On Dec. 21, the winter solstice, two planets will appear nearly aligned, resulting in an event so uncommon it's befitting of the saying. At one time, astronomers may have felt it so closely resembled a Christmas miracle — or, perhaps, the star of Bethlehem — that they named the spectacle the "Christmas Star."
The event is called a conjunction, said Shane Larson, associate director of Northwestern's Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics.
Not to change the topic here:
‘Christmas star’ will light up the sky for the first time in 800 years; here’s
For the first time in nearly 800 years, a rare Christmas star will light up the sky at the start of this month's winter solstice.
It's a planetary alignment that last happened in the year 1226, according to Rice University astronomer Patrick Hartigan.
As they make their orbit around the sun, Jupiter and Saturn will slowly grow closer together over the next two weeks until they are almost completely aligned, according to NASA.
Observations of our closest neighboring star dampen hopes of a potentially habitable planet - CNN
(CNN) One of the planets that orbits around Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our sun, had been thought to exist within what astronomers call the habitable zone.
Asteroid Dust from Hayabusa2 Could Solve a Mystery of Planet Creation - Scientific American
The toaster-sized capsule hit our atmosphere at 12 kilometers per second, enduring temperatures of 3,000 degrees Celsius during its fiery descent before deploying a parachute to slow its velocity. It continued to fall until it finally reached terra firma in the Australian outback . Within hours, awaiting teams of scientists located the capsule’s landing site with radar and rushed via helicopter to retrieve it.
While most groups of researchers grapple with these outsized questions, one more rarefied cadre will be preoccupied with another, deceptively smaller matter: whether or not Hayabusa2’s samples from Ryugu contain an intriguing ingredient of nearly all known meteorites. So far, no one has been able to explain this ingredient’s origins, yet the ramifications of doing so are tremendous.
While you're here, how about this:
The Mass of Human-Made Materials Now Equals the Planet's Biomass – YubaNet
The study, published today in Nature and conducted in the group of Prof. Ron Milo of the Plant and Environmental Sciences Department by Emily Elhacham and Liad Ben Uri, shows that at the outset of the 20 th century, human-produced "anthropogenic mass" equaled just around 3 % of the total biomass. How did we get from 3% to an equivalent mass in just over a century?
The upswing is seen markedly from the 1950s on, when building materials like concrete and aggregates became widely available. In the "great acceleration" following World War II, spacious single-family homes, roads and multi-story office buildings spang up around the US, Europe and other countries. That acceleration has been ongoing for over six decades, and those two materials, in particular, make up a major component of the growth in anthropogenic mass.
With another $2.5 million in funding, Julia Collins’ Planet FWD launches climate-friendly
The crackers come in three flavors: sourdough sea salt, rosemary garlic and tomato basil. A box of crackers costs $5.99.
What’s unique about Planet FWD’s Moonshot Snacks is that it uses ingredients from farmers that use regenerative agriculture practices. Regenerative agriculture is a farming technique that aims to reverse the effects of climate change by capturing carbon in soil and aboveground biomass, which ultimately increases biodiversity, enriches soils and improves watersheds.
Welcoming a New Leader, and China on the… | The Planetary Society
President of The Planetary Society; Professor of Planetary Science, California Institute of Technology; Jet Propulsion Laboratory Research Scientist; Lunar Trailblazer Principal Investigator
President, Board of Directors of The Planetary Society; Mastcam-Z Principal Investigator; Professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University
* * *
Carl Sagan was first in the job. Now it has been handed to Caltech planetary scientist Bethany Ehlmann. We'll talk with the Planetary Society's new president about her Moon mission and more. Society CEO Bill Nye and president emeritus Jim Bell also join in. Then we welcome back China space program expert Andrew Jones for an update on the nation's lunar sample return effort and a survey of many other missions and developments.
IMARA Wins 2020 Planet Copernicus Masters Challenge
The Copernicus Masters is an international competition that awards prizes to developers who leverage Earth observation data to solve important commercial and social problems. We issued a call for submissions to the Planet See Change, Change the World Challenge. This year, we’re in search of novel applications of Planet's daily global imaging capabilities that will help solve climate and environmental challenges.
IMARA, which means stable, strong and robust in Swahili, is a Dutch startup that specializes in quantifying environmental impact through the art of storytelling to enable strong project planning, monitoring and reporting. By doing this, they aim to inspire, support, and accelerate action for robust and resilient landscapes.
Happening on Twitter
On the winter solstice, Jupiter and Saturn are expected to appear closer to each other in the night sky than they h… https://t.co/KfHVyNnQJa NPR Thu Dec 10 07:10:04 +0000 2020
PASS IT ON: Planets Saturn and Jupiter will appear in the southwest sky tonight an hour after sunset. On December 2… https://t.co/dibktnixso mark_tarello (from Mankato, Minnesota.) Wed Dec 09 16:55:09 +0000 2020
PASS IT ON: On December 21st, Planets Saturn and Jupiter will appear the closest to each other in nearly 800 years!… https://t.co/TJIPgRKmn8 mark_tarello (from Mankato, Minnesota.) Fri Dec 11 01:53:35 +0000 2020
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