Solar System Mimics Ours; The Big Empty; Closest Human Relative?
Nearby Planetary System Mimics our Solar System A group of scientists using NASA’s airborne Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy or SOFIA recently completed a study that confirmed their previous findings of a young and nearby planetary system. The researchers found that the system surrounding the star Epsilon Eridani, which is about 10.5 light years away […]
2014’s 1st Asteroid May Have Hit Earth
As Americans were ringing in 2014 early Wednesday morning, scientists caught sight of what appeared to be a very small asteroid – between 2 and 3 meters in size – on a potential impact trajectory with Earth. The observation was made at the Catalina Sky Survey near Tucson, Arizona. The space rock, designated 2014 AA, […]
Cosmic Impact May Have Caused Prehistoric ‘Big Freeze’
Scientists say they may have found a link between a dramatic climate shift nearly 13,000 years ago and an asteroid or comet that struck the Canadian province of Quebec. Researchers at Dartmouth College say the comet/asteroid strike took place at the beginning of a global cooling event known as the Younger Dryas stadial or the […]
NASA Checks Out Potentially Hazardous Asteroids
First, the good news. There are fewer asteroids near Earth than previously estimated. Now the bad news. A new NASA survey also finds there may be more than twice as many aligned with Earth’s orbit than thought, which could increase the odds of an asteroid coming close enough to us to cause concern. The findings […]