A newly discovered asteroid, about 10-meters (34 feet) wide, flew past Earth well withing the orbit of the Moon on December 19, 2015. After a much bigger, 650-meter (0.33 miles) wide asteroid that flew past Earth at about 1.3 LD on October 31, this is the second…
NASA scientists have discovered new properties of the Moon's exosphere – a thin layer of gas surrounding the Moon that's about 25-trillionth the density of Earth’s atmosphere. Their data reveals that meteoroids cause an increase in two key elements in…
The Philippines archipelago suffered another hit of severe weather, as heavy rainfalls battered the area on December 19, 2015. The government declared a state of national calamity, following a rising threat of aggravating floods across the region previously affected…
A shallow earthquake registered by the USGS as M6.2 hit Vanuatu at 02:10 UTC on December 19, 2015. The agency is reporting a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles). According to the USGS, the epicenter was located 128km (80mi) N of Isangel and 135km (84mi) ESE of Port-Vila,…
In this composite video, comprising infra-red data from the geostationary satellites of EUMETSAT and NOAA, you can see the weather situation over the eastern Pacific Ocean, South America, the Atlantic Ocean and areas of western and southern Africa from January to…
Scientists from Australian National University (ANU) have discovered that the temperature in the lower mantle varies much more than previously thought. Lower mantle, which lies 3 000 km (1 864 miles) below the Earth's crust, has greater temperature differences…
The 2015 ongoing drought in Cuba has now severely affected about 87 000 tons of country's year rice production, the Ministry of Agriculture (MINAG) stated on December 14, 2015. The drought conditions of this year have now been regarded as the worst over the last…
A strong earthquake with recorded magnitude of M6.4 (USGS) hit Chiapas, Mexico at 19:49 UTC on December 17, 2015. The agency is reporting a depth of 96.9 km (60.2 miles). EMSC is reporting M6.4 at a depth of 120 km (74.5 miles). According to the USGS, the epicenter…
Sky watchers are observing an outbreak of polar stratospheric clouds or PSCs around the Arctic Circle, SpaceWeather reports. Unlike normal grey-white clouds, which hug Earth's surface at altitudes of only 5 to 10 km (3.1 – 6.2 miles), PSCs float through the…
New activity/unrest was observed at 7 volcanoes from December 9 – 15, 2015. During the same period, ongoing activity was reported for 11 volcanoes. New activity/unrest: Etna, Sicily (Italy) | Fuego, Guatemala | Kanlaon, Philippines | Masaya, Nicaragua |…
