Churchill Science

After a month of delays, the space shuttle is on its way to the International Space Station. First there were technical problems, then weather delays, including lightning strikes on the launch pad. The shuttle is delivering a module for the station.

I love the description of Venus as “Earth’s evil twin”…

This video will make a LOT of sense if you’ve played Alien Safari! (see previous post)

When volcanoes erupt, there is a huge cloud of dust, gas, and sometimes ash. For a long time, scientists have known that there are lightning strikes inside these clouds, but needed to invent a way to screen out the cloud itself to get a picture of what was going on inside.

This image was taken by the Lightning Mapping Array, set up by scientists to take measurements inside the volcanic cloud at Mt. Redoubt in Alaska. The scientists set up their equipment when they heard that Mt. Redoubt was getting ready to erupt again, and waited two months until the eruptions began. Here’s yet another reason why it’s important to monitor volcanoes!