TESS, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, was launched in 2018 with the goal of discovering small planets around the Sun's nearest neighbors, stars bright enough to allow for follow-up characterizations of their planets' ...
Astronomy
Oct 26, 2020
2
695
For much of the past decade, a puzzle has been confounding the climate science community. Nearly all of the measurable indicators of global climate change—such as sea level, ice cover on land and sea, atmospheric carbon ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 10, 2015
751
2807
After nearly a year of trying to dig into the Martian surface, the heat probe belonging to NASA's InSight lander is about to get a push. The mission team plans to command the scoop on InSight's robotic arm to press down on ...
Space Exploration
Feb 21, 2020
5
722
Scientists working on the next frontier of weather forecasting are hoping that weather conditions 3-to-4 weeks out will soon be as readily available as seven-day forecasts. Having this type of weather information—called ...
Environment
Dec 7, 2019
9
372
As elementary schoolers, we learned the order of the planets. Maybe your teacher even had a snappy mnemonic like "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas" or "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos" after ...
Planetary Sciences
Sep 12, 2022
4
56
A new NASA visualization shows the 2015 El Niño unfolding in the Pacific Ocean, as sea surface temperatures create different patterns than seen in the 1997-1998 El Niño. Computer models are just one tool that NASA scientists ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 25, 2016
0
442
Clues from prehistoric droughts and arid periods in California show that today's increasing greenhouse gas levels could lock the state into drought for centuries, according to a study led by UCLA professor Glen MacDonald.
Earth Sciences
Sep 15, 2016
2
353
(Phys.org)—Scientists have demonstrated that pinwheel-shaped microgears floating on a liquid surface can rotate at speeds of up to 300 r.p.m. when illuminated by an ordinary LED. This light-driven motion, which arises because ...
Late last year, news broke that the star Betelgeuse was fading significantly, ultimately dropping to around 40% of its usual brightness. The activity fueled popular speculation that the red supergiant would soon explode as ...
Astronomy
Mar 6, 2020
4
1648
The laws of thermodynamics dictate that a warmer atmosphere can hold more water vapor, but new research has found that atmospheric moisture has not increased as expected over arid and semi-arid regions of the world as the ...
Earth Sciences
Jan 17, 2024
13
835
