January Night Sky Planetarium Show 7 p.m. Friday
View of the night sky and our Milky Way galaxy. Courtesy/PEEC
PEEC News:
Do you want to learn more about the stars and constellations of winter? Pajarito Environmental Education Center (PEEC) is holding a star show in the Los Alamos Nature Center Planetarium at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 8. Paul Ardent will give a tour of celestial objects easily viewed through binoculars. Discover a neighboring galaxy, planets, star clusters, nebulae, and double stars visible in our winter sky.
The January Night Sky planetarium show is $6 for adults and $4 for children. Tickets are available by calling or stopping Read More
NWS Issues Winter Storm Warning Through Friday
NWS NEWS:
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WARNING. THE THIRD AND COLDEST SYSTEM OF THE WEEK WILL BEGIN IMPACTING THE AREA TODAY AND WILL CONTINUE INTO FRIDAY EVENING.
SNOW WILL BEGIN FLYING ACROSS WESTERN NEW MEXICO THIS MORNING. SNOW WILL GRADUALLY SPREAD NORTH AND EAST ACROSS THE AREA TONIGHT. SIGNIFICANT SNOW AMOUNTS ARE LIKELY ACROSS MUCH OF THE HIGHER TERRAIN.
THE EVENT WILL GRADUALLY DIMINISH FROM WEST TO EAST FRIDAY … BUT MAY CONTINUE THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT ACROSS THE NORTHEAST DUE TO THE INTERACTION OF A BACKDOOR COLD FRONT AND AN EXITING UPPER LEVEL LOW.
FOR Read More
Arctic Islands Film And Presentation Part 1 At Nature Center 7 p.m. Today
Stephen Becker of Los Alamos aboard the National Geographic/Lindblad Explorer. Courtesy/PEEC
PEEC News:
Enjoy the beauty of the Arctic Islands, only recently opened to eco-tourism, from the comfort of the Los Alamos Nature Center, 2600 Canyon Road.
At 7 p.m., today in the Los Alamos Nature Center Planetarium, Stephen A. Becker will show a film and share stories from his three week National Geographic voyage to West Greenland and the North Canadian Islands. This is the first of two events revealing nature in this remote part of the globe.
Part 2 of this event is 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 9, in which Read More
Temporary Road and Area Closures Announced On Pecos/Las Vegas Ranger District
SFNF News:
SANTA FE – The Santa Fe National Forest has issued a temporary closure order for many roads and areas on the Pecos/Las Vegas Ranger District restricting the use of all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), two-wheel and four-wheel motorized vehicles. Snowmobiles are not prohibited by the order.
The closures have been implemented to protect natural resources and infrastructure, including wildlife, watershed and roads, and to ensure public health and safety during extreme soil moisture and heavy snowfall periods.
The closure order is in effect until April 9, 2016, unless it is rescinded Read More
Nature On Tap At UnQuarked Thursday Jan. 7
COMMUNITY News:
Nature On Tap begins at 5:30 p.m. this Thursday, Jan. 7 at UnQuarked Wine Room, 145 Central Park Square in downtown Los Alamos.
The speaker is Park Ranger Jorge Moldonado who will be discussing the National Park Service anniversary. The National Park Service and one of its jewels in New Mexico, Bandelier National Monument, will be celebrating their 100th anniversary in 2016.
Join ranger Jorge Maldonado for a discussion on what it means to celebrate 100 years of preservation, how this major occasion will be commemorated, and how you can participate.
Sponsored by the Read More
To Sustain Astronauts’ Mental Health, Dartmouth-Led Team Testing Virtual Reality Tech In Arctic Isolation
Professor Robert Stone DARTMOUTH News:
HANOVER, N.H. – Dartmouth physician and former astronaut Jay Buckey is leading a team of international investigators testing new virtual reality technology in the remote Arctic this winter.
Their goal is to see whether simulated natural beauty can relieve the psychological challenges of living in the isolated confines of deep space travel.
The test site is the Canadian Forces Station Alert (CFS Alert), the most northerly, permanently inhabited location in the world, only 817 kilometers from the geographic North Pole. The Read More
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, No Politics
A New Year’s Day light display in the sky above Los Alamos taken with an iPhone near Ashley Pond Park. Photo by Sean Reilly
A New Year’s Day light display in the sky above Los Alamos taken with an iPhone from a porch in White Rock. Photo by Douglas Reilly
A light display visible across Los Alamos taken by a LANL photographer using a fish-eye lens in 1988 from the roof of the old Administration Building. Courtesy/Douglas Reilly
Staff Report
Douglas Reilly explains that the sun with sun dogs are so-called because they follow (dog) the sun. Sean Reilly’s photo includes much of the circle that passes Read More
Top LANL Sci-Tech & Spy Stories 2015
Courtesy/FBI
VIDEO: Leonardo Mascheroni Of Los Alamos Offering Nuclear Weapons To Venezuela
In FBI undercover video and audio recordings, Pedro Leonardo Mascheroni of Los Alamos explains to undercover agent Jimenez that he had a “top of the top” clearance and that he held a security clearance from the Department of Defense and from the Department of Energy.
Mascheroni, 79, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Argentina, was recently sentenced to 60 months in prison for Atomic Energy Act and other violations relating to his communication of classified nuclear Read More
2015 Top Stories Of The Year
From left, Los Alamos County Council Chair Kristin Henderson, former Councilor Fran Berting, Los Alamos Historical Society Executive Director Heather McClenahan, Dr. Ben Neal, second from right, and at far right, Bandelier Superintendent Jason Lott join U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, and seated, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz at this morning’s signing ceremony, in Washington, D.C., to officially establish the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. Courtesy/NPS
MPNHP Field Team leader Arthur Knox wowed Read More
Sun Dogs Spotted Over White Rock Canyon
Spectacular sun dogs spotted this morning over White Rock Canyon. Photo by Bob DrakeUnusual Snow Bow Or Sun Dogs Spotted In Los Alamos
This unusual and amazing snow bow or sun dog was spotted early this morning from Woodland Road in Los Alamos. Sun dogs, mock suns or phantom suns, scientific name parhelia (singular parhelion), are an atmospheric phenomenon that consists of a pair of bright spots on either side on the Sun, often co-occurring with a luminous ring known as a 22° halo. Sun dogs are a member of a large family of halos, created by light interacting with ice crystals in the atmosphere. Sun dogs typically appear as two subtly colored patches of light to the left and right of the Sun, approximately 22° distant and at the same
Board Upholds LANL Clean Air Operating Permit
Kathy Sanchez, the environmental health and justice program manager of Tewa Woman United, an intertribal women’s collective in Northern New Mexico, testified recently on behalf of additional clean air measures at LANL. Courtesy photo
SANTA FE – Despite eloquent testimony by Kathy Sanchez, the great-granddaughter of world famous Pueblo de San Ildefonso pottery maker, Maria Antonia Martinez, the New Mexico Environmental Improvement Board denied a permit appeal in which she and others sought additional air quality monitoring in a Read More
WIPP Emergency Operations Center Deactivated
WIPP News:
CARLSBAD – The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Emergency Operations Center (EOC) has been deactivated after successfully coordinating resources to improve driving conditions so that employees can possibly return to work at the WIPP site Thursday, Dec. 31.
The Level 1 EOC activation, which began at approximately 9 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 29, was ordered to support the coordination of necessary resources needed to safely restore normal operations at WIPP due to the recent severe winter storm that dumped 15 inches of snow on the area.
Icy and snow packed road conditions made it difficult Read More
Governor Issues Executive Order To Help Ensure Supply Of Propane After Massive Snowstorm
Gov. Susana Martinez“We continue to coordinate storm response efforts through all state and local partners,” Martinez said. “This order will allow suppliers to move
Craig Martin: What PEEC Means To Me
Craig Martin
PEEC News:
My mentor told me I should always be connected to the place I live. PEEC understands that connecting who we are, where we are, and why we live in the place we do is so important to our basic happiness.
Our canyons, mesas, mountains, and skies are why I live here. I think many people feel the same–they love and understand that special connection to our landscape.
Donating to make the nature center building happen was amazing for me. I continue to give, because I know PEEC has the potential to do even more. Please join me. Read More
Udall Provision Requiring Report On Burn Pits Will Help Advance Care For Veterans Of Iraq And Afghanistan
U.S. Sen. Tom UdallI-40 Reopens In Stages Following Storm
NMDOT News:WIPP Emergency Operations Center Activated On Limited Basis
WIPP News:
CARLSBAD – At approximately, 9 a.m. today, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Emergency Operations Center (EOC) announced a Level 1 activation to support coordination of resources needed to safely restore normal operations at WIPP due to the recent severe snow storm in southeast New Mexico.
The icy and snow packed road conditions have made road conditions difficult for the workforce to commute to the WIPP site. Resources are being requested, both locally and from the state of New Mexico, to mobilize snow removal equipment to clear the north and south access roads and the Read More
NNSA’s Asset Management Program Completes Pilot
NNSA News:
- New initiative accelerates infrastructure repairs while increasing buying power
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announced completion of a $520,000 pilot to replace a roof, as well as heating, ventilation and cooling (HVAC) system for the Core Library and Data Center at Mercury, Nev. (https:////nevada.usgs.gov/mercury/).
The library was established as a repository for geologic, hydrologic, and geophysical data and materials collected in support of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) defense and environment programs at the Read More
U.S. Demonstrates Production Of Fuel For Missions To The Solar System And Beyond
DOE News: