PARIS, France (AFP) — Scientists dealt a blow Monday to the quest for organisms inhabiting worlds besides Earth, saying our planet was unusual in its ability to host liquid water — the key ingredient for life. It was thought likely that distant worlds orbiting stars similar to our Sun would go through water-rich phases. This would happen when the young, dim star of an icy, lifeless planet — such as early Earth — starts warming, […]
Tag: Earth
Featured video: NASA video shows how astronauts see Earth’s light show from space
NASA has released a video showing how light shows like these can be seen by astronauts gazing back down on Earth. Time-lapse imagery captured on June 25, 2017, by Expedition 52. (Video courtesy NASA)
NASA discovers 10 new Earth-size exoplanets
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — NASA revealed Monday 10 new rocky, Earth-sized planets that could potentially have liquid water and support life. The Kepler mission team released a survey of 219 potential exoplanets — planets outside of our solar system — that had been detected by the space observatory launched in 2009 to scan the Milky Way galaxy. Ten of the new discoveries were orbiting their suns at a distance similar to Earth’s orbit around […]
Astronauts bid emotional farewell to space station crew
(Reuters) – The International Space Station’s latest expedition officially began on Friday (June 2) after Flight Engineers Oleg Novitskiy of Roscosmos and Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency left the space station for earth. The two flight crew members, embarking on Expedition 52 having arrived on Expedition 51, bade an emotional goodbye as National Aeronautics and Space Administration astronaut and Expedition 51 Commander Peggy Whitson hugged them before the closing of the hatch that […]
Fossils may be earliest known multicellular life: study
by Marlowe Hood Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Fossils accidentally discovered in South Africa are probably the oldest fungi ever found by a margin of 1.2 billion years, rewriting the evolutionary story of these organisms which are neither flora nor fauna, researchers said Monday. If verified as both fungal and multicellular, the 2.4 billion-year-old microscopic creatures — whose slender filaments are bundled together like brooms — could also be the earliest known specimens of […]
Earth Day 2017
In line with this celebration, we encourage you to try these helpful tips from us to have an amazing Earth Day tomorrow! Let’s celebrate the environment and do our part to make everyday a happy Earth Day!
Close call: When asteroids whisk past Earth
by Valerie DEKIMPE Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — A peanut-shaped asteroid 1.3 kilometers (3,280 feet) across streaked past Earth on Wednesday, giving astronomers a rare chance to check out a big space rock up close. But not too close. Dubbed 2014-JO25, the asteroid came nearest at 12:20 GMT and is now hurtling away from the center of our solar system, said Ian Carnelli, an astronomer from the European Space Agency (ESA). “It does […]
Big space rock to streak past Earth on Wednesday
PARIS, France (AFP) — An asteroid stretching 650 meters (2,000 feet) across is on track to whoosh past Earth on Wednesday at a safe — but uncomfortably close — distance, according to astronomers. “Although there is no possibility for the asteroid to collide with our planet, this will be a very close approach for an asteroid this size,” National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in a statement. Dubbed 2014-JO25, the asteroid will come […]
Google Earth re-invented for new era
SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Google on Tuesday launched a re-imagined version of its free Earth mapping service, weaving in storytelling and artificial intelligence and freeing it from apps. “This is our gift to the world,” Google Earth director Rebecca Moore said while giving AFP an early look at the new version of the program that lets people range the planet from the comfort of their computers, smartphones or tablets. “It’s a product that […]
Large asteroid to hurtle past Earth on April 19
PARIS, France (AFP) — An asteroid as big as the Rock of Gibraltar will streak past Earth on April 19 at a safe but uncomfortably close distance, according to astronomers. “Although there is no possibility for the asteroid to collide with our planet, this will be a very close approach for an asteroid this size,” the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said in a statement. Dubbed 2014-JO25 and roughly 650 meters (2,000 feet) across, the asteroid […]
ISS astronauts prepare to return to Earth
TEXAS, United States (Reuters) — Outgoing International Space Station (ISS) commander Shane Kimbrough along with Russian crewmates Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko were scheduled to wrap up a 173-day mission on Monday (April 10), with a parachute landing in Kazakhstan at 7:21 a.m. EDT (1121 GMT). The astronauts exchanged hugs and took photographs before closing the hatch door on the ISS. Their replacements, NASA’s Jack Fischer and Fyodor Yurchikhin of Roscosmos, were due to arrive […]
Pollution in deep Pacific devastating earth – UK study
MARIANA TRENCHES, Pacific Ocean (Reuters) — A study of the Pacific Ocean’s Mariana and Kermadec trenches has found man-made pollutants in the deepest parts of the Pacific Ocean. Small crustaceans called amphipods, which populate the deepest recesses of the Pacific, were found to contain disturbingly large levels of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in the organism’s fatty tissue. Voracious eaters who will eat anything that comes their way, amphipods are ideal for such research. Amphipod samples […]





