pale blue dot
Christopher Palma, Pennsylvania State University
As an astronomer, the question I hear the most is why isn’t Pluto a planet anymore? More than 10 years ago, astronomers famously voted to change Pluto’s classification. But the question still comes up.
Continue reading “Planetary confusion: why astronomers keep changing what it means to be a planet”Retired astronaut (the first Canadian to walk in space), former commander of the International Space Station (ISS), musician, engineer, and former Royal Canadian Air Force fighter pilot Chris Hadfield published a new music video: “An Astronaut’s Christmas Carol – Jewel in the Night”.
Continue reading “An Astronaut’s Christmas Carol – Jewel in the Night (New video by Chris Hadfield)”Here are the top 10 most beautiful Earth photos taken by the astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS), the orbiting laboratory, in 2019. Which one is your favorite? Or if your favorite image was not listed here, please leave a comment below. To see all images taken from the International Space Station and published by NASA, visit Space Station Images webpage.
Continue reading “Top 10 Most Beautiful Earth Photos Taken From the International Space Station in 2019”The idea behind controlling waterways through dams isn’t new. The oldest dam in the world, the Kallanai Dam, began operation on the Kaveri River in Tamil Nadu, India in the 2nd century, and it’s still in use today.
Continue reading “The Danger of Dams”In collaboration with Dr. Christine Houser (@seismodoc), a specially appointed assistant Professor of solid Earth geophysics at the Earth-Life Science Institute in Japan, NASA Goddard Planetary Scientist Dr. James O’Donoghue (@physicsJ) created another amazing animation titled “Scale & Composition of Earth’s surface: Major constituents of the crust, water, and atmosphere” and published on his YouTube channel.
Continue reading “Scale and composition of Earth’s surface”Every year, California wildfires force residents to temporarily evacuate their homes and seek refuge in shelters, motels, or with relatives. While the wildfire season is one of the few things that truly unites both Northern and Southern California, it’s also not a new phenomenon: you can track over a century of California wildfires recorded by Cal Fire as part of a California Public Radio Project.
Continue reading “How Climate Change Impacts California Wildfires”All homes run on electricity, but about half of the homes in the US also use natural gas for things like heating and cooking. A new trend to “electrify everything” is an attempt to reduce carbon emissions by switching to cleaner energy. Electrifying your home means converting any natural gas appliances and technologies into their homes to run on electricity.
Continue reading “Why People Are Electrifying Their Homes (Infographic)”An amazing historic photo of the Space Shuttle Atlantis still connected to Russia’s Mir Space Station. It was taken on July 4, 1995, by the Mir-19 crew.
Continue reading “Space Shuttle Atlantis meets Mir – an amazing 1995 photo”Young software developer Neal Agarwal (Twitter: @nealagarwal) created an amazing interactive visualization showing life in the depth of the oceans. Named “The Deep Sea” (click here to see the visualization), the interactive webpage shows the living depths and also the maximum diving points of various animals. Be prepared to be amazed!
Continue reading ““The Deep Sea”: life in the depth of the oceans”NASA Goddard Planetary Scientist Dr. James O’Donoghue (@physicsJ) created another beautiful video showing the relative rotation speeds of Solar System planets.
Continue reading “Relative rotation speeds of the planets”
