Updated April 9, 2020. U.S. federal government to end funding for COVID-19 testing sites this Friday. African Americans more likely to get COVID-19. What’s next after stay-at-home orders are lifted? Worries about a global “poverty tsunami.” Tweets from the frontlines. More.
A health care worker talks with a patient at a COVID-19 testing site in Philadelphia. This site will close Friday when the federal government ends support for this site and others around the country, according to NPR's April 8 update Federal Support Ends For Coronavirus Testing Sites As Pandemic Peak Nears. Image via Matt Slocum/ AP/ NPR.
BepiColombo is a spacecraft on a roundabout journey to Mercury. It’ll sweep near Earth tonight, using Earth as a gravity slingshot to send it hurtling toward the inner solar system. For most of us, BepiColombo will pass unseen. But people with telescopes might spot it! Charts and more here.
Posted by Eddie Irizarry in Astronomy Essentials | Space|1 day ago
A huge asteroid – (52768) 1998 OR2 – will pass closest to Earth on April 29. Astronomers at Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico begin detailed observations today. Charts, tips – plus how to watch online – here.
Artist's concept of an asteroid passing near Earth.
Since March 14, ozone over Earth’s Arctic has decreased to what’s normally considered ‘ozone hole levels.’ Scientists expect this year’s Arctic hole – the largest ever seen over the Arctic – to close again around mid-April 2020.
With water dropping 150 meters (490 feet) through a thick patch of cloud forest, San Rafael Waterfall was one of Ecuador’s most captivating landscapes and attracted tens of thousands of visitors per year. But on February 2, the water stopped flowing.
Comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) has been fainter during the last few nights. It’s possible it’s disintegrating (as comets sometimes do), although it’s still possible ATLAS will survive. Details here.
Image via Ningbo Education Xinjiang Telescope (NEXT).
This newly discovered fossil is a hugely important find, say scientists. It means that one of our earliest ancestors possibly originated in southern Africa. Read more
The ~2 Ma Homo erectus cranium, DNH 134, from the Drimolen Fossil Hominin site. Image via Matthew V. Caruana/ The Conversation
We’re currently enjoying a “season” of 3 full moon supermoons: March 9, April 7-8 and May 7, 2020. Then we’ll have a “season” of 3 new moon supermoons on September 17, October 16 and November 15, 2020. Supermoon-o-mania, here.
As unlikely as it may sound, Mercury may have once been able to support subsurface microscopic life, according to a new study from the Planetary Science Institute.
Mercury - closest planet to the sun in our solar system - as seen during the first flyby of the MESSENGER spacecraft in 2008. Image via NASA.
Posted by David Callejas in Earth | Human World|7 days ago
We’re at home. How about you? But we just discovered these virtual tours, galleries and live webcams from around the world, which we wanted to share. Stay home, and have some virtual fun …
John Burroughs – born in 1837 – was one of the 1st nature writers. He said: “I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.”
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