Super slow pulsar, rare white whale and an ice shelf cracking up

[Judi Lynn]

Super slow pulsar, rare white whale and an ice shelf cracking up
09 September 2016


Our selection of science shots from the past seven days, sifted out by Cosmos art director Robyn Adderly for your ocular pleasure.




Credit: NASA Earth Observatory / Jesse Allen; data: NASA / GSFC / JPL, MISR Team.

Ice shelf crack advancing

The return of sunlight on the Antarctic Peninsula in August meant the landscape became visible again in natural-colour satellite imagery. That’s when scientists saw something interesting: a rift along Larsen C – the continent’s fourth-largest ice shelf – has grown considerably longer.

This composite image is composed from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer on NASA’s Terra satellite. Rougher surfaces appear pink and smoother areas appear purple. The ice shelf is generally smoother than the sea ice, with the exception of the crack – an indication that it is actively growing.

Project MIDAS, a group in the UK tracking the rift, reported that the crack grew 22 kilometres over the past six months. It now stretches 130 kilometres.

More:
https://cosmosmagazine.com/space/super-slow-pulsar-rare-white-whale-and-an-ice-shelf-cracking-up

[complain jane]

1. Thanks for this.

Interesting stuff.