Eclipse Pair

clipses tend to come in pairs. Twice a year, during an eclipse season that lasts about 34 days, Sun, Moon, and Earth can nearly align. Then the full and new phases of the Moon, separated by just over 14 days, create a lunar and a solar eclipse. But only rarely is the alignment at both new moon and full moon phases during a single eclipse season close enough to produce a pair with both total

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Summary

The UK’s largest dinosaur footprint site, featuring about 200 tracks, has been unearthed in an Oxfordshire quarry.

The 166-million-year-old tracks, some stretching 150 meters, were made by long-necked sauropods like Cetiosaurus and carnivorous Megalosaurus.

The well-preserved prints offer insights into the movement and environment of these Jurassic dinosaurs, including where their paths crossed.

Discovered by a quarry worker, the site has been studied extensively with 3D models created.

Discussions are ongoing about preserving the trackways, with potential for uncovering more prints.

Summary

New research reveals that Florida’s manatees are not native to the state, arriving only after the Little Ice Age ended in the late 1700s, when warmer waters became available.

Historical and archaeological records show manatees were rare in Florida prior to this period, challenging assumptions about their long-standing presence.

As climate change threatens manatee habitats, researchers suggest using historical baselines to guide conservation efforts.

Advocacy groups are urging stronger protections, including restoring the manatee’s “endangered” status, as warm-water refuges diminish due to the closure of fossil fuel plants.

Alpha Centauri: The Closest Star System

The closest star system to the Sun is the Alpha Centauri system. Of the three stars in the system, the dimmest -- called Proxima Centauri -- is actually the nearest star.
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NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services, or CLPS, initiative aims to deliver science and technology payloads to the Moon using commercial landers. CLPS is what brought Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus lander to the Moon in February 2024, marking the first U.S. Moon landing since Apollo.

In 2025, NASA has several CLPS missions planned, including deliveries by companies Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines and Firefly Aerospace.

In February 2025, NASA plans to launch the Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer, or SPHEREx, observatory. This mission will survey the sky in near-infrared light, which is a type of light that is invisible to the naked eye but that special instruments can detect.

The European Space Agency, or ESA, plans to conduct an orbital test flight of its Space Rider uncrewed spaceplane in the third quarter of 2025. Space Rider is a reusable spacecraft designed to carry out various scientific experiments in low Earth orbit.

Japan’s M2/Resilience mission, scheduled for January 2025, will launch a lander and micro-rover to the lunar surface.This mission will study the lunar soil to understand its composition and properties. Researchers will also conduct a water-splitting test to produce oxygen and hydrogen by extracting water from the lunar surface, heating the water and splitting the captured steam. The generated water, oxygen and hydrogen can be used for enabling long-term lunar exploration.

A December Winter Night

Orion seems to come up sideways, climbing over a distant mountain range in this deep skyscape. The wintry scene was captured from southern Poland on the northern hemisphere's long solstice night. Otherwise unseen nebulae hang in the sky, revealed by the camera modified to record red hydrogen-alpha light. The nebulae lie near the edge of the Orion molecular cloud and join the Hunter's familiar belt stars and bright giants Betelgeuse and Rigel. Eye of Taurus the Bull, yellowish Aldebaran anchors the V-shaped Hyades star cluster near top center. Still, near opposition in planet Earth's sky, the Solar System's ruling gas giant Jupiter is the brightest celestial beacon above this horizon's snowy peaks.

Copyright: Włodzimierz Bubak

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No, this is not a painting or photoshop, this is
real and extremely rare atmospheric
phenomenon that appears under very rare
conditions. lts known has Sprites or Red
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Retraction to: Nature Communications https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17687-3, published online 25 August 2020

i didn't hear it anywhere, so thought it to be news-worthy

[edit] As noted below by Neuromancer49, there's a new published version with corrections. Published: 19 December 2024

• https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-55384-7

Preprint: https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.10234

Sometimes people perplex me in that some of the most fundamental things aren't known to the newer generations (albeit, some of the older ones too, but not nearly as many). Nonetheless, I bet there are people that will TIL this! And you know what, have at it, obtain that knowledge 👍

Greetings all!

There are a few YouTube channels I watch on a regular basis that I’d put in the science/math bin. Here are a few examples:

NileRed Standup Maths Steve Mould AlphaPhoenix

I was wondering if anyone here had any recommendations for other science/math channels to follow or a resource that aggregates good channels. As a lay person, as in no college level education on these topics, I’m not sure I have the qualifications to determine if a channel is highly accurate or not. I think I’ve done a good job finding channels that are accurate but wanted to check in with folks that may be able to better determine that.

I’m particularly interested in astronomy, cosmology, and evolution.

Summary

In the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico, researchers found that small leaks collectively account for 72% of methane emissions from U.S. oil and gas fields, challenging the focus on “super emitters.”

Methane, a potent greenhouse gas, traps 80 times more heat than CO2 and contributes significantly to climate change.

Efforts to curb emissions include advanced satellite monitoring like MethaneSAT, new EPA rules requiring leak detection, and phasing out flaring.

With over 130,000 well sites, addressing both small and large emitters is essential for meaningful climate impact.