Gaia tracks sibling stars in Milky Way | | Rather than leaving home young, as expected, star siblings are more likely to stick together in long-lasting, string-like star groups, according to a new study of data from ESA's Gaia spacecraft. Read more. | | |
Arecibo gets $19M grant to find and study near-Earth objects | | Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico has, since the 1990s, been finding about 60 to 120 of these objects every year. The new grant will boost Arecibo's ability to search for and analyze these objects - called NEOs - with the goal of protecting Earth. It comes on the heels of a $12.3M grant earlier this month, which was aimed in part at fixing damage to Arecibo's big dish from Hurricane Maria in 2017. Read more. | | |
What we're reading From Associated Press … Florida braces for Hurricane Dorian | | Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands got lucky as Dorian brushed past the islands leaving relatively minor damage. However, the National Hurricane Center said the Category 2 storm is expected to strengthen into a potentially catastrophic Category 4 with winds of 130 mph (209 kph) and slam into the U.S. on Labor Day Weekend, somewhere between the Florida Keys and southern Georgia - a 500-mile (805-kilometer) stretch that reflects the high degree of uncertainty this far out. Read more from AP. | | |
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Year's closest supermoon today | | Today - August 30, 2019 - presents the closest new moon of the year, exactly a fortnight (about 2 weeks) before the year's farthest and smallest full moon on September 14, 2019. Read more. Supermoons can bring particularly high tides, especially along stormy coastlines. | | |
