Interstellar Cloud is a Giant Mothball!

Alex

Michael Duncan and colleagues from the University of Georgia made this shocking discovery: interstellar clouds are basically a giant mothball!

... researchers from the University of Georgia have just shown for the first time that one component of clouds emitting unusual infrared light know as the Unidentified Infrared Bands (UIRs) is a gaseous version of naphthalene, the chief component of mothballs back on Earth. The UIRs have been seen by astronomers for more than 30 years, but no one has ever identified what specific molecules cause these patterns.

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But what does it mean ... what is the napthalene for? Well, isn't it obvious? To ward off the Arachnids, of course!


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"Barkley Marathons?" What kind of wimpy name is that? If you want an exciting prison-themed athletic event, you can't beat the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon
http://www.escapefromalcatraztriathlon.com/

Swim the frigid shark-infested waters of San Francisco Bay, with deadly currents that can sweep you halfway to Japan!

If you make landfall, you then have to assault a random bicycle courier and steal his bike for the second event: a bicycle race through the deadly gauntlet of The Financial District!

Finally, running at top speed up the sisyphean hills of San Francisco!

Only the best and toughest will survive! Only the survivors can win!
(OK, I think I exaggerate a bit on some of the details)
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An interesting article by Matthew Everett over at Metro Pulse about the Barkley "fun run" Marathon:

The elevation gain over five loops is roughly equivalent to two times the height of Mount Everest. GPS isn’t allowed, and much of the unmarked course goes straight up the sides of the park’s many 3,000-foot peaks, through downed trees and patches of malicious sawbriers that rip runners’ arms and legs to shreds. The Barkley community has given unofficial names like Testicle Spectacle, Rat Jaw, Son of a Bitch Ditch, Meth Lab Hill, Big Hell, and the Bad Thing to the park’s geographic features.

“This is not a race, this is a colonoscopy gone wrong,” one runner said after finishing a single loop in 2010.
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