The discovery of hundreds of giant comets in the outer planetary system over the last two decades means that these objects pose a much greater hazard to life than asteroids, a team of astronomers from Armagh Observatory and the University of Buckingham report. The…
NASA's Cassini spacecraft made its 22nd and the final close flyby of Saturn's moon Enceladus on December 19, 2015 at 17:49 UTC and will now continue to observe the moon from a much greater distance. The spacecraft passed Enceladus at a distance of 4 999 km…
Residents of China are experiencing another wave of severe smog pollution since December 18, 2015. The smog conditions have prompted Beijing authorities to issued its second red alert in the history, as hazardous conditions have been expected to last more than three…
In a new study published today in the Journal of Geophysical Research, Japanese scientists claim they have solved the mystery of auroral breakups – the formation of auroral substorms and the sudden bursts of brightness. The study overthrows existing theories about…
Shiveluch volcano in the east of Russia erupted on December 21, 2015, raising ash columns up to 5 km (16 404 feet) above the sea level, the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) reported. Orange alert level remained in effect. Hot avalanches from the…
A landslide at Sanjeevayyangar in Thatichetalpalem area, Visakhapatnam, India killed four people and left numerous injured on December 20, 2015. A large boulder fell from a small hill nearby in the early morning hours (local time) and left 3 people buried alive…
An active region currently positioned behind the northeast limb erupted with two M-class solar flares by 10:19 UTC on December 21, 2015. The first event started at 00:52, peaked at 01:03 as M2.8 and ended at 01:11 UTC. The second event started at 10:09, peaked at…
A halo Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) generated by December 16th C6.6 solar flare has reached our planet on December 19 causing enhanced solar wind conditions, prolonged period of the southward magnetic field and planetary geomagnetic storms reaching G2 Moderate…
A massive landslide hit an industrial park in Shenzhen city of south China's Guangdong Province on Sunday, December 20, 2015, leaving at least 91 people missing. According to Xinhua, police received the report of the landslide at 11:40 (local time) which took…
Severe to extreme heat conditions have wrapped southern Australia as a hot air mass settled across the region since December 17, 2015. A number of fires have wreaked havoc across the affected areas and firefighters struggle to contain them. Extremely hot conditions…
