I'm a dedicated researcher, journalist, and editor at The Watchers. With over 20 years of experience in the media industry, I specialize in hard science news, focusing on extreme weather, seismic and volcanic activity, space weather, and astronomy, including near-Earth objects and planetary defense strategies. You can reach me at teo /at/ watchers.news.
A newly-discovered asteroid designated 2020 YS2 flew past Earth at a distance of 0.23 LD / 0.00058 AU (86 766 km / 53 914 miles) from the center of our planet at 06:04 UTC on December 20, 2020. This is the 106th known asteroid to flyby Earth within 1 lunar distance…
A strong eruption took place at Sheveluch volcano, Kamchatka, Russia at 00:35 UTC on December 22, 2020, with volcanic ash rising up to 8.5 km (28 000 feet) above sea level. As a result, KVERT raised the Aviation Color Code to Red at 01:22 UTC. According to visual…
A new paroxysmal eruptive episode started at Etna volcano, Italy on the morning of December 21, 2020. The Aviation Color Code has been raised to Red at 09:34 UTC. According to the Etna Volcano Observatory, a strong intensification of strombolian activity started at…
A new eruption has started within Kīlauea’s summit caldera, Hawai'i at 07:36 UTC on December 21, 2020. Accordingly, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) has elevated Kīlauea's volcano alert level to WARNING and its aviation color code to RED. The…
The Volcanic Alert Level for Mount Ruapehu has been raised to 2 and the Aviation Color Code to Yellow on December 21, 2020, following an increase in Crater Lake temperature and the largest measured gas output in the past two decades. The Volcanic Alert Level…
A rare great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn will take place at 18:11 UTC on December 21, with the two planets passing just 6.1 arcminutes (about one-fifth the apparent width of the moon) of each other, as seen from Earth. Coincidentally, the December solstice is…
A strong and shallow earthquake registered by the JMA as M6.3 hit near the east coast of Honshu, Japan at 17:23 UTC on December 20, 2020 (02:23 JST, December 21). The agency is reporting a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles). USGS is reporting M6.2 at a depth of 10 km; EMSC…
An unusually large waterspout formed in the Gulf of Paria, off Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago at around 14:50 LT on Friday, December 19, 2020. The waterspout remained out to the sea, as the thunderstorm it was attached to moved westward toward Venezuela. No…
The snow was falling at an unprecedented rate over parts of Japan this week, stranding more than 2 000 vehicles and forcing authorities to deploy the military to help trapped people. In addition, more than 10 000 homes were left without electricity. JMA said that…
More than 30 000 earthquakes have been registered in the Bransfield Strait, an ocean channel between the South Shetland Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula, since the end of August 2020, according to the University of Chile. The strait is now expanding 15 cm (6…
