• Earth-directed coronal mass ejection expected

    A coronal mass ejection (CME) is heading toward Earth and it could deliver a glancing blow to our planet’s magnetic field on Sept. 22th around 23:00 UT. There are no large coronal holes on the Earth-facing side of the sun. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for

  • How can we see the Sun and the Moon at the same time?

    Many people only notice our Moon at night, when there is considerably more contrast between the Moon and the night sky. Being the second brightest object in the sky (after the Sun, of course) and with Venus visible during the day to trained eyes, it’s no real

  • Typhoon Roke forcing mass evacuations in Japan

    Dangerous Typhoon Roke, now the equivalent of a Category 3 hurricane, is set to be the strongest typhoon to hit Japan so far this year. Though the typhoon is expected to weaken to a Category 1 hurricane before roaring onshore over south-central Honshu Wednesday, it

  • China floods drive one million from their homes

    Torrential rain has triggered major flooding in China, where at least 57 people have died and more than one million have been evacuated. The worst of the flooding has struck the provinces of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Henan. A Ministry of Civil Affairs statement said that

  • The mission to find the missing lunar module

    Where is the Apollo 10 Lunar lander module? It’s somewhere out there — orbiting the Sun — and there’s a new initiative to try and find it!The Apollo 10 mission launched on May 18, 1968 and was a manned “dry run” for its successor Apollo 11, testing all of

  • Two typhoons churn in the West Pacific basin

    Typhoon Roke (Onyok) is the seventh typhoon and fifth major typhoon of the 2011 Asia Pacific typhoon season. The storm is currently located about 280 nautical miles south of Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan and is a category 3 typhoon with a maximum sustained wind

  • Understanding the M6.9 Sikkim earthquake

    A magnitude 6.9 earthquake hit Sikkim, India at 12:40 UTC on September 18, 2011, at a depth of 20.7 km. The earthquake caused victims and huge damage in Sikkim (India), India and Nepal. It was also well felt in Bangladesh. The quake occurred near the boundary…

  • STEREO-SOHO detected six coronal mass ejections

    On Sept. 19th, the STEREO-SOHO fleet of spacecraft surrounding the sun detected six coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Two of the clouds rapidly dissipated. The remaining four, however, are still intact and billowing through the inner solar system. Click to view a movie of

  • Amazing timelapse video from the Space Station

    Science educator James Drake built this amazing timelapse video from the perspective of the International Space Station as it flew over North and South America. He created this video by downloading a series of 600 photographs that were available online at the Gateway