Very Large ‘Potentially Hazardous’ Asteroid Will Make an Unusually Close Earth Pass on April 19th
A huge 1km-wide asteroid is hurtling towards Earth, prompting astronomers to label it “potentially hazardous”. But don’t pack for Mars just yet – the giant space rock, ‘2014 JO25’, is expected to pass by our planet safely. According to NASA the encounter on April 19 will be the closest the asteroid comes to Earth in 400 years, and no projected … Continue reading
Alien Life Could be Hidden on Mars Says NASA
Scientists are investigating if the most simplistic forms of alien life developed in vast oceans that once covered the Red Planet. They believe if they did, there may still be survivors in water that has remained beneath the surface. NASA made the announcement as it unveiled the results of studies into what exactly stripped Mars of its atmosphere which meant … Continue reading
Unexplained Explosion Detected Emanating From a Galaxy 10.7 Billion Light-Years Away
Scientists have taken the deepest X-ray image of our Universe to date – and within it, they’ve found evidence of a huge, unexplained explosion coming from a galaxy around 10.7 billion light-years away. The galaxy itself appears to be fairly faint and unremarkable, but in October 2014, it suddenly became at least 1,000 times brighter over a few hours, before … Continue reading
Green Comet to Flyby over North Pole on April 1st
Green comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak is flying over Earth’s North Pole this week where sky watchers can find it all night long not far from the bowl of the Big Dipper. At closest approach on April 1st it will be just 21 million km from Earth–an easy target for backyard telescopes and almost visible to the naked eye. Amateur astronomer Yasushi Aoshima … Continue reading
Record Breaking, ‘Purest’ Brown Dwarf Discovered
An international team of astronomers has identified a record breaking brown dwarf (a star too small for nuclear fusion) with the ‘purest’ composition and the highest mass yet known. The object, known as SDSS J0104+1535, is a member of the so-called halo – the outermost reaches – of our Galaxy, made up of the most ancient stars. The scientists report … Continue reading
Astronomers Will Look Into a Black Hole for First Time with Event Horizon Telescope
Ever since first mentioned by Jon Michell in a letter to the Royal Society in 1783, black holes have captured the imagination of scientists, writers, filmmakers and other artists. Perhaps part of the allure is that these enigmatic objects have never actually been “seen.” But this could now be about to change as an international team of astronomers is connecting … Continue reading
New Mars Photo Shows Countless Worm-Like Dunes on the Red Planet
A newly released image from the surface of Mars has revealed an abundance of odd, squiggly worm-shaped dunes around the red planet’s southern hemisphere. Dunes are scattered across Mars’ sandy surface, and the newly-released NASA photo shows just how odd the formations look when snapped from above. The picture, taken by the space agency’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, shows a huge … Continue reading
Mars Volcano, Earth’s Dinosaurs Went Extinct About the Same Time
New NASA research reveals that the giant Martian volcano Arsia Mons produced one new lava flow at its summit every 1 to 3 million years during the final peak of activity. The last volcanic activity there ceased about 50 million years ago — around the time of Earth’s Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction, when large numbers of our planet’s plant and animal species … Continue reading
Scientist on the Brink of Discovering What Makes up Reality and Space-Time
Since Albert Einstein established his General Theory of Relativity 100 years ago, scientists have been at odds as to how it merges with quantum mechanics – all of the fundamental particles, including the ones that have yet to be discovered and three of the four interactions: electromagnetism, and the weak and strong nuclear forces. The fourth interaction, gravity, which falls … Continue reading
New Research Leads to Consideration that Our Moon And Pluto are of Planet Status
Is the moon a planet? How about Pluto? Astronomical authorities say no, but Alan Stern, who led the research on the New Horizons probe to Pluto, begs to differ. Stern is part of the team behind a new paper published in Planetary and Lunar Sciences, which argues that the existing definition of “planet” is flawed. Under Stern’s new definition, the … Continue reading
