Astronomers Find and Confirm 44 New Extrasolar Planets
An international team of astronomers has confirmed the existence of 44 new extrasolar planets. The planets were first spotted by the astronomers through data gathered from Campaign #10 of NASA’s Kepler K2 mission. According to NASA’s Kepler and K2 webpage, campaign #10 ran from July 6, 2016, to September 20, 2016. To verify their findings, […]
Space and Earth Weather Align to Make a Bad Situation Worse
A new study suggests that an unfortunate confluence of space weather and Earth weather events in early September 2017, may have made a bad situation worse in the wake of devastation left by a line of hurricanes in the Caribbean. As three tropical storms, including the category 5 hurricane Irma, were making their way across a […]
How Will Our Sun Die?
Scientists say our Sun has been shining for about the last 4.6 billion years. They also say the Sun is expected to have enough hydrogen to fuel nuclear fusion in its core to allow it to continue shining as it has for about another 5 billion years. Along with creating solar energy, the Sun’s hydrogen […]
Astronomers Search for the Sun’s Long-Lost Solar Siblings
While a family reunion is highly unlikely, Australian and European astronomers are still trying to find our Sun’s long-lost solar siblings which are now scattered throughout the sky. To do so, the scientists examined the of some 350,000 stars in the Milky Way – as though they were mapping each star’s DNA. The sun was […]
SWARM Tracks the Ocean’s Magnetic Field
Earth’s magnetic fields protect us from deadly radiation from high-energy solar particles and cosmic rays. Most of this protective shield is produced by a vast amount of hot molten iron swirling around in our planet’s outer core. But there’s another little-known contributor to our geomagnetic field. It’s the salty and electrically conductive ocean. When salty ocean […]
Life May Exist Among the Clouds of Venus
The search for extraterrestrial life has included examining the possibilities within and outside of the solar system. It has been thought that Mars and a couple of the moons of Saturn and Jupiter may hold the chance of having ET life. It’s also thought by some that a number of Earthlike extrasolar or exoplanets residing […]
Light Pollution Increasing; No Flowing H20 on Mars; Keeping Cows Happy
Light Pollution Continues to Ruin View of Night Sky More of us are becoming unable to witness the full breathtaking beauty and majesty of the sparkling Milky Way because of a growing problem called light pollution. According to oxforddictionaries.com, light pollution is defined as the brightening of the night sky caused by street lights and […]
Antibiotics and Immune System; Freshman “15”; Volcanoes Under Antarctic Ice
Antibiotics Found to Interfere With Immune System
Avoiding the “Freshman 15” Weight Gain
Scientists Track Sun Burst Through Solar System
Huge Volcanic Range Found Under Antarctic Ice
Astronomers Find 4 Earth-Like Planets Near Sun-Like Star
Kepler Discovers More Exoplanets / Scientists Classify Types of Planets
NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler mission recently released what it calls the most comprehensive and detailed catalog of candidate exoplanets. Exoplanets or extrasolar planets are planetary bodies that exist outside of our solar system. The new and final Kepler catalog from data gathered from the spacecraft’s initial patch of sky view within the Cygnus constellation includes 219 […]
Space Junk Jeopardizes Earth’s Space Environment
Scientists estimate that there are some 750,000 pieces of space junk circling Earth, millions more if you count fragments smaller than 1 centimeter. Think about it: Mankind has sent thousands of rockets into space since the launch of the first satellite, Sputnik 1, in 1957. While a number of space vehicles are still in active […]