Guatemala's Fuego volcano belched burning lava and black ash into the sky early Saturday, leading the government to issue an airplane advisory and close sections of highway.
May 19, 2012 - 2:46:46 PM
Mount Marapi in West Sumatra erupted early on Friday and sent a column of volcanic ash into the sky, but posed no immediate threat to the local population, according to an expert.
May 19, 2012 - 10:25:33 AM
Volcanic eruptions can spark squalls of lightning that are as intense as the biggest superstorms over the central United States, according to researchers who have captured the most detailed measurements of electrical discharges during a volcanic blast. The data, they say, could help to illuminate what causes volcanic lightning and point the way towards a system that can quickly detect ash plumes from remote eruptions, which can disrupt air travel.
May 19, 2012 - 9:50:05 AM
Researchers at MIT, NASA and elsewhere have detected a possible planet, some 1,500 light years away, that appears to be evaporating under the blistering heat of its parent star. The scientists infer that a long tail of debris — much like the tail of a comet — is following the planet, and that this tail may tell the story of the planet’s disintegration. According to the team’s calculations, the tiny exoplanet, not much larger than Mercury, will completely disintegrate within 100 million years.
May 19, 2012 - 9:34:03 AM
During this period the moon reaches its new phase on Sunday the 20th. At this time the moon will be located near the Sun and will not be visible at night. As the week progresses the waxing crescent moon will enter the evening sky but will not cause any problems with meteor observing.
May 18, 2012 - 11:07:17 PM
The 2012 May 20th eclipse occurs at the Moon's descending node in central Taurus. An annular eclipse will be visible from a 240 to 300 kilometer-wide track that traverses eastern Asia, the northern Pacific Ocean and the western United States. A partial eclipse is seen within the much broader path of the Moon's penumbral shadow, which includes much of Asia, the Pacific and the western 2/3 of North America.
May 18, 2012 - 10:38:38 PM
The Venus transit will occur June 5th - 6th 2012 (depending on continent) when Venus comes between the Earth and the Sun, and is actually the same thing as a lunar eclipse, the only differences being the relative sizes of the objects and their distances from the Earth and Sun. Venus crosses the Sun in a predictable pattern which repeats every 243 years. Each time the transits come in pairs, separated by eight years with gaps of 121.5 years and 105.5 years. The last event was 1874 and 1882, while this one is 2004 and 2012.
May 18, 2012 - 9:12:53 PM
On 2012 May 20/21, an annular eclipse of the Sun is visible from within a narrow corridor that traverses Earth's northern Hemisphere. The path of the Moon's antumbral shadow begins in eastern Asia and crosses the North Pacific Ocean where it ends in the western United States. The Moon's penumbral shadow produces a partial eclipse visible from a much larger region covering East Asia, North Pacific, North America and Greenland.
May 18, 2012 - 8:26:24 PM
No reports of injury or damage. Tsunami warning canceled. Geographic coordinates: 44.594S, 80.073W. Magnitude: 6.2 Mw. Depth: 10 km. Universal Time (UTC): 18 May 2012 02:00:41. Time near the Epicenter: 17 May 2012 21:00:41. Local standard time in your area: 18 May 2012 02:00:41. Location with respect to nearby cities: 675 km (419 miles) WSW (237 degrees) of Puerto Montt, Chile.
May 17, 2012 - 9:53:27 PM
Sunspot region 1476 released an M5.1 flare peaking at 01:47 UT setting off a powerful CME (coronal mass ejection). This event will not be a direct hit to Earth, but will most likely present a glancing blow to Earth. Video Inside
May 17, 2012 - 8:32:52 PM
Here on Earth we are occasionally concerned about solar flares due to the impact they can have on our electrical systems. But our solar flares are puny when compared to so-called superflares that occur with other stars. A new research study by a team from Japan’s Kyoto University has found after studying one patch of sky over a 120 day period in 1990 using data from the Kepler telescope, that superflares are rather common, and as they describe in their paper published in the journal Nature, some are a billion times as powerful as those that occur with our own Sun.
May 17, 2012 - 6:12:08 PM
A McGill-led research team using the Herschel Space Observatory has discovered a giant, galaxy-packed filament ablaze with billions of new stars. The filament connects two clusters of galaxies that, along with a third cluster, will smash together and give rise to one of the largest galaxy superclusters in the universe.
May 17, 2012 - 5:59:14 PM
The impactors that pummeled the Earth and moon nearly 4 billion years ago were primarily asteroids, a new study of lunar rocks collected by Apollo astronauts suggests.
May 17, 2012 - 4:24:45 PM
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Is Earth really a sort of giant living organism as the Gaia hypothesis predicts? A new discovery made at the University of Maryland may provide a key to answering this question. This key of sulfur could allow scientists to unlock heretofore hidden interactions between ocean organisms, atmosphere, and land -- interactions that might provide evidence supporting this famous theory.
May 16, 2012 - 10:30:44 AM
MIAMI—Tropical Storm Aletta is weakening is it spins far out over the Pacific.The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami says the storm's maximum sustained winds have decreased to near 40 mph (65 kph) early Wednesday with gradual weakening expected during the next two days.
May 16, 2012 - 10:21:11 AM
