There are not many days left before 2023 comes to an end, but there is still one more major astronomical event that is about to put on a dazzling display in the night sky — and folks who miss the show may have to wait until the spring for the next chance to see another […]
The Hubble Space Telescope resumed science observations on Friday after ground teams spent most of the last three weeks assessing the performance of a finicky gyroscope, NASA said. As ArsTechnica reports, the troublesome gyroscope is a critical part of the observatory’s pointing system. Hubble’s gyros measure how fast the spacecraft is turning, helping the telescope […]
Earth’s temperature was off the charts this year, and scientists just confirmed what much of planet already felt coming: 2023 will officially be the hottest year on record. As CNN reports, the analysis from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service found this year’s global temperature will be more than 1.4 degrees Celsius warmer than […]
At least six people died Saturday after tornadoes tore through parts of Tennessee, officials said. As the sun rose across the state early Sunday morning, residents – and crews who spent a tough night digging through wreckage in search of survivors – were getting their first look at the destruction in daylight. Homes were destroyed, […]
The 2023 astronomical calendar has been packed with a variety of captivating celestial sights, and the year will conclude with a slate of events that includes a highly-anticipated meteor shower. As Accuweather reports, December’s longer nights present more time for stargazing, including the chance to see the return of the famous constellation Orion. Early morning stargazers have […]
As a fire hose of rain, known as an atmospheric river, continues in western Washington and Oregon, small streams and rivers have become raging torrents, posing significant threats to lives and property throughout the week. The atmospheric river turned deadly near Portland, Oregon, Monday when a man was swept away along Johnson Creek. A second death was […]
The supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, Sagittarius A*, is spinning rapidly and altering space-time around it, a new study has found. Space-time is the four-dimensional continuum that describes how we see space, fusing one-dimensional time and three-dimensional space together to represent the space fabric that curves in response to massive celestial […]
As aurora watchers waited and wondered Thursday night, for a time it seemed possible the latest blast from the sun could end up a northern lights bust. But then, there was light. As The Washington Post reports, a geomagnetic storm reaching G3 levels, which is considered strong on a scale of 1 to 5, roared in shortly before […]
The waves that most of us are familiar with are the waves at the beach—waves that endlessly curl and crash on the shore. But the ocean and atmosphere also have what are called “planetary waves”—waves of immense scale. Kelvin waves are a kind of planetary wave. Unlike the waves you see at the beach, Kelvin […]
Southern staples like magnolia trees and camellias may now be able to grow without frost damage in once-frigid Boston. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s “Plant Hardiness Zone Map” was updated last week for the first time in a decade, and it shows the impact that climate change will have on gardens and yards across the […]