Current Events

  • Irish Chronicles Document Links Between Volcanoes and Weather
    A study of over 40,000 written entries in Irish Annals and ice core measurements shows a strong corr...Read more

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    Irish Chronicles Document Links Between Volcanoes and Weather

    A study of over 40,000 written entries in Irish Annals and ice core measurements shows a strong correlation between the occurrence of volcanic eruptions and extreme cold weather in Ireland over a 1200 year period. Data analyzed in this study cover the period from 431 to 1649, during which time up to 48 volcanic eruptions are identified in Greenland ice core records through deposition of volcanic sulfate in annual layers of ice. You can find the study (open access), published on 6 June 2013 in IOP Publishing's journal Environmental Research Letters, at http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/8/2/024035/article. Find out more about how volcanoes can influence climate.
  • EF-5 Tornado in El Reno, Oklahoma Widest Ever Recorded in US
    The EF-5 tornado that hit El Reno, Oklahoma on May 31st was the widest ever recorded in the US, acco...Read more

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    EF-5 Tornado in El Reno, Oklahoma Widest Ever Recorded in US

    The EF-5 tornado that hit El Reno, Oklahoma on May 31st was the widest ever recorded in the US, according to the National Weather Service in Norman Oklahoma. The tornado, which remained on the ground for 40 minutes and reached 2.6 miles across (4.2 km), took the lives of 18 people including storm chasers Tim Samaras, Paul Samaras and Carl Young. For more information on the tornado, visit http://ow.ly/i/2hfDG.
  • Atmospheric CO2 Level Tops 400 ppm
    During the week of May 13th, the CO2 level at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii topped 400 ppm rep...Read more

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    Atmospheric CO2 Level Tops 400 ppm

    During the week of May 13th, the CO2 level at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii topped 400 ppm repeatedly. Daily levels of CO2 can vary due to weather, and there are seasonal trends as well. The level of atmospheric greenhouse gases continues to increase, now over 120 ppm since the Industrial Revolution began. For more on the Keeling Curve, see http://keelingcurve.ucsd.edu/. Find out more about greenhouse gases and warming.

Space

Have you ever gone out at on a cloudless night, when there is no bright Moon in the sky or city lights to obscure your view, and been blown away by the astonishing number of stars in the sky? Probably for as long as people have been around, to look up into the sky, we have wondered what the many spots of light in the sky mean. Thousands of years ago, the earliest civilizations observed the heavens. Early man observed the heavens because the Sun, Moon and stars gave indication of coming seasons to farmers and hunters. The sky aided in navigation especially for nomads and sailors. And many ancient civilizations thought the sky gave signs of life, war, earthquakes, the fate of kingdoms...and more. Since the invention of the telescope, we have been able to "see" further away and study stars and galaxies, as well as many of the more mysterious objects in our Universe.
A near-Earth <a href="/our_solar_system/asteroids.html">asteroid</a> - named 2012 DA14 by astronomers – passed within 17,200 miles from Earth on February 15, 2013. On closest approach at about 1:25 p.m. CST on February 15, although it was within the orbit of the <a href="/earth/moons_and_rings.html">Moon</a> and even geosynchronous <a href="/space_missions/satellites.html">satellites</a>, it didn't strike Earth! Find out more from <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/asteroids/news/asteroid20130201315144.html">NASA</a>! Fragments of a meteorite hit Chelyabinsk, Russia on 2/15/2013 <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/15/us-russia-meteorite-idUSBRE91E05Z20130215">injuring over 500</a>. Learn about <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/our_solar_system/meteors/meteors.html">meteors and meteorites</a>.<p><small><em>NASA/JPL-CalTech</em></small></p><a href="/the_universe/Cosmology.html">Cosmology</a> is the study of the overall structure of the universe. The observable universe is the universe that reveals itself through <a href="/physical_science/magnetism/em_radiation.html">electromagnetic radiation</a> that can be detected on Earth. Astronomers observe some rather interesting and perplexing structure in the <a href="/the_universe/Current.html">current universe</a>. This image shows the results of a computer simulation depicting a large chunk of our universe.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of G. L. Bryan, M. L. Norman, UIUC, NCSA, GC3</em></small></p>Many cultures have seen distinctive patterns, called constellations, formed by the stars in the heavens. Constellations are usually comprised of bright stars which appear close to each other on the sky, but are <a href="/the_universe/Constellations/constellations3.html">not necessarily close</a> to each other in space. Many societies associated patterns among the stars with <a href="/mythology/stars.html">gods and goddesses</a> or stories from their culture.<p><small><em>Image: (c)1995 Visual Language, All Rights Reserved</em></small></p>As a star like our sun is running out of fuel in its core it begins to <a href="/sun/fate.html">bloat into a red giant</a>. This will happen to our sun in 5 billion years. Then after a few million years the outer layers of the red giant will begin to puff off, leaving behind only the dead core of the star - a <a href="/the_universe/WD.html">white dwarf</a>. A typical white dwarf is very dense and hot, and is about the <a href="/the_universe/40Eridanus.html">size of the Earth</a>.A spoonful of white dwarf material on Earth would weigh as much as a car. Strange, isn't it?<p><small><em>Image courtesy of NASA, STScI.</em></small></p>There are over 900 <a href="/the_universe/uts/megalith.html">rings of stone</a> located in the British Isles. The most famous of these stone rings is of course, <a href="/the_universe/uts/stonehenge.html">Stonehenge</a>. The stones of Stonehenge were put in place between 3,000 B.C and 2,000 B.C. by neolithic people.Some speculate that the site was built as a temple of worship of the ancient Earth deities. Some say it was used as an <a href="/the_universe/uts/stonehenge_astro.html">astronomical observatory</a> of sorts. Still others say it was a burial ground.<p><small><em> Image courtesy of Corel Photography.</em></small></p>Stars don't last forever. Occasionally, a star bigger than our Sun will end its life in a huge explosion, called a <a href="/the_universe/supernova.html">supernova</a>. The center of the star collapses in less than a second, blowing away the outer layers of the star. There are many beautiful images of supernova remnants, the expanding shell of gas made up of the outer layers of the original star. This image is the Vela Supernova Remnant.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of the Anglo-Australian Observatory/Royal Observatory Edinburgh</em></small></p>

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Astronomy throughout History

The study of all sorts of celestial objects, such as planets, stars, galaxies, intergalactic ...Read more

Our Sky

People have been wondering about what they see in the sky for a long time. We interpret what ...Read more

Constellations

Many cultures have seen distinctive patterns, called constellations, formed by the stars in ...Read more

Sky Maps

Click on a city below to see a map of the stars for that city. New cities will continue to ...Read more

Stars

The pinpoints of light that you see in the night sky are stars. Your ability to see the stars ...Read more

Exoplanets

Did you know that about 200 planets have been discovered in orbit around distant stars? The ...Read more

Strange Stuff in Space

There is some pretty strange stuff in space. Things which are unlike anything that anyone sees ...Read more

Galaxies

The introduction of telescopes to the study of astronomy opened up the universe, but it took ...Read more

The Cosmos

Cosmology is the study of the overall structure of the universe. And just what is the Universe? ...Read more

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Historical Events

6/25 Hermann Oberth,a Romanian and German physicist, was born on this date in 1894 Details
6/28 Maria Mitchell, an American astronomer, died on this date in 1889 Details
6/29 George Hale, an American astronomer, was born on this date in 1869 Details

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Did you know that black holes have such high gravitational pull that not even light can escape? Find out more about other strange stuff in space!

Do you know what the Cairns of Clava and Newgrange have in common?

 

Earth and Space Science Concept of the Day

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Turbidites
xTurbidites : Turbidites are sea-bottom deposits formed by massive slope failures where rivers have deposited large deltas.

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Research Highlights

Even in the Desert, Plants Feel the Heat of Global Warming

Global warming is a hot topic, and it's causing concern for scientists studying winter annuals in the Sonoran Desert. While desert winters have become warmer and drier over the years, climate changes have...Read more

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