Cosmology

I was socked in by low clouds and fog at home but I noticed that a few mountains had managed to work themselves clear.  I decided to head up to Mount Magazine (highest pt in AR) and sure enough it was completely clear except for a few high clouds. I saw a lot of meteors but only one fireball. I caught over 20.. heres the best.  The rest can be viewed on my website -   www.realclearwx.com Read Full Story

The 2009 Geminid meteor shower is producing meteors visible every few minutes if you have clear skies tonight.   The photos of the meteors were taken before and after midnight the night of December 13/14 from Belmar, New Jersey, USA.   The Geminid meteor shower occurs every year at this time and are named after the constellation Gemini, from which the meteors appear to radiate.   All photos taken night of December 13 and December 14 in Belmar, New Jersey, USA by Mike Black. Read Full Story

meteor shower december 13th This is the annual shower of “shooting stars” that appear to emanate from the constellation of Gemini (however, they are NOT stars, just fragments of dust and rock debris burning up in the Earth’s atmosphere and they are also completely unrelated to the stars we describe as Gemini). Nevertheless, the Geminids is a sky event well worth making an effort for. You MAY see a wonderful display of streaks of light across your sky, if you are blessed with dark and... Read Full Story

Sky News Intense Geminid Meteor Shower Peaks Tonight National Geographic Late tonight is the peak of the year's most prolific annual cosmic fireworks show—the Geminid meteor shower (Geminids picture). The meteor shower has been growing in intensity in recent decades and should be an even better holiday treat than usual this … 'Gem' of a meteor shower underway msnbc.com Geminid meteor shower may light Iowa sky tonight DesMoinesRegister.com Catch a shooting star — Geminid meteor... Read Full Story

Meteor  Shower 2009 - Meteor  Shower December 2009 - December 2009 Meteor  Shower - Geminids Meteor  The Geminids Meteor Consume is quasi to added meteor showers in that it takes its charge from the design from where it seems to initiate. However most meteor showers that I treat during the period are the conclusion of a comet's junk particles or meteoroids that survey the comet's cavity around our Sun and hit Earth's weather at the equal instant each assemblage. The Geminids Meteor Ablution... Read Full Story

Scientists are scanning the skies to find the source of cosmic rays, and not all of them are Doctor Doom. Cosmic rays are hugely energetic particles slamming into our utter atmosphere, unleashing showers of radiations and particle products in the process, and incidentally acting as proof that the anti-LHC crowd don't know what they're talking about (cosmic rays have energies so far in excess of our abilities they make mechanical particle accelerators look like a small string pulled by a... Read Full Story

Time! In the search for life in the universe, time and the sheer scale of the cosmos are enemies of our all too brief human-life span. A few basic facts provide a startling and eye-opening perspective on both our mortality and the obstacles confronting our search for life beyond the Solar System.  A prime target for our early efforts to find a twin Earth is our nearest star system, Alpha Centauri, 4.4 million light years away, which means that light (or an extraterrestrial message) takes 4.4... Read Full Story

Astronomers have found a previously-unseen kind of star explosion they think may have originated from an unusually large stellar body. This type star explosion has been speculated upon, but is has never before been witnessed. This was like any other supernova, which typically signals the end of a star's life, but this star initially might have had 200 times the mass of our own sun. This supernova, called SN2007bi, was spotted back in 2007 in a nearby dwarf galaxy. Scientists could tell... Read Full Story

James Cameron’s new movie Avatar depicts a gas giant with a habitable moon, Pandora, around it. Could there be real habitable planets orbiting among the three stars of the Alpha Centauri system? What are the odds that a "Pandora," really exists?  With the diminishing odds that our solar system supports advanced forms of life, the nearest stars become ever more attractive candidates for discovery. And among the stars with possible habitable planets is the Alpha Centauri triple star system... Read Full Story

If Earth had been slightly smaller and less massive, it would not have plate tectonics - the forces that move continents and build mountains. And without plate tectonics, complex life might never have had the climate stability needed gained a foothold on our world, according to research by astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.  "Plate tectonics are essential to life as we know it," said Diana Valencia of Harvard University. "Our calculations show that bigger is... Read Full Story