• M-class solar flares erupting behind the Sun’s northeast limb

    An active region currently positioned behind the northeast limb erupted with two M-class solar flares by 10:19 UTC on December 21, 2015. The first event started at 00:52, peaked at 01:03 as M2.8 and ended at 01:11 UTC. The second event started at 10:09, peaked at…

  • Severe heatwave conditions spark fires across southern Australia

    Severe to extreme heat conditions have wrapped southern Australia as a hot air mass settled across the region since December 17, 2015. A number of fires have wreaked havoc across the affected areas and firefighters struggle to contain them. Extremely hot conditions…

  • 10-m wide asteroid makes a very close call with Earth

    A newly discovered asteroid, about 10-meters (34 feet) wide, flew past Earth well withing the orbit of the Moon on December 19, 2015. After a much bigger, 650-meter (0.33 miles) wide asteroid that flew past Earth at about 1.3 LD on October 31, this is the second…

  • Over 40 deaths across the Philippines as flood threats rise again

    The Philippines archipelago suffered another hit of severe weather, as heavy rainfalls battered the area on December 19, 2015. The government declared a state of national calamity, following a rising threat of aggravating floods across the region previously affected…

  • Nacreous clouds appear around the Arctic Circle

    Sky watchers are observing an outbreak of polar stratospheric clouds or PSCs around the Arctic Circle, SpaceWeather reports. Unlike normal grey-white clouds, which hug Earth's surface at altitudes of only 5 to 10 km (3.1 – 6.2 miles), PSCs float through the…