A few weeks back, I met Søren Ekelund. We were both invited to a Halloween party at the house of the first people who travelled around the globe in an electric car — a car that Søren himself had helped build. The car was a converted Nissan Qashqai and it had some trouble charging. After […]

The post What are you afraid of? The wrong things — according to Søren Ekelund appeared first on PlanetSave.

When you're the country's astronaut who has clocked the most days in space, such as NASA's Jeff Williams with his 534 days of space time, you still may not be a household name or a social media star, but when you bring home ultra high-def (UHD) footage of the Earth, the internet loves you.

The post Stunning Video By NASA Astronaut Jeff Williams Shares The Beauty Of Earth From Space appeared first on PlanetSave.

The past few years have seen a lot of speculation and debate about a possible ninth planet orbiting somewhere on the very out fringes of the solar system. Now, new research from the University of Arizona has provided some further support for the theory. The research also narrows the possibilities of where such a planet […]

The post New Research Supports Theory Of 9th Planet Orbiting On Fringes Of Solar System appeared first on PlanetSave.

Stephen Hawking, Mark Zuckerberg, and Yuri Milner must be overjoyed with the latest exciting discovery of an Earth-like planet in the Alpha Centauri solar system. Orbiting Proxima Centauri, one of three suns in Alpha Centauri, the newly discovered “Proxima b” is being hailed as the nearest Earth-like planet ever found. Luckily for Hawking and his […]

The post Nearest Earth-Like Planet “Only 20 Years Away” appeared first on PlanetSave.

First discovered by University of Hawaii’s Pan-STARRS 1 telescope on April 27, 2016, Earth’s new moon, or “mini moon” has been officially confirmed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Officially named “2016 HO3,” the newly discovered asteroid is dubbed a “mini moon” because it not only orbits the Sun–it orbits Earth, as well. Although NASA […]

The post Earth’s New “Mini Moon” Confirmed by NASA JPL appeared first on PlanetSave.

A beautiful new image of our home Galaxy, the Milky Way, was recently released to celebrate the conclusion of the APEX Telescope Large Area Survey of the Galaxy (ATLASGAL) — an effort to map the entire Galactic Plane, as seen from the Southern Hemisphere, at sub-millimeter wavelengths. That is to say, at wavelengths between infrared […]

The post Beautiful New Image Of Milky Way Released appeared first on PlanetSave.

The Orionids meteor shower will be reaching its peak this year on October 22, 2015, in the early morning hours — or, to put it another way, the meteor shower will be peaking late at night on October 21. The Orionids are usually best observed between the hours of around midnight and 4-5 am most […]

The post Orionids Meteor Shower Peaks On October 22, 2015 appeared first on PlanetSave.

The, usually quite beautiful, Draconids meteor shower is now nearly upon us. The peak of this year’s Draconid meteor shower will be on the night of October 8, 2015 — though the night of October 9, 2015, should also make for a good experience as well. For those unfamiliar with the Draconids, a couple of […]

The post Draconid Meteor Shower Peaking On Night/Evening Of October 8, 2015 appeared first on PlanetSave.

Stellar orbits within the Milky Way can change considerably over time, according to new research published in The Astrophysical Journal. The new work shows — via the use of map created via the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) — that roughly a third of the stars in the Milky Way have dramatically changed their orbits. […]

The post Stellar Orbits In Milky Way Change Dramatically, Research Finds appeared first on PlanetSave.

After an absence of roughly 2000 years the Star of Bethlehem may soon be making a return to our night skies on June 30, 2015 — to be more specific Venus and Jupiter will be making their tightest highly visible conjunction in nearly two millennia. The reference to the Star of Bethlehem is with regard […]

The post Star Of Bethlehem — Closest Highly Visible Conjunction Of Venus & Jupiter In 2000 Years On June 30, 2015 appeared first on PlanetSave.

Droughts, lengthy hot spells, heavy downpours, floods, and other extreme weather events are occurring more frequently and intensely every year. Around the world, research teams are analyzing these trends, noting the changes in temperature, rainfall, ice mass, sea level, and many other variables recorded by weather measuring devices. The trends are undeniable: the Earth is […]

The post What Causes Global Warming? appeared first on PlanetSave.

Those with the bent of an inventor will probably like this one — NASA’s new “Journey to Mars Challenge” will be awarding up to $15,000 (from a total prize pot of $15,000) to contest entrants who come up with, and describe in great detail, one or more “Mars surface systems/capabilities and operations” necessary for the […]

The post NASA’s Journey To Mars Challenge — Awards Of Up To $15,000 On Offer For Solutions To The Establishment Of Continuous Human Presence On Mars appeared first on PlanetSave.

The Lyrids meteor shower will be reaching its peak tonight on April 22, 2015 (technically during the early morning hours of April 23, 2015). Considering that the Lyrid meteor shower is consistently one of the best of the year… Make you sure that you get out there tonight! Regardless of the exact time that you […]

The post Meteor Shower Tonight — Lyrids Peak Tonight, April 22 2015 appeared first on PlanetSave.

The Lyrids meteor shower will be reaching its peak this year on the night of April 22, 2015 (early morning hours of April 23, 2015). In other words — the peak is almost here. 🙂 Given that the Lyrids are consistently one of the best and most reliable meteor showers of the year, the upcoming […]

The post Lyrids Meteor Shower Peaks Wednesday April 22, 2015 (Early Morning April 23, 2015) appeared first on PlanetSave.

One of the most beloved meteor showers of the year, the Lyrids, is nearly here — with general activity going from around the night of April 16th through the night of April 25th. The Lyrid meteor shower will hit its peak, though, late on the night of April 22, 2015 (the early morning hours of […]

The post Lyrid Meteor Shower Peaks Night Of April 22, 2015 — Lyrids Peak Early Morning April 23, 2015 appeared first on PlanetSave.

A solar eclipse will be visible tomorrow morning — the morning of March 20, 2015 — to those in Europe, North Africa, West Asia, and eastern Greenland. While totality will ‘only’ be visible from the Faroe Islands and the island of Svalbard (north of mainland Norway), the show will still be quite good for everyone […]

The post Solar Eclipse Tomorrow Morning, March 20, 2015 appeared first on PlanetSave.

One of the best solar eclipses of recent years for Europe — and the best in the UK in 16 years — is set to occur on Friday, March 20, 2015. While totality will only be visible from Svalbard, Norway, and the Faroe Islands, the rest of Europe (as well as North Africa, Greenland, and […]

The post Solar Eclipse On Friday — March 20, 2015 Eclipse Best In Years For Europe appeared first on PlanetSave.

The first X-class solar flare in quite some time — and the first of year — was released from the Sun on March 11, 2015. The giant solar flare was actually directed exactly at the Earth, and is known to have caused an hour-long high-frequency radio communications blackout in many areas — according to researchers […]

The post X-Class Solar Flare Released From The Sun On Wednesday March 11 — Caused Hour-Long Radio Blackout appeared first on PlanetSave.

A total solar eclipse will be taking place on the morning of March 20, 2015 — with totality being visible only from the Faroe Islands and the island of Svalbard, Norway. That said, an excellent show is still in store for those in the UK, most of Europe, Greenland, northern Africa, Western Asia, and Newfoundland […]

The post Solar Eclipse On March 20, 2015 — Deepest Eclipse In UK In Last 16 Years appeared first on PlanetSave.

The Dance of the Planets is here yet again, with a conjunction of the planets Venus, Mars, Uranus, and the crescent Moon, all visible together tonight in the evening sky. Venus and the Moon will of course be the brightest of these, but the reddish body of Mars should be fairly visible as well, of […]

The post Dance Of The Planets Friday February 20, 2015 — Venus, Mars, Uranus, & The Moon Conjunct Tonight appeared first on PlanetSave.

Most every one has heard of SETI — the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence — and most also know that, so far, the scientists that operate the powerful telescopes and computers that analyze potential signals from civilizations beyond Earth have come up empty-handed — with the possible exception of the so-called ‘Wow! signal’ (detected only once, […]

The post Beyond SETI – Time to Start Calling The Cosmos? appeared first on PlanetSave.

The various Centaurid meteor showers (Alpha, Beta, Theta) will begin reaching their peak over the next few nights. The night of February 8, 2015, was actually when the peak for the Alpha Centaurids was reached, but the peak for the Beta Centaurids and the Theta Centaurids is now nearly here. It should be noted up […]

The post Centaurids Meteor Showers (Alpha + Beta + Theta) Peaking Februrary 8, 2015 – February 10, 2015 appeared first on PlanetSave.

An incredible tug-of-war between the two stars in the binary pulsar system J1906 actually warps space-time itself owing to the powerful effects of each on the other. Owing to its spin, the pulsar emits a sort-of lighthouse-like beam of radio-waves roughly every 144 milliseconds. New research from the University of British Columbia has now resulted […]

The post Pulsar Tug-Of-War Warps Space-Time Itself, Research Finds appeared first on PlanetSave.

Comet LoveJoy — officially known as C/2014 Q2 — will be reaching its closest approach to the Earth tonight (~43.5 million miles), as well as its brightest-appearance as seen from the Earth. The comet is expected to reach a peak of about ~4.5 magnitude tonight — which means that it will be fairly visible (even […]

The post Comet LoveJoy (C/2014 Q2) Peaking Tonight Wednesday January 7, 2015 — Will Remain Visible January 8 Through 15 appeared first on PlanetSave.

The iconic Pillars of Creation recently had their portrait retaken by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope in high-def as part of the telescope’s 25th anniversary celebration. The new image — showing the trio of giant columns of gas illuminated by the light of massive stars next to the Eagle Nebula (M16) in def — is as […]

The post Pillars Of Creation — NASA Takes New High-Def Image Of Iconic Columns Of Gas appeared first on PlanetSave.

The recently discovered Comet LoveJoy will be peaking in brightness sometime after January 7, 2015 (when it makes its closest approach to the earth), and before January 20, according to recent reports. The comet is actually already visible to the naked eye when observed from most dark rural locations late at night (if you’ve got […]

The post Comet LoveJoy Peak Begins January 7, 2015 — C/2014 Q2 Now Visible With Naked Eye appeared first on PlanetSave.

Here’s a really interesting interview with the head of Tesla Motors, SolarCity, and SpaceX — Elon Musk. This is perhaps the most interesting interview I’ve seen with him, as it runs through life stories from age 6 to today. For some reason, it took me ages to get to this, and it is actually from 2013, but […]

The post Best Elon Musk Interview Yet? appeared first on PlanetSave.

Coming up on New Year’s Eve, earthlings tend to celebrate milestones of the year passed, as well as look expectantly toward the future. Here, Planetsave brings you some of the best space coverage of 2014 in various media. The overall winner has to be the six-minute ultra-high definition timelapse video, with custom soundtrack, compiled by […]

The post 2014 And Countless New Years In Space (ISS, Mars, Venus VIDEOS) appeared first on PlanetSave.

It’s only taken ten years and four billion miles. The European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft, a two-part probe with orbiter and lander, arrived at comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on August 6 after the long trip. [UPDATE 10:50 CST: Philae’s on the ground!] Despite a faulty thruster, Rosetta successfully launched Philae, the 220-pound lander, from orbit several hours ago. […]

The post We Expect To Land On A Comet Today… [UPDATE: Done.] appeared first on PlanetSave.

This year, nature brings us a special pre-Halloween treat: a blood moon. In the US and Canada, lift your eyes skyward in the early hours tomorrow morning for the second total lunar eclipse of 2014. The Moon veiled slowly red and back the first time this year in April. Just over 5% larger than that phenomenon, Wednesday […]

The post Blood Moon Wednesday AM Preps Earth for Halloween appeared first on PlanetSave.

A rather strange-looking “feature” was recently observed forming, and changing, in the hydrocarbon seas of Saturn’s moon Titan by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. The interesting feature covers an area of over 100 square miles (260 square kilometers) in Ligeia Mare — one of the biggest seas on Titan. Cassini has now observed the feature twice, with […]

The post Cassini Observes Strange Feature In Hydrocarbon Seas On Saturn’s Moon Titan appeared first on PlanetSave.

Time to look up again tonight (Tuesday, September 9) for the last of five Supermoons this year! This one won’t be as spectacular as the August 10 recordbreaker, but it offers a terrific spectacle. The moon will not be as close to Earth as this until the full moon of September 28, 2015. The September […]

The post Last 2014 Supermoon Tonight! appeared first on PlanetSave.

Would you like to chase satellites, print out custom sky charts whenever you wish, and locate real-time iridium flares without a telescope or binoculars? Heavens Above has just the features you’re looking for. It’s dedicated to helping people observe and track, with only the naked eye, satellites orbiting Earth. Chris Peat, a physicist and space-industry […]

The post You Don’t Need A Telescope To Follow A Satellite (VIDEO) appeared first on PlanetSave.

The highly prolific Perseids meteor shower will be reaching its for peak for the year tonight, on August 12 2014 (early morning hours of August 13 2014). Peak activity is expected to be somewhere around 100 meteors an hour when seen from a dark rural location — so when you factor in the very bright […]

The post Perseids Meteor Shower Peaks Tonight, On August 12 2014 appeared first on PlanetSave.

If you haven’t seen the origami robot yet, you’re in for a fantastic surprise! Evoking the potential of an ancient and wonderful Japanese art, these crawling robots can self-assemble from flat-pack designs and autonomously perform. Inspired by self-assembly in nature—such as the way complex proteins with sophisticated functions derive from folding linear sequences of amino […]

The post “Origami Robots” Self-Construct And Start Working appeared first on PlanetSave.

When we think of a supernova, we usually think of a massive explosion that wipes out the entire white dwarf star (dying stellar body). However, thanks to a collaboration of research scientists from leading American astronomers and astrophysicists and the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, we now know that isn’t always the case. In […]

The post NASA-ESA’s Hubble Finds Zombie Star appeared first on PlanetSave.

The closest full moon of 2014 occurs this week, on Sunday, August 10, at 2:11 p.m. EDT. It’s the fourth and biggest of 2014’s five rogue Supermoon events. We’ll be able to see the Moon reach its perigree, when it draws closer to the Earth than at any other time during 2014. As we noted […]

The post Largest Supermoon Of The Year Comes On Sunday, August 10 appeared first on PlanetSave.

Two meteor showers come out of the constellation Aquarius (the Water Bearer), nearest the dim star Delta Aquarii, this time of year: the southern and northern Delta Aquarids. The peak for the southern Delta Aquarids, which are starting Monday and Tuesday, is very gradual, so anytime this week should provide good viewing. The Southern Hemisphere […]

The post Double Feature: Delta Aquarids And Some Perseids Overhead This Week appeared first on PlanetSave.

PlanetSave would be remiss if we didn’t say something today to recognize that 45 years ago humans first set foot on another celestial body. Launched on an expendable multistage liquid-fueled Saturn V rocket on July 16th, 1969, Apollo 11 crew left Earth for the first human mission to land on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot […]

The post Happy 45th Anniversary: Humans Land On The Moon appeared first on PlanetSave.

Look up this weekend, just as we advised you to for the blood moon and total lunar eclipse in April!  A “Supermoon,” one of the largest moons of the year, will come visiting. Both Friday and Saturday nights should provide good viewing, though the phenomenon actually occurs at 7:25 am EDT Saturday. This July moon is […]

The post Three Summer Supermoons Of 2014 Start Saturday (video) appeared first on PlanetSave.

OCO-2 is only a little thing, about 6 ft long, 3 ft in diameter, and less than half a ton in weight (NASA/JPL-Caltech, artist’s conception).  It will be harder to deny the existence of climate change now that NASA has successfully launched Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2.  A United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket from Vandenberg Air […]

The post OCO-2 Set To Outfox Climate Change Denial appeared first on PlanetSave.

Extraterrestrial life—life that does not originate from Earth—has been a subject of speculation since Copernicus theorized that Earth is not unique in the Universe. Intelligent life in the cosmos is actually a great explanation for the Pyramids, Stonehenge, and a lot of other peculiar structures in the world. (Crop circles, however, remain a mystery to […]

The post Seeking Proof Of Intelligent Life In The Universe? (cartoon and essay) appeared first on PlanetSave.

You may have heard that the days of our home galaxy, the Milky Way, are numbered. The Milky Way is one of the dominant galaxies of a cluster known as the Local Group. The other major player in the group is the Andromeda nebula (M31). And according to recent measurements by the Hubble Space Telescope, […]

The post Fast Forward To A Gobbled-Up Milky Way appeared first on PlanetSave.

Mercury, innermost planet of our Solar system (zodiac-astrology-horoscopes.com) Sunday night, May 25, you may want to take a look at the planet Mercury. It’s the best night all year for viewing our feisty little sunmost neighbor from Earth’s northern hemisphere. On this date, Mercury will reach its elongation—the farthest point it travels to the east […]

The post Best View Of Planet Mercury This Year On Sunday appeared first on PlanetSave.

A new, and possibly huge, meteor shower — the Camelopardalids — will be reaching its peak tonight (May 23, 2014) sometime right around 2-4am (EDT), for those of us in the continental US. To be clear, by “the night of”, I mean the very early morning hours of May 24, 2014. Current predictions are that […]

The post Meteor Shower Tonight — Camelopardalids Peak On May 23, 2014 appeared first on PlanetSave.

A new, and possibly spectacular, meteor shower will be gracing the skies on the night of May 23, 2014 (early morning of May 24, 2014). Predictions are that the shower could reach a peak rate of anywhere between 100-1000 meteors an hour — the most sober assessments seem to be pointing towards 200 an hour […]

The post Camelopardalids Meteor Shower Peaks On May 23, 2014 (VIDEO) appeared first on PlanetSave.

If you like meteor showers at all, then make sure to make a note on your calendar for the night of May 23, 2014 — when a potentially historical-scale meteor shower may be gracing the skies of the Northern Hemisphere. In just over a week, the Earth will travel through debris left behind by Comet […]

The post Meteor Shower On May 23, 2013 — Huge Meteor Storm Possible Next Friday appeared first on PlanetSave.

Tonight’s the first annular solar eclipse of 2014 (April 28-29), but almost nobody will be able to see it. The ring of fire will be visible only from the uninhabited region of Wilkes Land in Antarctica, the southern edge of Indonesia, and the South Indian Ocean. Australians will experience a partial solar eclipse, as may […]

The post Total Solar Eclipse Tonight, But Most Of Us Will Miss It appeared first on PlanetSave.