‘Cooling glass’ could fight climate change by reflecting solar radiation back into space

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As the world continues to experience a worsening climate crisis with record-breaking temperatures, scientists have developed a new, highly reflective glass coating that may help cool a rapidly warming Earth. In theory, the coating — a slurry-like mixture of inexpensive glass and aluminum oxide particles — could reflect high amounts of sunlight off of the surfaces on which it is painted, such as roofs of buildings and roads.  Laboratory tests have shown it to reflect up to 99 percent of solar radiation back into space. If it pans out, the…

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The Next Full Moon is the Cold, Frost or Winter Moon

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23 Min Read The Next Full Moon is the Cold, Frost or Winter Moon A full moon rises about California’s Vasquez Rocks Credits: NASA/Preston Dyches January 2024 The Next Full Moon is the Cold, Frost, or Winter Moon; the Long Night Moon; the Moon after Yule; the Datta Jayanti and Thiruvathira Festival Moon; Unduvap Poya; and the Chang’e Moon. The next full Moon will be Tuesday evening, December 26, 2023, appearing opposite the Sun (in Earth-based longitude) at 7:33 PM EST. This will be on Wednesday in Coordinated Universal Time…

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Ripples in the oldest known spiral galaxy may shed light on the origins of our Milky Way

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Observations have revealed the first-ever seismic waves seen in an ancient galaxy, possibly offering new insight into the origins of our very own Milky Way.  The galaxy, known as BRI 1335-0417, is more than 12 billion years old, making it the oldest and farthest known spiral galaxy in our universe. Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) radio telescope in Chile, researchers studied the motion of gas around the galaxy and, in turn, captured the formation of a seismic wave. Such phenomena has never been observed before in such an…

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Joshua Schlieder: Feet on the Ground, Head in the Stars

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8 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Name: Joshua Schlieder Title: Wide Field Instrument Scientist for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and Operations Project Scientist for the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory Formal Job Classification: Research Astrophysicist Organization: Stellar Astrophysics and Exoplanets Laboratory, Astrophysics Division, Sciences and Exploration Directorate (Code 667) Joshua Schlieder is the Wide Field Instrument scientist for NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. “I am never bored (but sometimes stressed),” he said. “Every day is a new adventure.” Courtesy of Joshua Schlieder What…

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The Quadrantid meteor shower 2024 peaks tonight alongside a bright moon

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Early each January, the Quadrantid meteor stream provides one of the most intense annual meteor displays, with a brief, sharp maximum lasting only a few hours.  The Quadrantid meteor shower actually radiate from the northeast corner of the constellation of Boötes, the Herdsman, so we might expect them to be called the “Boötids.” But back in the late-18th century there was a constellation here called “Quadrans Muralis,” the “Mural or Wall Quadrant” (an astronomical instrument). Quadrans Muralis is a long-obsolete star pattern, invented in 1795 by J.J. Lalande to commemorate…

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Total solar eclipse 2024: Live updates

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Refresh 2024-01-03T10:11:19.869Z Why not experience totality from one of these eclipse-themed locations? There are dozens of eclipse-related place names in North America.  (Image credit: Michael Zeiler/GreatAmericanEclipse.com) Eclipse Island, Corona and Moon Island are just some of the places you can watch the total solar eclipse on April 8.  Here we’ve rounded up eclipse-related place names located within the path of totality along with the local time and duration of totality.  Read more: These eclipse-themed places will experience totality on April 8, 2024 2024-01-02T12:04:41.410Z The best places in the US to…

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Review: Zack Snyder’s ‘Rebel Moon’ is a joyless jumble of rehashed sci-fi fare

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“A good conscience is a continual Christmas,” Benjamin Franklin once wrote. So it’s with a heavy heart and a liberated soul that I cannot honestly recommend the new Netflix space fantasy, “Rebel Moon: Part One — A Child of Fire,” to anyone but the most hardcore of Zack Snyder acolytes. And that pains me as a serious admirer of Snyder’s previous work on sci-fi and fantasy features like “Dawn of the Dead,” “300,” “Watchmen,” “Man of Steel,” “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice,” and “Justice League.” However, “Rebel Moon,” with…

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NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 Preflight

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Jupiter, top, and Venus, bottom, are seen with the crescent Moon above the Vehicle Assembly Building, Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida as preparations continued for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 mission. The agency’s SpaceX Crew-6 mission was the sixth crew rotation mission of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.

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