From “Borg Sex,” to “Surfing with the Alien,” to “Not of this Earth,” guitar great Joe Satriani is well known for his space and tech themed instrumental music. Many guitarists claim to be convinced Satriani himself is an alien from another world; no other explanation for his technical virtuosity on the instrument makes sense. Creating […]
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Hurricanes Irma and Jose: See the Latest Videos from Space
The Suomi NPP satellite captured this infrared nighttime image of Hurricane Irma between Cuba and the Florida Keys on Sunday (Sept. 10) at 3:38 a.m. EDT (0738 GMT). Update Sept. 11: Hurricane Irma made second landfall in Florida Sunday and is now a Category 1 storm as it moves northward after battering the Florida peninsula. […]
Cotton Farming in Space: Submit Your Ideas for Sustainability Experiments
Cotton is a widely-used product, but its production uses huge amounts of water. CASIS has launched a challenge for researchers to use the microgravity environment on the space station to potentially find ways to make cotton more sustainable. A competition designed to bring cotton farming aboard the International Space Station (ISS) is now officially open […]
Solar Flares May Explain Mass Whale Stranding
A little girl stands next to a sperm whale that died after becoming stranded on a beach between Old Hunstanton and Holme on Feb. 5, 2016, in Hunstanton, England. The whale was the 29th to have died after beaching in Europe over a two-week period. A solar storm currently affecting the Earth’s high atmosphere could […]
Saturn's Icy Moons Are a Little Less Mysterious Thanks to Cassini's Long Mission
The Cassini spacecraft will take a death plunge into Saturn next on September 15 after more than a decade observing the planet and its moons. Perhaps its greatest contribution to science is helping us learn about the many icy moons circling Saturn and its elegant rings. Scientists are interested in finding life outside of Earth, […]
NASA Is Tracking Monster Hurricanes Irma, Jose and Katia from Space
Hurricane Irma appears strikingly large on its course toward Florida in a new video from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as the agencies keep tabs on the powerful storm . Meanwhile, Hurricane Jose has been upgraded to a Category 4 hurricane, and Hurricane Katia continues to strengthen as the three storms […]
Now's the Time to Spot (Not-So) Elusive Mercury
Due to the steep ecliptic (green line) this month, Mercury delivers an excellent morning apparition for mid-northern latitude observers. On September 12, the planet will reach its widest angle west of the sun and peak visibility. Look low in the eastern pre-dawn sky between 5:30 and 6 a.m. local time. In a telescope Mercury will […]
Syfy's 'Killjoys' Renewed for 2 More Seasons; 'Dark Matter' Canceled
Johnny (Aaron Ashmore), D’avin (Luke Macfarlane) and Dutch (Hannah John-Kamen) star as a team of space bounty hunters swept up into a vast conspiracy in “Killjoys.” Syfy’s “Killjoys,” which finished its third season on TV Sept. 1, has been renewed for a final two seasons of space-bounty-hunter action. “Dark Matter,” which also just finished its […]
NASA Sets Plan for New Horizons Spacecraft's Next Superclose Flyby
Artist’s illustration of NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft flying by a possible binary 2014 MU69 on Jan. 1, 2019. Early observations of MU69 hint that the object is either a binary orbiting pair or a contact (stuck together) pair of nearly like-sized bodies with diameters near 12 and 11 miles (19 and 18 kilometers). NASA’s New […]
Solar Flares May Affect Earth, But the Space Station Will Be Just Fine
A series of solar flares blasted waves of radiation and solar plasma toward Earth this week, and the geomagnetic storms that could result have the potential to damage orbiting satellites and disrupt communications on Earth. But the International Space Station is expected to weather the storm just fine. “There will be no impact to the […]
1 Week Until Cassini's Fatal Saturn Dive: Here's How the Probe Will Spend Its Final Days
The one-week countdown has begun for the Cassini spacecraft’s fatal dive into Saturn’s atmosphere. On Sept. 15, Cassini will dive straight into Saturn, collecting in-situ data from the planet’s atmosphere and firing it back to Earth in the 1 to 2 minutes before breaking apart. The dive will bring a dramatic end to the probe’s […]
Moon Facts: Fun Information About the Earth’s Moon
Astrophotographer Anthony Lopez sent in a photo of the full moon taken in Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, close to the US border, on May 26, 2013. He writes: “Around my yard stands a perimeter fence of just over 3 meters high that hides the street lights almost completely, leaving only the light of the full moon […]
Strange Object May Be Milky Way's Second-Largest Black Hole (and a Cosmic Missing Link)
Researchers have found what appears to be the second-largest black hole in the Milky Way, which falls into a rare, intermediate-mass category. A newly discovered object may be the second-largest black hole in the Milky Way, weighing in at about 100,000 times the mass of the sun. The dense body would be the first intermediate-mass […]