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A great white shark caught in the waters off Southern California is on display at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, where it can be viewed in person or via a live webcam. Marine scientists hope the new addition will inspire visitors to support ocean conservation.

Aquarium officials say the 4-foot, 7-inch male shark was transferred from Malibu to Monterey and placed in the aquarium’s Open Sea exhibit Wednesday night. They hope to keep it on display for the next several months. It’s the sixth time Monterey Bay has exhibited a young great white shark. All the previous sharks have been returned to the wild.

Aquarium officials say they caught this shark Aug. 18 in the waters near Marina del Rey. Before its transfer, the shark was kept in a holding pen in Malibu, where it was observed swimming comfortably and eating. Great white sharks are known for their size, with the largest adults measuring more than 20 feet long and weighing around 5,000 pounds. They are among the primary predators of marine mammals but also prey on fish and seabirds.

The aquarium says wild shark populations are in decline worldwide. Fishing and the slow reproduction of white sharks, in addition to threats from trophy hunters and others, have taken a toll. The creatures are protected in U.S. coastal waters, as well as in South Africa, Mexico, Australia and other countries.

Julie Packard, the aquarium’s executive director, said the exhibit of a female white shark in 2004 was extremely successful. She said more than 1 million people viewed the shark while it was in captivity. Surveys taken after their experience showed that people took away a deeper understanding of the dangers facing white sharks and the ocean in general.

Check the Webcam Aquarium Sharks

The Webcam sits on Kala Patthar, a mountain in the Himalayas, at an altitude of more than 18,000 feet. This vantage point gives it a clear and spectacular view of Everest’s western face when conditions are right.

With no electrical outlets handy way up there, the Webcam is solar-powered. It’s only active during daylight hours. Mobotix is the company that provided the type-M12 Webcam. It is designed to deal with some pretty tough weather conditions like blasting winds and below freezing temperatures.

The live Everest Webcam is part of the Everest Share 2011 research project that is gathering climate and environmental information on the famous peak. This Webcam is good news for armchair mountaineers.

A new camera on Mauna Kea is offering a new look at the weather over the island.

The Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope’s new high sensitivity “Cloud Camera” takes pictures of clouds and other weather at night, and it even works on moonless nights.

The pictures are in color, at a field of view comparable to a human eye and at an interval sufficient to see changes in the clouds.

The camera is facing east towards Hilo… those are the lights of Hilo city far below. The camera starts taking images just before sunset and stops just after sunrise.

Since Mauna Kea observatories are increasingly operated remotely, such a camera gives astronomers a chance to see what the weather is up to at and below the summit at night.

Since it is so dark at the summit, the camera uses long exposures and high sensitivity to illuminate the cloud cover using only starlight. Visit the new Cloud Cam on the CFHT website

http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/en/gallery/cloudcams/index.php?opts=still

Inside view : Webcam images are sent back more or less daily at roughly the same time of day. One webcam (daily image) is pointed north at the Arthur Clarke Mars Greenhouse located at the Haughton Mars Project Research Station on Devon island in the Canadian high arctic, in Nunavut close to the North Pole. This greenhouse was donated by SpaceRef Interactive, Inc. in 2002. Another webcam shows images from inside the greenhouse where plants are now growing: Webcam images and more webcams from Polar World

Anyone can watch live images from Mt. Everest from their computer.
 
Thanks to a webcam installed Sunday by the non-profit research association Ev-K2-CNR on top of Kala Patthar, at the height of 5,600 meters, high-resolution images are now available in real time of the best possible view of the highest mountain in the world.

The first webcam in the vicinity is installed only 11 kilometers from the mountain. It is active only during daylight hours.

The image is updated every few minutes, and even see the movements of clouds around the mountain can be seen.

The webcam was installed under the 2011 Share Everest expedition, sponsored by Ev-K2-CNR, as part of international climate and environmental monitoring Share.

Videos and photos of the installation of the webcam by connecting to the following link : Mt. Everest Webcam

Viewers of an owl webcam streaming real-time images from the nest of a family of eight barn owls are calling for intervention on behalf of the youngest chick, which appears to be rapidly declining. The webcam, set up by Starr Ranch Sanctuary ranch manager Peter DeSimone, shows the owl family’s daily life inside a large cavity in an old, 100-foot-tall eucalyptus tree. From the “egg watch,” in January, to the first chick hatching on Feb. 7 and Feb. 28 death of the seventh chick, the site – starrranch.org – has received 1.7 million page views and viewers have posted almost 7,000 comments since the beginning of the year. And snippets from the owl cam can be found all over YouTube.

Since Saturday, some viewers have been debating over the youngest chick’s struggle to survive. It appears the chick might not be receiving enough food because of the older, stronger siblings. Some viewers are calling for intervention by the Audubon Society, which runs the owl cam and the 4,000-acre ranch. E-mails have even been sent to the Audubon’s New York headquarters pleading for help. Viewers wonder why, if DeSimone can climb up and adjust the cameras for the webcam, he can’t scoop out chick No. 6.

DeSimone is optimistic. He describes No. 6 as small but having lots of energy. If he makes it another four to five days, DeSimone said that he has a good chance of getting to the next level of learning to fly and hunt for prey.

Last week the wildlife sanctuary, the owls and the webcam were featured on the KCET LA show “Visiting …” with Huell Howser. The show, which airs again on Thursday, gives viewers a look at what goes on at the 4,000-acre preserve owned by the National Audubon Society. It will also provide an inside look at how DeSimone set up the owl cam.

The countdown for space shuttle Discovery’s launch on the STS-133 mission to the International Space Station is under way. The count began on-time at 3 p.m. EST with the team at NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Control Center not working any significant issues. The weather forecast calls for an 80 percent chance of acceptable conditions at launch time.

Countdown clocks are ticking backward from the T-43 hour point. With seven holds built in, the countdown will lead to the scheduled launch of Discovery at 4:50 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 24.

During space shuttle Discovery’s final spaceflight, the STS-133 crew members will take important spare parts to the International Space Station along with the Express Logistics Carrier-4.

Steve Bowen replaced Tim Kopra as Mission Specialist 2 following a bicycle injury on Jan. 15 that prohibited Kopra from supporting the launch window. Bowen last flew on Atlantis in May 2010 as part of the STS-132 crew. Flying on the STS-133 mission will make Bowen the first astronaut ever to fly on consecutive missions. Space Shuttle Countdown