Items tagged with Earth
9/26/2022 Update
As a reminder, Jupiter's closest pass to Earth is tonight, so don't miss the opportunity to see it! It is a busy night for space as the NASA DART mission is reaching its conclusion this evening as well. Original story below...
Jupiter will be in opposition to the Sun later this month, presenting an...
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NASA's DART mission is nearing its final destination later today, as the spacecraft will slam into asteroid Dimorphos in hopes of changing its speed and path. You will be able to follow along tonight as the space agency will be sharing a live feed from the spacecraft, as well as a post-impact press briefing.
DART...
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A new study by researchers at UC Riverside created detailed models on data from the solar system as it appears in modern day, as well alternatives to the solar system with a slightly different orbital path. One alternative solar system appeared to be effective in making Earth more habitable, by simply making Jupiter's...
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An international team of researchers have discovered two super-Earth exoplanets, and one of them may be habitable. One of the planets is located at a distance from its star which potentially means it could hold liquid water on its surface.
The vast majority of exoplanets discovered so far have not proven to be good...
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"Diamond Rain" could be more prevalent on ice giants throughout the universe than previously thought. The new research has provided scientists with a more complete picture of how diamond rain forms on other planets. It could introduce a new way of fabricating nanodiamonds here on Earth.
In a previous experiment...
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The Earth just completed a full rotation in a little over a thousandth of a second shorter than its normal 24-hour rate. The record full spin occurred on June 29, 2022, and has some scientists concerned.
Our planet has been spinning faster recently. Back in 2020, Earth saw its shortest month ever measured since the...
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Data from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and computer modeling show shaded pits on the Moon always hover around 63 F (about 17 C). The pits and caves could provide a stable environment for lunar exploration when the surface could reach extreme temperatures.
NASA's Artemis program is slated to put the...
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A Chinese core rocket stage will be performing an uncontrolled reentry into Earth's atmosphere soon. The left over piece is from a Long March 5B rocket that launched this past Sunday.
China launched a Long March 5B rocket from Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan on June 24, 2022. The rocket carried the Wentien...
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Photos from the European Space Agency's (ESA) Mars Express spacecraft show two ruptures in the surface of Mars that dwarf that of the Grand Canyon here on Earth. Valles Marineris is almost ten times longer, twenty times wider, and five times deeper than the Grand Canyon.
The images from the James Webb Space...
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Comet C/2017 K2 will be at its closest orbital point to Earth later today, and you can watch the cosmic flyby live. The comet was first spotted by astronomers in 2017 and should be visible via a small telescope throughout the summer.
When Comet C/2017 K2 (PanSTARRS) was first located, it was 1.49 billion miles (2.4...
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An asteroid the size of a bus made a nearby pass of Earth yesterday. Asteroid 2022 NF's flyby was broadcast live by The Virtual Telescope Project, and you can watch the replay below.
Asteroid Day is in remembrance of the anniversary of the June 30, 1908 Tunguska event in Siberia, which resulted in seismic...
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NASA has plans to retrieve samples the Perseverance rover has collected from the surface of Mars and bring them back to Earth to be studied. These unsterilized samples have some pandemic weary people worried, however, about exactly what might be brought back.
The Perseverance rover has been busy since landing on...
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A gigantic sunspot that doubled in size in just 24 hours, is now facing Earth with the possibility of emitting a solar flare that could knock out communications on our humble rock.
Sunspots are darkened patches on the Sun caused by its magnetic field, according to NASA. These spots are often precursors to solar...
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A new study suggests that it may be possible to use free-floating planets to travel to distant galaxies. Irina Romanovskaya, a Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Houston Community College, believes that extraterrestrial civilizations may already use these rogue planets as a means of travel to explore and colonize...
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NASA's Earth Observatory has shared an image of one of the most active submarine volcanoes in the Pacific. A 2015 scientific expedition found two species of sharks, including hammerheads, living in the submerged crater and earned the underwater volcano the nickname "Sharkcano."
Kavachi Volcano, located in the...
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An X-class solar flare erupted on the Sun that caused a fierce X1.5-class solar flare on May 10th. The radiation from the flare ionized the top of Earth's atmosphere, instigating a shortwave radio blackout around the Atlantic Ocean and may have slung a complicated CME toward Earth.
In the last month, the Earth has...
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NASA believes it has solved a 60-year-old mystery pertaining to a process known as magnetic reconnection. Scientists with the space agency's Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission, or MMS, have developed a theory they believe explains how the most explosive type of magnetic reconnection occurs.
To put this in...
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If you have ever wanted to find your very own piece of a meteorite, now may be your chance. Astronomers are predicting that a bright fireballe that lit up the sky in Ontario may have littered the area with meteorite fragments when it smashed into Earth's atmosphere.
On April 17th, a fireball lit up the sky in...
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A quartet of planets is about to align with the Moon and you won't need a telescope to view the heavenly event. Jupiter, Venus, Mars, and Saturn will all be visible to the naked eye.
It isn't often that the alignment of so many planets is viewable without the aid of a telescope or pair of binoculars. It tends to...
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The hottest rock on Earth has been confirmed by scientists more than a decade after being found. The glass rock found was formed at a blistering 4,298 degrees Fahrenheit (F).
Former Ph.D. student Michael Zanetti found what was believed to be the hottest rock on Earth in 2011 at the 17-mile-wide Mistastin Lake...
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The United States Space Command (USSC) finally confirms that a meteor from another star system crashed into Earth's atmosphere back in 2014. The memo released by USSC in March gives a research paper written back in 2019 the confirmation it has been needing.
A pair of Harvard University researchers, Amir Siraj and...
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The Sun unleashed a fury of cannibals toward Earth, but there is no need to worry about being eaten alive. It is actually a "cannibal coronal mass ejection" caused by solar eruptions discharging from a singular sunspot.
Sunspot AR2975 has been detonating flares of electrically charged particles from the sun since...
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