The Earth is full of giant creatures, and it is truly interesting to learn how nature has engineered these creatures to support their enormous heads and how they have been adapted for feeding, movement, or survival in the most extreme environments. These massive giants are found in the deep ocean, arctic ice, and these colossal craniums are powerful tools, allowing …
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Xavier Le Pichon, Who Modeled Movement of Earth’s Crust, Dies at 87
Xavier Le Pichon, a French geophysicist whose pioneering model of the earth’s tectonic plates helped revolutionize how scientists understand movements of the earth’s crust, died on March 22 at his home in Sisteron, in the south of France. He was 87. His death was announced in a statement by the Collège de France, France’s highest educational institution, where Dr. Le …
Read More »Photos: Partial Solar Eclipse Captivates Much of the Northern Hemisphere
As the sun rose in the Northern Hemisphere on Saturday, the moon cut across Earth’s orbit and took a bite out of the sun. The partial solar eclipse, which occurs when the moon moves between the Earth and the sun, casting a shadow on our planet, was the first of the year and was visible in parts of the United …
Read More »March 2025 Partial Solar Eclipse: Where and How to Watch
Another eclipse is upon us. On Saturday, the moon will cast its shadow on Earth’s surface, a phenomenon that people in parts of the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Europe, Russia and Africa will get to experience as a partial solar eclipse. It is only partially as impressive as the total solar eclipse that cut across the United States last …
Read More »When Is the Next Solar Eclipse? Where and How to Watch the 2025 Partial Eclipse.
Another eclipse is upon us. On Saturday, the moon will cast its shadow on Earth’s surface, a phenomenon that people in parts of the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Europe, Russia and Africa will get to experience as a partial solar eclipse. It is only partially as impressive as the total solar eclipse that cut across the United States last …
Read More »Will That Asteroid Strike Earth? Risk Level Rises to Highest Ever Recorded.
Astronomers on Tuesday said that the asteroid designated 2024 YR4 had become the most likely sizable space rock ever forecast to impact planet Earth. The object, first detected in December, is 130 to 300 feet long and expected to make a very close pass of the planet in 2032. Its odds of impacting Earth on Dec. 22 of that year …
Read More »Why the Odds of an Asteroid Striking Earth in 2032 Keep Going Up (and Down)
Since December, astronomers have been carefully studying whether an asteroid between 130 and 300 feet long will impact the Earth in just under eight years. And the odds, overall, seem to be rising. On Jan. 29, the chances of this asteroid (named 2024 YR4) striking our planet on Dec. 22, 2032, were 1.3 percent. Then they rose to 1.7 percent …
Read More »Asteroid 2024 YR4 Could Strike Earth, Researchers Say, But the Odds are Small
You may hear about a large asteroid headed toward Earth. Don’t panic. Just after Christmas Day, astronomers spotted something zipping away from Earth: a rock somewhere between 130 feet and 330 feet long that they named 2024 YR4. Over the next few weeks, they simulated its possible future orbits. They now say, based on the most up-to-date information, that there …
Read More »Earth’s Mini-Moon Was Probably a Piece of Its Real Moon
For a few months last fall, a school-bus-size space rock named 2024 PT5 gained fame as Earth’s new “mini-moon.” Astronomers rushed to study the object while it was still close enough to Earth to observe in detail. Now, one team has concluded that 2024 PT5 is a chunk of the real moon. The rock was most likely flung into space …
Read More »A Meteorite Is Caught on Camera as It Crashes Outside a Front Door
A couple in Canada were returning home from walking their dogs some months ago when they found a burst of dusty debris on their walkway. They turned to their security-camera footage for answers and found it showed a mysterious puff of smoke appearing on the tidy walkway where the mystery splotch was. The source of the splotch was officially registered …
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