The Great Barrier Reef in Trouble?

The Australian coral reef is slowly disintegrating. There are only a few coral reefs left in the world and the Great Barrier Reef is one of the largest. The Great Barrier Reef is the most widely known coral reef in the world, but it might not exist in a of couple decades. If you think that the carbon dioxide in the air has nothing to do with this natural wonder eroding, think again. About half the carbon dioxide produced by humans is immersed by the oceans. Though this sounds like a great happening, its not. Because the Pacific Ocean is left to absorb so much carbon dioxide, the corals and other animal life in the ocean are not able to sustain the rising ocean temperatures. Furthermore, all the recent floods in Australia have had a major impact on the reef. All the freshwater that flooded into the ocean is affecting the coral reef greatly. In order for the reef to survive, it has to have a temperature and a surrounding according to its needs. Considering all the happenings, the coral reef is not meeting its needs and is becoming unhealthy by the minute. This natural phenomenon needs to be protected or one day we will wake up to find it go extinct.

I always thought of the Great Barrier Reef as the strongest of all natural wonders because it could survive all the major disturbances we, humans, are causing. I guess I was wrong. When I read this news, it depressed me greatly. Though I have never personally visited the Great Barrier Reef, it has always been my dream to visit Australia, especially the coral reef. Also, for this to happen, the coral reef has to exist. I would like to say that I'm positive that this beautiful natural wonder will be there when I go to visit, but I'm not sure anymore. As people, it is our duty to protect this delicate ecosystem from becoming damaged any further. To wrap it up, we should all do everything we are capable of to protect natures wonders, because when they go away, they are never coming back.

About the picture: As seen, all the color has left the organisms in the picture. This means that the organisms are most likely deceased.

The picture was retrieved from:
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbs_VQpNYxg4N9zsZi9_TNQVPGrtwZlADlbZlfu6wJ7pGXYONuGrAlghiu7AnPUroM_1YV5aqPvZ51d6i7PNaV1LhKa2MDG35lT5PEoYmYQ9fO6Mc2kFUkth8Sunqzrj_9M9IipRc8Nemf/

This information was retrieved from:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2044585,00.html

Kepler-10b

Scientists have recently confirmed the discovery of a rocky world similar to ours. This planet was discovered by Kepler, a space telescope and a NASA mission. Though the light from this planet was first seen in 2009, it wasn't confirmed as a real planet, orbiting a star, until recently. The Kepler telescope was especially designed to detect planets that are similar to ours and orbiting a star that coincides with the sun. Kepler-10b orbits the star Kepler-10, a star almost 3 times as old as our sun with a weak magnetic field. Though Kepler-10b seems as similar to Earth as a planet can get, it cannot sustain life. The planet is too close to its parent star to contain a tolerable temperature. Though it cannot encompass life, the star is one of the major breakthroughs in astronomy that marks our way to even greater discoveries.

The discovery of Kepler-10 and Kepler-10b is one of the most noteworthy discovery to me. It symbolizes that we can achieve anything and everything. It shows that our technology is growing and we can observe and study more and more of the miracles that lie in the dark vastness of our universe. Furthermore, I am really proud and excited by this discovery because if we were to travel outside our solar system one day, maybe we could proceed to this newly found planet and explore it. Though planet Earth is unique, maybe the founding of this planet means that there are more planets similar to Earth orbiting Kepler-10 or any other star. This planet marks a milestone in astronomy history and I hope that scientists continue to make amazing new discoveries.

The above picture was an artist's version of Kepler-10b.

The picture and the information were derived from the following source:

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/509304main_kepler_rocky_planet_full.jpg

All credit goes to NASA.