Teo Blašković founded The Watchers in 2011 and edited it until 2026, covering seismic and volcanic activity, extreme weather, space weather and near-Earth objects. Articles on this page are his archive.
Earthquake swarm and uplift west of Mt. Thorbjorn, Reykjanes Peninsula, Iceland continues on February 1, 2020. However, it is most likely that this activity will stop without any volcanism, the Icelandic Met Office (IMO) said. The last known eruption was during…
February 1 – IC2395 well placed for observation. Across much of the world, the open star cluster IC2395 in Vela will be well placed for observation. It will reach its highest point in the sky at around midnight local time. At a declination of -48°09', it is…
A newly-discovered asteroid designated 2020 BA13 flew past Earth at a distance of 0.51 LD / 0.00132 AU (197 469 km / 122 701 miles) on January 27, 2020. This is the 5th known asteroid to flyby Earth within 1 lunar distance since the start of the year. 2020 BA13…
New activity/unrest was reported for 4 volcanoes from January 22 to 28, 2020. During the same period, ongoing activity was reported for 14 volcanoes. New activity/unrest: Fernandina, Ecuador | Kuchinoerabujima, Ryukyu Islands (Japan) | Reykjanes, Iceland | Taal,…
A piece of space junk, possibly parts of Delta II rocket launched back in 1989, entered Earth's atmosphere at around 06:23 UTC on January 30, 2020, and disintegrated over Los Angeles, California. The event lasted up to 20 seconds. It was recorded from Los…
Moderate effusive and strombolian activity continues from Etna's Voragine crater on January 29, 2020. From January 20 – 26, this activity was accompanied by ash emissions from the New Southeast Crater and Northeast Crater. In addition, moderate seismic…
A strong earthquake registered by the USGS as M6.0 hit Solomon Islands at 13:49 UTC on January 29 (00:49 LT on January 30), 2020. The agency is reporting a depth of 86 km (53 miles). The EMSC is reporting M6.0 at a depth of 95 km (59 miles). This is the second M6+…
A powerful earthquake registered by the USGS as M7.7 hit off the southern coast of Cuba at 19:10 UTC (14:10 LT) on January 28, 2020. The agency is reporting a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles). EMSC is reporting the same magnitude and depth. The epicenter was located 125.9…
A newly discovered asteroid designated 2020 BH6 flew past Earth at a distance of 0.18 LD / 0.00047 AU (70 310 km / 43 689 miles) on January 25, 2020. This is the 4th and the closest asteroid to flyby Earth within 1 lunar distance since the start of the year. The…
According to the Icelandic Met Office (IMO), unusually rapid inflation has been detected at Mt. Thorbjorn on the Reykjanes Peninsula over the past few days, indicating a possible magma accumulation. In addition, an earthquake swarm has been ongoing during the same…
