menu
close
subscribe

Enjoying EarthSky? Subscribe.

272,985 subscribers and counting ...

Video: Watching solstices and equinoxes from space

By in Earth | Space | 2 days ago
By

See how sunlight falls on Earth’s surface during the solstices and equinoxes, and get a better understanding of why Earth’s tilt causes the seasons.

Bees understand the concept of zero

By in Earth | Human World | 4 days ago
By

Scientists just learned that honeybees can understand the concept of zero. That puts bees in an elite club of clever animals – some birds, monkeys, humans – that can grasp the abstract notion of nothing.

Gulf of Mexico 2018 dead zone forecast

By in Earth | Human World | 7 days ago
By

NOAA scientists project that this summer’s Gulf of Mexico hypoxic zone or ‘dead zone’ – an area of low to no oxygen that can kill marine life – will be about the size of Connecticut.

From pulsar to magnetar? Or vice versa?

By in Space | 1 week ago
By

Since the 1970s, scientists have treated pulsars and magnetars as 2 distinct populations of objects. Now they think they might be stages in a single object’s evolution. A new NASA ScienceCast has more.

Explore 20 years of Earth data

By in Earth | Human World | 2 weeks ago
By

From NASA, 2 decades of planetary change. See detailed views of volcanoes fuming, hurricanes flooding, dams being built, wildfires sweeping across landscapes and more.

Small asteroid zipped through Earth’s atmosphere

By in Earth | Space | 3 weeks ago
By

The IAU confirmed that the asteroid originally designated ZLAF9B2 – now called 2018 LA – disintegrated at a height of 30 miles (50 km) over South Africa on June 2, 2018.

2018 Atlantic hurricane season outlook

By in Earth | Human World | 3 weeks ago
By

Atlantic hurricane season starts today. Experts are forecasting a 75% chance that the 2018 season will be near- or above-normal, thanks in part to a weak El Niño.

Top 10 new species 2018

By in Earth | 3 weeks ago
By

This year’s list includes a towering tree and a tiny, single-celled protist, as well as a rare great ape and the fossil of an Australian marsupial lion.

Scientists track major freshwater change

By in Earth | Human World | 4 weeks ago
By

‘What we are witnessing is major hydrologic change,’ they said. Over 14 years, Earth’s wet land areas got wetter. Dry areas got drier. They also reported multiple hot spots resulting from groundwater depletion.

Fly through the Orion Nebula

By in Space | 4 weeks ago
By

Take 3 minutes to fly through the spectacular Orion Nebula, in this new 3D visualization from NASA.

A tiny helicopter for Mars 2020

By in Space | 4 weeks ago
By

“After the Wright Brothers proved 117 years ago that powered, sustained, and controlled flight was possible here on Earth, another group of American pioneers may prove the same can be done on another world.”

Scientists discover a new type of magnetic event

By in Earth | Space | 1 month ago
By

They were working with spacecraft data, using a new technique to analyze it. They found a new type of magnetic event in the realm just beyond the boundary of Earth’s magnetic field.

Are there geysers on Europa?

By in Space | 1 month ago
By

On Monday, scientists announced new evidence suggesting water vapor plumes on Jupiter’s moon Europa. Could we send a spacecraft through one, to test whether Europa’s liquid ocean – buried below its icy crust – might support life?

Fly over a Mars crater

By in Space | 1 month ago
By

Fly over Mars’ Neukum Crater, in this video based on images taken by ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft.

New science from Jupiter

By in Space | 1 month ago
By

When the Juno spacecraft recently flew over the poles of Jupiter, researchers were astonished. This 5-minute video from NASA explores the latest discoveries.

Hear the Milky Way Blues

By in Human World | Space | 2 months ago
By

Listen to the sound of our galaxy rotating. The variation of musical pitches portrays the motion of gas as it orbits around the center of our galaxy.

Insight Mars is on its way

By in Human World | Space | 2 months ago
By

The Insight Mars lander is due to set down on Mars’ surface in November, 2018.

Tangled up in blue

By in Today's Image | 2 months ago
By

NASA’s SDO captured the sun’s only visible active region putting on a fine display.

Wall-E and Eva are going to Mars, too

By in Human World | Space | 2 months ago
By

Riding along with the InSight Mars mission, the 2 briefcase-sized CubeSats are designed to demonstrate nearly real-time communications between worlds.

See 15 years of change in the Arctic

By in Earth | 2 months ago
By

Mesmerizing new video, made from 15 years of satellite data, shows the waxing and waning of Arctic ice and snow as the seasons change.