When someone says “Milky Way,” do you think of the starry pathway across our sky, or of the great pinwheel-shaped galaxy in space? Both are correct! Source: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/what-is-the-milky-way-galaxy…
Tag: location
A record deadly week for US avalanches in early February
2021 has brought a deadly avalanche season. “We’re only halfway through the season and we’re 3/4 of the way to the number of fatalities we’d see in a typical year. The dangerous, record-breaking year keeps avalanche forecasters up at night,” one expert said. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/avalanches-2021-united-states-how-to-survive…
Can you see Canopus, the 2nd-brightest star?
Here’s how to spot Canopus, the 2nd-brightest star in the sky as seen from Earth, on February evenings. Source: https://earthsky.org/brightest-stars/few-know-the-second-brightest-star-canopus…
Has the polar vortex arrived? What is it?
The polar vortex is an enormous, 3-dimensional ring of winds that surrounds the North and South poles during each hemisphere’s winter. The polar vortex influences the jet stream, which can bring cold winter weather to the U.S. and Europe. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/what-is-the-polar-vortex…
Hey, kids! Meet the new Hot Wheels Mars rover!
Mattel, maker of Hot Wheels, has just released a new Hot Wheels Mars Perseverance Rover to celebrate the landing of the NASA Perseverance rover on Mars on February 18. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/hot-wheels-mars-perseverance-rover-mattel…
They Stormed the Capitol. Their Apps Tracked Them
In 2019 two New York Times opinion writers obtained cellphone app data “containing the precise locations of more than 12 million individual smartphones for several months in 2016 and 2017.” (It’s data that they say is “supposed to be anonymous, but it isn’t. We found celebrities, Pentagon officials and average Americans.”) Now they’ve obtained a remarkable new trove of data, “this…
How to see Sirius B
Sirius is a binary star, with a small white dwarf called the Pup orbiting the large primary star. It’s not easy to observe, but it is possible. Here’s how. Source: https://earthsky.org/brightest-stars/how-to-observe-sirius-b…
Top 12 brightest objects in the solar system
Can you name the top 12 brightest objects in the solar system? How many have you seen without the aid of binoculars or a telescope? Source: https://earthsky.org/space/what-are-the-brightest-objects-in-our-solar-system…
What do redshifts tell astronomers?
A redshift reveals how an object is moving in space and enables astronomers to discover otherwise-invisible planets and the movements of galaxies, and to uncover the beginnings of our universe. Source: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/what-is-a-redshift…
Intelligence Analysts Use US Smartphone Location Data Without Warrants, Memo Says
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: A military arm of the intelligence community buys commercially available databases containing location data from smartphone apps and searches it for Americans’ past movements without a warrant, according to an unclassified memo obtained by The New York Times. Defense Intelligence Agency analysts have searched for the movements of Americans within…