Tag Archives: Earth

An Earth-orbiting spacecraft just experienced an unusual phenomenon: a lunar transit and an Earth eclipse on the same day. On July 25, at different times, both the moon and Earth passed between NASA‘s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and the sun. SDO studies the sun‘s activity, including the solar wind (the stream of charged particles flowing from the sun), solar flares …

The solar system floats inside a vast, million-degree hot bubble—an invisible cocoon of thin gas that glows in X-ray light. Known as the Local Hot Bubble (LHB), this low-density cavity stretches more than 1,000 light-years across. Despite its scorching temperature, its sparse atoms barely affect surrounding matter. That quiet warmth may have helped life flourish on Earth, but for decades, …

In March 2025, central Myanmar was struck by a powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake—the strongest to hit the region in over a century and one of the deadliest in its modern history. What sets this seismic event apart is the capture of the fault’s sudden rupture in real time by a nearby CCTV camera, marking the first-ever video evidence of such …

A recent groundbreaking study published in Geophysical Research Letters has revealed an astonishing new insight: Earth’s rotational axis has shifted 31.5 inches in less than two decades, largely due to human activities such as groundwater pumping. This unexpected discovery challenges conventional understanding of Earth’s rotation and its link to climate change. Experts now suggest that this tilt could have more …

The molecules that form the building blocks to life may be far more common in space than once thought, according to researchers from the Max Planck Institute. Their work, published in The Astrophysical Journal, reports the detection of over a dozen types of complex organic molecules swimming closely around a protostar in the constellation Orion, suggesting that the chemicals can …

HOUSTON — The asteroid known as 2024 YR4 is out of sight yet still very much on scientists’ minds. The building-sized object, which initially appeared to be on a potential collision course with Earth, is currently zooming beyond the reach of telescopes on its orbit around the sun. But as scientists wait for it to reappear, its revised trajectory is …

Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story: When humans pump groundwater, it has a substantial impact on the tilt of Earth’s rotation. Additionally, a study documents just how much of an influence groundwater pumping has on climate change. Understanding this relatively recent data may provide a better understanding of how to help stave off sea-level rise. Water has …

If you’re a nerd of a certain age, the red and yellow Games Workshop logo will be immediately familiar. It once emblazoned the little shops in city centres across the country where you could buy little plastic (or resin, or pewter) men (or elves, or dwarfs) and battle them against one another using an arcane set of rules. These shops, …

Aliens are visiting our solar system. Not little green men, sadly, but natural alien objects—cosmic bodies such as comets and asteroids born elsewhere in the galaxy that zip by the sun as they drift through the Milky Way. They’re not so much visiting as just passing through. Though these objects were speculated to exist for a long time, we didn’t …

A large asteroid once considered the greatest known risk to Earth may now be on track for a direct hit — not on our planet, but on the moon. The object, named asteroid 2024 YR4, has drawn intense interest from the astronomy community as its trajectory evolves, raising questions about potential consequences for lunar infrastructure and even Earth-orbiting satellites. From …