The comet 2I/Borisov as imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope on October 12. Borisov will swing by the sun and then head back into deep space. NASA, ESA and D. Jewitt (UCLA) hide caption
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Known as 2I/Borisov, it is the first comet to ever be seen coming from interstellar space. But despite its alien origins, astronomers say it actually looks pretty familiar.
"Borisov is a comet very like what we have in our own solar system," says Michele Bannister, a planetary astronomer at Queen's University Belfast told NPR's Short Wave . Whatever planetary system it formed in, "it's a lot like our own."
Not to change the topic here:
The Interstellar Comet Has Arrived in Time for the Holidays - The New York Times
It came out of the Northern sky, a frozen breath of gas and dust from the genesis of some distant star, launched across the galaxy by the gravitational maelstroms that accompany the birth of worlds.
It wandered in the deep freeze of interstellar space for 100 million years or so, a locked vault of cosmo-chemical history. In Spring 2019 this ice cube began falling into our own solar system. Feeble heat from the sun, still distant, loosened carbon monoxide from its surface into a faint, glowing fog; the orphan ice cube became a new comet.
Space Photos of the Week: What the Parker Solar Probe Will See Once It Reaches the Sun | WIRED
Medium-sized solar flares like this burst of radiation captured by NASA's Solar Dynamic Observatory in 2013 generally don't affect things back on Earth, but they can interfere with GPS satellites and other objects in orbit. It's a small price to pay for beauty; these solar burps are also partially responsible for the atmospheric ionization that causes aurora events at Earth's poles.
The European Space Agency's PROBA2 satellite captured this unusually detailed photo of the corona—plasma that can be millions of degrees hotter than the star's actual surface.
Marina Energy installs 3.5-MW solar system at New Jersey resort
Crystal Springs Resort has commenced commercial operations of the largest resort-based solar farm in the Northeastern United States. Developed in partnership with New Jersey-based Marina Energy , the 25-acre, 3.5-MW solar field has over 19,000 solar panels.
Development of this solar farm aligns with other efforts taken by the Resort in pursuit of ongoing environmental stewardship, such as its recent partnership with Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L) and the New Jersey Audubon Society to create new habitat for bees, butterflies and birds on one of its six golf course properties.
Many things are taking place:
Pennsylvania car wash chain Mr. Wizard goes green with rooftop solar systems
The average car wash pays between $0.50 and $1 in electricity costs for each car that drives through the suds, says one study by ElectricChoice.com . Automated car washes depend heavily on electricity — one of the largest portions of their operational costs.
That’s why Southeastern Pennsylvania car wash chain Mr. Wizard Car Wash looked into solar. Last fall, Mr. Wizard owner Gary Regester flipped the switch on his first solar energy system — a 52.8-kW array mounted to the roof of his Aston, Pennsylvania, car wash. Local solar installer Paradise Energy Solutions installed the 132 solar panels that produced 59,952 kWh in its first year. The system should pay for itself within six years.
Nobel Laureate: Face Up to Climate Change, Because There's No Escaping Earth
STOCKHOLM (AP) — An astronomer who shares this year's Nobel physics prize for discovering a planet outside the Earth's solar system is taking issue with people who shrug off climate change on the grounds that humans will eventually leave for distant planets.
Didier Queloz was one of several Nobel laureates who spoke about climate change at a news conference Saturday in Stockholm.
"I think this is just irresponsible, because the stars are so far away I think we should not have any serious hope to escape the Earth," Queloz said.
Country sunshine inspires turn to suburban solar
The small solar panels at Calvin Bennett's water wells put big ideas in his son's head. Brian Bennett already had made his home more energy efficient, dropping his monthly electric bill to about $120 or $130 per month, for a nearly 20-year-old home of just less than 2,000 square feet.
With his dad's sun-dappled cattle in mind, he started calling around. It didn't take long for him to find Oklahoma City-based Solar Power of Oklahoma, where Peters is president.
Authorities look to control household rooftop solar power systems to stabilise the grid - ABC
The body that runs WA's main electricity market wants the ability to remotely dump excess solar power from households — cutting the bill rebates people receive — to safeguard the grid from surging levels of renewable energy and avoid rolling power cuts.
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Audrey Zibelman, the chief executive of the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), said so-called smart inverters would be crucial to ensuring the rise of rooftop solar did not overwhelm the stability of the power network .
Happening on Twitter
https://t.co/e8iNq8XhBY Martina Sat Dec 07 15:19:35 +0000 2019
Tomorrow comet 2I/Borisov makes its closest approach to Earth. This icy messenger from another star could give us c… https://t.co/4pWd6ybu27 sarahkaplan48 (from Washington, D.C.) Sun Dec 08 04:34:44 +0000 2019
Comet fans: Here comes 21 Borisov, a deep-space ice cube that will make its closest approach to our sun this weekend https://t.co/iiX9sb5c5S nytimesworld (from New York, London, Hong Kong) Sat Dec 07 22:00:06 +0000 2019
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