Mr. Bridenstine, a strong advocate for drawing private companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin more deeply into NASA’s exploration of space, had been rumored to be the leading candidate for the job, but months passed without an announcement. If confirmed by the Senate, Mr. Bridenstine, 42, would be the first elected official to hold that job.

With kind permission from Ann Druyan, the narration by Carl Sagan is now back in the film.
Also, the film is now available for DOWNLOAD for your private full quality viewing pleasure.

(30.8.2017)

(3.8.2017) New Horizons scientists look to answer that question as they sort through new data gathered on the distant Kuiper Belt object (KBO) 2014 MU69, which the spacecraft will fly past on Jan. 1, 2019. That flyby will be the most distant in the history of space exploration, a billion miles beyond Pluto.

Solar wind density (and, therefore, dynamic pressure), the strength of the interplanetary magnetic field, and solar irradiation, are all expected to reduce with distance from the Sun. Since these parameters impact the bow shock location in different ways, the team wanted to find out which is the dominant factor throughout the Martian year.

Their somewhat surprising discovery was that the bow shock‘s location is more sensitive to variations in the solar EUV output than to solar wind dynamic pressure variations.

Henrik Svensmark describes his climate change theory based on cloud experiments, cosmic rays, solar activity, and weather

Strong evidence that changes in the Earth‘s climate follow changes in the Sun‘s magnetic behaviour came from the Copenhagen scientists Eigil Friis-Christensen and Knud Lassen in 1991. In principle it might explain most of the warming in the 20th Century, but no one knew how the Sun could affect the climate so much.

One effect of solar changes is to vary the number of cosmic rays reaching the Earth from the Galaxy. In 1995 Henrik Svensmark, also in Copenhagen, began to wonder if the cosmic rays could affect cloud cover. When he compared satellite observations of clouds with the varying counts of cosmic rays from year to year, he found an amazing link. A stronger Sun and fewer cosmic rays meant fewer clouds and a warmer world. Friis-Christensen agreed with this explanation for the Sun‘s role.

(24.6.2003) Eine mögliche Erklärung für eine Beeinflussung des Erdklimas ist eine Veränderung des interplanetaren Magnetfeldes, das von der Sonne erzeugt wird. Je größer die Sonnenaktivität, desto effektiver wird die Erde durch eine Wechselwirkung dieses Magnetfeldes mit dem Erdmagnetfeld vor dem Einfall der kosmischen Strahlung abgeschirmt. Die Teilchen dieser Strahlung – so mutmaßen einige Forscher – dienen als Kondensationskeime für Wolken. Die Konsequenz: Je höher die Sonnenaktivität, desto weniger Wolken bilden sich und desto wärmer ist es auf der Erde.

(26.8.2011) Lang erwartete Ergebnisse des CLOUD-Experiments am CERN in Genf erscheinen in der jüngsten Ausgabe der Zeitschrift Nature (25. August). Der Generaldirektor des CERN erregte im vorigen Monat Kontroversen mit seinen Worten, dass der Bericht des CLOUD-Teams politisch korrekt über die Klimaänderung sein sollte (siehe den Link zu meinem früheren Beitrag vom 17. Juli unten). Die Absicht war, auf keinen Fall die dänische Häresie abzusegnen – Henry Svensmarks Hypothese, dass der größte Teil der globalen Erwärmung des 20. Jahrhunderts durch die Reduzierung kosmischer Strahlen infolge einer aktiveren Sonne erklärt werden kann, was zu weniger Bewölkung und damit höheren Temperaturen an der Erdoberfläche führt.

Wohl oder übel sprechen die Ergebnisse für sich, und es ist kein Wunder, dass der Generaldirektor unruhig geworden ist.

(24.8.2011) It sounds like a conspiracy theory: ‚cosmic rays‘ from deep space might be creating clouds in Earth‘s atmosphere and changing the climate. Yet an experiment at CERN, Europe‘s high-energy physics laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland, is finding tentative evidence for just that.

Geneva, 25 August 2011. In a paper published in the journal Nature today, the CLOUD1 experiment at CERN2has reported its first results. The CLOUD experiment has been designed to study the effect of cosmic rays on the formation of atmospheric aerosols – tiny liquid or solid particles suspended in the atmosphere – under controlled laboratory conditions.

(12.5.2011) Whenever you hear about CERN these days, it tends to be dominated by news about the Large Hadron Collider and its hunt for fundamental particles. But there are plenty of other experiments taking place at CERN, spanning a wide range of science.
One of them is the CLOUD experiment, designed to recreate processes in the atmosphere and their wider impact on Earth‘s climate. The Cosmics Leaving OUtdoor Droplets project is designed to investigate the possible influence of galactic cosmic rays on Earth‘s clouds and climate.

(7.10.2008) Die Ergebnisse zeigten, dass selbst kleine Veränderungen des Magnetfelds die Löslichkeit von Gasen im Wasser verändern. „Wenn das Magnetfeld schwächer war, löste sich 15 Prozent weniger Luft im Wasser als bei einem stärkeren Magnetfeld“, erläutert Winklhofer. „Für Kohlendioxid war der beobachtete Effekt sogar doppelt so stark.“

Die Naturwissenschaftler verwendeten in ihrem Versuch ein Magnetfeld von 50 Mikro-Tesla Feldstärke, welches dem normalen Erdmagnetfeld in unseren Breitengraden entspricht, und ein Magnetfeld von 20 Mikro- Tesla, um ein abgeschwächtes Feld zu simulieren. „Wir schließen aus den Ergebnissen, dass die Stärke des Magnetfelds den Gasaustausch zwischen Ozean und Atmosphäre beeinflusst“, sagt Winklhofer.

Die Erdmagnetosphäre entsteht durch Einwirkung
des Sonnenwindes (ein Strom elektrisch geladener
Teilchen, der ständig von der Sonne abströmt) auf das
Magnetfeld der Erde

(18.Januar 2014) „I‘ve been a solar physicist for 30 years, and I‘ve never seen anything quite like this,“ says Richard Harrison, head of space physics at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire.

(1.November 2013) The sun‘s activity is in free fall, according to a leading space physicist. But don‘t expect a little ice age. „Solar activity is declining very fast at the moment,“ Mike Lockwood, professor of space environmental physics at Reading University, UK, told New Scientist. „We estimate faster than at any time in the last 9300 years.“

Solar Cycle 24 is the 24th solar cycle since 1755, when extensive recording of solar sunspot activity began. It is the current solar cycle, and began in December 2008 with a smoothed minimum of 2.2 (SIDC formula). There was only minimal activity until early 2010. It reached its maximum in April 2014 with smoothed sunspot number only 116.4, the lowest in over a century.

(27.6.2017) Intense solar activity such as sunspots and solar flares subsides during solar minimum, but that doesn’t mean the sun becomes dull. Solar activity simply changes form.

(Juni 2005) The interplanetary medium controls the energy input into the Earth’s magnetosphere and the development of magnetic storms, in short: Space Weather. Numerously reported, but still poorly understood, correlations between solar activity and climate variations have recently been related to the flux of high-energy cosmic ray particles from space and the Sun.

No other single physical quantity can be used for such a variety of studies related to our planet. Highly accurate and frequent measurements of the magnetic field will provide new
insights into the Earth’s formation, dynamics and environment,
stretching all the way from the Earth’s core to the Sun.

Animation of the shadow created by the eclipse. The dot in the centre of the moving oval represents the path of totality.

„Because the patch of the shadow travels faster than the speed of sound, weather systems will only be affected very locally directly under the instantaneous footprint of the eclipse. The main effect is in the „radiant heating“ component which goes away suddenly at the moment of eclipse and produces a very fast temperature decrease,“ NASA said.

As Harvey’s rains unfolded, the intensity and scope of the disaster were so enormous that weather forecasters, first responders, the victims, everyone really, couldn’t believe their eyes. Now the data are bearing out what everyone suspected: This flood event is on an entirely different scale than what we’ve seen before in the United States.

THE STORM:

3 landfalls: Harvey made landfall not once but three times. First it hit Texas near Corpus Christi on Friday. It inched through Texas before eventually returning to the Gulf Coast. On Wednesday, it made a second and third landfall in western Louisiana.

56 years: The last time a storm was stronger when it made landfall in Texas was in 1961, when Hurricane Carla also made landfall as a Category 4. Hurricane Carla was one of the strongest storms of the 20th century and killed dozens of people.

Government officials say diverting water from bounteous rivers such as the Ganges, Godavari and Mahanadi to sparse waterways by building a clutch of dams and a network of canals is the only solution to floods and droughts.

But some experts say India would be better off investing in water conservation and better farm practices. Environmentalists and wildlife enthusiasts have also warned of ecological damage.

In Indien, Nepal und Bangladesch leiden Millionen Menschen unter den Überflutungen während des Monsuns. 1.500 Menschen starben, in Mumbai herrschte Chaos.

20 Tage vor dem kalendarischen Herbstbeginn hat der ÖAMTC am Samstag die erste Schneekettenpflicht gemeldet und zwar für die Silvretta- Hochalpenstraße in Vorarlberg. Dies sei für die Jahreszeit „doch recht ungewöhnlich“, wurde seitens des Autofahrerklubs angemerkt.