Posts tagged space
FLASH! Run-a-way Star blasts through spaces Nasa report and photo #boulder
Jan 25th
The blue star near the center of this image is Zeta Ophiuchi. When seen in visible light it appears as a relatively dim red star surrounded by other dim stars and no dust. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA
January 24, 2011
A massive star flung away from its former companion is plowing through space dust. The result is a brilliant bow shock, seen here as a yellow arc in a new image from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE.
The star, named Zeta Ophiuchi, is huge, with a mass of about 20 times that of our sun. In this image, in which infrared light has been translated into visible colors we see with our eyes, the star appears as the blue dot inside the bow shock.
Zeta Ophiuchi once orbited around an even heftier star. But when that star exploded in a supernova, Zeta Ophiuchi shot away like a bullet. It’s traveling at a whopping 54,000 miles per hour (or 24 kilometers per second), and heading toward the upper left area of the picture.
As the star tears through space, its powerful winds push gas and dust out of its way and into what is called a bow shock. The material in the bow shock is so compressed that it glows with infrared light that WISE can see. The effect is similar to what happens when a boat speeds through water, pushing a wave in front of it.
This bow shock is completely hidden in visible light. Infrared images like this one from WISE are therefore important for shedding new light on the region.
JPL manages and operates WISE for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The principal investigator, Edward Wright, is at UCLA. The mission was competitively selected under NASA’s Explorers Program managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. The science instrument was built by the Space Dynamics Laboratory, Logan, Utah, and the spacecraft was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. Science operations and data processing take place at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.
More information is online at http://www.nasa.gov/wise, http://wise.astro.ucla.edu andhttp://www.jpl.nasa.gov/wise .
Household Hazardous Waste facility to close Dec. 18
Dec 10th
The existing facility will be open during regular hours (Wednesday, 8 a.m.-3:30 p.m. and Friday-Saturday, 8 a.m.-noon) through Saturday, Dec. 18, weather permitting. Residents are advised to call the Household Hazardous Waste hotline at 303-441-4800 for closure information. The outdoor nature of the collection facility results in occasional closures due to extreme weather including below freezing temperatures, rain, snow, and high winds.
After Dec. 18, residents are encouraged to safely store their hazardous waste until the new facility opens. If this is not possible, residents are asked to call the HHW hotline to request an appointment to drop off waste. As-needed collection events will be held to meet limited demand.
The Hazardous Materials Management Facility will open in February and includes advantages such as:
• All-weather operation (not subject to weather closures)
• Improved safety and ergonomics
• Greater convenience with more than double existing operating hours
• Begin to serve unmet needs of business community
• Allow processing efficiencies through use of equipment, for example, to bulk latex paint
• Ability to maximize revenues from oil, lead/acid batteries, recycled paint
• Ability to store wastes for more cost effective shipping
• Provide space and flexibility for future processing needs
Business wastes will be accepted, by appointment only, starting in May. The new business service will be limited to those businesses that generate small quantities of hazardous wastes and that are classified by the State of Colorado as “conditionally-exempt small quantity generators.”
All wastes collected are reused, recycled or disposed of in an environmentally sound manner. The program protects the environment through reducing improper disposal of hazardous products to the ground, storm and sanitary sewers, and landfills.
Many toxic, corrosive, flammable or reactive products are collected, including:
• Home improvement products (paints, thinners, caulks, glues, solvents, etc.)
• Auto products (lead/acid batteries, gasoline, motor oil, antifreeze, etc.)
• Garden products (herbicides, pesticides, fertilizers, etc.)
• Household cleaners and batteries, regular and compact fluorescent bulbs, pet, pool, and hobby products
More information is available on existing services at www.bouldercountyrecycles.net or by calling the Household Hazardous Waste hotline at 303-441-4800. For more information on the new Hazardous Materials Management Facility, contact Hilary Collins at hcollins@bouldercounty.org or 720-564-2224.
increased fire danger threat #boulder NWS…. fire chief says be vigilant: READ STORY:
Nov 6th
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
1054 AM MDT SAT NOV 06 2010
1054 AM MDT SAT NOV 06 2010
A PERIOD OF GUSTY WINDS IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP IN AND NEAR THE FRONT
RANGE FOOTHILLS LATE SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THIS ALONG WITH
MUCH ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND LOW HUMIDITIES WILL INCREASE THE
FIRE DANGER THREAT.
Fire Chief Larry Donner Boulder fire chief talks to Boulder Channel 1 news this afternoon.
Larry Donner Boulder fire chief:” People need to have a heightened awareness this weekend. It is very dry out. Though we are not in Red Flag Warning situation which requires high wind and high temperatures, we could go there if the wind picks up. tomorrow, saturday, the temperatures will high enough. Heightened awareness in in order.
We have low moisture so by mid day when the temperatures heat up ‘flashy fuels” such as grass ( these are the ones which burn first) are easily igniteable ”
People need to put defensible space around their homes and not put that work on their to do list. that includes moving firewood and cutting tall grass near homes. Some people think that grass is not much of a threat, but 4 foot high grass can have a crown of ten feet and be very dangerous.
Wildland fire behavior is much like flood water behavior. Fire has currents and eddies. So when you’ll notice that two or three houses in a neighborhood will be burned and one will be left standing, that is most probabluy a result of the currents formed by fires.
residents don’t realize just how dangerous wild land fires can be until it is too late. In the four mile fire we had people on sunshine canyon who didn’t want to leave, but the fire was moving so fast, that though it was a few miles away they waited until smoke and embers forced them out . That is a dangerous situation for everyone. those embers were the size of roof shingles and they were blowing one mile in front of the fire. We can’t stop that.
fire fighters lives are put at risk when residents do not want to leave. They don’t think it is so bad, but if they get in the way of fire fighting efforts, we have to then have to rescue them and in some cases our selves. That was the case in the four Mile fire.
What people need to realize is that if the wind is blowing in a hot wild land fire, The fire is moving at 40 miles per hour. You can’t out run that. It comes up on you real fast and then it is too late.
There have been experiments done in Australia where residents stayed behind to fight wild land fires, but when the fire arrived at their property it was crowning at 10 to 20 feet , moving at 30 to 50 mph, was extremely hot ..and it killed everyone in its path. That’s what we always want to avoid in Boulder.
I scratch my head when I see most wild fires are human caused. People should not be burning anything near open space with conditions like this. this is a very hightened condition for fires..
We have something called “point protection, where we will pick the most likely house to save, but down the road 3 or 4 other houses will burn because of poor space protection, high winds and flying ambers.
So , yeah, this weekend remain vigilant and aware.”