Page 4 - Earth

'Devil Comet' 3 times bigger than Mt Everest heading towards Earth; details

It is expected that in April 2024 the comet may be visible to the naked eye

Earth's close shave: Asteroid 2023 TT8 zooms by today, reveals Nasa

Asteroid 2023 TT8 is approaching Earth at 28,525 km/h. It will safely pass at a distance of 2.2 million kilometres. Watch the video to learn more about the asteroid. #asteroid #2023tt8 #earth #nasa

3 astronauts return to Earth after a year, Rubio sets US space record

A NASA astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts returned to Earth on Wednesday after being stuck in space for just over a year. American Frank Rubio set a record for the longest US spaceflight a result of the extended stay. The trio landed in a remote area of Kazakhstan, descending in a Soyuz capsule that was rushed up as a replacement after their original ride was hit by space junk and lost all its coolant while docked to the International Space Station. What should have been a 180-day mission turned into a 371-day stay. Rubio spent more than two weeks longer in space than Mark Vande Hei, who held NASA's previous endurance record for a single spaceflight. Russia holds the world record of 437 days, set in the mid-1990s. The Soyuz capsule that brought Rubio and cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin back was a replacement launched in February. Russian engineers suspect a piece of space junk pierced the radiator of their original capsule late last year, midway through what shoul

NASA's first asteroid samples land on Earth after release from spacecraft

NASA's first asteroid samples fetched from deep space parachuted into the Utah desert Sunday to cap a seven-year journey. In a flyby of Earth, the Osiris-Rex spacecraft released the sample capsule from 63,000 miles (100,000 kilometers) out. The small capsule landed four hours later on a remote expanse of military land, as the mothership set off after another asteroid. Scientists estimate the capsule holds at least a cup of rubble from the carbon-rich asteroid known as Bennu, but won't know for sure until the container is opened. Some spilled and floated away when the spacecraft scooped up too much and rocks jammed the container's lid during collection three years ago. Japan, the only other country to bring back asteroid samples, gathered about a teaspoon in a pair of asteroid missions. The pebbles and dust delivered Sunday represent the biggest haul from beyond the moon. Preserved building blocks from the dawn of our solar system 4.5 billion years ago, the samples will help scienti

Chandrayaan-1 data suggests electrons from Earth forming water on Moon

Scientists analysing the remote sensing data from India's Chandrayaan-1 lunar mission have found that high energy electrons from the Earth may be forming water on the Moon. The team led by researchers from the University of Hawai'i (UH) at Manoa in the US discovered that these electrons in Earth's plasma sheet are contributing to weathering processes -- breaking down or dissolving of rocks and minerals -- on the Moon's surface. The research, published in the journal Nature Astronomy, found that the electrons may have aided the formation of water on the lunar body. Knowing the concentrations and distributions of water on the Moon is critical to understanding its formation and evolution, and to providing water resources for future human exploration, the researchers said. The new finding may also help explain the origin of the water ice previously discovered in the permanently shaded regions of the Moon, they said. Chandrayaan-1 played a crucial role in the discovery of water molecul

Earth outside safe operating space for humanity on most measurements: Study

Earth is exceeding its safe operating space for humanity in six of nine key measurements of its health, and two of the remaining three are headed in the wrong direction, a new study said. Earth's climate, biodiversity, land, freshwater, nutrient pollution and novel chemicals (human-made compounds like microplastics and nuclear waste) are all out of whack, a group of international scientists said in Wednesday's journal Science Advances. Only the acidity of the oceans, the health of the air and the ozone layer are within the boundaries considered safe, and both ocean and air pollution are heading in the wrong direction, the study said. We are in very bad shape, said study co-author Johan Rockstrom, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany. We show in this analysis that the planet is losing resilience and the patient is sick. In 2009, Rockstrom and other researchers created nine different broad boundary areas and used scientific measurements to judge ...

Aditya L1 successfully undergoes third earth-bound manoeuvre, says ISRO

Aditya L1 spacecraft, India's first space-based mission to study the Sun, successfully underwent its third earth-bound manoeuvre in the early hours of Sunday, ISRO said. The space agency's Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) carried out the operation. "The third Earth-bound manoeuvre (EBN#3) is performed successfully from ISTRAC, Bengaluru. ISRO's ground stations at Mauritius, Bengaluru, SDSC-SHAR and Port Blair tracked the satellite during this operation," the Indian Space Research Organisation ISRO) said in a post on social media platform X. The new orbit attained is 296 km x 71767 km, it said, adding the next manoeuvre is scheduled on September 15, around 2 am. Aditya-L1 is the first Indian space-based observatory that will study the Sun from a halo orbit around the first Sun-Earth Lagrangian point (L1), which is located roughly 1.5 million km from the Earth. The first and second earth-bound manoeuvres were successfully performed on September 3 and 5, respectively.

4 astronauts return to Earth in SpaceX capsule to wrap up 6-month mission

Four astronauts returned to Earth early Monday after a six-month stay at the International Space Station. Their SpaceX capsule parachuted into the Atlantic off the Florida coast. Returning were NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Warren Woody Hoburg, Russia's Andrei Fedyaev and the United Arab Emirates' Sultan al-Neyadi, t he first person from the Arab world to spend an extended time in orbit. Before departing the space station, they said they were craving hot showers, steaming cups of coffee and the ocean air since arriving in March. Their homecoming was delayed a day because of poor weather at the splashdown locations. SpaceX launched their replacements over a week ago. Another crew switch will occur later this month with the long-awaited homecoming of two Russians and one American who have been up there an entire year. Their stay was doubled after their Soyuz capsule leaked all of its coolant and a new craft had to be launched. Between crew swaps, the space station is home to se

Space junk on Moon will rise with future missions, but who will clean it up

With more countries landing on the Moon, people back on Earth will have to think about what happens to all the landers, waste and miscellaneous debris left on the lunar surface and in orbit

NASA temporarily loses contact with Voyager 2 after entering wrong commands

NASA recently lost contact with Voyager 2, which is currently located more than 12.3 billion miles away from the Earth. It took NASA 18 hours for signals to reach Earth from that distance

NASA lab hopes to find life's building blocks in Asteroid Bennu sample

NASA will analyse the sample once it returns to earth, to help us understand the origins of the solar system. Bennu orbits the Sun at an average distance of about 105 million miles

July 2023 likely to be the warmest month on record, NASA scientist claims

He said it will be the hottest month in "hundreds, if not thousands, of years." The US space agency observed a spike in the temperature when the super El Nino event hit during the 2015-16 winter

Indian Ocean's 'gravity hole' opens doors to secrets of Earth's origin

According to a study, the 'gravity hole' took its current shape around 20 million years ago and will likely last millions more

Ozone layer not healing as fast as expected, surface UV radiation rising

The ozone layer is not healing as quickly as expected, leading to higher levels of surface ultraviolet (UV) radiation in recent years, according to a study. Despite projections that the ozone layer would fully recover by mid-century, researchers found rising UV radiation levels in the tropics and northern mid-latitudes after 2010, posing risks to human health and the environment. "Our analysis shows disturbed ozone levels and enhanced surface UV radiation for more than a decade after 2010," said study lead author Yan Xia of Beijing Normal University, China. "The slower recovery of stratospheric ozone is largely unexpected," Xia said in a statement. The study, published in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences, analysed satellite data and model simulations to assess long-term changes in ozone and surface UV levels around the globe. "We observed a decrease in ozone levels and an increase in UV radiation over latitudes between 30 degrees South-60 degrees North after 2010," Xia

Earth is in danger zone in nearly all ecological ways, says study

Earth has pushed past seven out of eight scientifically established safety limits and into the danger zone, not just for an overheating planet that's losing its natural areas, but for well-being of people living on it, according to a new study. The study looks not just at guardrails for the planetary ecosystem but for the first time it includes measures of justice, which is mostly about preventing harm for countries, ethnicities and genders. The study by the international scientist group Earth Commission published in Wednesday's journal Nature looks at climate, air pollution, phosphorus and nitrogen contamination of water from fertilizer overuse, groundwater supplies, fresh surface water, the unbuilt natural environment and the overall natural and human-built environment. Only air pollution wasn't quite at the danger point globally. Air pollution is dangerous at local and regional levels, while climate was beyond the harmful levels for humans in groups but not quite past the safety

Why Galilean moons, not Mars

In the pursuit of settling humans beyond Earth, wouldn't it be better to explore other worlds that are less hostile than Mars?

World Earth Day 2023: Top 7 Travel Tips For Eco-Conscious Holiday

This World Earth Day 2023 make a guarantee to yourself to add your contribution to the environment in the manner you can

Old NASA satellite expected to fall to Earth this week, may pose low danger

An old NASA satellite is expected to fall to Earth this week, but experts tracking the spacecraft say chances are low it will pose any danger. The defunct science satellite known as Rhessi will plummet through the atmosphere Wednesday night, according to NASA and the Defense Department. NASA said Tuesday that the reentry location is not being disclosed, given lingering uncertainty over when and where it might go down. Most of the 660-pound (300-kilogram) satellite should burn up upon return, but some parts are expected to survive. The space agency said in a statement the risk of anyone on Earth being harmed by plunging satellite pieces is low" about 1-in-2,467. Rhessi short for the Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager rocketed into orbit in 2002 to study the sun. Before being shut down in 2018 because of communication problems, the satellite observed solar flares as well as coronal mass ejections from the sun. It captured images in high-energy X-rays and gamma r

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Less than 1% of earth has safe levels of air pollution, study finds

Air quality is particularly worrisome in regions such as southern Asia and eastern Asia, where more than 90% of days had PM2.5 concentrations above the 15 microgram threshold