space news

Glaciers Adding More To Global Sea Rise Than Ice Sheets, Study Says

5 hours ago | User rating: 3.9 / 5 after 14 vote(s)

Despite growing public alarm over the shrinking Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, it is small glaciers and ice caps that have been contributing the most to rising sea levels in recent years, according to ...

Discovery Set to Dock With Space Station

Space & Earth science / Space Exploration

5 hours ago | User rating: 1 / 5 after 1 vote(s)

(AP) -- Space shuttle Discovery closed in on the international space station Monday, carrying U.S. astronaut Sunita "Suni" Williams to her new home for the next six months.

Climate change affecting Earth's outermost atmosphere

Abrupt ice retreat could produce ice-free arctic summers by 2040

Space & Earth science / Earth Sciences

6 hours ago | User rating: 4.3 / 5 after 11 vote(s)

The recent retreat of Arctic sea ice is likely to accelerate so rapidly that the Arctic Ocean could become nearly devoid of ice during summertime as early as 2040, according to new research published in the ...

Star on a Hubble diet

Space & Earth science / Astronomy

6 hours ago | User rating: 4.2 / 5 after 11 vote(s)

How heavy can a star be? This conundrum has haunted astronomers for decades. Theory indicates that there should be an upper stellar mass limit somewhere between 120 and 300 solar masses. Even though heavy stars ...

Climate change affecting Earth's outermost atmosphere

Space & Earth science / Earth Sciences

6 hours ago | User rating: 3.6 / 5 after 5 vote(s)

Carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels will produce a 3 percent reduction in the density of Earth's outermost atmosphere by 2017, according to a team of scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric ...

Researchers identify driver for near-Earth space weather

Space & Earth science / Earth Sciences

7 hours ago | User rating: 4 / 5 after 4 vote(s)

New findings indicate that the aurora and other near-Earth space weather are driven by the rate at which the Earth�s and sun�s magnetic fields connect, or merge, and not by the solar wind�s electric field as was previously ...

Radar reveals view of land beneath polar ice

Space & Earth science / Earth Sciences

8 hours ago | User rating: 3.8 / 5 after 5 vote(s)

In the first test of a new radar instrument, scientists have seen through more than a mile of Greenland ice to reveal an image of land that has been hidden for millions of years.

Researchers study role of natural organic matter in environment

Space & Earth science / Earth Sciences

6 hours ago | User rating: 3.5 / 5 after 2 vote(s)

The decomposition of plant, animal and microbial material in soil and water produces a variety of complex organic molecules, collectively called natural organic matter. These compounds play many important roles in the environment.

Regional nuclear war could devastate global climate

Space & Earth science / Earth Sciences

16 hours ago | User rating: 4.8 / 5 after 13 vote(s)

Even a small-scale, regional nuclear war could produce as many direct fatalities as all of World War II and disrupt the global climate for a decade or more, with environmental effects that could be devastating ...

El Nino could last beyond spring

Space & Earth science / Environment

4 hours ago | User rating: 2.5 / 5 after 2 vote(s)

A University of Colorado weather expert has warned the El Nino weather pattern over the Pacific Ocean could survive past the upcoming spring.

Nitrogen rain makes bogs contribute to climate change

Space & Earth science / Environment

12 hours ago | User rating: 4 / 5 after 2 vote(s)

High levels of nitrogenous compounds can make bogs give off more carbon dioxide, thereby adding to the greenhouse effect. This has been shown by the plant ecologist Hakan Rydin in an article published this week in the Proceedings ...

The Rise of a Giant

Space & Earth science / Astronomy

9 hours ago | User rating: 3.8 / 5 after 6 vote(s)

European astronomy has received a tremendous boost with the decision from ESO's governing body to proceed with detailed studies for the European Extremely Large Telescope. This study, with a budget of 57 million ...