Tennessee photo of the bright, fast “fireball” meteor that passed over Indiana last week (from WKRN). It wasn’t just any old meteor that buzzed the nation’s midsection at around 11:30 last Friday night. It was AMS Event 2132, one of 4,401 meteors and about 15 fireballs seen in September over the United States. Authorities say […]
Massive Fireball Streaks Midwestern Skies Read More 👉
The often times prolific, but somewhat unpredictable, Draconid meteor shower is almost here — next Monday, on the night of October 7, 2013, the Draconids are expected to reach their peak rate for the year, sometime around nightfall for those in mid and northern latitudes. October 8 should also be a good night to watch
Draconids Meteor Shower Peaks On October 7 2013 Read More 👉
In a major achievement for planetary scientists, a study of soil samples collected and analyzed by the Mars rover Curiosity has confirmed the presence of water in the Martian dirt. The study — one of five using the new Mars data and published today in the journal Science — shows that the Red Planet’s soil
A 'Wow Moment' For Planetary Science – Study Confirms Presence of Water In Mars Dirt Read More 👉
Asteroid 2013 RZ53 — a small asteroid from the Apollo family of near-Earth asteroids, a relative of the meteor that exploded over Russia earlier this year — passed within only about 148,000 miles of the Earth last night. The tiny asteroid — only three to ten feet across — made its closest approach to the
The Prawn Nebula — an enormous star-birthing nebula located in the constellation of Scorpius — has been beautifully captured in a new image taken by the VLT Survey Telescope at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile. The striking new image is very likely the sharpest image ever taken of the stellar nursery — depicting in great
Prawn Nebula — Sharpest Picture Ever Taken Of Enormous Star-Birthing Region Read More 👉
Owing to the fact that it is far easier for a chunk of Mars to travel to Earth than the other way around, it is likely that certain elements necessary to catalyze the formation of biological molecules (like RNA and DNA) came from our neighboring Red Planet. The vehicle for this interplanetary catalytic “seeding” was
Element Crucial For Life On Earth Probably Came From Mars, New Study Finds Read More 👉
This cartoon is in the current issue of Yes! Magazine. It’s a great issue about STUFF. Annie Leonard is the cover girl and Woody gets a little press for his tree-free paper company Step Forward Paper. I have 2 cartoons in this issue. I’ll share the other one next week…it may be my new favorite.
Earth Jealous of Moon Read More 👉
This past spring, the most detailed mapping of the early universe was released to the public. Certain anomalous features of this map have attracted the intense scrutiny of astrophysicist and cosmologists. In particular, there appears to be a massive “cold spot” in the data distribution whereas the current Inflationary Model of the universe says there
Cosmic 'Cold Spot' Challenges Inflation Model Of The Early Universe Read More 👉
The Perseid meteor shower peaks tonight — late night on August 12 2013 (early morning August 13 2013) the Perseids meteor shower will reach its peak for the year. So get out to see it if you can! This year the Perseids are expected to be quite the show, thanks to a number of synchronous
Perseid Meteor Shower 2013 Peaks Tonight — Perseids Peak August 12 2013 Read More 👉
The Perseids meteor shower will be reaching its peak this weekend/early next week. The exact peak will be on Monday August 12 2013, in the very early morning, but any night this weekend should offer spectacular shows. Reports are that there seem to be a lot of fireballs this year, so make sure you get
Perseids Meteor Shower Peaks On Monday August 12 2013 Read More 👉
The Sun’s magnetic field is about to flip. According to recent measurements gathered by NASA-supported observatories, the vast solar magnetic field is on the verge of making its regularly occurring reversal. The solar magnetic field reverses in polarity approximately every 11 years. “It looks like we’re no more than three to four months away from
Sun's Magnetic Field About To Flip (Video) Read More 👉
A ‘comet graveyard’ has been discovered in the main belt of asteroids located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, by researchers at the University of Anitoquia, Medellin, Colombia. Some of the objects found in this ‘asteroid belt’ are in fact comets which have become inactive — sometimes for millions of years — but have
Comet Graveyard Discovered By Researchers — Some Of Which Are Lazarus Comets Read More 👉
The Perseid meteor shower is here! While the peak won’t be until August 12 2013 — any night until then should offer a great show. And early reports are that there seem to be a lot of bright fireballs this year. 🙂 If you can make the time — I highly recommend that you watch
Perseid Meteor Shower Is Here — Perseids Going Strong, Will Peak On August 12 2013 Read More 👉
Saturn’s moons Mimas and Pandora are the subject of a beautiful new image taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. The photo was taken by Cassini’s narrow-angle camera on May 14, 2013. Seeing the two moons together in one image makes for an interesting sight, owing to their differences — Pandora is a relatively small moon (50
Saturn’s Moons Mimas And Pandora — Beautiful New Image From NASA’s Cassini Read More 👉
The Perseid meteor shower — consistently one of the best mentor showers of the year — is nearly here. While peak of the prolific Perseids won’t be until August 12 2013, the meteor shower will offer a good show throughout most of early August — and overlaps with the tail-end of the Delta Aquarids. Something
Perseids Meteor Shower Peaks August 12 2013 Read More 👉
NGC 524 — a very striking looking, old lenticular galaxy — is the subject of a beautiful new image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. The very interesting — and truly ancient — galaxy is located in the constellation of Pisces, and lies about 90 million light-years from the Earth. The image shows the shape
NGC 524 — Striking Old Lenticular Galaxy Subject Of New Image From Hubble Read More 👉
Comet ISON — the rapidly approaching ‘comet of the century’, as some have dubbed it — is the subject of a spectacular newly released image. In the image, the the icy comet is seen against a stellar backdrop which includes a number of stars and galaxies. The image, which was taken by the Hubble Space
Comet ISON — New Image Of Rapidly Approaching Comet Taken By Hubble Read More 👉
Celestial centaurs — the small sub-planetary bodies that are found orbiting the sun somewhere between Jupiter and Neptune — have remained something of a mystery since their discovery. What exactly are they? Asteroids? Comets? Well new research done using NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) may finally be providing an answer to those questions —
NASA's WISE Finds That Most Centaurs Are Comets Read More 👉
The Delta Aquarids Meteor Shower will be reaching its peak sometime in the early morning hours of July 29 2013 — the peak is a very gradual one for this mentor shower though, so the nights of July 27 – July 29 should all be of similar intensity. As always, the Delta Aquarids are a
Delta Aquarid Meteor Shower Peaks On July 29 2013 Read More 👉
NASA just released the raw imagery from the Cassini probe’s July 19th imaging session of the Earth, and the first unofficial versions of the images are now coming through thanks to the amateurs who have been working on processing them. The official versions are expected to be released by NASA within the next few days,
Earth From The Saturn System — NASA Releases New Image Of The Earth As Seen From Saturn Read More 👉
The Delta Aquarids Meteor Shower will peaking sometime around July 27 or July 28 2013 this year — the exact peak will be on the night of July 27/early morning of July 28, but the peak for the Delta Aquarids is a very gradual one, so anytime a few days before or after should be
Delta Aquarids Meteor Shower Peaks On Night Of July 27 2013, Morning Of July 28 2013 Read More 👉
A new moon was recently discovered orbiting Neptune by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope — which means that there are now 14 known moons orbiting the distant blue-green gas-giant. The new moon — S/2004 N 1 — is tiny, being no larger than 12 miles across, which makes it the smallest moon currently known of within
Neptune's New Moon — S/2004 N 1 — 14th Moon Of Neptune Discovered Read More 👉
The Perseid meteor shower — arguably the best meteor shower of the year — will be peaking this year on August 12 2013. While that’s still awhile off, the Perseids will start to become visible any day now — they just won’t reach their peak activity until around August 10 – 13 2013. The New
Perseids Meteor Shower 2013 — Perseid Meteor Shower Peaks August 12 2013 Read More 👉
HD 189733b — an exoplanet located about 63 light-years away — has now had its actual visible-light color deduced, thanks to new research done with NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. If seen directly the exoplanet would appear as a ‘deep blue dot’ — looking a lot like the way that the Earth appears from space. That’s
HD 189733b — Blue Exoplanet Where The Rain Is Made Of Molten Glass Read More 👉
NASA’s new robotic polar rover — GROVER — recently passed its first field test in a polar environment. The rover — commanded solely via satellite communications — successfully navigated the highest, most-extreme point in Greenland, dealing with wind gusts of over 30 mph and temperatures as low as -22 Fahrenheit. GROVER — an acronym for
NASA's New Robotic Polar Rover — GROVER — Passes First Polar Field Test Read More 👉
Strange short-duration bursts of radio waves — some seemingly originating from regions that are over 11 billion light years away — have been detected by researchers over the past couple of years, but their origins have remained somewhat unclear. But now, new research has begun to shed some light on these strange radio waves —
Gas-giant planets are far more likely to orbit very closely to their parent star than they are to orbit at distances farther away, according to new research made possible by the Gemini Observatory’s Planet-Finding Campaign. “It seems that gas-giant exoplanets are like clinging offspring,” says Michael Liu of the University of Hawaii’s Institute for Astronomy
Gas-Giant Exoplanets Generally Stay Close To Their Parent Stars, Research Finds Read More 👉
A solar flare and a coronal mass ejection (CME) both erupted from the Sun on the summer solstice — June 20, 2013, right around 11:24 pm. The CME was Earth-directed, but not of particular strength — a mild geomagnetic storm is expected. According to current NASA estimates, the CME left the Sun at speeds of
Solar Eruption On The Solstice — Solar Flare And Earth-Directed CME Released On June 20 Read More 👉
New insight into the growth processes of young stars has been gained as a result of a solar eruption that was caught on film by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory back in June of 2011. On June 7, 2011, the Sun erupted, blowing large masses of hot plasma out into space; some of this plasma then
Solar Eruption Sheds New Light On Growth Processes Of Young Stars Read More 👉
The Supermoon is almost here — on Saturday June 22 and Sunday June 23 2013 the Moon will appear larger in the night’s sky that at any other point until August 2014. The Super Moon will appear about 14% larger and 30% brighter than a more typical Full Moon does. The reason for the larger
Supermoon 2013 — Super Moon On June 22 And June 23, Saturday And Sunday Night Read More 👉
Did Mars have an oxygen-rich atmosphere 4 billion (4000 million) years ago? New research investigating the differences between rocks studied by NASA’s Spirit rover and Martian meteorites is suggesting just such a thing. The differences in composition between the two can be explained with the idea that Mars possessed an oxygen-rich atmosphere about 4 billion
Mars Had Oxygen-Rich Atmosphere 4 Billion Years Ago? New Research Provides Good Evidence Read More 👉
What does the Earth look like from deep space? From Saturn? On July 19th NASA’s Cassini spacecraft will be taking the first-ever natural-color image of the Earth as seen from the Saturn system. This will also be the first time that Cassini’s highest-resolution camera was used to photograph the Earth and the Moon. According to
NASA's Cassini Space Probe Will Take Photo Of The Earth As Seen From Saturn On July 19 Read More 👉
Looks like someone’s been having fun on Mars without telling anyone. Trails in slopes that seem suspiciously like sled tracks have been documented by research photographs. They weren’t made by little green men though. Blocks of dry ice are the suspects this time. These tracks are called linear gullies and you can see a much
Mars Has Sled-like Tracks In Slopes Read More 👉
On June 23 2013 the Moon will be closer to the Earth than at any other point in all of 2013. This Supermoon — as it’s known — will appear about 14% larger and 30% brighter than a typical Full Moon does. The Moon will be at its closest distance to the Earth at exactly
Supermoon 2013 Date And Time — Supermoon On June 23 2013 Read More 👉
An exoplanets in the process of formation? NASA’s Hubble Space Tlescope may have recently spotted just such a thing — an unexplained gap in an enormous protoplanetary disk of gas and dust rotating around the red dwarf star TW Hydrae. TW Hydrae is located about 176 light-years away in the constellation Hydra — the Sea
This is a really beautiful time-lapse video from Yosemite National Park (National Park Service page for Yosemite here). Check it out:
Yosemite Time-Lapse Video Is Amazing, Beautiful Read More 👉
The flare star WX UMa was recently observed releasing a solar flare (stellar flare) that was so powerful that the star itself became 15 times brighter in a matter of just a couple of minutes. The flare was observed by researchers at the University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain, and the Byurakan Observatory in
The biggest, brightest Moon of the year is almost here. On June 23, 2013, a Supermoon will be occurring. What that means is that the Moon will be closer to the Earth than at any other time during the year — in fact, the upcoming Super Moon will be the closest encounter between the Earth
Supermoon 2013 — Super Moon Occurring On June 23 2013 Read More 👉
Saturn’s moon Dione may possess a subsurface ocean, one which may have at one time been geologically active, new images obtained by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft suggest. The new images are of Dione’s rather strange 500-mile-long mountain — Janiculum Dorsa. After analysis by researchers on the Cassini science team, it’s been concluded that the images suggest
Saturn's Moon Dione May Possess Subsurface Ocean Read More 👉
Early on the morning of Tuesday June 11, 2013, a very rare meteor shower — the Gamma Delphinids — may occur. The long dormant meteor shower hasn’t been particularly active in quite some time, but this year the prediction is that it may put on an incredible show — rivaling the best meteor showers of
NASA’s Mars Rover Curiosity is now getting ready to begin its journey to Mount Sharp — the rover’s primary science destination on the Red Planet. The enormous Mount Sharp has been Curiosity’s eventual goal since the early planning stages of the Mars Science Laboratory mission. Before beginning the 5-mile journey to Mount Sharp, Curiosity has
NASA's Mars Rover Curiosity Gearing Up For Journey To Mount Sharp Read More 👉
Phosphorus — an element essential to life as we know it — is only present on the surface of the Earth as a result of being brought here by meteorites, according to new research. The finding doesn’t offer any answers with regards to the question of whether or not life originated on the Earth, or
A rare stellar alignment that will occur twice within the next couple of years is creating a ‘perfect’ opportunity for the search for exoplanets around one of our closest neighbors — the red dwarf Proxima Centauri. NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope will be perfectly situated to take advantage of the events and possibly discover Earth-sized exoplanets
Rare Stellar Alignments Will Create Perfect Opportunity For Exo-Planet Hunting Read More 👉
A rat on Mars? A picture taken by NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity, featuring what — according to some — is a “rat”, or possibly a lizard, is currently going viral. A discriminating eye will no doubt note that the rat on Mars looks a great deal like on a rock on the earth. You can
Rat On Mars — NASA's Mars Rover Curiosity Captures "Rat" In New Image Read More 👉
A beautiful new image of a relatively unknown, and unusual, starburst galaxy taken by the Hubble Space Telescope has just been released. The image shows galaxy J125013.50+073441.5, a glowing mass of material that is home to very high rates of star formation. The image clearly shows the regions of the starburst galaxy where the rates
Beautiful Star-Burst Galaxy Seen In New Image From Hubble Read More 👉
Comet ISON, also known as C/2012 S1, has been captured in recent images taken by the Gemini Observatory. This series of images depicts the brightening of the comet of the period of the past couple of months, as it continues racing towards the inner solar system. Comet ISON is predicted to likely put on quite
Comet ISON Captured In New Series Of Images Read More 👉
NASA is now gearing up for the launch of a new Sun-monitoring satellite that will greatly improve our observation abilities with regards to the Sun’s lower atmosphere — a region that plays an important role in the behavior of the Sun’s atmosphere. IRIS — the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph — is currently expected to launch
A species of bacteria capable of thriving at temperatures as low as -15ºC has just been discovered in the permafrost on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian high Arctic, by researchers from McGill University. The existence of the species — Planococcus halocryophilus OR1 — raises some interesting questions about the possibility of there being microbial life