A spectacular and dramatic ultraviolet auroras on Jupiter is generated by charged particles escaping its volcanic moon Io, according to a new NASA study. The origins of the bright blue circular aurora were revealed by the NASA Juno spacecraft, which is currently studying the gas giant from orbit. The Jovian polar light show, also known as the … Read more
Winter Storm Xylia dropped nearly three feet of snow in Colorado over the weekend, but some of the powder had a brown hue instead of being completely white. The National Weather Service (NWS) revealed the discolored snow is actually dust particles that traveled up from Mexico, which is currently experiencing a severe-to-extreme drought. Strong winds … Read more
A mysterious luminous glow visible just before dawn, known as the zodiacal light, could be the result of tiny particles of dust being shed from Mars, NASA claims. The zodiacal light is a faint column of light extending up from the horizon – it is sunlight reflected towards Earth by a cloud of dust particles … Read more
Scientists have identified the source in the sun which produces solar energetic particles that threaten crewed spaceflight, near-Earth satellites and airplanes. A team of US researchers analyzed the composition of particles that flew towards Earth in 2014 and found the same ‘fingerprint’ of plasma that is located low in the sun’s chromosphere – its second … Read more
How important is the presence of liquid water? It is now widely believed that Mars holds a reasonably large volume of water. However, the surface of the planet is so cold, this water exists only as ice. In order for life to exist on a planet, many scientists believe it is essential for the world … Read more
‘The beauty of nature’: Stunning light pillars illuminate the night sky over Nebraska due to a strange optical illusion Meteorologist Bill Taylor photographed the phenomenon over North Platte The light columns are seen in calm conditions when ice crystals float in the air Acting like thousands of mirrors, the crystals reflect light such as from lamps … Read more
Wearing three layers of face coverings can help protect you against infection with the novel coronavirus. Public health experts say this does not mean wearing three masks at a time. Multiple masks may offer a measure of protection, but you will also be more likely to fiddle with an additional mask, and it makes it … Read more
The Ganges River is one of the biggest rivers in the world, providing water for a whopping half a billion people. But a worrying new study has warned that the river, with the combined flows of the Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers, could be responsible for up to three billion microplastic particles entering the Bay of Bengal … Read more
Every year, an estimated eight million tons of plastic is dumped into our oceans, threatening the lives of fish, seabirds and marine mammals. Now, a new study suggests that the key to clearing our oceans of plastic may lie in seagrass. Seagrass forms so-called ‘Neptune balls’ – oval orbs made from the base of leaves … Read more
First invented in the 1980s by Chuck Hull, an engineer and physicist, 3D printing technology – also called additive manufacturing – is the process of making an object by depositing material, one layer at a time. Similarly to how an inkjet printer adds individual dots of ink to form an image, a 3D printer adds … Read more