On 23 July 2021, the world watched as the long overdue and somewhat subdued opening ceremony of the 2020 Summer Olympic Games got underway in Japan — and while not the greatest show on Earth this year, it certainly delivered the greatest Earth on show, for it was the day the Earth appeared over Tokyo. …
The Edge of Space
On 11 July 2021, Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic, took a suborbital flight to the inner edge of outer space, reaching an altitude of 86 km (54 miles) above the surface of the Earth. Although it marked a milestone for space tourism, where that milestone marker should be placed is an ongoing matter …
The Size of Psyche
In 2022, NASA and Arizona State University will send a spacecraft to investigate the unique asteroid (16) Psyche, an assumed metal-rich body about the size of Switzerland orbiting in the asteroid belt at an average distance of 2.9 AU from the Sun. What is unique about asteroid Psyche is that it may, perhaps, be the …
The Largest Objects in the Asteroid Belt
A useful graphic showing the largest objects in the asteroid belt — the first 22 objects in decreasing size from dwarf planet 1 Ceres to 7 Iris ...
Scent from Heaven
Apparently, if you smell a fresh meteorite it smells like sulphur, according to reports about the Tagish Lake meteorite and the aroma that filled the air during its fall in 2000. And the Aguas Zarcas meteorite that fell in Costa Rica in 2019 has been said to smell of compost, vanilla and Brussels sprouts, depending …
Asteroids and Comets Visited by Spacecraft
Graphics showing all of the asteroids and comets visited by spacecraft...
Asteroid vs Comet
From active asteroids to dormant comets, rubbile piles to remnant cores, main belt comets and manx comets to ambiguous interstellar objects, this article provides a brief overview of the smaller objects in our planetary zoo and the main differences — and similarities — between asteroids and comets. But if it's meteors you're looking for, read …
Let’s Talk Walkie-Talkie
The Walkie-Talkie building is a skyscraper in the City of London, located at 20 Fenchurch Street. It switched on its lights in 2014 — and has been messing with sunlight ever since. The building sits slightly away from the main cluster of the city's skyscrapers as if banished, poking up out of a group of …
Asteroid Warning!
So there's another apocalyptic asteroid warning in the tabloid news headlines. The lead scaremongerer in the UK is the Daily Express, who started out playfully alerting us to asteroids that will skim by Earth in the coming days. It didn't take long for a war of the digital world to start warning of swarms of …
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