Earth

After Stalling Out for 40 Years, the Largest Iceberg in the World is on the Move

In 1986, a gigantic iceberg separated from the Fichner-Ronne ice shelf in West Antarctica. It was so big that it…

4 months ago

What Would Happen to Earth if a Rogue Star Came Too Close?

Stars are gravitationally fastened to their galaxies and move in concert with their surroundings. But sometimes, something breaks the bond.…

4 months ago

If You’re Trying to Prevent an Asteroid Impact, the Technical and Political Challenges are Staggering

While preparing for the threat of an asteroid strike might seem like a hypothetical exercise, it's really not. The Solar…

4 months ago

Earth’s Past and Future Habitability Depends on Our Protection from Space Weather

A bewildering number of factors and variables led up to the planet we occupy today, where life finds a way…

4 months ago

Earth is Hiding Another Planet Deep Inside

Earth's early history is marked by massive collisions with other objects, including planetesimals. One of the defining events in our…

5 months ago

Devastating Clouds of Dust Helped End the Reign of the Dinosaurs

When a giant meteor crashed into Earth 66 million years ago, the impact pulverized cubic kilometers of rock and blasted…

5 months ago

Venus Might Have Had Plate Tectonics Just Like Earth

Even though Venus is very similar to Earth in many ways, it's a hell-world with a runaway greenhouse effect. It…

5 months ago

In 250 Million Years, a Single Supercontinent will Form, Wiping Out Nearly all Mammals

A recent study published in Nature Geoscience uses supercomputer climate models to examine how a supercontinent, dubbed Pangea Ultima (also…

5 months ago

How Do Lava Worlds Become Earth-Like, Living Planets?

Earth was once entirely molten. Planetary scientists call this phase in a planet's evolution a magma ocean, and Earth may…

6 months ago

Gaia is Now Finding Planets. Could it Find Another Earth?

The ESA launched Gaia in 2013 with one overarching goal: to map more than one billion stars in the Milky…

6 months ago