• Asteroid 2003 SD220 to flyby Earth on Christmas Eve

    The year 2015 seems to have another festive surprise in store for astronomy lovers across the globe. After the Halloween asteroid's close flyby in October, another object will pass by our planet on Christmas Eve. Asteroid 2003 SD220 will fly by Earth at a safe…

  • Strong M4.7 solar flare erupts from Region 2473

    A moderately strong solar flare measuring M4.7 at its peak erupted from Region 2473 at 00:40 UTC on December 23, 2015. The event started at 00:23 and ended at 00:52 UTC. A Type II radio sweep with estimated velocity of 1318 km/s as well as a Type IV radio sweep…

  • Massive earth crack swallows 6 km of road, Paraguay

    A massive earth crack swallowed approximately 6 km (3.7 miles) of the road along the Route III connecting the districts Yby Yaú and Azotey in Paraguay on December 10, 2015. Video credit: Concepción al Día Video credit: Diario HOY According to…

  • Giant comets pose a much greater hazard to life than asteroids

    The discovery of hundreds of giant comets in the outer planetary system over the last two decades means that these objects pose a much greater hazard to life than asteroids, a team of astronomers from Armagh Observatory and the University of Buckingham report. The…

  • Shiveluch erupts sending ash up to 5 km into the air, Russia

    Shiveluch volcano in the east of Russia erupted on December 21, 2015, raising ash columns up to 5 km (16 404 feet) above the sea level, the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) reported. Orange alert level remained in effect. Hot avalanches from the…

  • 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…