Endless Star Party
From August 22 through 25, 2019, it’s another week of night sights in the Wood Buffalo National Park Dark Sky Preserve at the Dark Sky Festival [DSF]. The park’s 44,807 km2 (17,300 mi2) sit on the border of Canada’s Northwest Territories and the province…
An Earth Mover
On April 18, 1906, the most destructive earthquake in US history devastated much of San Francisco. This event, approximately 8.0 on the yet-to-be-invented Richter scale, occurred along the San Andreas Fault, a tectonic plate boundary from which the Earth’s crust spreads horizontally as the…
The GRACE Twins
On March 17, 2002, NASA launched the GRACE twins, two Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellites. They flew about 220 km ( 137 mi ) apart in a polar orbit at 485 km (300 mi) above Earth, measuring regional areas of its gravity field,…
No Grass Grew Under These Feet!
On February 23, 1879, British botanist Agnes Arber was born. From her mid-teens through early career, she was able to spend time assisting plant morphologist Ethel Sargant from whom she acquired her research interest and style of investigation. Arber taught at University College, London,…
Wonder Light in the Darkness
On February 1, 1811, Bell Rock Lighthouse shone its first mirrored light. On this first night, its light could be seen for over 24 km (15 mi). This is remarkable to imagine since the light originated from a single argand oil lamp with a…
Great White Hurricane of 1888
On March 11, 1888, a great “Nor’easter” began to form on the NE coast of the U.S.A. Because of their unstable atmospheric pressures, regions of Earth in the mid-latitudes experience the widest range of weather formations. March can be a wild weather month there.…
Earthquake Swarm
On December 16, 1811, the first of the series of New Madrid earthquakes occurred in a pair in northeast Arkansas. [The second principal shock, in Missouri, January 23, 1812; the third, along the Reelfoot fault in Missouri and Tennessee, February 7, 1812]. Each had…
Magnetic Attraction
On December 13, 1805, Johann von Lamont [John Lamont] was born in Scotland. From his twelfth year, he was educated in Bavaria where he was schooled in maths and sciences. Lamont spent vacations assisting at the Royal Observatory at Bogenhausen (Munich). These interests led…
Environment Chemist
On December 3, 1842, environmental chemist Ellen Swallow Richards was born. Attracted to chemistry at Vassar, she applied for job as a professional chemist but was persuaded to apply to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she became the first woman accepted at this…
No Moment Too Small
On October 17, 1936, Japanese geophysicist Hiroo Kanamori was born. Recipient of many prizes and awards, he has spent his life investigating the magnitude and energy releases of great earthquakes. Like Charles Richter, Kanamori has taught at the California Institute of Technology. The original…