Smithsonian Science » Science Spotlight

Eighty percent of urban fledgling catbirds killed by predators

John Barrat — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:00:15 +0000

Scientists from the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center have found that fledgling catbirds living in the suburbs are extremely vulnerable. Almost 80 percent are killed by predators before they reach adulthood. Nearly half of the deaths are connected to domestic cats. The team studied catbird nests in 3 suburban neighborhoods in Maryland: Spring Park, Opal Daniels Park, and Bethesda. Learn more about this 2011 study by clicking here. (Catbird photo by Gerhard Hofmann)

Old Woman Meteorite

John Barrat — Wed, 09 May 2012 18:14:59 +0000

Roy Clarke, curator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, is shown in 1977 with the Old Woman Meteorite, the second largest meteorite ever discovered in the United States. It was found in March 1976 in the Mojave Desert some 167 miles east of Los Angeles, by two prospectors searching for a lost Spanish Conquistador gold mine rumored to be there. In September 1980, the Smithsonian sent most of the meteorite back to California to be placed on display at the Desert Discovery Center in Barstow. (Photo courtesy Smithsonian Institution Archives)

Mexico’s Popocatépetl volcano active again

John Barrat — Thu, 03 May 2012 19:24:02 +0000

According to the weekly report of the Smithsonian’s Global Volcanism Program, gas-and-ash plumes rose nearly one mile above the crater of Mexico’s Popocatépetl volcano from April 25 to 27. On April 28 incandescent fragments ejected from the crater and landed on the east flank of the volcano, traveling as far as one-half mile. On May Day, gas-and-steam plumes that occasionally contained low amounts of ash, again rose more than half-a-mile above Popocatépetl’s crater. The volcano’s Alert Level remained at Yellow Phase. This image shows Popocatépetl at night on May 3.

New image of the star-forming region 30 Doradus, also known as the Tarantula Nebula

John Barrat — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 16:35:02 +0000

To celebrate its 22nd anniversary in orbit, the Hubble Space Telescope has released a dramatic new image of the star-forming region 30 Doradus, also known as the Tarantula Nebula because its glowing filaments resemble spider legs. 30 Doradus is located in the neighboring galaxy called the Large Magellanic Cloud, and is one of the largest star-forming regions close to the Milky Way. Learn more at the Web site of the Chandra X-ray Observatory.

Shuttle “Discovery” transferred to Smithsonian by NASA

John Barrat — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 14:47:31 +0000

NASA transferred the space shuttle Discovery to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum during a ceremony on Thursday, April 19, at the museum’s Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va. The keynote address was given by astronaut John Glenn, who is the oldest member of a Discovery crew. Shown here: The start of Discovery’s maiden voyage, Aug. 30, 1984, 8:42 a.m. from the Kennedy Space Center. It’s spaceflight career spanned more than 26 years. (NASA photo)

Air and Space Museum receives historic IMAX cameras from NASA

John Barrat — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 14:06:57 +0000

Two IMAX cameras were recently donated to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum by NASA. From 1984 to 1998, the two-dimensional IMAX cameras traveled to space with NASA astronauts on 17 different space shuttle missions. A series of six giant-screen films were produced as a result of footage obtained on the missions, including “The Dream is Alive,” “Blue Planet,” and “Mission to Mir.” This 1983 photo shows the IMAX camera, before its first mission, STS 41-C.

Discovery ready to fly to Smithsonian’s Steven Udvar Hazy Center in Dulles, Va.

John Barrat — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 17:46:23 +0000

Between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. on Tuesday, April 17, the space shuttle Discovery will make its final flight over the Washington, D.C. area, resting atop a specially outfitted 747. Discovery will fly near a variety of landmarks such as the National Mall in Washington, D.C., Reagan National Airport, National Harbor and the Smithsonian’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. (Viewing vantage points.) Discovery will be formally transferred to the Smithsonian in a public ceremony at the Udvar-Hazy Center on April 19. The ceremony will kick off a four-day “Welcome Discovery” festival of space-related activities.(Credit: Photo by Kim Shiflett, NASA)

A restless volcano

John Barrat — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 16:55:33 +0000

Restless volcano. This Feb. 10 satellite radar image shows the summit of Alaska’s Cleveland Volcano and a new lava dome within the volcano’s summit crater (which is about 200 meters across). The weekly bulletin of the Smithsonian’s Global Volcanism Program reports elevated surface temperatures consistent with such a lava dome were detected in the crater with infrared satellite imagery on April 4. (Image courtesy AVO/USGS)

Robert Andrews Millikan portrait. Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology

John Barrat — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 15:29:53 +0000

Robert Andrews Millikan (1868-1953), American physicist and Nobel laureate. This image is one in a collection of thousands of portraits held in the Smithsonian Library’s Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology. The portraits come in a variety of formats: drawings, woodcuts, engravings, paintings and photographs, and are a supplement to the library’s large collection of written works by scientists, engineers, natural philosophers and inventors. More portraits from this collection can be viewed on the Smithsonian’s flickr page.

Chandra image of the core of the merging galaxy cluster Abell 520

John Barrat — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 13:40:30 +0000

This composite image from the Chandra X-ray Observatory (operated for NASA by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory) shows the distribution of dark matter, galaxies, and hot gas in the core of the merging galaxy cluster Abell 520, formed from a violent collision of massive galaxy clusters that is located about 2.4 billion light years from Earth. Data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory show the hot gas in the colliding clusters colored in green. (chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2012/a520/)