January “king tides” threaten coastal areas worldwide

January “king tides” threaten coastal areas worldwide

High tides will be extra high everywhere around the world this week because the Earth is at perihelion – the point in its orbit at which it is closest to the Sun. Occurring several times a year, king tides happen when the Earth, moon and sun align in a way that

New island emerged off the coast of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany

New island emerged off the coast of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany

An island ground composed of sandbanks emerged in North Sea, 24 km (15 miles) off the coast of Schleswig-Holstein in Germany’s far north. This is the area of a shallow body of water with tidal flats and wetlands. A discernible landmass composed of sandbanks

Second M-class solar flare of the day – M1.0 erupted from AR 1654

Second M-class solar flare of the day – M1.0 erupted from AR 1654

Active Region 1654 erupted with second M-class solar flare of the day. On January 11, 2013 at 15:07 UTC a moderate solar flare measuring M1.0 was recorded. This latest event started at 14:51, peaked at 15:07 and ended at 15:24 UTC.

Earlier today we had

NASA’s Kepler telescope finds four planets in ‘habitable zone’

NASA’s Kepler telescope finds four planets in ‘habitable zone’

In a continuing hunt for Earth-like planets, NASA’s Kepler space telescope recently announced the discovery of four potential new planets in their Sun’s “habitable zone” among 461 planet candidates discovered by the telescope. These four potential new planets are

Impulsive solar flare measuring M1.2 erupted from AR 1654

Impulsive solar flare measuring M1.2 erupted from AR 1654

A moderate but impulsive M-class solar flare measuring M1.2 erupted from big Active Region 1654 on January 11, 2013 at 09:11 UTC. A Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) is expected as ejecta has been observed exiting the blast area.  A Type II and Type IV Radio Emissions were

Catching Sunlight: Alan Friedman at TEDxBuffalo

Catching Sunlight: Alan Friedman at TEDxBuffalo

Amateur astro-photographer Alan Friedman captures the sun and other stars with humble equipment, in an unlikely place, in a highly developed field. He discusses why he does it, and why it’s important for everyone to be a bit of a DIY upstart. In the spirit of ideas