During the height of the space race in the 1960s, the US launched a series of satellites designed to study the planet. The six Orbiting Geophysical Observatory (OGO) spacecraft improved our understanding of Earth’s magnetic field, shutting down a few years later. However, one of those forlorn satellites known …
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If you remember even basic elementary school geography, you know that Earth’s surface is mostly water. Scientists have disagreed about how all that water ended up on Earth. Was it all here when the planet formed, or was Earth a dry husk until asteroids and comets delivered water? A …
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A type of meteorite called an enstatite chondrite has similar isotopic composition to terrestrial rocks and thus may be representative of the material that formed Earth. A new study published in the journal Science shows that these meteorites contain sufficient hydrogen to have delivered to Earth at least three times …
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The inner core of our planet is between 1 and 1.3 billion years old, according to new research led by the University of Texas at Austin and Carnegie Institution for Science. Earth’s internal structure: dense solid metallic core, viscous metallic outer core, mantle and silicate based crust. Image credit: NASA. …
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NASA Will Bring SpaceX Dragon Crew Back to Earth August 2 NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley made history in May when they rode the SpaceX Falcon 9 into space and docked the Dragon capsule at the International Space Station (ISS). The pair have been on the station all …
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Scientists Find Anthropogenic Mercury in Earth’s Deepest Oceanic Trenches Two teams of marine biologists have found methylmercury, a potent toxin that bioaccumulates in marine food webs, in sediments and endemic fauna from Mariana, Yap and Kermadec trenches in the Pacific Ocean. A snailfish (bottom left) and small amphipods (center) at …
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Curiosity Spots Earth and Venus from Curiosity Spots Earth and Venus from The Mast Camera (Mastcam) onboard NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity has captured new images of Earth and Venus as seen from the surface of the Red Planet. Two images of the night sky were combined to show Earth and …
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Astronomers Find Evidence of Supernova Just 600 Light-Years from Earth Astronomers have found many awe-inspiring objects in the cosmos, but a pair of astronomers 20 years ago found something just plain confusing. They spotted a straight line of ionized gas in the direction of Ursa Major, which was never really …
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Earth Imaging Satellites Will Hitch a Ride on Upcoming SpaceX Starlink Launches Satellite imaging startup Planet closed a deal to buy Google’s SkySat network in 2017, but it’s not stopping with the existing constellation. Planet aims to become the fastest satellite imaging firm thanks to a new deal with SpaceX. …
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Astronomers Confirm Earth-Like Planet Orbiting Nearest Star Scientists used to wonder if planets were common throughout the universe, and now we know: they are. Observations with ground-based and space telescopes like Kepler and TESS have proven planets are extremely common. There’s even a small, Earth-like planet right next door orbiting …
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