SAINT-LOUIS, France (AFP) — Stargazers in south and central Africa were treated to a spectacular solar eclipse Thursday with the Moon moving across the Sun to form a “ring of fire”. At the eclipse’s peak, all that was visible was a ring of light encircling the black Moon — but the phenomenon was only fully visible to people in a narrow, 100-kilometer (62-mile) band stretching across central Africa, Madagascar and Reunion. Anyone north, south, east or […]
Tag: Earth
Plants less thirsty as climate warms: study
MIAMI, United States (AFP) — A warming planet might not dry out Earth as much as previously believed, because plants will become less thirsty as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere rises, researchers said Monday. Previous studies have projected that more than 70 percent of the planet will experience more drought as carbon-dioxide levels quadruple from pre-industrial levels over about the next 100 years, said the report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. […]
Habitable planet found in solar system next door
PARIS, France (AFP) — Scientists Wednesday announced the discovery of an Earth-sized planet orbiting the star nearest our Sun, opening up the glittering prospect of a habitable world that may one day be explored by robots. Named Proxima b, the planet is in a “temperate” zone compatible with the presence of liquid water — a key ingredient for life. The findings, based on data collected over 16 years, were reported in the peer-reviewed journal Nature. […]
After warming fast, part of Antarctica gets a chill – study
REUTERS — The Antarctic Peninsula, among the fastest warming places on Earth last century, has since cooled due to natural swings in the local climate, scientists said on Wednesday (July 20), adding that the respite from the thaw is likely to be brief. Rapid warming until the late 1990s on the peninsula, which snakes up towards South America, triggered the break-up of ancient ice shelves, which are vast expanses of ice floating on the sea […]
NASA’s Kepler discovers more than 104 new exoplanets
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — An international team of researchers announced Monday the discovery of 104 new planets outside our solar system, including four that could have Earth-like, rocky surfaces. Scientists discovered the exoplanets using the Kepler space telescope as well as ground observations by Earth-based telescopes, including four on the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii. The $600 million Kepler mission has allowed scientists to discover more than 4,600 planets — 2,326 of them […]
Zuckerberg streams live chat with men in space
SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg took the leading social network on a new journey Wednesday, with a live-streamed chat with astronauts on the International Space Station. In a Facebook Live video broadcast shown at the NASA page of the social network, Zuckerberg praised the work going on at the station and launched a few questions, some submitted to him online. Zuckerberg effused that while Facebook’s mission has long been to […]
NASA says 1,284 new planets found by Kepler telescope
by Kerry Sheridan MIAMI, United States (AFP) — NASA announced Tuesday the discovery of 1,284 new planets outside our solar system, more than doubling the number of exoplanets found with the Kepler space telescope. “This gives us hope that somewhere out there, around a star much like ours, we can eventually discover another Earth,” said Ellen Stofan, chief scientist at NASA headquarters in Washington. The unmanned Kepler space observatory, which launched in 2009, […]
NASA satellite camera takes photo of Earth from a distance of one million miles
JULY 21 (Reuters) — A NASA camera on the Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite, nicknamed DSCOVR, has taken sent its first image of the whole sun-lit side of Earth. The high-resolution photo from NASA’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC), released on Monday (July 20), was taken on July 6 from a distance of one million miles. NASA said the camera takes 10 separate images using different narrowband filters. The image of Earth uses the […]
NASA holds daily briefing as New Horizons makes its final approach to Pluto
(REUTERS) NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is poised to become the first probe to visit distant Pluto, capping a reconnaissance of the solar system that began more than 50 years ago. NASA said images they are recieving from New Horizons, taken on July 9 from 3.3 million miles (5.4 million kilometers) away, are “tantalizing signs of geology on Pluto”. “It is just amazing what we are seeing now. It was a gradual approach and every […]
2014 was Earth’s hottest year, could lead to storm surges, flooding -NASA scientist
Last year was Earth’s warmest on record, bolstering the argument that people are altering the planet’s climate by relentlessly burning fuels that belch greenhouse gases into the air, two major U.S. government agencies said on Friday (January 16). Separate studies by the U.S. space agency NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration showed that the 10 warmest years on record have taken place since 1997. “What was found for 2014 was that 2014 was […]
ESA’s Philae probe releases first image from landing
(Reuters) — The Philae probe on Wednesday (November 12) released a close-up image of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko as the European Space Agency (ESA) said on-board instruments are working despite the anchors not working as planned. The picture, taken with the lander’s ROLIS camera, was taken 3km away from the target during the craft’s descent. Philae’s landing marks a first in space exploration and the climax of a decade-long mission to examine up close the remnants of the birth […]
Asteroids may hit earth; scientists clamor for $250 million telescope
The chances of an asteroid impacting earth and destroying a major area are higher than one might think. This according to scientists that monitor nuclear weapons detonations, who say they have detected at least 26 asteroids between 2000 and 2013. According to Tom Jones, President of the Association of Space Explorers (ASE), they have already “asked the UN to consider five new measures to protect earth from asteroid strikes.” On the top of the list […]





