HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Skywatchers along a narrow band from west Africa to the Arabian Peninsula, India and the Far East witnessed a dramatic “ring of fire” solar eclipse Sunday. So-called annular eclipses occur when the Moon — passing between Earth and the Sun — is not quite close enough to our planet to completely obscure sunlight, leaving a thin ring of the solar disc visible. They happen every year or two, and can […]
Tag: astronomy
Trembling Mars gives up more seismic secrets
PARIS, France (AFP) — Mars is a constantly tremoring “living” body, researchers said Monday as they unveiled measurements of seismic activity on the red planet showing similar tremble rates to Earth or the Moon. For 15 months NASA’s InSight robot craft scoured the surface of Earth’s neighbour, and measured hundreds of so-called “Marsquakes”. These included several tremors that contained the same frequency patterns as tremors caused by the movement of Earth’s own tectonic plates. […]
‘Ring of fire’ eclipse wows across Asia
SINGAPORE, Singapore (AFP) — Skywatchers from Saudi Arabia and Oman to India and Singapore were treated to a rare “ring of fire” solar eclipse Thursday. Annular eclipses occur when the Moon is not close enough to the Earth to completely obscure the Sun, leaving a thin ring of the solar disc visible. While these types of eclipses occur every year or two, they are only visible from a narrow band of Earth each time […]
New planet discovered in orbit of young Milky Way star
PARIS, France (AFP) — A second planet has been discovered circling Beta Pictoris, a fledgling star in our own galaxy offering astronomers a rare glimpse of a planetary system in the making, according to a study published Monday. “We talking about a giant planet about 3,000 times more massive than Earth, situated 2.7 times further from its star than the Earth is from the Sun,” said Anne-Marie Lagrange, an astronomer at France’s National Centre for […]
SpaceX satellites pose new headache for astronomers
by Issam AHMED WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — It looked like a scene from a sci-fi blockbuster: an astronomer in the Netherlands captured footage of a train of brightly-lit SpaceX satellites ascending through the night sky this weekend, stunning space enthusiasts across the globe. But the sight has also provoked an outcry among astronomers who say the constellation, which so far consists of 60 broadband-beaming satellites but could one day grow to as many as […]
Chinese probe reveals secrets of Moon’s dark side
by Patrick GALEY PARIS, France (AFP) — Scientists on Wednesday said they could be a step closer to solving the riddle behind the Moon’s formation, unveiling the most detailed survey yet of the far side of Earth’s satellite. In January, the Chinese spacecraft Chang’e-4 — named after the moon goddess in Chinese mythology — became the first ever craft to touch down on the far side of the lunar surface. Similar to other bodies in […]
The Moon is shrinking: study
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The Moon is steadily shrinking, causing wrinkling on its surface and quakes, according to an analysis of imagery captured by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) published Monday. A survey of more than 12,000 images revealed that lunar basin Mare Frigoris near the Moon’s north pole — one of many vast basins long assumed to be dead sites from a geological point of view — has been cracking and shifting. Unlike […]
Scientist superstar Katie Bouman designed algorithm for black hole image
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Anonymous to the public just days ago, a US computer scientist named Katie Bouman has become an overnight sensation due to her role in developing a computer algorithm that allowed researchers to take the world’s first image of a black hole. “I’m so excited that we finally get to share what we have been working on for the past year!” the 29-year-old Bouman, a postdoctoral researcher at the Harvard-Smithsonian […]
The real deal: Astronomers deliver first photo of black hole
by Marlowe Hood and Laurence Coustal PARIS, France (AFP) — Astronomers on Wednesday unveiled the first photo of a black hole, one of the star-devouring monsters scattered throughout the Universe and obscured by impenetrable shields of gravity. The image of a dark core encircled by a flame-orange halo of white-hot plasma looks like any number of artists’ renderings over the last 30 years. But this time, it’s the real deal. “The history of science will […]
New close-ups of the mini-moons in Saturn’s rings
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Nestled between Saturn’s rings are a collection of mini-moons that NASA’s Cassini spacecraft skimmed past in 2017. On Thursday, for the first time, astronomers and scientists are detailing their findings of the moons in the US journal Science. Pan, Daphnis, Atlas, Pandora and Epimetheus each measure between eight and 116 kilometers (five to 72 miles) in diameter. They are either round, shaped like flying saucers or resemble potatoes. They are […]
NASA says taking sample from asteroid harder than expected
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — After two years crossing the solar system, the NASA space probe Osiris-Rex arrived last December near the asteroid Bennu to complete its mission of collecting a sample — but touching the rock will prove much harder than scientists had expected. The Osiris-Rex team said Tuesday that the surface of the asteroid, which measures 490 meters (1,600 feet) in diameter, was covered in stones and boulders. They had expected it to […]
Pagkakaroon ng Philippine Space Agency, ipinanawagan ng DOST sa Kongreso
(Eagle News) — Nananawagan si Science and Technology Secretary Fortunato Dela Peña na ipasa na bago pa ang adjournment ng Kongreso ang nakabinbing panukalang batas na nagtatatag ng Philippine Space Agency. Ayon kay Department of Science and Technology, mahigit 50 taon nang may interes ang pamahalaan sa larangan ng space science and technology. Malayo na rin aniya ang narating ng bansa sa space development mula nang ilunsad ang unang microsatellite nito na Diwata 1. Subalit […]





