Category: Solar System

Our solar system

‘SALLY’ at Sundance: NatGeo film to reveal ‘hidden love’ of 1st US woman in space

NeRD

A new documentary about the life and love of America’s first woman in space will premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. “SALLY,” from National Geographic and director Cristina Costantini, reveals the legacy of NASA astronaut Sally Ride. Featuring archival footage filmed both on the ground and in space, along with new interviews with Ride’s close friends and colleagues, the documentary allows access to the “real Ride,” who struggled with the “limits and sacrifices true heroism demands.” “‘SALLY’ is the story of pioneering astronaut Sally Ride, who was the first…

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‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’ brings back fan-favorite characters for ‘Multiverse of Madness’-style hijinks in latest episode

NeRD

Ever wondered what happened to Bradward Boimler’s transporter duplicate? We already knew his death was faked by Section 31 and now we know the reason why: he’s leaping between multiverses as if he’s Doctor Strange, trying to stop whatever — or whoever — is tearing rifts between dimensions. And who else to accompany him on this mission but a crack team of operatives plucked from previous “Star Trek”s, alternative universe duplicates who bring their own unique set of skills to the job in hand. “Fissure Quest” is the latest super-smart…

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What causes volcanic eruptions on Jupiter’s moon Io? Scientists aren’t so sure anymore

NeRD

Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io doesn’t appear to have a subsurface ocean of magma, resolving some issues about how Io’s volcanoes erupt and raising broader questions about similar magma oceans within other moons and planets. Data from previous missions had made planetary scientists wonder whether, rather than just pockets of melt, Io contained a 31-mile (50-kilometer) deep layer of magma: a moon-wide ocean of molten rock. In the 1990s, NASA’s Galileo mission performed magnetic induction measurements that suggested there was such a layer, while more recently, the distribution of volcanoes on…

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‘Star Wars: Skeleton Crew’ episode 3: What’s Jod Na Nawood’s true identity?

NeRD

Skeleton Crew, the latest live-action Star Wars show on Disney Plus, debuted last week with a pretty fun and uncomplicated two-episode premiere. In its third chapter, we get to venture further into a swashbuckling adventure full of scallywags and alien locales. But, more surprisingly, we also obtain more answers than we’d expected this early on. Some might take this as a sign of co-creators and writers Jon Watts and Christopher Ford not really knowing what to do with the mysteries they’d set up, but it’s quite obvious they’re toying with…

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2 huge asteroid strikes 36 million years ago didn’t change Earth’s climate over the long haul, study finds

NeRD

Two enormous asteroids that struck Earth about 36 million years ago did not cause any long-lasting shifts to our planet’s climate, according to new research. The space rocks, both estimated to be no larger than 5 miles (8 kilometers) wide, impacted Earth within 25,000 years of each other. Geologically speaking, that’s a relatively short period of time, offering scientists a unique opportunity to study how our planet’s climate responded to such an onslaught. Isotopes in the fossils of tiny marine organisms that lived at the time suggest that Earth’s climate…

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‘MechWarrior 5: Clans’ offers the stompy robot fights you expect, and a surprisingly strong story that you probably don’t

NeRD

MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries firmly ranks among the best mech games of all time, but at a glance, it’s also a daunting proposition for casual gamers. With the follow-up, MechWarrior 5: Clans, Piranha Games has sought to make a more accessible sequel to serve as an onboarding ramp into the BattleTech universe. What’s the BattleTech universe anyway? Launched in 1984 by FASA Corporation, it’s become a franchise that spans the original wargame, several board games, role-playing games, collectible card games, more than 100 novels (yes, really), an animated TV series, and…

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NASA tests high-tech software for future mission to search for life on Jupiter’s moon Europa

NeRD

Artificial intelligence is being developed to provide a robotic brain for a future NASA mission to land on the icy surface of one of the solar system’s ocean moons, such as Europa or Enceladus. The autonomous software is being developed by teams of researchers who are making use of a robotic arm, mimicking that belonging to a lander or rover, and a virtual reality simulation at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Ames Research Center, respectively. Imagine that you’re a robotic lander designed to study Jupiter‘s moon Europa, which hosts…

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Learn how Pike and Number One met at Starfleet Academy in ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds: Asylum’ (exclusive)

NeRD

It’s been pretty quiet except for the crickets in the “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” frontier lately, and after a NYCC Season 3 update at Paramount+’s Star Trek Universe Panel this past October that included a thrilling clip of the Enterprise engaging with Gorn attack ships, we haven’t heard much more. No doubt a brand new trailer is somewhere on the horizon, but until that third season enters Paramount+’s streaming orbit sometime in 2025, one method of maintaining one’s interest in Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) and his gallant crew…

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Geminid meteor shower fills the sky with ‘shooting stars’ in spectacular time-lapse photos

NeRD

Miguel Claro is a professional photographer, author and science communicator based in Lisbon, Portugal, who creates spectacular images of the night sky. As a European Southern Observatory Photo Ambassador and member of The World At Night and the official astrophotographer of the Dark Sky Alqueva Reserve, he specializes in astronomical “Skyscapes” that connect both Earth and the night sky. This image of the Geminid meteor shower is the result of a fair amount of work consisting of aligning stars aligning and combining ten folders that each contained hundreds of gigabytes…

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‘Silo’ Season 2: ‘The Harmonium’: Does Judge Meadows get her wish to go outside?

NeRD

If you’re any kind of fan of the fantastic Steve Zahn, and frankly who isn’t, you’re in for a real treat in this fourth episode of “Silo” Season 2 titled “The Harmonium.” Watching him innocently describe trapeze artists and exotic animals to Juliette while she’s trying to craft a breathing tube apparatus to swim down to a submerged level of Silo 17 is a sheer revelation and a true testament to his enormous range.   Juliette might be a bit annoyed at his carrying on about circuses, elephants’ altruism, and…

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