Hole led me to the Rabbit Hole Mine in Black Desert, Nevada, (red pin below) near the Burning Man Festival site. Based on what I know about the Burning Man Festival, their proximity cannot be an accident!

          The Rabbit Hole Mine is rich in sulphur, alunite, cinnabar, gypsum and opal.

           The powers of ten may also provide a colorful journey from opals to nebulae . . .and back, via the rabbit hole.

            Let me know your favorite past image on the NASA site. . .and do enjoy your trip down the rabbit hole. Please--come back!

Enjoy the ride,
Steph

H2O, H2O, Everywhere: "Unstoppable" Glaciers and "Produced" Water

    Water, water everywhere...

                      Photo credit: M. Ruegels

     Too much, not enough, contaminated with salt and hydrocarbon extraction/fracking chemicals: water and the words associated with H2O have been spun this week, especially in two articles.

   

      The "unstoppable" movement of glaciers into the sea in western Antarctica was documented in a NASA press release yesterday:

Unstoppable glacier movement in western Antarctica

      This NASA/JPL photo shows the Amundsen Sea on the western side of Antarctica:

        The principal researcher, Eric Rignot, spoke of unstoppable, inevitable, and irreversible processes associated with the glaciers noting that a sea level rise of 1.2 meters is eventually inevitable, yet unstoppable is the term being used in most of the day's publicity. Unstoppable is a more active adjective than irreversible or inevitable--it exudes movement.

          "Produced water" is another science spin term used locally by Colorado Public Radio (CPR) to describe water produced together with hydrocarbons:

           
            "PRODUCED WATER"

     This positively spun term denotes what's leftover after extracting hydrocarbons--water with benzene, toluene, salt, etc. which, according to the article, is responsible for tuberculosis in cattle. "Unstoppable glaciers" is a reasonable term; produced water is not. Even "connate water" is not, since, by definition, it is the water originally deposited with the rock.

       The CPR article refers to the original salt deposited with the rocks as part of the produced water or flowback and downplays the chemicals added in hydrocarbon extraction/fracking. Produced water--really?

        Just hiked past some (quite cold) springs here in the Colorado hills. Now, those are "produced," unstoppably crystal clear waters!

Turn, turn, turn, turn,
Spin, spin, spin, spin,

Looking forward to your liquid thoughts,

Word Woman (aka Scientific Steph)

P.S. More Water. . .

        Great morning with Al (Aluminum) and the kindergarteners today. We made boats from Aluminum foil and determined the best structure for piling on pennies til the boats sank. 

        They know H2O, CO2, NaCl, O2 and now Al. Big leap today as I asked them the chemical formula for ice. After a few guesses of I, they came round to H2O. 

        "Ok, how about steam?" 

         "H2O!" 

          It was quite a moment ;-).