If You’ve been thinking it’s been a little brighter lately at night, chances are you’re probably not imagining it. And if you believe what the stars are telling us, it’s time to listen to the universe and prepare for some
They are images which have the capacity to make us feel insignificant and empowered in equal measure: from startling close-ups which reveal the malevolent fury of the Sun, to the serene majesty of the Earth viewed from the International Space
When the great minds of science gathered at the U.S. National Museum (now known as the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History) on April 26, 1920, the universe was at stake. Or at least the size of it, anyway. In
The super-active sunspot responsible for unleashing the three most powerful solar flares of 2013 within a 24-hour stretch this week is slowly rotating towardEarth and will likely be facing our planet by the weekend, experts say. Active Region 1748, as the sunspot is known, unleashed three
Four images from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory of an X3.2-class flare from late at night on May 13, 2013. Starting in the upper left and going clockwise, the images show the flare in four different wavelengths. (Image: NASA/SDO) Last night
One breakthrough to come in recent years is direct imaging of exoplanets. Ground-based telescopes have begun taking infrared pictures of the planets posing near their stars in family portraits. But to astronomers, a picture is worth even more than a
Scientists investigating the source of the moon’s internal water have lifted telltale fingerprints from Apollo-era lunar rocks showing that the water may have originated from meteorites bombarding Earth. The surprisingly “wet” volcanic rock, described online Thursday in the journal Science,
A teensy skeleton with a squashed alienlike head may have earthly origins, but the remains, found in the Atacama Desert a decade ago, do make for quite amedical mystery. Apparently when the mummified specimen was discovered, some had suggested the possibility it
I recently receive the following e-mail question: Got a question for you: do you consider the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence to be science or pseudoscience? I recently got into an online debate and found myself in the minority because I
This weekend, stargazers should dust-off their telescopes and catch a glimpse of Saturn at its best and brightest. On Sunday, April 28th, Saturn will be making its closest approach to Earth, appearing bigger and brighter than at any other time
Unless space debris is actively tackled, some satellite orbits will become extremely hazardous over the next 200 years, a new study suggests. The research found that catastrophic collisions would likely occur every five to nine years at the altitudes used
