• A moderate M1.6 solar flare around Sunspot 1513

    Sunspot AR1513 is crackling with impulsive M-class solar flares. A moderate solar flare reaching M1.6 took place at 18:32 UTC Saturday afternoon. The flare was centered around Sunspot 1513. This is second M-class solar flare today.The geomagnetic field is

  • Heavy rains caused mudslides in Aizigou Valley in China

    From Wednesday night to early Thursday morning, downpours lashed Ningnan county in the Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture of Sichuan. The heavy rains caused mudslides around 6:15 am in the Aizigou Valley, where construction workers from Three Gorges Co were staying as

  • Sunspot 1513 generated M1.0 solar flare

    Sunspot 1513 produced a quick M1.0 solar flare at 12:52 UTC on June 30. Sunspots 1513 and 1515 have Beta-Gamma magnetic configurations that harbors energy for strong solar flares. NOAA forecasters estimate a 40% chance of continued M-flares during the next 24 hours

  • Last minute of June 30, 2012 will last 61 seconds

    The world will get a well deserved long weekend, but don't do big plans for the holidays because it last only one second longer. Additional second will be added to the world's atomic clocks to keep pace with the Earth's slowing spin on its axis.On Saturday,

  • Almost vanished Poplar Island is slowly reappearing

    The crust under the Chesapeake Bay is sinking, while sea levels are rising. Made of clay and silt, the islands erode quickly, and many have disappeared altogether. Small islands were once a nesting  habitat for water birds and turtles, while the larger islands

  • Saving the Baltic Sea

    The Baltic Sea, the largest body of brackish water (brackish water is slightly salty water) on Earth, was considered healthy as late as the 1950s. Since then, the Baltic’s health has seriously deteriorated due to waste from expanding industry and large urban areas,

  • Batu Tara volcano emits plume

    Active since 2006, Batu Tara continues to puff away. A thin volcanic plume streams northwest from the cloud-shrouded volcano. Based on analyses of satellite imagery, the Darwin VAAC reported that on 19 June ash plumes from Batu Tara rose to an altitude of 2.4 km

  • Saharan dust over Canary Islands and Madeira

    Saharan dust had spread across the Canary Islands and Madeira. The dust started blowing a couple of days earlier in Algeria and Mali, and traveled hundreds of kilometers toward the northwest. Over the Atlantic Ocean, the dust made a giant turn toward the east, in the