6.3 Earthquake Strikes Off the Coast of SoCal- 12/14/12

Image Courtesy of USGS

Around 2:36am on 12/14/12, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck off the coast of Baja California, 163 miles southwest of Avalon, CA on Catalina Island. The earthquake created a rolling motion throughout Southern California. This earthquake was significant in magnitude, but fortunately occurred far off the coast, and did not cause any significant shaking on land. The quake was centered in the Cortes Bank of the Pacific Ocean, where earthquakes seldom occur. 

The USGS states that: "...the area offshore and within 250km of this earthquake has not hosted any events greater than M6 over the past 40 years."

For more information regarding the earthquake visit: www.usgs.gov 

7.3 Earthquake Strikes Japan- 12/7/12

On December 7, 2012, at 6:18pm Japanese Time, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck 152 miles southeast of Kamaishi, Japan. Seismic Strength 5- was recorded in Aomori, Iwate, and Miyagi Prefectures. Luckily, the epicenter was so far from the coast, that the shaking strength was far weaker than if the epicenter was nearer to shore.

The Earthquake Early Warning System warned people in Tokyo, over 72 seconds in advance of strong shaking. This amount of warning is similar to that of a possible warning time to the city of Los Angeles in the event of a large earthquake on the San Andreas Fault. How would you respond to such a warning?

A video of the multiple online warning systems in Japan, as well as an webcam video of the earthquake can be seen above.

For more information go to: http://www.jma.go.jp/jma/indexe.html

The Transit of Venus- June 5, 2012 (Ok, Kind of Late)

Venus Over the Face of the Sun
(Image Property of Socal Earth Science Blog)

"Black Drop Effect"
(Image Property of Socal Earth Science Blog)

 On June 5 and 6th, 2012, people around the world gazed at the sun through telescopes and binoculars equipped with solar filters, and watched the planet Venus move across the face of the sun for the last time until 2117.

I took a few pictures through my telescope. The second picture shows the "black drop effect".

transitofvenus.org states that:

"The strange "black drop" effect was a conundrum that fouled the observations of dedicated observers.  At the moment when Venus should nearly touch the edge of the sun, the circular planet appears to elongate."

For more information go to: transitofvenus.org