Posts by 

Kelly Kizer Whitt

Martin Rees and Frederick Lamb on humanity’s fate

From nuclear weapons to biowarfare to cyberattacks, humanity has much to overcome. Martin Rees and Frederick Lamb discuss the obstacles we must face as we look forward to humanity's future on Earth.

New Horizons passes milestone distance 50 AU

On April 17, 2021, the New Horizons spacecraft passed 50 astronomical units - 50 times Earth's distance from the sun - while speeding toward interstellar space. It also captured an image of another earthly spacecraft, even farther out.

Moon-Mars occultation, from India

Some lucky skywatchers in Southeast Asia saw the moon pass in front of Mars on Saturday, April 17, 2021. Check out these images from EarthSky readers!

Before-and-after of asteroid Bennu’s sample site

During its final flyby this month, the spacecraft OSIRIS-REx took an image of the location where it collected a sample from asteroid Bennu's surface. It'll return to Earth 2 years from now, providing scientists with clues to the creation of our solar system.

Is Jupiter a key to finding dark matter?

Jupiter's large size and cool core make it an excellent target in the search for dark matter. A team of scientists is analyzing gamma-ray data from the Fermi Telescope looking for signs of the elusive substance.

Astronaut Soichi Noguchi sets a new space record

Congratulations to Japan's astronaut Soichi Noguchi, who this month was awarded the Guinness World Record for the longest time between spacewalks: 15 years and 214 days.

Raindrop sizes similar on Earth and alien worlds

Whether the raindrop is made of water on Earth, methane on Titan, or liquid iron on an alien world, a new study shows that all raindrops will fall to the ground at a similar size.

Hubble spots double quasars in merging galaxies

New images of the oldest known pairs of quasars, farthest and oldest yet seen, show that their home galaxies are colliding.

Juno finds a new auroral feature on Jupiter

NASA's Juno spacecraft - whose mission in orbit around Jupiter was recently extended to 2025 - has been used to discover a rapidly expanding auroral ring at the very fringes of the Jovian magnetosphere.

Interstellar visitor Borisov could be 1st truly pristine comet yet seen

Comet 2I/Borisov is the 2nd known object to pass near our sun from outside our solar system. Its 2019 pass near our sun might have been its first-ever interaction with a star. If so, it's among the most pristine, or unspoiled, objects yet known.

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