A newly discovered asteroid designated 2017 WA14 flew past Earth at a distance of 0.25 LD / 0.00063 AU (~94 246 km / 58 562 miles) on November 21, 2017. It was the second known near-Earth asteroid flyby within 1 lunar distance on November 21 and the second within 40…
Researchers using NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale mission (MMS) discovered tornado-like swirls of plasma create a magnetosphere tumultuous enough to let harmful high-energy particles from the Sun slip into near-Earth space. The discovery is important for…
A bright fireball streaked through the night sky over Japan around 12:30 UTC (21:30 JST) on November 21, 2017. The object was visible for a few seconds before it disintegrated in a bright flash. The event was witnessed by people from both east and west coast of…
A small asteroid designated 2017 WW1 will flyby Earth at a distance of 0.37 LD / 0.00094 AU (~140 621 km / 87 378 miles) at 19:18 UTC on November 21, 2017. This is 50th known asteroid to flyby Earth within 1 lunar distance since the start of the year. 2017 WW1 was…
When our Sun erupts with giant explosions—such as bursts of radiation called solar flares—we know they can affect space throughout the solar system as well as near Earth. But monitoring their effects requires having observatories in many places with many…
Climate scientists studying three decades of ozone measurements from seven satellites see a positive trend in global recovery after international efforts to curb ozone-depleting substances. The part of Earth’s atmosphere with high concentrations of ozone gas…
An international team of astronomers led by Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) has made a bizarre discovery; a star that just keeps shining. Supernovae, the explosions of stars, have been observed in the thousands and in all cases they marked the death of a star. But in…
A temperate Earth-sized planet has been discovered only 11 light-years from the Solar System by a team using ESO’s unique planet-hunting HARPS instrument. The new world has the designation Ross 128 b and is now the second-closest temperate planet to be…
The Leonid meteor shower is a major meteor shower (Class I), running annually from November 5 to December 3. This year, it will reach its maximum rate of activity on the night of November 17 and the morning of November 18. The maximum rate of meteors expected to be…
An international team of astronomers, including a University of Southampton expert, has discovered a new type of explosion in a distant galaxy. The explosion, called PS1-10adi, seems to prefer active galaxies that house supermassive black holes consuming the gas and…
