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Science Stuff

Trivia

Where do ants go in the winter? Most of the world's 8,000 ant species live in hot climates, but those dwelling in cooler zones spend the winter in nests below or above ground, and their metabolism slows drastically. Where frosts are infrequent, ants typically build quarters above the dirt�as with weaver ants, which crash in "carton nests" of their own making. Residents of colder latitudes escape the freeze by cozying up in their often elaborate subterranean dens. Wood ants, for instance, like to stay near the surface by day�the entrance mound works as a solar collector�and descend below the frost line at night, as far as ten feet down. According to Joan M. Herbers, an ecology and biology professor at Ohio State University, there's only one known cold-climate ant that stays above ground: the two-millimeter acorn ant. Colonies of 30 to 100 of these tiny fellas huddle inside small acorns or hollow sticks, where they stay put throughout the winter�if they didn't, larger ants might come along and poach their crib. "Since possession is nine-tenths of the law," says Herbers, "they're able to keep their homes in the face of intense competition."

Pogonomyrmex maricopa, Arizona � Copyright � 2009 Alex Wild, All Rights Reserved. Mr. Wild is a biologist and photographer. Go to http://www.flickr.com/people/alex_wild for more of his incredible photographs.

What place on earth is the farthest from land? Like many escapists before you, the locale you seek is Point Nemo, a watery coordinate in the South Pacific so dubbed by Hrvoje Lukatela, of the Calgary, Alberta, software company Geodyssey Limited. To pinpoint Nemo (named for the headstrong captain in Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea), Lukatela input some ten million map points into the company's Hipparchus program and "found the one whose distance to the closest point on land is the maximum." That spot turns out to be 48"52'32" south, 123"23'33" west�or exactly 1,670 miles from each of three landfalls: Maher Island, off the coast of Antarctica; Ducie Island, 325 miles east of Pitcairn Island; and Motu Nui, right next door to Chile's Easter Island.

Hibernation

In the northern hemisphere, all caves in which bears hibernate open in which direction?
- North

Sunspots

Never Look At The Sun Without Proper Protection. For information on how to safely observe the sun, visit www.spaceweather.com/sunspots/doityourself.html.

'nuff said.

Friday, July 23, 2004

... I was sitting in my car this morning and the fog was burning off so I could see the sun and in the middle was a big black dot. So get something and go out today and see if you see it. You can't miss it. It's very noticeable. ...

Brad

... Haven't had time to check it out. I did have time to go onto SOHO web site. Check it out, if you can: http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/realtime-update.html. Provides real-time images of the sun and there are two huge sun spots.

I will try to see the sun spots [later when I make a pin telescope to protect my eyes].

Naked Eye Sunspot

An image of the Sun showing a sunspot with a passing airplane and its contrail. The Sun looks like a large orange ball. At the one o'clock position, an airplane lies on the edge of the Sun. The airplane's contrail slices the Sun into two pieces at the intersection of eleven o'clock and one o'clock. A sunspot, two black marks, lies slightly above the center of the Sun.

Sunspot 720 and a passing airplane. Photo credit: Jan Koeman of Kloetinge, the Netherlands.

Monday, January 17, 2005, 1:51:15 AM

January 16, 2005, Sunspot 10720 began as a speck that was barely visible in a telescope. The spot has grown so dramatically in the recent days that it's now visible to the naked eye using the proper protection.

Although condition were marginal due to the blurring effects of atmospheric turbulence, the editor took several experimental photos of the spot today. The best image is posted online at www.spacearchive.info/temp.htm.

Brian Webb
Ventura County, California
E-mail: kd6nrp@earthlink.net
Web Site: http://www.spacearchive.info

An image of the Sun showing a sunspot slightly above center. The Sun looks like a large pale orange ball. A sunspot, two black marks, lies slightly above the center of the Sun.

This un-enhanced solar image taken on 2005 January 16 22:26 UTC with an 8-inch SCT and Nikon D70 digital SLR.

More Information

Created: 23 Jun 2005 19:43:00 -0700
Changed: 15 Apr 2009 13:18:23 -0800

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