• Major coral bleaching phenomena now spreads globally, NOAA reports

    A third global coral bleaching event was announced by the US National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on October 8, 2015. The event is expected to be enhanced by the strong El Nino, and will impact about 38% of the world's coral reefs by the end…

  • Stephen Crothers: General Relativity – A case study in numerology

    For many people, Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity lies hidden behind an impenetrable wall of complicated mathematics, superposed upon the widespread misconception that only those smarter than the average bear, with a penchant for doing long sums, can…

  • Blue hazes and small regions of water ice found on Pluto

    The first color images of Pluto's atmospheric hazes, provided last week by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft show the hazes scatter blue light, NASA announced on October 8, 2015. New Horizons has also detected small, exposed regions of water ice on Pluto, using…

  • Night sky guide for October 2015

    Newly discovered comet C/2013 US10 Catalina may reach naked eye visibility on October 1, 2015; it will continue to brighten and could reach magnitude 5 by November 6. Draconid meteor shower is scheduled to peak on October 8 with only about 10 meteors per hour. The…

  • Asteroid Impact Mission (AIM): Deflecting asteroids to protect Earth

    Our planet is constantly bombarded by small asteroids that try to penetrate its protective atmosphere. The vast majority don't get through, but larger asteroids could pose a threat. Understanding better the surface and internal structure of asteroids is crucial…

  • Electrical geology of Pluto and Comet 67P

    NASA's New Horizons mission to the dwarf planet Pluto continues to provide planetary scientists with new challenges and deepening mysteries. Likewise, the Rosetta mission to comet 67P has revealed startling cometary phenomena that conventional theory cannot…