A big eclipse event for us in North America comes on October 14, 2023. Viewers along a narrow path in North, Central and South America will see an annular solar eclipse. At mid-eclipse, the moon – in a distant part of its orbit – will pass directly in front of the sun. But the sun – slightly larger in the sky on that day than the moon – will appear as a bright ring, or annulus, around the moon. Even for those along the eclipse path, eclipse glasses will be needed throughout. Still … a fascinating event!

Read the full article here.

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Astronomers have used the James Webb Space Telescope to peer inside the heart of spiral galaxies, where young stars carve out glowing paths.

The space observatory can see the universe in infrared light, which is invisible to the human eye, making the telescope uniquely poised to look through the dust that obscures some galactic features when less powerful telescopes are used.

Link to the full article.

Article contributed by Gene Savoy, Jr.

With the thick vegetation of the northern Guatemala rainforests hiding its 2,000-year-old remnants, the full extent of the early Mayan way of life was once impossible to see. But laser technology has helped researchers discover a previously unknown 650-square-mile (1,683-square-kilometer) Maya site that offers startling new insights about ancient Mesoamericans and their civilization.

The researchers detected the vast site within the Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin of northern Guatemala by using LiDAR (light detection and ranging) technology, a laser mapping system that allows for structures to be detected below the thick tree canopies. The resulting map showed an area composed of 964 settlements broken down into 417 interconnected Mayan cities, towns and villages.

Read the full article here.

Link contributed by Gene Savoy, Jr.

Gravity attracts. But dark energy is thought to be a repulsive force that counteracts gravity and causes the universe to expand at an accelerating rate. The science world was buzzing late yesterday with news of new evidence showing black holes as the source of dark energy. The new study is the work of 17 astronomers in 9 countries, who searched through data spanning 9 billion years of cosmic history. They found that black holes could potentially explain the total amount of dark energy we measure in the universe today.

A good video and an explainer here.

On Feb. 2, a massive tentacle of plasma snapped apart in the sun’s atmosphere before tumbling down, circling the star’s north pole at thousands of miles a minute, and then disappearing — leaving scientists baffled.

The entire spectacle, which lasted about 8 hours, went viral on Twitter when Tamitha Skov(opens in new tab), a science communicator and research scientist at The Aerospace Corporation in California, posted footage(opens in new tab) of the event captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory.

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Scientists have labeled nine objects in our solar system as dwarf planets, or petite-sized planets that have not cleared their orbits. Pluto is one, and Ceres in the asteroid belt is another. Quaoar is also a dwarf planet. Astronomers discovered it out beyond Neptune’s orbit in 2002. Then, in 2007, they discovered that Quaoar has a moon, which they named Weywot. On February 8, 2023, ESA announced a surprise discovery: Quaoar has a ring! And, it’s rather far away from the dwarf planet. According to theory, at the ring’s distance, it should instead have formed into another moon. Why didn’t it?

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The region of the Sun’s outer atmosphere, where temperatures can reach over 1.1 million degrees Celsius, has enormous, massive holes all over it, according to recent research by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO).

Your worries are valid, and the enormous solar holes can affect Earth because they have ejected streams of gaseous material that are on their way to the planet soon. What’s causing the sun to have such large holes in it and how can they affect the planet’s inhabitants? Also, is our sun dying?

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Here is presented the widely dismissed account that probably sometime in the mid-11th century, Danish Vikings from Schleswig and the Danelaw (as ascertained from runic rock inscriptions) arrived at Santos in Brazil and proceeded inland to Paraguay. From a fortified hill near the Brazilian border, they occupied a defensive position for some part of two centuries, keeping watch on a nearby small mountain. It has been reported that in the 20th century, beneath the mountain under observation, was discovered a large area whose walls and roof are built of concrete unknown to science and cannot be opened but are believed to conceal a network of tunnels. The following unravels the story presented by just a few advocates, of Vikings in South America. Like so many of these tales, it needs further investigation to enable verification, but nonetheless, it provides food for thought.

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Annular solar eclipse of October 14, 2023

Viewers along a narrow path in North, Central and South America will see the annular solar eclipse of October 14, 2023. At mid-eclipse, the moon – in a distant part of its orbit – will pass directly in front of the sun. But the sun – slightly larger in the sky on that day than the moon – will appear as a bright ring, or annulus, around the moon. A fascinating event you won’t want to miss! Read about the October 14, 2023, eclipse.

Hybrid Solar Eclipse on April 20, 2023

When and where to watch: A hybrid solar eclipse will be visible in Australia, Timor-Leste and Indonesia (West Papua and Papua) on April 20, 2023. At the same time, a partial solar eclipse will be visible in southeast Asia, East Indies, Australia, Philippines and New Zealand. The partial eclipse beings at 1:34 UTC and ends at 6:59 UTC. The central (hybrid) eclipse begins at 2:37 UTC and ends at 5:56 UTC.  See the path of this month’s solar eclipse.

Link contributed by Gene Savoy, Jr.