Current Events

  • Atmospheric CO2 Level Tops 400 ppm
    During the week of May 13th, the CO2 level at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii topped 400 ppm rep...Read more

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    Atmospheric CO2 Level Tops 400 ppm

    During the week of May 13th, the CO2 level at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii topped 400 ppm repeatedly. Daily levels of CO2 can vary due to weather, and there are seasonal trends as well. The level of atmospheric greenhouse gases continues to increase, now over 120 ppm since the Industrial Revolution began. For more on the Keeling Curve, see http://keelingcurve.ucsd.edu/. Find out more about greenhouse gases and warming.
  • Massive Tornado Outbreak on Tornado Alley
    The week of May 19 brings dozens of tornadoes to Tornado Alley in the states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Io...Read more

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    Massive Tornado Outbreak on Tornado Alley

    The week of May 19 brings dozens of tornadoes to Tornado Alley in the states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa, Illinois and Missouri. On May 20th, a massive tornado struck Moore, Oklahoma, devastating communities - destroying over 100 homes and hitting two elementary schools and a hospital - with many casualties and deaths. Our thoughts are with our friends and colleagues suffering from these storms. For more on the May 20th storms, see the NOAA Storm Prediction Center Storm Report.
  • Kansas Legislator Proposes Bill to Outlaw Sustainability Education
    A bill has been introduced in the Kansas legislature this week that would prohibit the promotion of ...Read more

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    Kansas Legislator Proposes Bill to Outlaw Sustainability Education

    A bill has been introduced in the Kansas legislature this week that would prohibit the promotion of sustainability. Here is a link to the one-page bill: http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2013_14/measures/documents/hb2366_00_0000.pdf. See report on Bloomberg News.
This is a drawing of Pluto and its moon Charon.
Click on image for full size
Image courtesy of NASA/JPL. This image is in the public domain.

Pluto & Charon, a binary planet

Of all the planets and moons in the solar system, Pluto and Charon are the two which resemble each other the most closely. They are almost the same size, and they are very close together. They are so close together that they orbit the center of mass between them, and the center of mass goes around the sun. (In general, each planet with its moons orbits the center of mass between them, but in every other case the center of mass is the center of the planet, so the moon goes around the planet. Not so in the case of Pluto and Charon.) Pluto and Charon are so close that they may even share an atmosphere. Methane molecules may be drawn off Pluto and recondense on Charon.

The other planet and moon in the solar system which could be a binary planet are the Earth and the Moon. As in the case of the Earth and the Moon, the origin of such a system is hard to explain. The explanation which seems best is that some large object struck Pluto (and the Earth) and tore Charon (and the Moon) from the crust of the planet. In the case of the Moon, the Moon seems to be made of material very much like the Earth's crust and not like the Earth's more metallic interior. Likewise Charon may be made of more icy material which resembles Pluto's surface, rather than the more rocky interior of Pluto.


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We now offer the Cool It! card game in our Science Store. Cool It! is the new card game from UCS that teaches kids about the choices we have when it comes to climate change.

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