More than a year ago, on Monday, August 21, around 2 million to 7.4 million Americans traveled to see the first total solar eclipse in 99 years to go coast to coast in the United States. Photographer Jon Carmichael chose another way. He got aboard a Southwest Airlines aircraft and captured the Great American Total Solar Eclipse from an unusual vantage point at 39,000 feet (11,890 meters). And the result is probably the most beautiful Solar Eclipse photo ever.
Continue reading This is probably the most beautiful Solar Eclipse photo everAll posts by Our Planet
Mount Etna is sliding into the sea
Mount Etna, Europe’s most active volcano (also one of the most active volcanoes in the world) is sliding into the Ionian Sea at rates of centimeters per year. If part of it falls into the sea, it could create horrible mega-tsunamis that would devastate the eastern Mediterranean shores.
Continue reading Mount Etna is sliding into the sea
Amazing Moon-Earth Photo by the Amateurs using a Chinese Satellite
Amateur astronomers in the Netherlands took an amazing Moon-Earth photo using a Chinese satellite. On May 20, 2018, China launched Queqiao lunar communications relay satellite, a key component of the upcoming
Point Nemo – The Spacecraft Graveyard
In the middle of the South Pacific Ocean, there’s a location called “Point Nemo”. It’s not a place that humans live – in fact, there is no land there – not an island, not even a small rock. It is actually the remotest place from any human civilization you can find on Earth. It lies at least 2,688 km (1,670 mi) from the nearest land. It is also called “Oceanic pole of inaccessibility”.Notes 1
The Significance of Fossils in Revealing the Evolution on Earth
It’s ironic how calling a person a “monkey” or “orangutan” is considered offensive when we all know that humans are descended from these apes. Well, sometimes it is hard to find logic in the customs and practices of our society, but if you are willing to find the path of evolution that turned monkeys into the modern men, you may find the details in the fossil records.
Continue reading The Significance of Fossils in Revealing the Evolution on Earth
Scary Question: What Will Happen if Natural Resources Run Out?
On our wonderful planet, there are multiple natural resources that help make life easier. We use trees for making paper products and they provide us with oxygen. We use natural gas to heat our homes and coal to help us produce electricity. Freshwater fish are a staple in the American diet and we pump billions of barrels of oil out of the ground to fuel our automobiles.
But what happens when natural resources become scarce, or worse, when they run out?
What are the implications of such a thing? And how can we create environmental sustainability?
Here’s what you need to know.
Continue reading Scary Question: What Will Happen if Natural Resources Run Out?
To find aliens, we must think of life as we don’t know it
From blob-like jellyfish to rock-like lichens, our planet teems with such diversity of life that it is difficult to recognise some organisms as even being alive. That complexity hints at the challenge of searching for life as we don’t know it – the alien biology that might have taken hold on other planets, where conditions could be unlike anything we’ve seen before. ‘The Universe is a really big place. Chances are, if we can imagine it, it’s probably out there on a planet somewhere,’ said Morgan Cable, an astrochemist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. ‘The question is, will we be able to find it?’
Continue reading To find aliens, we must think of life as we don’t know it
Earth can be a model for detecting vegetation on exoplanets
Back in December 1990, during its flyby of Earth, NASA’s Galileo spacecraft, which studied the planet Jupiter and its moons, as well as several other Solar System bodies, pointed its instruments towards Earth, at the urging of Carl Sagan. And, it has found evidence of life on our planet. This can be a key to detect vegetation on exoplanets – which is a key to a possible i
In a paper published on Nature, researchers wrote “The Galileo spacecraft found evidence of abundant gaseous oxygen, a widely distributed surface pigment with a sharp absorption edge in the red part of the visible spectrum, and atmospheric methane in extreme thermodynamic disequilibrium. Together, these are strongly suggestive of life on Earth.”
Continue reading Earth can be a model for detecting vegetation on exoplanets
Structure of the Earth
The universe is shrouded in mystery, and part of this mystery involves our own little planet. Although there
However, the studies in Seismology have allowed us to gather sufficient information about the Earth and its structure. The planet comprises several layers, which have their own attributes, and composition. So let’s dive in further to discover some enlightening aspects.
Continue reading Structure of the Earth
Largest great white sharks ever recorded
The great white shark (scientific name: Carcharodon carcharias) is not the biggest shark (that title goes to the whale shark), but they are the largest predatory fish on Earth. According to the Guinness World Records Book, full-grown adults are average 4.3-4.6 meters (14-15 feet) in length, and generally, weigh 520-770 kg (1,150-1,700 lb). But there are many (unconfirmed) claims of huge specimens up to 10 meters (33 feet) in length. Newspapers and home photo albums are full of unconfirmed huge great white tales. And although few have been properly authenticated, there is a lot of circumstantial evidence to suggest that some great whites grow to more than 6 meters (20 feet) in length.
