Arctic sea ice likely reached its smallest extent for 2019 on September 18. At 1.6 million square miles (4.15 million square km), that minimum is now in a 3-way tie for 2nd-smallest in the satellite record. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/2019-arctic-sea-ice-minimum-2nd-lowest-video…
Tag: polar
Meet Alpha Cephei, a rapidly rotating star
While not one of the most conspicuous stars in the night sky, Alderamin – aka Alpha Cephei – is easy to spot, and is interesting for its rapid rotation on its axis. Source: https://earthsky.org/brightest-stars/alderamin-the-kings-brightest-star…
Ice islands on Mars and Pluto could reveal past climate change
Many of the craters of Mars and Pluto feature relatively small ice islands unattached to their polar ice caps. Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-09-ice-islands-mars-pluto-reveal.html…
The Ozone Layer Is On Track To Completely Repair Itself by the 2060s
pgmrdlm quotes a report from SBS: The world’s ozone layer is on track to be completely healed by the 2060s, according to modelling by the UN’s environmental agency (UNEP). In the past 19-years, parts of the ozone layer have recovered at a rate of one to three per cent every ten years, UNEP has found. If this continues, the Northern Hemisphere’s…
Image: North polar dunes on Mars
This captivating image was taken in the north polar region of Mars by the ESA/Roscosmos ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter’s CaSSIS camera. Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-09-image-north-polar-dunes-mars.html…
Largest ever polar expedition will soon be frozen in drifting sea ice
An icebreaker ship is about to deliberately let itself be frozen into the drifting Arctic ice as part of the largest ever scientific Arctic expedition Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2216323-largest-ever-polar-expedition-will-soon-be-frozen-in-drifting-sea-ice/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Image: Avalanche season on Mars
Every spring, the sun shines on the side of the stack of layers at the North Pole of Mars known as the north polar layered deposits. The warmth destabilizes the ice and blocks break loose. Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-09-image-avalanche-season-mars.html…
Scientists detect towering balloon-like feature near Milky Way’s center
It’s a huge bipolar structure, centered on the galactic center and near the central supermassive black hole. In that way, it’s like the Fermi Bubbles, found some years ago. But … there are differences. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/balloon-like-feature-near-milky-way-center…
Did underground explosions create Titan’s lakes?
The lakes on Saturn’s moon Titan are filled with liquid methane, not water, and some are surrounded by steep rims. A new study suggests these features might have been caused by explosions of warming nitrogen, which created Titan’s lake basins long ago. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/did-underground-explosions-create-titans-lakes…
What has China’s rover found on the moon’s far side?
Chinese media have reported that the Yutu-2 rover has discovered a “gel-like” substance in a crater on the far side of the moon. It sounds intriguing, but details are still scarce. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/what-has-chinas-rover-found-on-the-moons-far-side…