What causes sun pillars or light pillars?

Sun pillars, or light pillars, are shafts of light extending from the sun or other bright light sources under the right atmospheric conditions. They’re caused by ice crystals drifting in Earth’s air. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/what-is-a-sun-pillar…

Most Popular Courses of 2020: A Year of Mental Health, Contract Tracing, and Job-Relevant Skills

By Betty Vandenbosch, Chief Content Officer, Coursera In 2020, a record number of people turned to online learning as a source of hope, growth, and resilience amid economic uncertainty, and campus and workplace disruptions. Since March, there were more than 69 million enrollments on Coursera—a roughly 430% increase compared to the same period last year. […]
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Will SpaceX’s Starlink satellites ruin stargazing?

SpaceX’s satellites will populate the night sky, affecting how we observe the stars. And this is just the beginning of private satellite mega-constellations. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/will-spacex-starlink-satellites-ruin-stargazing…

A North Dakota Utility Wants To Build the World’s Largest Carbon Capture Facility At a Power Plant

An anonymous reader quotes a report from IEEE Spectrum: The Milton R. Young Station, close to the town of Center in North Dakota, is as unremarkable as coal-fired power plants come. But if its owner Minnkota Power Cooperative has its way, the plant could soon be famous the world over. The Grand Forks-based electric cooperative has launched Project Tundra, an initiative…

Company To Harvest Green Hydrogen From Underground Oil Fires

sciencehabit shares a report from Science Magazine: This month, on the frozen plains of Saskatchewan in Canada, workers began to inject steam and air into the Superb field, a layer of sand 700 meters down that holds 200 million barrels of thick, viscous oil. Their goal was not to pump out the oil, but to set it on fire — spurring…

Orion, the Bull, the Pleiades and a meteor

A long bright meteor, too, and on the night of the elusive Unicorn meteor shower … but not a Unicorn meteor. Source: https://earthsky.org/todays-image/orion-the-bulls-face-the-pleiades-and-a-meteor…

Why leaves change color in fall

The vivid yellows and oranges of autumn leaves are there throughout spring and summer, but hidden. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/why-do-tree-leaves-turn-red-in-fall…

This book ranks the top 100 solutions to climate change. The results are surprising.

Source: https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/5/10/15589038/top-100-solutions-climate-change-ranked…