Astronomy, features and articles | Educational Science

Apr 16, 2021

How to watch the Lyrid meteor shower

It's almost time for the Lyrids, the meteor shower that originates from the tail of a comet that circles the sun once every 415 years. The comet may be a rare sight, but Earth passes through debris from its orbit every year in late April. This year, the medium-bright meteors...

Apr 26, 2021

Meteorite that landed in Botswana tracked to its birthplace in the asteroid belt

A small asteroid barreled through the sky and burned up over the Kalahari Desert of Botswana in the summer of 2018 and now, scientists suspect that the space rock originated from Vesta, the second largest asteroid in the solar system. The small asteroid, named 2018 LA, was first observed through...

Jul 14, 2021

How to watch shooting stars in the Perseid meteor shower tonight

If you'd like to wish upon a shooting star, the Perseid meteor shower — a celestial show that starts tonight (July 14) and lasts until mid-August — might be your best bet. Every summer, from July 14 to Aug. 24, the Northern Hemisphere is blanketed with a gleaming barrage of...

Jul 21, 2021

4.6 billion-year-old meteorite found in horseshoe footprint

A crumbling hunk of rock found in a field in England is a rare meteorite from the earliest days of the solar system, dating back about 4.6 billion years. The meteorite was found in Gloucestershire in March by Derek Robson, a resident of Loughborough, England, and the director of astrochemistry...

Jul 26, 2021

Flashing meteor that exploded over Norway landed somewhere in a nearby forest

The hunt for fragments of an unusually large meteor that lit up the skies over Norway on 25 July has begun. The meteor awakened awestruck residents of the country's capital city, Oslo, with the sound of a large explosion. Footage shows the fireball from the meteor streaking across the sky...

Aug 5, 2021

Perseid meteor shower peaks this month: New moon bodes well for skywatchers.

Perseid meteors are already beginning to fall in a display that promises to dazzle skywatchers this month. The Perseid meteor shower will peak on the evening of Aug. 12, just four days after the new moon on Aug. 8, so dark skies should be quite favorable for the annual display,...

Aug 10, 2021

How to watch the peak of the Perseid meteor shower this week

Get ready: The Perseid meteor shower peaks on Thursday (Aug. 12), and it has the potential to put on a good show. Unlike in 2020, when the annual meteor shower coincided with a quarter moon, this year's peak will occur just four days after the new moon. That means skywatchers...

Sep 2, 2021

World's largest Martian meteorite goes on display

The largest piece of Mars ever to fall to Earth is being displayed for the first time. The hefty chunk of Mars weighs 32 pounds (14.5 kilograms) and measures 10 inches (25 centimeters) across at its widest point. It was unveiled Wednesday (Sept. 1) at the Maine Mineral and Gem...

Sep 25, 2021

Art project creates 'human-alien hybrids' with meteorite-infused water

A village in central Italy is crawling with alien-human hybrids. These folks were transformed by drinking from a fountain in Fontecchio, a picturesque town in the Abruzzo region. The water flowing from the medieval fountain bubbles with extraterrestrial effervescence, thanks to experimental philosopher Jonathon Keats. Keats embedded into the hillside...

Sep 27, 2021

Brilliant dashcam fireball videos help scientists find 3 meteorites in Slovenia

By diligently tracing dashcam footage from a particularly spectacular fireball seen over central Europe in February 2020, a team of scientists identified the possible source of the space rock. The fireball, which appeared on Feb. 28 and 10:30 a.m. local time, was recorded by a handful of cameras spread across...

Oct 14, 2021

Meteorite crash-lands in woman's bed in Canada

B.C. woman nearly hit by meteorite that crashed through bedroom ceiling: 'I've never been so scared in my life' https://t.co/eYSMYzlpqkOctober 12, 2021 See more A woman in Canada narrowly missed being struck by a meteorite that crashed through her roof and landed on her pillow. Ruth Hamilton, a resident of...

Jan 3, 2022

How to watch the Quadrantid meteor shower this week

Of the 10 biggest annual meteor showers, just two could produce over 100 per hour: the December Geminids and the January Quadrantids, due to peak Monday (Jan. 3). Every year, Earth briefly encounters the Quadrantid meteor shower in early January. Using constellations as a guide, Quadrantid meteors, or Quads, appear...

Jan 15, 2022

Infamous Mars meteorite contains organic molecules. But they aren't proof of life.

Organic molecules found in a Mars meteorite that crash-landed on Earth are not signs of life, but instead formed in chemical reactions between water and rock on the Red Planet about 4 billion years ago, a new study finds. These findings could shed light on the origins of the building...

Apr 18, 2022

Massive meteorite impact created the hottest mantle rock ever

It's confirmed: The hottest rock ever discovered in Earth's crust really was super-hot. The rock, a fist-sized piece of black glass, was discovered in 2011 and first reported in 2017, when scientists wrote in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters that it had been formed in temperatures reaching 4,298...

Apr 26, 2022

Massive fireball scattered loads of meteorites across southern Ontario

If you live in Ontario, keep your eyes peeled for suspicious rocks. On Sunday (April 17), skywatching cameras in the Canadian province recorded a massive fireball that likely produced tens to hundreds of grams of meteorites. Astronomers predict they would have fallen on the eastern shore of Lake Simcoe, north...