Trump orders all climate scientists to bend over and jam their heads under the sand

Well close enough.

Trump has ordered the US Environmental Protection Agency to remove all climate change information from its websites.

My mind boggles at how this is all going in the USA.

What next? NASA told to de-orbit all climate research satellites? Or perhaps they'll just have to recalibrate them to "alternative facts"?

Geek out with these space and science events in Canberra

There are plenty of events coming up for Canberra space and science fans, with an inevitable clash unfortunately:

• European Space Agency mission experts on the Rosetta Mission
• Nobel Laureate Professor Brian Schmidt on the future of science
• Peter Garrett on ecology and climate science
• Anna Frebel (MIT) on the search for our galaxy's oldest stars
• Badri Younes (NASA) on the interplanetary communications and navigation network.

All of these events are free. Descriptions and details below are as published by the various event organisers.

What I've been reading lately

Just an archival catch-up of recent The Beach House Weekly—my Paper.li auto summaries—of an interesting few weeks in science, space and Australian politics.

From rockets to meteorites, Roxon to Rudd, novas to Nobels, planet hunters to metric hunters.

25 March 2013
18 March 2013
11 March 2013
4 March 2013
25 February 2013
18 February 2013
11 February 2013
4 February 2013
28 January 2013
21 January 2013
14 January 2013
7 January 2013
31 December 2012
24 December 2012
17 December 2012
10 December 2012

Intriguing to look back through actually. Something in there for everyone.

Now and then, along comes a solar eruption that just leaves you in awe...

Since NASA placed telescopes in space tasked with observing our Sun, our eyes have been opened to what an amazing, tempestuous place it is.

Coronal mass ejections see millions of tons of material blasted out into space—the making of beautiful auroras around our polar regions if we're in the line of fire. Sometimes powerful magnetic field lines prevent the material from escaping, and draw it back into the Sun's surface—usually at a sunspot. They're so huge they would dwarf our entire planet, and they're magnificent.

But now and then, along comes an eruption that just leaves you in awe...

This huge explosion actually happened back in July 2012, but NASA's Goddard Spaceflight Centre only released the video this week. It covers 9.5 hours, sped up to 3.5 minutes of gorgeous, lingering golden rain...



I'll let NASA describe it: