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Category Archives: Moon Colonization

Of Moths and Marsupials – bioGraphic

Posted: April 27, 2023 at 2:49 pm

The team aimed to create something the possums would like, but not lovemore gym protein bar than sweet treat, Parrott says. Trials with captive possums confirmed that the animals would eat the bikkies only if they couldnt get their bogong moths or other natural foods.

In November 2019, Parrotts team successfully tested their concoction in the wild among the struggling possums in the Victorian boulder fields, using a variety of different home-made feeders. But it wasnt until January 2020 that the bikkies really proved their worth. That month, Parrott got a call she would never forget. It was Linda Broome, and she didnt even say hello. Its gone, Broome said. Theres nothing left. Bushfires sweeping across vast areas of Australias southeast had hit northern Koscuisko National Park, near Cabramurra. The areas tinder-dry boulder fields were home to a thriving population of mountain pygmy possums that Broomes PhD student Hayley Bates had discovered in 2010.

Broome knew the possums had likely survived, deep in the damp crevices. But when she visited days after the conflagration, she found the still-smoking hillsides devoid of vegetation and insects for the animals to eat, and no water for them to drink. Please tell me your food and your feeder worked? Broome asked Parrott. It was one of the proudest moments of Parrotts life that she could say yesthat the prototypes had been successful, and that they were ready to deploy.

The Zoos Victoria team sent bags of bogong bikkie mix and prototypes of the feeders to Broome, and the volunteers got making and baking. Every week for the next two summers, the team delivered fresh bikkies and water to 60 feeders stationed across the burned boulder fields.

By the end of 2022, the animals were thriving without support. On one of the sites, almost every trap had possums, says Bates, now an ecologist at the University of New South Wales. Vegetation was returning only slowly, but other prey like bugs and beetles were already crawling around the boulders. The expensive, labor-intensive experiment had workedproving that in extreme situations, audacious interventions can stave off disaster for endangered species. Unfortunately, the need for them will only rise.

Bushfires are natural in Australia, but their frequency and intensity are predicted to increase as the climate warms. Alpine ecosystems in particular require a long time to recover, especially from consecutive burns. In 2003, for instance, bushfires burned right over the top of Mount Blue Cow. Twisting, skeletal forms still writhe among the bouldersthe bleached bones of mountain plum-pine, another favored food source for the possums. Broome transplanted seedlings to replace them, but two decades later, even though the recent fires spared Mount Blue Cow, theyre only just beginning to take.

Then theres the snowthe emblem of the high country, and the source of the water that feeds the fens and the streams. Snow depth and the number of snow days have been declining in Australia since the 1950s, and climate scientists warn that, by the end of the century, the Snowy Mountains may no longer live up to their name.

The outlook for the alpine zone as we know it is pretty bleak, says ecologist Lesley Hughes, an emeritus professor at Sydneys Macquarie University, IPCC report author and director of the Climate Council of Australia. Even before its gone completely, dwindling snow cover will disturb the possums winter rest. Thicker snow provides more insulation; without it, the animals nests get colder, which could wake them from hibernation before moths arrive or berries ripen, Broome says. Snow is also a barrier to predators, and warmer winters allow feral cats and foxes to range more freely and hunt possums more easily. In 2002, Broome began trapping and killing cats at Mount Blue Cow. She caught 30 that first winter.

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Teachers Rejoice! OpenAI Released Tool to Catch ChatGPT Writing

Posted: January 31, 2023 at 5:39 pm

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OpenAI has heard everyone's concerns, and it's finally working on detecting AI-generated writing.

Since its launch, the company's explosive AI chatbot, ChatGPT, has caused shockwaves in many industries due to its skilled writingand coding abilities. The bot has already accomplished several impressive feats, including passing the US Medical Licensing Exam, a Wharton MBA exam, and 4 law school courses.

However, ChatGPT has also caused handwringingamong teachers and other education professionals who say the bot will help students get better at cheating and plagiarism.

On Tuesday, the company launched a web-based program called "AI Text Classifier" to tackle that issue.

The program will flag pasted-in text with the following labels: "very unlikely," "unlikely," "unclear if it is," "possibly," or "likely" AI-generated.

OpenAI admits its tool isn't quite perfect yet: It requires a minimum of 1,000 characters to determine whether text is AI-generated and is prone to making errors.

"These tools will produce both false negatives, where they don't identify AI-generated content as such, and false positives, where they flag human-written content as AI-generated. Additionally, students may quickly learn how to evade detection by modifying some words or clauses in generated content," the company said in a blog post.

OpenAI did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

OpenAI isn't the first to attempt an antidote to the AI-writing conundrum. Plagiarism detector Turnitin told Insider they are working on a similar product to detect AI-generated text from ChatGPT, which a Turnitin executive called a "mad-lib machine."

A 22-year-old college student at Princeton University also released a program to detect AI writing earlier this month called GPTZero.

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Are You Smarter Than ChatGPT? OpenAI Tool Aims to Detect AI-Generated …

Posted: at 5:39 pm

To stop ChatGPT abuse, OpenAI has a new tool that can tell you whether a piece of text is more likely to have come from an AI program or a human.

OpenAI introduced the classifier tool(Opens in a new window) on Tuesday to help crack down on AI-generated text thats being passed off as coming from a human. The problem has become especially pronounced in education with students exploiting ChatGPT to complete homework assignments.

In a blog post(Opens in a new window), OpenAI also noted that AI-generated text could pose a threat when used to generate automated text for misinformation campaigns.

The classifier tool is pretty straightforward: Submit some text at least 1,000 characters in length, and OpenAI will tell you the likelihood that it came from an AI program or a human. The tool was created by training a computer model to discern between pairs of human-written text and AI-written text on the same topic.

(Credit: OpenAI)

However, the San Francisco lab admits the classifier is far from perfect. In our evaluations on a challenge set of English texts, our classifier correctly identifies 26% of AI-written text (true positives) as likely AI-written, while incorrectly labeling human-written text as AI-written 9% of the time (false positives), OpenAI wrote.

The classifiers reliability also drops when examining short snippets or a few paragraphs of text. So the tool will only work on submissions at over 1,000 characters in length. In addition, sometimes human-written text will be incorrectly but confidently labeled as AI-written by our classifier, OpenAI noted.

Additionally, students may quickly learn how to evade detection by modifying some words or clauses in generated content, the lab said.

Hence, OpenAI says the tool should not be used as a primary decision-making tool when it comes to determining whether a piece of text is AI-generated or not. But despite all the limitations, OpenAI decided to release the tool as it works on mitigations to prevent students from exploiting ChatGPT for cheating purposes.

Were making this classifier publicly available to get feedback(Opens in a new window) on whether imperfect tools like this one are useful, OpenAI added. Our work on the detection of AI-generated text will continue, and we hope to share improved methods in the future.

An example of an essay ChatGPT can write.(Credit: Open AI)

Launched in November, ChatGPT is so advanced that the AI program can write essays, poems, and answer test questions on a wide variety of topics within seconds. While the quality of the responses can be shaky, researchers have found that ChatGPT is smart enough to (barely) pass an MBA exam and even fix numerous bugs in computer code.

Inevitably, the emergence of ChatGPT has sparked questions over whether the same program threatens to undermine education and disrupt white-collar jobs. Already, some schools and teachers have decided to block the AI program on their networks over concerns that ChatGPT makes cheating on homework and tests all too easy. Meanwhile, some third parties have released their own free(Opens in a new window) tools(Opens in a new window) to help educators ferret out AI-generated text.

OpenAI said its trying to address the cheating problems by reaching out to teachers in the US to learn about their experiences.The lab has also published a document(Opens in a new window) with advice on how educators could introduce and oversee ChatGPT use in their classrooms safely.

But OpenAI also noted its still too early to say how programs like ChatGPT will affect education and society. To date we have seen instances of productivity improvements that transform jobs, job displacement, and job creation, but both the near and long term net effects are unclear, it said.

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What is Artificial Intelligence (AI) ? | IBM

Posted: at 5:39 pm

While a number of definitions of artificial intelligence (AI) have surfaced over the last few decades, John McCarthy offers the following definition in this 2004paper(PDF, 106 KB) (link resides outside IBM), " It is the science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs. It is related to the similar task of using computers to understand human intelligence, but AI does not have to confine itself to methods that are biologically observable."

However, decades before this definition, the birth of the artificial intelligence conversation was denoted by Alan Turing's seminal work, "Computing Machinery and Intelligence" (PDF, 89.8 KB) (link resides outside of IBM), which was published in 1950. In this paper, Turing, often referred to as the "father of computer science", asks the following question, "Can machines think?" From there, he offers a test, now famously known as the "Turing Test", where a human interrogator would try to distinguish between a computer and human text response. While this test has undergone much scrutiny since its publish, it remains an important part of the history of AI as well as an ongoing concept within philosophy as it utilizes ideas around linguistics.

Stuart Russell and Peter Norvig then proceeded to publish,Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach(link resides outside IBM), becoming one of the leading textbooks in the study of AI. In it, they delve into four potential goals or definitions of AI, which differentiates computer systems on the basis of rationality and thinking vs. acting:

Human approach:

Ideal approach:

Alan Turings definition would have fallen under the category of systems that act like humans.

At its simplest form, artificial intelligence is a field, which combines computer science and robust datasets, to enable problem-solving. It also encompasses sub-fields of machine learning and deep learning, which are frequently mentioned in conjunction with artificial intelligence. These disciplines are comprised of AI algorithms which seek to create expert systems which make predictions or classifications based on input data.

Today, a lot of hype still surrounds AI development, which is expected of any new emerging technology in the market. As noted inGartners hype cycle(link resides outside IBM), product innovations like, self-driving cars and personal assistants, follow a typical progression of innovation, from overenthusiasm through a period of disillusionment to an eventual understanding of the innovations relevance and role in a market or domain. As Lex Fridman noteshere(01:08:05) (link resides outside IBM) in his MIT lecture in 2019, we are at the peak of inflated expectations, approaching the trough of disillusionment.

As conversations emerge around the ethics of AI, we can begin to see the initial glimpses of the trough of disillusionment. To read more on where IBM stands within the conversation aroundAI ethics, read morehere.

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Overview | Earth’s Moon NASA Solar System Exploration

Posted: January 27, 2023 at 8:29 pm

Earth's Moon is the only place beyond Earth where humans have set foot.

The brightest and largest object in our night sky, the Moon makes Earth a more livable planet by moderating our home planet's wobble on its axis, leading to a relatively stable climate. It also causes tides, creating a rhythm that has guided humans for thousands of years. The Moon was likely formed after a Mars-sized body collided with Earth.

Earth's Moon is the fifth largest of the 200+ moons orbiting planets in our solar system.

Earth's only natural satellite is simply called "the Moon" because people didn't know other moons existed until Galileo Galilei discovered four moons orbiting Jupiter in 1610.

NASA currently has three robotic spacecraft exploring the Moon Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the twin ARTEMIS spacecraft (not to be confused with NASA's new Artemis program to send astronauts back to the Moon).

Explore Earth's Moon In Depth

1

If you set a single green pea next to a U.S. nickel, you'd have a pretty good idea of the size of the Moon compared to Earth.

2

The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It goes around the Earth at a distance of about 239,000 miles (385,000 kilometers).

3

The Earth and Moon are tidally locked. Their rotations are so in syncwe only see one side of the Moon. Humans didn't see the lunar far side until a Soviet spacecraft flew past in 1959.

Viewing Copernicus

4

The Moon has a solid, rocky surfacecratered and pitted from impacts by asteroids, meteorites, and comets.

5

The Moon has a very thin and tenuous atmosphere called an exosphere. It is not breathable.

8

More than 105robotic spacecraft have been launched to explore the Moon. It is the only celestial body beyond Earth so far visited by human beings.

9

The Moon's weak atmosphere and its lack of liquid water cannot support life as we know it.

10

Apollo astronauts brought back a total of 842 pounds (382 kilograms) of lunar rocks and soil to Earth. We are still studying them.

Apollo 11 Bootprint

The Moon was the first place beyond Earth humans tried to reach as the Space Age began in the late 1950s. More than 100 robotic explorers from more than half a dozen nations have since sent spacecraft to the Moon. Nine crewed missions have flown to the Moon and back.

The former Soviet Union logged the first successes with its Luna program, starting with Luna 1 in 1959. NASA followed with a series of robotic Ranger and Surveyor spacecraft that performed increasingly complex tasks that made it possible for the first human beings to walk on the Moon in 1969.

Twenty-four humans have traveled from the Earth to the Moon. Twelve walked on its surface. The last human visited the lunar surface in 1972.

"That's one small step for a man. One giant leap for mankind."

Now NASA is gearing up to set up a permanent lunar presence on the Moon. The Artemis program will send the first woman and the next man to the Moon and develop a sustainable human presence on the Moon and set the stage for further human exploration of Mars.

The program takes its name from the twin sister of Apollo and the goddess of the Moon in Greek mythology. Artemis 1, formerly Exploration Mission-1, is the first in a series of increasingly complex missions that will enable human exploration of the Moon and Mars.

More

During a lunar eclipse, Earth comes between the Sun and the Moon, blocking the sunlight from falling on the Moon. There are two kinds of lunar eclipses:

During some stages of a lunar eclipse, the Moon can appear reddish. This is because the only remaining sunlight reaching the Moon at that point is from around the edges of the Earth, as seen from the Moon's surface. From there, an observer during an eclipse would see all of Earth's sunrises and sunsets at once.

Our lunar neighbor has inspired stories since the first humans looked up at the sky and saw its gray, cratered surface. Some observers saw among the craters the shape of a person's face, so stories refer to a mysterious "man in the Moon." Hungrier observers compared the craters to cheese and dreamed of an entire sphere made of delicious dairy products.

The Moon made its film debut in a 1902 black and white silent French film called "Le Voyage Dans la Lune" ("A Trip to the Moon"). And a year before astronauts walked on the Moon, "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968) told the story of astronauts on an outpost on the Moon. Decades later, it is still widely regarded as one of the best science fiction movies ever made.

American astronauts have planted six American flags on the Moon. But that doesn't mean the United States has claimed it; in fact, an international law written in 1967 prevents any single nation from owning planets, stars, or any other natural objects in space.

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Moon Phases | Moon in Motion Moon: NASA Science

Posted: at 8:29 pm

Introduction

In our entire solar system, the only object that shines with its own light is the Sun. That light always beams onto Earth and Moon from the direction of the Sun, illuminating half of our planet in its orbit and reflecting off the surface of the Moon to create moonlight.

Like Earth, the Moon has a day side and a night side, which change as the Moon rotates. The Sun always illuminates half of the Moon while the other half remains dark, but how much we are able to see of that illuminated half changes as the Moon travels through its orbit.

Current Moon Phase

Lets take a look at the individual phases, and how the movements of the Moon and Sun appear to us as we watch from the Northern Hemisphere on Earth:

New Moon

This is the invisible phase of the Moon, with the illuminated side of the Moon facing the Sun and the night side facing Earth. In this phase, the Moon is in the same part of the sky as the Sun and rises and sets with the Sun. Not only is the illuminated side facing away from the Earth, its also up during the day! Remember, in this phase, the Moon doesnt usually pass directly between Earth and the Sun, due to the inclination of the Moons orbit. It only passes near the Sun from our perspective on Earth.

Waxing Crescent

This silver sliver of a Moon occurs when the illuminated half of the Moon faces mostly away from Earth, with only a tiny portion visible to us from our planet. It grows daily as the Moons orbit carries the Moons dayside farther into view. Every day, the Moon rises a little bit later.

First Quarter

The Moon is now a quarter of the way through its monthly journey and you see half of its illuminated side. People may casually call this a half moon, but remember, thats not really what youre witnessing in the sky. Youre seeing just a slice of the entire Moon half of the illuminated half. A first quarter moon rises around noon and sets around midnight. Its high in the sky in the evening and makes for excellent viewing.

Waxing Gibbous

Now most of the Moons dayside has come into view, and the Moon appears brighter in the sky.

Full Moon

This is as close as we come to seeing the Suns illumination of the entire day side of the Moon (so, technically, this would be the real half moon). The Moon is opposite the Sun, as viewed from Earth, revealing the Moons dayside. A full moon rises around sunset and sets around sunrise. The Moon will appear full for a couple of days before it moves into

Waning Gibbous

As the Moon begins its journey back toward the Sun, the opposite side of the Moon now reflects the Moons light. The lighted side appears to shrink, but the Moons orbit is simply carrying it out of view from our perspective. The Moon rises later and later each night.

Last Quarter

The Moon looks like its half illuminated from the perspective of Earth, but really youre seeing half of the half of the Moon thats illuminated by the Sun or a quarter. A last quarter moon, also known as a third quarter moon, rises around midnight and sets around noon.

Waning Crescent

The Moon is nearly back to the point in its orbit where its dayside directly faces the Sun, and all that we see from our perspective is a thin curve.

When we think of the way the Moon seems to change over the course of a month, we think of phases. But frequent Moon observers know that the Moon also appears to twist, nod, and roll slightly during its journey across the sky, allowing us to peek around the Moon's shoulder and catch glimpses of the farside. This phenomenon is called libration.

Because the Moon's orbit is not perfectly circular, its distance from Earth and its speed in orbit both change slightly throughout the month. The Moons rate of rotation around its own axis, though, always stays the same.

When the Moon is at its closest to Earth and moving most quickly along its orbital path, the Moon itself doesnt rotate quite fast enough to keep entirely the same side facing us, and we get to see a little more of the eastern side of the Moon. When the Moon is farthest from Earth and orbiting at its slowest, its rotation gets a little ahead, and we see a bit more of its western side. We call this motion libration in longitude.

The 5 degree tilt of the Moons orbit also causes it to appear to nod, as though it were saying yes. The tilt sometimes brings the Moon above Earths northern hemisphere, and sometimes below Earths southern hemisphere, allowing us to see slightly more of the northern or southern hemispheres of the Moon. We call this motion libration in latitude.

Finally, the Moon appears to tilt back and forth like a metronome. The tilt of the Moons orbit contributes to this, but its mostly due to the tilt of our Earth. Earth has a tilt of 23.5 degrees on its axis, which means that when we observe the Moon from Earth, its a little like were standing sideways on a ramp. If you look left, the ramp slopes up. If you look right, the ramp slopes down. In front of you, the horizon looks higher on the right and lower on the left. If you turn around, the horizon appears to tilt the opposite way.

The tilted ramp works the same as the tilted platform of the Earth beneath our feet. Every two weeks, we have to look in the opposite direction to see the Moon, and the ground beneath our feet is then tilted the opposite way as well.

Sometimes, when the Moon is in one of its crescent phases, we can still see the darkened area of the Moons nearside shining dimly. This effect is caused by the Suns light reflecting off Earths surface onto the face of the Moon. Because Earth at that point in its orbit is nearly full from the Moons perspective, the light it reflects, called earthshine, is bright enough to dimly illuminate the darkened surface.

Though the Moon is often thought of as a nighttime visitor, its also visible during the day as a faint, pale presence. The best times to see a daytime Moon are perhaps during the first and last quarter phases, when the Moon is high enough above the horizon and at about 90 degrees from the Sun in the sky. This helps make the Suns reflected light bright enough to see as it reflects off of the Moon. The Moon can be seen in the daylit sky at any phase except for the new moon, when its invisible to us, and full moon, when its below the horizon during the day. The crescent through quarter phases are high in the sky during the day, but the daytime gibbous phases can be glimpsed only just before the Sun sets.

Spend the next month getting to know the Moon and its phases by filling out your own observation journal.

Have you ever wondered when the next full moon will be? How about the first quarter moon? Put the dates and times for all the Moon's phases for the year at your fingertips by building your own Moon Phases Calendar and Calculator!

Moon phases can be hard to visualize. This simple activity uses a lamp, styrofoam ball and pencil to show how phases work.

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All About the Moon | NASA Space Place NASA Science for Kids

Posted: at 8:29 pm

Quick Facts:

Earth has just one moon a rocky, cratered place, roughly a quarter the size of Earth and an average of 238,855 miles away. The Moon can be seen with the naked eye most nights as it traces its 27-day orbit around our planet.

Explore the Moon! Click and drag to rotate the Moon. Scroll or pinch to zoom in and out. Credit: NASA Visualization Technology Applications and Development (VTAD)

This is the face of the Moon that we see from Earth. This image is based on data from NASAs Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University

Chances are that when you imagine the night sky, one of the first things that comes to mind is the Moon glowing in the darkness. The Moon has always held a special place in our imaginations and in daily life.

The Moon has inspired wonder and creativity for thousands of years. This image appeared in a 1902 French film called "Le Voyage dans la Lune" ("A Trip to the Moon").

Its no wonder that we are fascinated. The Moon is Earths only natural satellite and one that we can easily see most nights.

The Moon does not shine with its own light. It simply reflects light coming from the Sun.

From Earth, it might look like the Moon is changing shape each night from a tiny sliver to a half moon to a full moon and back again. Whats actually happening is that from our spot on Earth, we see different parts of the Moon lit up by the Sun as the Moon travels in its orbit.

As the Moon travels around Earth, different parts of it are lit up by the Sun. These changes in the Moon's appearance from our view on Earth are called moon phases. This graphic shows all eight moon phases we see as the Moon makes a complete orbit of Earth about every four weeks. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

No. The Moon rotates on its own axis at the same rate that it orbits around Earth. That means we always see the same side of the Moon from our position on Earth. The side we don't see gets just as much light, so a more accurate name for that part of the Moon is the "far side."

We only ever see one side of the Moon because as it orbits around Earth, it also rotates on its own axis at the same speed. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The "far side" of the Moon looks very different than the near side (see the first photo in this article). Notice how few dark areas the far side has. This image is based on data from NASAs Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft. Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University

Scientists believe that the Moon formed early in the solar systems history after Earth and an object about the size of Mars smashed into each other. The impact sent chunks of Earth and the impactor into space that were pulled together by gravity, creating the Moon.

Even thousands of years ago, humans drew pictures to track the changes of the Moon. Later, people used their observations of the Moon to create calendars.

Today, we study the Moon using telescopes and spacecraft. For example, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has been circling the Moon and sending back measurements since 2009.

The Moon is the only other planetary body that humans have visited. On July 20, 1969, NASA astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first people to set foot on the dusty surface of the Moon. Ten other American astronauts followed. They collected hundreds of pounds of lunar soil and rock samples, conducted experiments and installed equipment for follow-up measurements.

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin set up several scientific experiments while on the surface of the Moon during the historic Apollo 11 mission. You can see the lunar module, Eagle, in the background. Credit: NASA

Today, we know that the Moon is covered by craters as well as dust and debris from comets, asteroids and meteoroid impacts. We know that the Moons dark areas, called maria which is Latin for seas are not actually seas. Instead, they are craters that lava seeped into billions of years ago. We know that the Moon has almost no atmosphere and only about one-sixth of Earths gravity. We even know that there is quite a bit of frozen water tucked away in craters near the Moon's poles.

There is no wind or air on the Moon to help erase craters, so the surface is covered with the remains of old and new impacts. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA

There are still many questions left to answer about the Moon. And the most exciting days of lunar activity may still lie ahead as NASA sends humans on the next missions to the Moon and eventually on to Mars!

NASA Solar System Exploration

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January 21, 2023: Closest New Moon Since the Middle Ages

Posted: at 8:29 pm

This Saturdays New Moon will be the closest New Moon to Earth in a period of 1337 years.

The New Moon of January 2023 coincides with the point in the Moons orbit where it is closest to Earth.

timeanddate

According to our calculations, on January 21, 2023, the New Moon will be at its closest distance to Earth for the last 992 years.

The next time the New Moon is this close to Earth will be 345 years from now, making this the closest New Moon in 1337 years.

Moon phases visualizedwhere is the Moon?

The Moons orbit around Earth is not a perfect circle. Instead, it has an elliptical shape, like a slightly stretched circle. This means the distance between the Moon and Earth changes over the course of a month.

The point on the Moons orbit that is closest to Earth is called perigee; the farthest point is called apogee.

If perigee or apogee coincides with a New Moon or Full Moonwhen the Earth, Moon, and Sun are in alignmentthe Moons closest and farthest distances become more extreme.

This leads to the phenomena of Supermoons and Micromoons, where the Moon is particularly near or far away.

The most extreme Earth-Moon distances of all occur when Earth is near its closest point to the Sun, which is called perihelion. Currently, perihelion falls around the beginning of January.

We looked into the closest Earth-Moon distances at New Moon over a 2000-year period, and found three New Moons where the distance was less than 356,570 km (221,562 miles).

Our calculations used the best available figures for the Moons position over long periods of time. This is a set of data called DE431, which was produced by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology.

Sources: JPL Ephemeris DE431, timeanddate.com

It should be noted that, according to this data, there is only a few kilometers difference between these distances. It can also be seen that the three dates fall close to perihelion (around December and January).

As a comparison, the farthest Earth-Moon distance is typically around 405,000 km (252,000 miles).

So this will be the closest New Moonand also, therefore, the largestsince the 11th century.

In practical terms, we wont be able to see anything, because the New Moon is known as the invisible phase: its where the Moon disappears from view for a few days.

Supermoons and Micromoons do have a small effect on tides. And, of course, anything to do with the Moon has the potential to fill us with wonder and curiosity.

In fact, this will be a weekend of astronomical close encounters.

On Sunday, January 22, Venus will appear to pass within 0.34 of Saturn. This is less than the width of a little finger held at arms length.

Venus and Saturn appear as a single star in this view from our Night Sky Map for New York City at 17:30 (5:30 pm) local time on January 22. Saturn will be much fainter than bright Venus. This image also includes the super-thin crescent of a one-day-old Moon.

timeanddate

Find Venus and Saturn on our Night Sky Map

In a session at last years Europlanet Science Congress in Granada, Spain, timeanddate highlighted this event as one of seven notable close approaches of planets between now and 2040.

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Colonization of Europa – Wikipedia

Posted: January 4, 2023 at 6:51 am

Proposed concepts for the human colonization of Europa

Europa, the fourth-largest moon of Jupiter, is a subject in both science fiction and scientific speculation for future human colonization. Europa's geophysical features, including a possible subglacial water ocean, make it a possibility that human life could be sustained on or beneath the surface.

Europa as a target for human colonization has several benefits compared to other bodies in the outer Solar System, but is not without challenges.

On a flyby mission around Europa in 1979, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 took relatively detailed photographs of the moon's surface. They noted several important characteristics including dark streaks across the surface, or lineae, and an otherwise remarkably smooth icy crust. The lineae are believed to be the result of icy tectonic plates moving over a submerged ocean. Moreover, the smooth crust is believed to be the result of its recent formation.[1] Submerged water may have risen to cover the older, more damaged surface and smooth it over. These surface features indicate the existence of a subsurface ocean. Given water's importance to life on Earth, it is considered to be a possible indicator of life on other celestial bodies.

The high radiation on Europa's surface is one of the environmental challenges to colonization.[2] Europa receives 5.4 Sv (540 rem) of radiation per day,[3] which is approximately 1,800 times the average annual dose experienced by a human on Earth at sea level. Humans exposed to this level of radiation for one day would have greater than a 50% mortality rate within 30 days.

Another problem is that the surface temperature of Europa averages around 90K, or -183C.[4]

Furthermore, the low gravity of Europa may also present challenges to colonization efforts. The effects of low gravity on human health are still an active field of study, but can include symptoms such as impaired eyesight and a diminished sense of balance.[5] Negative health effects can also include muscle deterioration and bone loss. Galactic cosmic radiation along the journey is likely to lead to an increased chance of developing Alzheimer's Disease.[6][7] Astronauts in Earth's orbit have remained in microgravity for more than a year at a time and have had to develop countermeasures to address its negative effects. Experts have also hypothesized that children born and raised in low gravity would not be well adapted for life under the higher gravity of Earth.[8]

Moreover, experts have speculated that alien organisms may exist on Europa, possibly in the subsurface ocean under the moon's ice shell.[9][10] If true, this would mean human colonists may come into contact with harmful microbes.

An unstable surface could also represent a potential problem as it has been shown that Europa is geologically active. With an outer crust experts believe is made of constantly shifting plate tectonics, Europa's surface would make it difficult to maintain the structural integrity of any long-term infrastructure.[11]

The transportation of humans to Europa would be one of the primary challenges to colonization. Since Jupiter is on average 630.4 million kilometers away from Earth at a given time, it would take at least 3 years just to get into Europa's orbit plus additional time to land. In an effort to develop transportation methods to Mars and other planets, NASA has announced a program called NextSTEP that will merge the efforts of public and private industry to begin the research and architectural design necessary to create an Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLS) system.[12] The ECLS is currently being designed for Martian operations, will be called the Deep Space Transport (DST) and will allow for missions up to 2.75 years long. The transport vehicle to Europa will be similar to the DST and the International Space Station (ISS), but will also be different in several key aspects. Most importantly, the transport vehicle for Europa would need to be completely self-sufficient so that all the nutritional supplies are included at the onset of the flight, along with the ability to repair any systems that malfunction or break on the voyage. The vehicle would also need to be resistant to radiation because the levels of radiation on this trip would be significantly higher than on Earth. The shielding around the ship would have to be increased to prevent exposure to harmful radiation. While these considerations are prohibitively expensive and require development of current technologies, it is not impossible that a continuation of the DST would meet the requirements necessary to eventually complete this journey.

Like historic colonies that were established on Earth, Europa's economic development would be critical to its continual growth and success.[13] One such economic driver could be its relatively close proximity to Jupiter, the asteroid belt, and the periphery of the solar system. Earth is, on average, almost 500 million miles from Europa.[14] To alleviate the time and distance required to travel, Europa can serve as a midway colony between Earth and the aforementioned locations. "Intermediary" colonies have historic precedents. For example, Cape Town, South Africa, was established as a safe harbor for long voyages between Asia and Europe.[15]

Europa is hypothesized to have a large subsurface ocean. Water makes it possible to grow fruits, vegetables, and grains as it is an essential pillar to agriculture.[16] However, reddish-brown materials whose composition is not yet known, but that experts believe to be salt and sulfur compounds that have been mixed with ice and modified by radiation, litter Europa's surface and could make Europa's surface unsuitable for agriculture.[17] Manure and other fertilizers could be an inter-Europa commodity as it will most likely be essential to delivering the nutrients required for farming and industrial agriculture.[16]

The true breadth of ethical consequences that come from the colonization of Europa cannot be known until such a colony is fully established. The United Nations Outer Space Treaty, ratified in 1967, states that no country may take claim to space or celestial bodies like Europa.[18] It is unclear exactly how ownership over Europa colonial lands would be distributed and whether colonists will have private land ownership once a colony is established. More human centered ethical questions may arise from how extended periods in outer space will impact colonists. Migration on Earth is a well established phenomenon but it carries its own set of psychological impacts like a decrease in mental well-being due to having to adjust to a new environment, set of norms, distress, and separation from family.[19] NASA scientists predict that an altered state of gravity and radiation coupled with isolation and confinement have the potential to pose real psychological hardships on a person.[20] Such negative impacts on colonists will increase as they spend more time in space. Ethical arguments can be made as to why any entity should finance the colonization of Europa when the program has a high risk of failure and could be detrimental to the colonists' health and well-being.

The environment within a Europa colony will inevitably be altered. Colonists will most likely want to terraform the moon to make its surface and climate better suited for their colony.[21] Arguments can be made as to what right humans have, as extraterrestrial visitors, to alter the natural environment. Parallels can also be found between the negative impacts that unmonitored resource exploitation has had on Earth and the potential of such a catastrophe on Europa.

If life is found to exist on Europa, the difference in the environments of Earth and Europa would likely mean terraforming would have adverse effects on the natural inhabitants of the moon.[22] Ethical considerations regarding how to preserve natural life, whether it be primitive or in the form of microorganisms may be necessary.

Galileo Galilei first discovered Europa along with four of Jupiter's other satellites on 7 January 1610.[23] However, he only realized they were moons, rather than stars, on 15 January of that year.[24]

Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 were flyby missions to Jupiter in 1972 and 1973 respectively.[25]

Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 were NASA space probes launched in 1977. During a flyby mission in 1979, the Voyager probes took relatively precise photographs of the moon's surface.[1]

Europa Clipper is a NASA mission planned for launch in 2024.[1] After it is launched, the spacecraft will study Europa on flybys as it orbits Jupiter. The mission's goal is to determine whether there is a liquid water ocean submerged under Europa's icy surface. Furthermore, NASA hopes to determine whether that ocean provides suitable conditions for life.

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American Colonization Society | abolitionist organization

Posted: at 6:51 am

American Colonization Society, in full American Society for Colonizing the Free People of Color of the United States, American organization dedicated to transporting freeborn blacks and emancipated slaves to Africa. It was founded in 1816 by Robert Finley, a Presbyterian minister, and some of the countrys most influential men, including Francis Scott Key, Henry Clay, and Bushrod Washington (nephew of George Washington and the societys first president). Support for it came from local and state branches and from churches, and the federal government provided some initial funding. The membership was overwhelmingly whitewith some clergymen and abolitionists but also a large number of slave ownersand all generally agreed with the prevailing view of the time that free blacks could not be integrated into white America.

The societys program focused on purchasing and freeing slaves, paying their passage (and that of free blacks) to the west coast of Africa, and assisting them after their arrival there. In 1821, after a failed colonizing attempt the previous year and protracted negotiations with local chiefs, the society acquired the Cape Mesurado area, subsequently the site of Monrovia, Liberia. Some saw colonization as a humanitarian effort and a means of ending slavery, but many antislavery advocates came to oppose the society, believing that its true intent was to drain off the best of the free black population and preserve the institution of slavery. Reviled by extremists on both sides of the slavery debate and suffering from a shortage of money, the society declined after 1840. In 1847 Liberia, until then virtually an overseas branch of the society, declared its independence. Between 1821 and 1867 some 10,000 black Americans, along with several thousand Africans from interdicted slave ships, were resettled by the group, but its involvement with transport to Liberia ended after the American Civil War. The society focused on education and missionary activities until the early 20th century. It was dissolved in 1964.

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