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M5-class solar flare on May 22

By in Space | 1 hour ago
M5-class explosion from sunspot AR1745, which was about to disappear behind the sun's western limb. The flare peaked at 1332 UTC (8:32 CDT) on May 22, 2013.

M5-class explosion from sunspot AR1745, which was about to disappear behind the sun’s western limb. The flare peaked at 1332 UTC (8:32 CDT) on May 22, 2013. The sun is behind the occulting disk at the center of the image, which is from from NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, or SOHO, space observatory.

The sun produced an M5-class flare earlier today (May 22, 2013), which peaked at peaked at 1332 UTC (8:32 CDT). In the image below – from NASA SOHO, you can see the beautiful coronal mass ejection produced in the flare. The CME was not Earth-directed but could deliver a glancing blow in the next few days.

Small, speedy plant-eater extends knowledge of dinosaur ecosystems

By in Earth | Science Wire | 6 hours ago
dinosaur

Life reconstruction of the new small-bodied, plant eating dinosaur Albertadromeus syntarsus. Art by Julius T. Csotonyi.

A team of paleontologists have described a new dinosaur, the smallest plant-eating dinosaur species known from Canada.

What is a supermoon?

By in Space | 7 hours ago
Full moon via Lance Bullion

Full moon via Lance Bullion

What’s a supermoon? We confess: before a few years ago, we in astronomy had never heard that term. To the best of our knowledge, the term supermoon was coined by the astrologer Richard Nolle over 30 years ago. The term is only now coming into popular usage. Nolle has defined a supermoon as:

… a new or full moon which occurs with the moon at or near (within 90% of) its closest approach to Earth in a given orbit.

That’s a pretty generous definition and allows for many supermoons, the first of which – for 2013 – is coming up on the night of May 24-25.

New insights on climate change and species interactions

By in Earth | Science Wire | 7 hours ago
Image Credit: Toby Hudson

Image Credit: Toby Hudson

Scientists provide important new details on how climate change will affect interactions between species as temperatures continue to rise.

Video: Earth’s atmosphere is escaping

By in Earth | 8 hours ago

Earth’s atmosphere is escaping into space…but very slowly. It’ll be billions of years before it’s gone, but this MinuteEarth video explains it in two short minutes!

Video: How does toothpaste make orange juice taste bad?

By in Human World | 10 hours ago
Via Bytesize Science

Via Bytesize Science

On the latest video from ByteSize Science – released May 20, 2013 – the American Chemical Society (AMS) explains why orange juice and toothpaste is such a bad taste combo.

What are cloud streets?

By in Earth | 10 hours ago
cloud-streets-bering-sea-20jan2006-540

Cloud streets over the Bering Sea on January 20, 2006. Image Credit: Jesse Allen, NASA.

Cloud streets are long rows of cumulus clouds that are oriented parallel to the direction of the wind. Check out these cool images!

This date in science: Wright brothers’ flying machine patented

By and in Human World | 12 hours ago
The Wright brothers' airplane on its first powered flight on December 17, 1903. Via Library of Congress.

The Wright brothers’ airplane on its first powered flight on December 17, 1903. Via Library of Congress.

May 22, 1906. On this date, two Ohio brothers – Wilbur and Orville Wright – received a patent for their heavier-than-air flying machine. Just three years before, the two bicycle mechanics had made the first controlled, powered flight. The Wrights wrote in their patent that their airplane design:

… provide[s] means for guiding the machine both vertically and horizontally … combining lightness, strength, convenience of construction, and certain other advantages.

Blue bottle fly

By in Today's Image | 14 hours ago
Photo credit: Tosca Yemoh Zanon

Photo credit: Tosca Yemoh Zanon. Thank you Tosca!

They’re ubiquitous at this time of the year. Who looks closely at a fly? Well, EarthSky Facebook friend Tosca Yemoh Zanon did.

Waxing moon near ringed planet Saturn on May 22

By in Tonight | 17 hours ago
The waxing gibbous moon is near the ringed planet Saturn on May 22

The waxing gibbous moon is near the ringed planet Saturn on May 22

You’ll find the bright moon near the planet Saturn on the evening of May 22, 2013, and the star Spica to the west (right) of the moon and Saturn. Although both Saturn and Spica shine brightly, they’ll be harder than usual to see tonight because of the lunar glare. Can you see them? Binoculars might help, if you have them.

The moon is in a waxing gibbous phase. It’s getting big in the sky, and will turn full on the night of May 24/25. In the Northern hemisphere, we often call this particular full moon the Flower Moon, Rose Moon or Strawberry Moon. The full moon will barely clip the Earth’s penumbral shadow, but this eclipse will be so shallow and faint that’ll be virtually impossible to observe.

Full Flower Moon shines from dusk till dawn on May 24/25

Saturn, the sixth planet outward from the sun, will shine in front of the constellation Virgo until passing out of Virgo and into the constellation Libra in late August/early September 2013. Blue-white Spica, the brightest star in Virgo, contrasts beautifully with golden Saturn, the most distant world that you can easily see with the unaided eye.