• Very strong and deep M6.4 earthquake hits Tarapaca, Chile

    A very strong and deep, M6.4 (USGS) earthquake was registered in Tarapaca region, northern Chile on March 23, 2015 at 04:51 UTC. USGS is reporting depth of 120.9 km (75.1 miles). CSN Chile is reporting M6.3 at a depth of 121 km.Epicenter was located 48 km (30 miles) ESE

  • How is Mars rover Opportunity still alive?

    Today, we review one of the great ongoing mysteries in the history of Mars exploration. In January of 2004, the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity arrived at the red planet about three weeks apart.Due to the extreme dustiness of the Martian environment, it was believed

  • Massive amounts of fresh water, glacial melt pouring into Gulf of Alaska

    Incessant mountain rain, snow and melting glaciers in a comparatively small region of land that hugs the southern Alaska coast and empties fresh water into the Gulf of Alaska would create the sixth largest coastal river in the world if it emerged as a single stream, a r

  • MAVEN detects unexpected aurora and mysterious dust cloud around Mars

    Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft has observed two unexpected phenomena in the Martian atmosphere: an unexplained high-altitude dust cloud and aurora that reaches deep into the Martian atmosphere.The presence of the dust at orbital altitudes from

  • CMEs impact, geomagnetic storms reaching G4 Severe in progress

    A sequence of events led to an Earth-directed asymmetric halo CME on March 15, 2015. The events began with a 14 degree long filament eruption, centered near S24W38, lifting off between 00:45 to 02:00 UTC. This was followed by C2.4 flare at 00:41 UTC and a long duration

  • Space weather highlights for March 5 – 15, 2015

    Region 2297 rotated onto the SE limb on March 5, 2015 and by March 15 it managed to produce a total of 99 C-flares, 24 M-flares and 1 X-flare. From March 8 to 12, it was the only numbered sunspot region on the solar disk and from the end of March 5 to March 16, with jus

  • “Baffling” Mars plumes are electric

    Science news headlines around the world tell of a baffling mystery on the planet Mars. In March of 2012, amateur astronomers spotted enormous plumes jetting from the Martian surface. The plumes were more than 250 km high and several hundreds of kilometers in length.Simi