northern lights

Aurora borealis
The breathtaking formations of the aurora borealis or northern lights twisting and shading the sky over the highway at Tombstone Mountain lookout, Yukon, Canada, this week


Moonrise in the Brooks Range in northern Alaska at the Chandler Shelf


Moonrise in the Brooks Range in northern Alaska at the Chandler Shelf


Aurora Borealis, in the Brooks Range in northern Alaska


Aurora borealis, Moonrise in the Brooks Range in northern Alaska


Aurora borealis, near Tombstone Mountain Lookout, Dempster Highway, Yukon, Canada


Aurora borealis, above Hudson Bay and the town of Churchill with a bright moon, Manitoba, Canada.

earth

How astronauts went to the Moon and ended up discovering planet Earth
Photos of Earthrise from Apollo 8 changed the way we look at the world


The crew of Apollo 8 took this photo of Earth as they orbited the moon in 1968.

... One of those photos, an Earthrise over the grey and inhospitable lunar horizon, has become one of the most reproduced and recognised pictures of our planet. LIFE magazine selected it as one of 100 photographs that changed the world; more recently it featured in an Oscar-winning film about climate change, An Inconvenient Truth.

"That one picture exploded in the consciousness of humans," said Al Gore, the film's Nobel prize-winning narrator and campaigner. "It led to dramatic changes. Within 18 months of this picture the environment movement had begun." ...

"It's not a very good photo as photos go, but it's a special one. It was the first statement of our planet Earth and it was particularly impressive because it's contrasted against this startling horizon." ...

Landscape photographer Joe Cornish said he had been haunted by the image: "It's a new perspective from space, but it's a totally new perspective when you see it in relation to another body in space."

For Anders, the fragility of life on Earth is shown even more powerfully by three photos of the Earth alone in space: "Earthrise has a reference - there's the moon and the Earth, you don't get a vastness - whereas the other ones, particularly the smaller one, it's Earth and black to the frame ... it goes on and on."

He added: "I think it's important for people to understand they are just going around on one of the smaller grains of sand on one of the spiral arms of this kind of puny galaxy ... it [Earth] is insignificant, but it's the only one we've got."

stars

Where to see the stars in the UK
It's the shortest day of the year on Sunday, but instead of being all down about it, look up. Dixe Wills finds 10 of the best stargazing spots


Twinkle, twinkle ... go stargazing to see the bight side of the longest night of the year.

There are two ways of looking at the Winter Solstice on Sunday 21 December. It's either the shortest day of the year, which is a bit depressing. Or it's the longest night which, if you've discovered the joys of stargazing, is a good excuse for a party.

This Sunday, sky watchers will have even more reason to rejoice
because next year is the International Year of Astronomy. In Britain, we're celebrating with events up and down the country – and Scotland will really be getting into the spirit of things by rolling out its first Dark Sky Discovery Sites – rural areas where big starry skies are guaranteed on clear nights.

Furthermore, as part of their Campaign for Dark Skies, the British Astronomical Association has produced a map of Britain showing the best locales for stargazing based on an absence of light pollution and the likelihood of getting a cloudless night.

With Venus shining brightly and the comet Lulin fizzing around the heavens, there can scarcely have been a better time to look up.

Here are five star events for the diary, and below, five locations that are consistently good for a gaze ...

the week in wildlife

December 12 2008: Mink go on the run in China, and newly arrived disease threatens trees in the UK: the pick of this week's images from the natural world


Harbin, China: A mink takes a stroll in the snow after escaping from a cage at a mink farm. China is the world's largest exporter of fur clothing. More than 90% of its fur garments are shipped to overseas markets, according to industry data


Mumbai, India: Children fish on the shores of the Arabian Sea


Oakland, US: Cormorants sun themselves on a breakwater at Lake Merritt, home to large populations of herons, egrets, geese and duck. It is the oldest wildlife refuge in North America


Singapore: American bullfrogs at the Jurong Frog Farm


Nuremberg, Germany: A Humboldt penguin (Spheniscus humboldti) dives in his pool at the zoo


Hanover, Germany: Hippopotamus Chimala peers out of the water in her enclosure


Stuttgart, Germany: Wilbaer looks out of his pool at Stuttfgart zoo. Wilbaer, who is the first polar bear born and reared in the zoo, had his first birthday on December 10. Next year, he is supposed to move to a zoo in Sweden


Glastonbury, UK: Sheep in a field as the winter sun rises over mist and frost in fields close to the town


Bhubaneswar, India: Dew drops condense on a spider's web on a cool morning


Gardens and heathlands across the UK are under threat from two new plant diseases. The newly arrived disease, Phytophthora ramorum, claims a magnolia in Trengwainton Garden, Cornwall. Unless action is taken against the two strains of Phytophthora, or sudden oak death, it could be in every garden within 20 years and have a severe impact on native plants and species in woodlands and heathland

first PC

Antikythera: A 2,000-year-old Greek computer comes back to life
Watch a working model of the ancient clockwork device that some call the world's first computer

小五生綠色地圖 全球環保賽奪亞
2008年12月10日

【明報專訊】濕地公園、聚星樓、屏山文物徑……元朗光明英來學校7名小五學生透過介紹元朗區著名景點，製作一幅推廣環保意識的「綠色地圖」，作品於全球環保大賽擊敗來自歐美等地的參加者，獲得全球第二名，贏得500英鎊(約5700港元)獎金。

介紹輕鐵沿線綠化點

隊 長黃程鋒帶領戴靖雯、甘佩霖、陳靖鈺、張偉名、楊明慧及張沛筠6名小隊友於年初花3個月時間共同炮製「綠色地圖」。黃程鋒說﹕「我們先分組到元朗和天水圍 實地考察各綠化地點，再從網上蒐集輕鐵地圖，然後在輕鐵沿線畫上濕地公園、元朗公園、天水圍公園等綠化地點的位置，方便市民搜尋。」

7名環保小先鋒期望將地圖數碼化，上載至互聯網，以便市民隨時下載。作品取得全球第二名，他們都表示十分驚訝︰「當初參賽純粹希望為區內居民介紹綠化地點和推廣環保，我們打算將全部獎金捐給學校，推廣環保。」

planet under pressure

The road to Copenhagen: the search for a global climate deal






land_clearance_sumatra

英國玩具熊土法遊太空

英國玩具熊土法遊太空
2008年12月6日

【明報專訊】繼中國實現太空漫步突破後，英國也傳出「成功進行首次太空漫步」並安然回航的喜訊！為英國「吐氣揚眉」的，是4隻玩具熊。

玩 具熊「太空人」穿著了由一群初中生設計、附有「米」字國旗的太空衣，在劍橋大學宇航學會的學生幫助下，周一在劍橋郡，靠探測天氣用的氦氣球帶覑升空。它們 兵分兩隊，均綁覑一個盒子，內藏深測儀器以及遙控相機，攝錄升空過程。通過手提電腦觀看它們傳回地面的畫面，可見小熊們一直飛到離地3萬米、大氣密度僅及 地面1％的太空邊陲。氦氣球爆破後，玩具熊身上的降落傘自動張開下，成功軟覑陸於計算範圍，全程為時2小時9分鐘。

儘管太空衣只是學生用金屬薄片和發泡膠製的作品，實驗卻證明了，穿了太空衣的小熊，能成功抵受到-53℃的低溫。事實上，探索宇航耐寒物料，正是今個實驗的目的之一。

協助實驗的21歲航空動力學學生哈勒姆說﹕「我們透過為小熊炮製太空衣，讓孩子循另類而令人興奮的法子學習物理，很有意思。」12歲羅賓斯說﹕「我高興見到小熊飛到太空，也喜歡設計和製作太空衣的過程。」

每日郵報

monkeys

New population of Tonkin snub-nosed monkeys found
Discovery of a new breeding colony in the north of Vietnam is good news for the future of the species, which has been pushed to the brink of extinction by habitat loss and the bushmeat and traditional medicine trades

雙星伴月

雙星伴月現蒼穹 (21:17)
2008年12月1日

洛陽夜空周出現「雙星伴月」天象奇觀，遠看猶如一張笑臉，其實是月亮和金星、木星同時出現在夜空。

據天文學家解釋，這是金星和木星圍繞在月亮周圍而形成的天文景象，只要天氣晴朗，全國各地乃至東半球大部分地區都可以觀賞到該天象奇觀。(新華社)

罕見天象 雙星伴月

2008-12-02

全國大部分地區的西南方天空(包括香港)，出現一幕「雙星伴月」奇景，金星、木星及新月，罕有地近距離接觸，排列成「︰）」，猶如一張哈哈笑笑臉（金星在左邊，較大及較亮；木星較暗，有如大細眼）。

本港天文愛好者聯群出動拍攝這罕見的天文現象。香港天文學會副會長彭栩怡表示，金星、木星與月亮互相輝映的天文現象，分別稱為「金星合月」或「木星合月」，每隔數年，兩種現象會同時出現，但要三者排列成笑臉圖案，「有如中六合彩」，非常罕有，視乎星體運行位置而定。

若錯過了笑臉，市民今日仍有機會一睹3星化身「二郎神」，因為今晚新月會移至上方，排列成「）︰」，有如額頭多了一條新月疤痕，只要身處空曠地點，便可看到這天象了。

雙星伴月：）
2008年12月2日

全國大部分地區的西南方天空，包括香港夜空，昨晚出現了一幕「雙星伴月」(又稱「雙星拱月」)的奇景，明亮的金星、木星及新月，罕有地近距離接觸，排列成三角形「︰)」，遠看猶如一張哈哈笑笑臉(金星在左邊，較大及較亮；木星較暗，有如大細眼，甚為趣致)。

香港天文學會副會長彭栩怡表示，金星、木星與月亮互相輝映的天文現象，分別稱為「金星合月」或「木星合月」，每隔數年，兩種現象會同時出現，但要三者排列成笑臉圖案，「有如中六合彩」，非常罕有，視乎星體運行位置而定。

(香港天文學會副會長彭栩怡提供、新華社)

Apollo 8 mission to the Moon

The mission that changed everything
Forty years ago the US launched its Apollo 8 mission to the Moon: the first human journey to another world. Its astronauts captured this astonishing photograph which revealed the fragility and isolation of our planet. It has become one of history's most influential images. This is the story of how a picture transformed our view of ourselves


Apollo 8 view of earthrise over the moon.