Water and pollution
After removing some effects generated by the local atmosphere, the researchers examined the spectrum of colors to see what molecules were visible. A few surprises popped up.
For example, they didn't see as much water vapor in the signature as observers saw in a 2009 eclipse that encompassed much of the Northern Hemisphere. (That paper, "Earth’s transmission spectrum from lunar eclipse observations," was published in the journal Nature.)
Researchers in the newer study concluded that the absence of water vapor was because the "path" of the 2011 transit in the Earth's atmosphere included the Antarctic, where much of the water is presumed to be frozen out of the atmosphere.
Another surprise was the abundance of nitrogen dioxide. Normally the nitrogen dioxide is regarded as a pollutant produced by human activities. The Antarctic, however, is quite a barren location — but it did have a volcano.
"We found that the track we observed is close to a volcano, and this volcano can potentially produce nitrogen dioxide," Yan said. [The Biggest Volcanoes on Earth]
He added that other explanations could be possible. In this case, the volcano (Mount Erabus) may not be active enough to produce large amount of nitrogen dioxide. Further investigation found that the nitrogen dioxide was a bio-product of nitrous oxide (which is produced naturally by microbes) that then lingered in the atmosphere and reacted with ozone, creating nitrogen dioxide.
"This was during the spring, and the ice melted in the spring, and according to the vulcanologists this melt releases a lot of nitrous oxide," Fosbury said.
Ozone on other planets
If we were to look at Earth as an exoplanet, could the nitrogen dioxide be interpreted as a sign of pollution, of microbial life or of a volcano? Fosbury said it depends on context. If the planet had an abundance of volcanoes on its surface, you would assume it was likely, principally, from the volcanoes. If those weren't easily visible, it would be harder to draw conclusions about life, but it would be possible.
He pointed out that nitrogen dioxide is normally associated with pollution.
"It's over Los Angeles and Beijing and all of those places because of how the catalysis of exhaust [from cars] works," Fosbury said.
When looking for an extraterrestrial civilization, pollution chemicals should be included on the list of "signs" of life, he added.
Ozone might also be visible. Fosbury pointed out that at higher latitudes, at the edge of the umbra on the moon, you can see blue.
"It's one of the indicators that there's a lot of ozone," he said.
Ozone is also the reason that the sky looks blue during twilight at dusk dawn. (Daylight blue is because of a phenomenon called Rayleigh scattering, which preferentially scatters blue light from the sun through the air.)
"Ozone actually is a very prominent and very important marker for Earth-like planets," Fosbury said.
ESO, whose astronomical facilities are based in Chile, also has at least two major contributions to exoplanet research. The High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) at the ESO La Silla 3.6-meter telescope measures small variations in stellar velocities as planets orbit them. This instrument was used for the first-ever detection of an exoplanet.
Also under construction is the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT), a 39-meter beast that will not only do these velocity measurements, but also image some planets and possibly characterize their atmospheres. This research will come in handy when the E-ELT and NASA's James Webb Space Telescope are working.
"This will be quite an investment over a long period of time," Fosbury added. "As we learn more about the practicalities of doing these observations, we'll be in a better position to not only perform the observations, but design the kinds of instruments that will be needed."
amarican nasa pepar
Google AdSense Account Disabled" with balance of $42,000 and monthly revenue of $60,000
Dear folks,
Any help would be appreciated to solve my issue. We run a social network with around 140,000 active members and it’s been running since 2008. The only source of income is adsense. We have used different tools to bring more users and engage more users in our website and we have around $2000 daily revenue. There hasn’t been any click surge or spike or any sudden change in the revenue lately, we just have improved quality of site. We received the notice “Google AdSense Account Disabled” with this content:
“After reviewing our records, we've determined that your AdSense account poses a risk of generating invalid activity… “
We do have long run Analytics report, our analytic is linked to ad sense so it should be easy to show there hasn’t been any click fraud at our end. Why would we risk a large scale business for couple of fraud clicks! Our current account balance is more than $40K and Google says it will be returned back to advertisers! We have spent almost this much to deliver traffic, pay for engineers and servers…. What is the best way of approaching and what are convincing evidences to show our activities are all based on good faith and there is no intension of getting non legitimate clicks.
Any help would be appreciated, this incident has put a big question mark on job status of 5 hard working engineers in such a tough economy and future of a project that has been developed out of enthusiasm and passion during last 3 years.
Thanks,
Mike
Any help would be appreciated to solve my issue. We run a social network with around 140,000 active members and it’s been running since 2008. The only source of income is adsense. We have used different tools to bring more users and engage more users in our website and we have around $2000 daily revenue. There hasn’t been any click surge or spike or any sudden change in the revenue lately, we just have improved quality of site. We received the notice “Google AdSense Account Disabled” with this content:
“After reviewing our records, we've determined that your AdSense account poses a risk of generating invalid activity… “
We do have long run Analytics report, our analytic is linked to ad sense so it should be easy to show there hasn’t been any click fraud at our end. Why would we risk a large scale business for couple of fraud clicks! Our current account balance is more than $40K and Google says it will be returned back to advertisers! We have spent almost this much to deliver traffic, pay for engineers and servers…. What is the best way of approaching and what are convincing evidences to show our activities are all based on good faith and there is no intension of getting non legitimate clicks.
Any help would be appreciated, this incident has put a big question mark on job status of 5 hard working engineers in such a tough economy and future of a project that has been developed out of enthusiasm and passion during last 3 years.
Thanks,
Mike
Selection Will Return Launches to America
U.S. astronauts once again will travel to and from the International Space Station from the United States on American spacecraft under groundbreaking contracts NASA announced Tuesday. The agency unveiled its selection of Boeing and SpaceX to transport U.S. crews to and from the space station using their CST-100 and Crew Dragon spacecraft, respectively, with a goal of ending the nation’s sole reliance on Russia in 2017.
Image Credit: NASA
U.S. astronauts once again will travel to and from the International Space Station from the United States on American spacecraft under groundbreaking contracts NASA announced Tuesday. The agency unveiled its selection of Boeing and SpaceX to transport U.S. crews to and from the space station using their CST-100 and Crew Dragon spacecraft, respectively, with a goal of ending the nation’s sole reliance on Russia in 2017.
"From day one, the Obama Administration made clear that the greatest nation on Earth should not be dependent on other nations to get into space," NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden said at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. "Thanks to the leadership of President Obama, the hard work of our NASA and industry teams, and support from Congress, today we are one step closer to launching our astronauts from U.S. soil on American spacecraft and ending the nation’s sole reliance on Russia by 2017. Turning over low-Earth orbit transportation to private industry will also allow NASA to focus on an even more ambitious mission – sending humans to Mars."
These Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contracts are designed to complete the NASA certification for human space transportation systems capable of carrying people into orbit. Once certification is complete, NASA plans to use these systems to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station and return them safely to Earth.
The companies selected to provide this transportation capability and the maximum potential value of their FAR-based firm fixed-price contracts are:
-- The Boeing Company, Houston, $4.2 billion
-- Space Exploration Technologies Corp., Hawthorne, California, $2.6 billion
The contracts include at least one crewed flight test per company with at least one NASA astronaut aboard to verify the fully integrated rocket and spacecraft system can launch, maneuver in orbit, and dock to the space station, as well as validate all its systems perform as expected. Once each company’s test program has been completed successfully and its system achieves NASA certification, each contractor will conduct at least two, and as many as six, crewed missions to the space station. These spacecraft also will serve as a lifeboat for astronauts aboard the station.
NASA's Commercial Crew Program will implement this capability as a public-private partnership with the American aerospace companies. NASA's expert team of engineers and spaceflight specialists is facilitating and certifying the development work of industry partners to ensure new spacecraft are safe and reliable.
The U.S. missions to the International Space Station following certification will allow the station's current crew of six to grow, enabling the crew to conduct more research aboard the unique microgravity laboratory.
"We are excited to see our industry partners close in on operational flights to the International Space Station, an extraordinary feat industry and the NASA family began just four years ago," said Kathy Lueders, manager of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. "This space agency has long been a technology innovator, and now we also can say we are an American business innovator, spurring job creation and opening up new markets to the private sector. The agency and our partners have many important steps to finish, but we have shown we can do the tough work required and excel in ways few would dare to hope."
The companies will own and operate the crew transportation systems and be able to sell human space transportation services to other customers in addition to NASA, thereby reducing the costs for all customers.
By encouraging private companies to handle launches to low-Earth orbit -- a region NASA's been visiting since 1962 -- the nation's space agency can focus on getting the most research and experience out of America's investment in the International Space Station. NASA also can focus on building spacecraft and rockets for deep space missions, including flights to Mars.
For more information about NASA's Commercial Crew Program and CCtCap, visit:
Image Credit: NASA
U.S. astronauts once again will travel to and from the International Space Station from the United States on American spacecraft under groundbreaking contracts NASA announced Tuesday. The agency unveiled its selection of Boeing and SpaceX to transport U.S. crews to and from the space station using their CST-100 and Crew Dragon spacecraft, respectively, with a goal of ending the nation’s sole reliance on Russia in 2017.
"From day one, the Obama Administration made clear that the greatest nation on Earth should not be dependent on other nations to get into space," NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden said at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. "Thanks to the leadership of President Obama, the hard work of our NASA and industry teams, and support from Congress, today we are one step closer to launching our astronauts from U.S. soil on American spacecraft and ending the nation’s sole reliance on Russia by 2017. Turning over low-Earth orbit transportation to private industry will also allow NASA to focus on an even more ambitious mission – sending humans to Mars."
These Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contracts are designed to complete the NASA certification for human space transportation systems capable of carrying people into orbit. Once certification is complete, NASA plans to use these systems to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station and return them safely to Earth.
The companies selected to provide this transportation capability and the maximum potential value of their FAR-based firm fixed-price contracts are:
-- The Boeing Company, Houston, $4.2 billion
-- Space Exploration Technologies Corp., Hawthorne, California, $2.6 billion
The contracts include at least one crewed flight test per company with at least one NASA astronaut aboard to verify the fully integrated rocket and spacecraft system can launch, maneuver in orbit, and dock to the space station, as well as validate all its systems perform as expected. Once each company’s test program has been completed successfully and its system achieves NASA certification, each contractor will conduct at least two, and as many as six, crewed missions to the space station. These spacecraft also will serve as a lifeboat for astronauts aboard the station.
NASA's Commercial Crew Program will implement this capability as a public-private partnership with the American aerospace companies. NASA's expert team of engineers and spaceflight specialists is facilitating and certifying the development work of industry partners to ensure new spacecraft are safe and reliable.
The U.S. missions to the International Space Station following certification will allow the station's current crew of six to grow, enabling the crew to conduct more research aboard the unique microgravity laboratory.
"We are excited to see our industry partners close in on operational flights to the International Space Station, an extraordinary feat industry and the NASA family began just four years ago," said Kathy Lueders, manager of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. "This space agency has long been a technology innovator, and now we also can say we are an American business innovator, spurring job creation and opening up new markets to the private sector. The agency and our partners have many important steps to finish, but we have shown we can do the tough work required and excel in ways few would dare to hope."
The companies will own and operate the crew transportation systems and be able to sell human space transportation services to other customers in addition to NASA, thereby reducing the costs for all customers.
By encouraging private companies to handle launches to low-Earth orbit -- a region NASA's been visiting since 1962 -- the nation's space agency can focus on getting the most research and experience out of America's investment in the International Space Station. NASA also can focus on building spacecraft and rockets for deep space missions, including flights to Mars.
For more information about NASA's Commercial Crew Program and CCtCap, visit:
NASA Recovery Information
Overview of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act)
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) was signed into law by President Obama on February 17th, 2009. It is an unprecedented effort to jumpstart our economy, create or save millions of jobs, and put a down payment on addressing long-neglected challenges so our country can thrive in the 21st century. The Act is an extraordinary response to a crisis unlike any since the Great Depression, and includes measures to modernize our nation's infrastructure, enhance energy independence, expand educational opportunities, preserve and improve affordable health care, provide tax relief, and protect those in greatest need.
Implementing the Recovery Act at NASA
Among the key purposes of the Recovery Act are preserving and creating jobs, spurring technological advances in science and health, and promoting economic recovery. NASA has an important role to play in achieving these purposes through the program and facilities investments it will make with Recovery Act funding. As NASA develops and begins implementing its plans, this site will be one of the Agency's primary ways for communicating NASA's plans, progress, and results.
The President and Congress are committed to spending these recovery dollars with an unprecedented level of transparency and accountability so Americans know where their tax dollars are going and how they are being spent. Meeting these commitments will require sustained focus by all of us at NASA, particularly in planning, awarding, managing, and overseeing the contracts and grants through which the objectives of the Recovery Act will be achieved.
Recovery.gov is a website that empowers Citizens to hold the government accountable for every dollar spent. NASA, along with every other federal agency, is required to provide spending and performance data on a weekly, monthly, quarterly, and as required basis.
We invite you to visit us regularly and hear about the exciting work NASA is doing to contribute to America's economic recovery.
Agency Plans and Reports
By the end of April, NASA will be working with Congress and the Office of Management and Budget to finalize its Recovery plans. As these plans are approved and they are implemented, we will be posting the latest Agency Plans and Reports here.
Learn More About Our Programs
The Administration's priorities entrust NASA with $1 billion for Recovery investments. Among the purposes for these funds indicated by Congress include:
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) was signed into law by President Obama on February 17th, 2009. It is an unprecedented effort to jumpstart our economy, create or save millions of jobs, and put a down payment on addressing long-neglected challenges so our country can thrive in the 21st century. The Act is an extraordinary response to a crisis unlike any since the Great Depression, and includes measures to modernize our nation's infrastructure, enhance energy independence, expand educational opportunities, preserve and improve affordable health care, provide tax relief, and protect those in greatest need.
Implementing the Recovery Act at NASA
Among the key purposes of the Recovery Act are preserving and creating jobs, spurring technological advances in science and health, and promoting economic recovery. NASA has an important role to play in achieving these purposes through the program and facilities investments it will make with Recovery Act funding. As NASA develops and begins implementing its plans, this site will be one of the Agency's primary ways for communicating NASA's plans, progress, and results.
The President and Congress are committed to spending these recovery dollars with an unprecedented level of transparency and accountability so Americans know where their tax dollars are going and how they are being spent. Meeting these commitments will require sustained focus by all of us at NASA, particularly in planning, awarding, managing, and overseeing the contracts and grants through which the objectives of the Recovery Act will be achieved.
Recovery.gov is a website that empowers Citizens to hold the government accountable for every dollar spent. NASA, along with every other federal agency, is required to provide spending and performance data on a weekly, monthly, quarterly, and as required basis.
We invite you to visit us regularly and hear about the exciting work NASA is doing to contribute to America's economic recovery.
Agency Plans and Reports
By the end of April, NASA will be working with Congress and the Office of Management and Budget to finalize its Recovery plans. As these plans are approved and they are implemented, we will be posting the latest Agency Plans and Reports here.
Learn More About Our Programs
The Administration's priorities entrust NASA with $1 billion for Recovery investments. Among the purposes for these funds indicated by Congress include:
New control filters in the Ad review center
Many of you currently use the Ad review center to view and control the ads displayed on your website. You've recently told us you'd like to see more options to search for specific ads. Today we're launching two new filters which will give you even more control.
Find ads that look similar
When you identify an ad that you want to block, you can choose to find related ads, e.g., ads that have the same landing page or advertiser. We've enhanced this feature, so that now when you run a "related ads" search, you'll also see ads that look similar too. This filter can help save you time looking for similar ads to allow or block.
Filter ads by language
If your website is international in scope, ads on your website can show in different languages. Now you can filter ads running on your site by language in the Ad review center. For example, you could choose to see all Spanish-language ads that have shown in the last 30 days.
Find ads that look similar
When you identify an ad that you want to block, you can choose to find related ads, e.g., ads that have the same landing page or advertiser. We've enhanced this feature, so that now when you run a "related ads" search, you'll also see ads that look similar too. This filter can help save you time looking for similar ads to allow or block.
Filter ads by language
If your website is international in scope, ads on your website can show in different languages. Now you can filter ads running on your site by language in the Ad review center. For example, you could choose to see all Spanish-language ads that have shown in the last 30 days.
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