It seems that foreground galactic dust could be responsible for all of the signal observed by the BICEP2 team.  Two more shoes are waiting to drop.  Results of cross correlation and comparison of Planck data and BICEP2 data in the region BICEP2 was able to observe, and Planck's own  data  on the B modes.  For now there is reason to doubt BICEP2.  This story is so full of twist that this could change. 

It seems that CERN and the American Physical Society APS have struck a deal to make every article published by CERN in certain APS journals  open access. 

The announcement I saw read this. 

Students at the City Colleges of Chicago may have to do without textbooks until as late as mid October.  While the students are as bright as any they need their books, for reference, and a sense of security.  They need reassurance that what they are about to write on their homework is right.   My lectures, OneNote notes, PowerPoints, and websites can only make up for so much.  This is the case across many courses, at all campuses, in our for college credit curriculum. Not just my courses but many others as well.

Tonight due to powerful X-class solar flares earlier this week we may get to see the Aurora Borealis at latitudes where it usually is not visible.    The Northern Lights are the result of charged particles from the Sun interacting with Earth's magnetic field.  They ride the lines of magnetic force towards the north and south pole and release light as their acceleration changes.   



This is one of the most beautiful sights in nature. A view of the Aurora Australis from the international space station.

The minor controversy over whether the 38 foot wide gouge near Managua Nicaragua is a impact crater leads me to the question, how easy is it to tell by sight alone if something is an impact crater or not?  So let's play crater or not crater. 

To find the answer click the pictures and there will be a link to a source which shows that one image is a impact crater or not impact crater.  That is in cases where it's uncontroversially clear. 

The first candidate. 
1


2. Now the second one. 

2014RC is a 60 foot (or about 20 meter) wide asteroid detected at the last possible minute.  This small asteroid will not hit Earth.  What about the ones like it that eventually will?   I ask that question because it is a certainty the last time Earth was hit by an asteroid of this size wasn't the last time forever. If it was going to hit there are three things we could do about it. 

Some facts about 2014RC