Mercury, the innermost planet, has a close conjunction with the king planet Jupiter on March 5, and then reaches its greatest elongation from the sun on March 6. Source: https://earthsky.org/tonight/mercurys-greatest-elongation-march-6-2021…
Tag: presents
Dark streaks on Mars may be caused by salts and melting ice
Researchers at the SETI Institute say that unusual dark streaks on sun-facing slopes on Mars, debated about for years, may be small landslides caused by a combination of salts and melting ice just below the surface. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/mars-dark-streaks-melting-ice-recurring-slope-lineae…
Despite SolarWinds Cyberattack, Microsoft’s Azure Business Predicted to Benefit
“Microsoft Corp. was wrapped into a massive cybersecurity attack late last year,” reports MarketWatch, “but the unprecedented intrusion may actually end up being a positive for the company’s bottom line.” UBS analyst Karl Keirstead, who has a buy rating and a $243 price target, said while Microsoft products were leveraged by hackers in the attack on SolarWinds Corp.’s Orion IT management…
US Treasury Nominee Yellen Wants to Encourage Cryptocurrencies — ‘For Legitimate Activities’
Business Insider reports: The bitcoin price was set for its biggest one-week fall since September on Saturday morning, having slipped around 10% since Monday… Bitcoin came under selling pressure this week after Janet Yellen, Joe Biden’s pick for Treasury secretary, suggested the use of cryptocurrencies should be “curtailed” because they were used mainly for “illicit financing”. Writing at Nasdaq.com on Thursday,…
Mercury’s greatest evening elongation January 23-24
Mercury will be at its greatest elongation January 23. Source: https://earthsky.org/tonight/mercurys-greatest-evening-elongation…
Moon, Mars, Uranus January 19, 20, 21
Over the next several evenings – January 19, 20 and 21, 2021 – let the moon show you the red planet Mars, and then use Mars to find the distant ice giant planet, Uranus. Source: https://earthsky.org/tonight/moon-mars-uranus-january-19-20-21…
Planetary trio – Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury – low in west at dusk
For the first time since October 2015, sky watchers will have the chance to view a planetary trio, or 3 planets all bunched up together on the sky’s dome. Two are Jupiter and Saturn, fresh from their much-viewed December conjunction. The 3rd planet is elusive Mercury. Source: https://earthsky.org/tonight/planetary-trio-low-in-west-at-dusk…
Japan’s Brand New Anti-Piracy Law Goes Live
A few hours ago and after years of preparation, amendments to Japan’s copyright law came into effect, aiming to criminalize those who download unlicensed manga, magazines, and academic texts from the Internet. From a report: While uploading pirated content has always been illegal, the new law is quite specific in that it criminalizes the downloading of unlicensed content. While that could…
People are selling unopened presents on eBay
The peculiar trend has seen some recipients selling on their presents without even knowing what’s inside them. While it’s not particularly unusual to … Source: https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/342450/people-are-selling-unopened-presents-on-ebay…
How Astronauts on The ISS Got a Visit from Santa
Since 1955 the U.S./Canadian operation that monitors North American airspace with radars and satellite to maintain air sovereignty has also, at Christmas time, been tracking Santa. And this year their trackers received additional support from the U.S. Space Command, a joint-military command drawing its units from five military service branches (including the U.S. Space Force). That command “launched a new reindeer…