Hurricane Dorian: Why it’s so destructive

Dorian, the 2nd most powerful Atlantic hurricane on record, has devastated the Bahamas, with the death toll expected to rapidly rise as rescue work gets under way. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/hurricane-dorian-why-its-so-destructive…

Gaia tracks sibling stars in Milky Way

Rather than leaving home young, as expected, star siblings are more likely to stick together in long-lasting, string-like star groups, according to a new study of data from ESA’s Gaia spacecraft. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/gaia-tracks-sibling-stars-in-milky-way…

See Messier 20, the Trifid Nebula

The Trifid is another famous binocular object, visible in the direction toward the galaxy’s center. Its name means “divided into three lobes.” If you view this nebula through a telescope, you’ll see why. Source: https://earthsky.org/clusters-nebulae-galaxies/trifid-nebula-a-summer-milky-way-treasure…

Ophiuchus is part of the zodiac, too

Poor Ophiuchus. Nobody ever claims him as a “birth sign,” although the sun moves in front of his stars from about November 30 to December 18. Keep the big guy company. Find Ophiuchus in your sky tonight! Source: https://earthsky.org/tonight/ophiuchus-highest-on-august-evenings…

Many of the ‘Oldest’ People in the World May Not Be as Old as We Think

We’ve long been obsessed with the super-elderly. How do some people make it to 100 or even 110 years old? Why do some regions — say, Sardinia, Italy, or Okinawa, Japan — produce dozens of these “supercentenarians” while other regions produce none? Is it genetics? Diet? Environmental factors? Long walks at dawn? From a report: A new working paper released on…

When our Milky Way merged with an ancient dwarf galaxy

Analysis of measurements via the Gaia space telescope – of star positions, brightnesses and distances – has let astronomers probe a merger 10 billion years ago between the primitive Milky Way and a dwarf galaxy called Gaia-Enceladus. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/gaia-enceladus-collision-milky-way…

Capital One Says Hacker Breached Accounts of 100 Million People; Ex-Amazon Employee Arrested

CaptainDork shares a report from Forbes: Capital One said Monday that sensitive financial information — including social security and bank account numbers — from over 100 million people were exposed in a massive data breach that led to the arrest of former Amazon employee Paige Thompson, a hacker who lives in Seattle. The information was taken from credit card applications submitted…