Astronomy, features and articles | Educational Science

Mar 12, 2024

Hiroshima fallout may offer a glimpse of the early solar system

Studying the conditions in the cloud of gas and dust that birthed our sun and planets is quite difficult. The few bits of information we have often come locked inside ancient materials formed 4.5 billion years ago when the solar system was being born. Those materials look like nothing on...

Mar 12, 2024

Mercury slammed by gargantuan eruption from the sun's hidden far side, possibly triggering 'X-ray auroras'

A gigantic, fiery eruption around 40 times wider than Earth recently exploded from the sun's hidden far side. The eruption hurled a massive cloud of plasma into space that later smashed into Mercury, scouring the planet's rocky surface and potentially triggering X-ray auroras on the unprotected world. The eruption was...

Mar 13, 2024

How often do solar eclipses occur?

The total solar eclipse on April 8 in North America comes six years, seven months and 18 days after the last event crossed the continent in 2017. Although these eclipses' narrow paths of totality are very different, both their paths cross parts of Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky. So how often...

Nov 11, 2022

Volcanic eruptions on the moon happened much more recently than we thought

Volcanoes on the moon were still erupting at least 2 billion years ago, around 1 billion years more recently than scientists previously believed was possible. And the secret to these younger eruptions may lie in the type of magma oozing from these volcanoes, according to a new study. Until recently,...

Dec 3, 2022

Who owns the moon?

The flags of two countries hang unfurled — not by any breeze but by metal wiring — over the desolate, eerily still surface of the moon. One is the stars and stripes of the United States; the other, the crimson of China. But if you ask any official from these...

Dec 6, 2022

Watch the 'Cold Moon' eclipse Mars during the final full moon of 2022

The final full moon of the year rises on Wednesday, Dec. 7. December's full moon — also nicknamed the Cold Moon — officially begins at 11:09 p.m. ET (4:09 a.m. UTC on Dec. 8), although the moon will also appear bright and full in the sky beginning on Tuesday, Dec....

Jan 2, 2023

The full 'Wolf micromoon' rises Jan. 6. Here's how to watch.

Look up on Jan. 6 for a view of the first full moon of 2023: The Wolf 'micromoon.' January's full moon will be slightly smaller than average because the moon is at the farthest point from Earth in its orbit. The moon's path around the planet is elliptical. At its...

Jan 11, 2023

Incredible new photos of moon's surface are highest resolution pictures ever taken from Earth

Using a beam of radar less powerful than a microwave oven, researchers have produced the highest resolution images of the moon ever taken from Earth. The stunning new pictures, presented Jan. 10 during a press conference at the 241st meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) in Seattle, Washington, captured...

Jan 24, 2023

South Korea's lunar orbiter unveils jaw-dropping images of Earth and the moon

After orbiting the moon for just over a month, the Korean Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) is now sending back breathtaking images of Earth's rocky neighbor — and our planet too. The images, which were posted to the Korean Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) website, show a variety of lunar landscapes, including...

Feb 2, 2023

The full 'Snow micromoon' rises Feb. 5. Here's how to see it.

When it rises on Feb. 5, the full moon will appear smaller than average because it is at one of its most distant points in its elliptical path around Earth. This positioning makes February's Snow Moon'' a micromoon, a full moon that is visible when the moon is at one...

Feb 3, 2023

Hidden tide in Earth's magnetospheric 'plasma ocean' revealed in new study

The moon exerts a previously unknown tidal force on the plasma ocean surrounding Earth's upper atmosphere, creating fluctuations that are similar to the tides in the oceans, a new study suggests. In the study, published Jan. 26 in the journal Nature Physics, scientists used more than 40 years of data...

Feb 23, 2023

20,000-foot-tall mountain on the moon named in honor of trailblazing computer scientist Melba Roy Mouton

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has named a 20,000-foot-tall (6,000 meters) mountain on the moon in honor of pioneering American mathematician Melba Roy Mouton. Among many other accomplishments during her 14 years at NASA, Mouton received an Apollo Achievement Award for her part in the successful Apollo 11 moon landing...

Feb 24, 2023

Does the moon affect menstrual cycles?

Humans have long thought that the moon can influence health and behavior. The word “lunatic” arose from the belief that changes in the moon caused intermittent insanity, while it was previously suggested that births increased during the full moon, though experts have since suggested this is a myth. And for...

Jan 29, 2024

The moon is shrinking, causing landslides and moonquakes exactly where NASA wants to build its 1st lunar colony

When plotting sites for crewed lunar landings — ranging from the forthcoming Artemis missions to eventual lasting moon settlements — mission planners must account for tons of lunar parameters. For instance, the shape of the terrain could make or break a mission and a possible high volume of buried water...

Jan 30, 2024

Pinpoint landing: NASA orbiter spies Japan's revived SLIM moon lander on lunar surface

A NASA orbiter caught sight of Japan's SLIM moon lander on the lunar surface after its historic touchdown. SLIM, or the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, is operated by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). It touched down on the moon in a precision landing on Jan. 19, making Japan...