Another Asteroid Passing Earth Tonight

                                                                                                                                                                     Photo: Photos.com

We have a series of visiting asteroids recently. After a one that skirted earth just by 17,000 miles, we have yet another asteroid, about the size of the meteor that exploded over Central Russia's Ural Mountains last month, will be making a close yet safe visit to earth tonight.

Asteroid 2013 EC will be passing by Earth about 246,000 miles away, about 20 times farther out than Asteroid 2012 DA14 that passed by February 15.

The distance makes tonight’s meteor about as far away from us as the moon is — around 1.0 lunar distances. The moon varies between 225,622 miles and 252,088 miles.

The asteroid was discovered on Saturday by astronomers at the Mt. Lemmon Observatory in Arizona, USA.

Read more about it at: Red Orbit
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Russian Meteorite blast released 300 kiliton of energy

The meteorite that blasted shock waves over central Russia is said to have released 300 kiloton of energy, conclude NASA scientists based on the scrutiny of infrasound records. 

Graph credit: isoundhunter

The shock waves on February 15th were recorded by eleven sensors based in Greenland, Africa and Russia. The sensors are part of the global network of 60 infrasound stations maintained by the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO).

The low frequency sound waves produced by the meteorite or the infrasound picture released by isoundhunter (above) shows the spectrum and the resonance of the infrasound waves.

The 300 kiloton of energy is about 20 to 25 times more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped in World War II. However, it is far smaller than Siberia's Tunguska meteor explosion in 1908, which released 10 to 15 megatons of energy (equivalent to the Castle Bravo device, the most powerful atomic bomb tested by the United States).

via Tech News
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Asteroid 2012 DA14 flies past earth safely

While a tiny meteorite weighing 10 tens that crashed in central Russia Friday left over 1,000 injured and shattering and destroying buildings partly, the 150 feet 130,000 ton asteroid 2012 DA14 skirted earth at a distance of 17,000 miles and went by without any damage.

The Asteroid 2012 DA14 was capable of destroying a London sized city had it landed on earth.

Asteroid 2012 DA14 closest approach, passing within 17,000 miles (27,357 kilometers), which is closer than some satellites, was at 7.25 pm, GMT.

The flyby occurred just hours after a much smaller meteor exploded above Russia's Ural Mountains.

Astronomers say the two events were coincidental, and the objects were traveling in opposite directions.

The asteroid delighted astronomers in Australia and elsewhere who watched it zip harmlessly through a clear night sky. 

'It's on its way out,' reported Paul Chodas of NASA.

via Mail Online
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Close asteroid encounter this Friday

Asteroids have been coming close to earth many times in the past - but we've never seen an object this big get so close to Earth. Get ready for Friday's rendezvous with asteroid 2012 DA14.

(Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

On this Friday, just a day after the romantic Valentine day, sky watchers in Eastern Europe, Asia, and Australia will get a chance to see one big rock hurtling through the heavens - One very big rock. 

Compared with other asteroids traveling through space, this one may seem a relative pebble - at half the size of a football field - but for Earth, it will make for a relatively close call.

The asteroid, known as "2012 DA14," will pass inside the ring of Earth's geosynchronous weather and communications satellites this week, coming within just 17,200 miles of the Earth's surface at around 12:30 p.m. PT.

However, there is nothing to worry about, reassures NASA.  Though the impact of an object this size would not be a global catastrophic event, it would surely cause massive and widespread devastation on a regional scale. On June 30, 1908, an asteroid similar to 2012 DA14 did in fact impact Earth, leveling trees for 820 square miles in Tunguska, Russia. These asteroids are serious business and could easily take out an entire city.

via C|net
You may also read: Asteroid 2012 DA14 to intrude inside earth's communication satellite orbit

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Ice found on Mercury: NASA

NASA scientists have confirmed a vast amount of ice at the north pole — on Mercury, the closest planet to the sun.

The ice is thought to be at least 1½ feet (0.3 meters) deep — and possibly as much as 65 feet (20 meters) deep.

The findings are from NASA's Mercury-orbiting probe, Messenger, and the subject of three scientific papers released Thursday by the journal Science.

The frozen water is located in regions of Mercury's north pole that always are in shadows, essentially impact craters. It's believed the south pole harbors ice as well, though there are no hard data to support it. Messenger orbits much closer to the north pole than the south.

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"If you add it all up, you have on the order of 100 billion to 1 trillion metric tons of ice," said David Lawrence of the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University. "The uncertainty on that number is just how deep it goes."

Read more about it at: USA Today
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New Earth-sized planet found

Astronomers have found a planet only an astronomical stone's throw away, at four light years, raising the chances that there is a habitable planet orbiting in Earth's neighbourhood.

Researchers say the newly discovered planet is too close to its sun to support known forms of life - it has a surface temperature estimated at 1200C. But previous studies suggest that when one planet is discovered orbiting a sun there are usually others in the same system.

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The Earth-sized planet, the discovery of which was announced by Stephane Udry and Xavier Dumusque, of the Geneva Observatory, orbits one of the suns in the three-star Centauri system, roughly 40 trillion kilometres away.

Read more: Times Live

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Australia launches world's fastest radio telescope to study the origins of the universe

Australia has launched world's fastest radio telescope in the remote Australian outback, which will exponentially increase astronomers' ability to survey the universe, mapping black holes and shedding new light on the origins of galaxies.

The Australia Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (Askap), with an array of 36 antennas each 40 feet across, started peering into the universe on Friday from a far-flung cattle station in Western Australia state.

The A$152 million (£96m) telescope will "listen" to radio waves from the cosmos that might give astronomers insights into the beginnings of the universe.

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Using new "radio cameras" called phased array feeds, the telescope will be able scan the sky much more rapidly than existing radio telescopes and will give the telescope a field of view about 150 times the area of the full Moon.

Read more: The Telegraph

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Is our Universe coming to a grinding halt?

The end of the world by 2012 and many theories of our universe coming to an end abound rumor filled news every day.

But now a latest and radical theory by academics suggests that time itself could be slowing down - and may eventually grind to a halt altogether.

The latest mind-bending findings - put forward by researchers working at two Spanish universities - proposes that we have all been fooled into thinking the universe is expanding. In fact, they say, time itself is slowing down until eventually, in billions of years time, it will cease altogether.

Read details: Daily Mail

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Strong Solar Storm Hitting Earth

A huge eruption on the Sun has caused the strongest radiation storm since 2005, which is due to hit Earth on Tuesday, Jan 24, possibly causing widespread communications interference. The eruption occurred late on January 22, 2012 sending a burst of energized solar particles towards Earth at about 5 million miles an hour (2,000 km per second), as reported by Mashable, quoting NASA.

SpaceWeather.com ranks this geomagnetic storm “strong” or S3, meaning it may expose passengers in high-flying aircraft to radiation risk, disrupt satellite operations and degrade HF radio communications.

There is no risk to people on Earth, but polar flights are expected to be re-routed as a precaution measure. Furthermore, NASA expects “no adverse effects” for the six astronauts aboard the International Space Station.

Read more: Mashable

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Astronomers Discover Three Alien Planets Smaller Than Earth

[ via Mashable ] 12 Jan

Using the data from NASA’s Kepler mission, astronomers have found three alien planets smaller than Earth, orbiting a star much smaller than our Sun.

The planets, which are orbiting a red dwarf star known as KOI-961, are 0.78, 0.73 and 0.57 times the diameter of Earth, making them the smallest alien planets discovered so far.

The KOI-961 is located 120 light-years away, in the Constellation Cygnus (The Swan). It’s approximately one-sixth the size of our sun, which made it possible for scientists to watch for dips in the star’s brightness and thus discover the orbiting planets.

Read more: Mashable

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Comet Lovejoy Survives Fiery Plunge Through Sun, NASA Says

[ via Yahoo News ] 17 Dec

"Breaking News! Lovejoy lives! The comet Lovejoy has survived its journey around the sun to reemerge on the other side," SDO researchers tweeted, reports Yahoo News.

Comet Lovejoy emerged from behind the sun, as seen by the tail and head marked in this SOHO image on Dec. 16, 2011. Credit: NRL/SOHO/LASCO

A newfound comet defied long odds on Thursday (Dec. 15), surviving a suicidal dive through the sun's hellishly hot atmosphere, according to NASA scientists.

Comet Lovejoy plunged through the sun's corona at about 7 p.m. EST (midnight GMT on Dec. 16), coming within 87,000 miles (140,000 kilometers) of our star's surface. Temperatures in the corona can reach 2 million degrees Fahrenheit (1.1 million degrees Celsius), so most researchers expected the icy wanderer to be completely destroyed.

But Lovejoy proved to be made of tough stuff. A video taken by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) spacecraft showed the icy object emerging from behind the sun and zipping back off into space.

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Earth-like planet confirmed

[ BBC Science & Environment ] 6 Dec

Astronomers have confirmed the existence of an Earth-like planet in the "habitable zone" around a star not unlike our own.

The planet, Kepler 22-b, lies about 600 light-years away and is about 2.4 times the size of Earth, and has a temperature of about 22C.

Read full story for details.

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Amateur Astronomer finds a New Solar System

Yahoo News 1 Dec

While everyone looks up to NASA for space discoveries through its powerful telescopes, like Hubble, an amateur in New Zealand has beaten NASA by discovering a new solar system with his own gadgets. The photographs are both mesmerizing and look like NASA's finds.

Beta Pictoris: The new solar system found by Rolf Olsen (Photo Courtesy of Rolf Olsen/Tecca) 

This photograph above, shot by Rolf Olsen of New Zealand, may appear rather unremarkable at first glance, but it's quickly becoming one of the most popular space pictures of the year. The image shows a new solar system named Beta Pictoris in its very first stages of life. 

Olsen's achievement marks the first time that an amateur astronomer has captured a solar system being born, and it's a feat that even professional stargazers have a difficult time capturing. 

Read full story for more on the new find at Yahoo News

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Kepler-21b: Near Earth-Sized Planet Discovered 352 Light-Years Away

Huffington Post 30 Nov

The National Optical Astronomy Observatory announced on Wednesday the discovery of Kepler-21b, a new planet that's close to the size of earth and is only about 352 light years away.

"By astronomical standards, that's right next door," Katy Garmany, the Deputy Press Officer at the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, told HuffPost.

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Space on auction

Full story: Mail Online 3 November 2011

Space auction in London

The moon landing in 1969 was a rare day in the history of modern times . the day a small step on moon became a giant leap for the mankind. The landing photos filled up newspapers around the world that many would remember even today. 

Now, after more than four decades, some 300 of those amazing photos of space and moon taken by astronauts went on "Space Auction" in London Thursday. The auction gathered a large number of astronomy lovers who were willing to pay nay price for these rare space photos. and portrait of Buzz Aldrin on Apollo mission was one such photo that fetched £22,000.

Read full story for many more photos in the auction and other details.

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Northern Heavenly Lights Seen in South of North America

Full Story / Photo: The Guardian:

The northern lights as seen from West Grand Traverse Bay near Traverse City, Michigan. Photograph: Jan-Michael Stump/AP

It is rather unusual for the Northern Lights to be witnessed far south in the North America. But their recent display took everyone by surprise and astronomers and skygazers are terming the event extremely rare, bur awesomely spectacular. These heavenly lights have been reported in Arkansas, Kentucky and Georgia. This year's occurring is only the second time in a decade that has been witnessed this far south. 

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Hunt On for German Satellite Debris that Re-Entered Earth's Atmosphere Sunday

Full Story: Washington Post

The scientists are still trying to find out where did the debris of the German Satellite ROSAT fall. The re-entry of some 30 pieces of the defunct satellite weighing some 1.7 metric tons, travelling at 450 kmph entered earth's atmosphere between 0145 GMT and 0215 GMT on Sunday.

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Scientists Discover Water in Outer Space

Full Story: International Business Times October 22, 2011

The discovery of water vapours foud on a star named TW Hydrae, located at 175 light years from earth, has enough water vapours to fill earth's oceans several thousands times. This amazing discovery by European Space Agency's orbiting Herschel observatory may aid scientists to find a clue to how water reached earth. The mystery of how water was able to survive Earth's fiery, as Earth had been a very hot planet and any water would have simply evaporated, could now be answered.

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NASA books world's first suborbital flight scheduled in 2012

Full Story: Yahoo News

Associated Press reports that NASA has booed the entire first ever suborbital flight from Virgin Galactic, scheduled in 2012 - the flight will cost $4.5 million. It may be added that Virgin Galactic is owned by Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group and Aabar Investments PJS. It's on track to be the world's first commercial spaceline and hopes to launch its first flight within the next year from Spaceport America, about 50 miles north of Las Cruces.

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Doomsday Comet Elenin pays us a closest ever visit

Full Story: The Nation

Comet Elenin, considered by some as the Doomsday Comet if it collides with earth, paid us a closest ever visit since its discovery in 2010. The Comet zoomed past us at a distance of 35,000 kilometers in the early hours of Sunday morning. But the guest was went by past us unseen except by a few astronomers and astronomy lovers. Comet Elenin is a 3-5 km wide chunk of space ice that is keenly monitored by sky gazers.

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