Here ’ s What Determines How Long the Total Eclipse Will Last in Your Location
If you’re like all but 74 Americans, you do not live in Radar Base, Texas. Seventy-four is the population of the town, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Such a tiny place may not be much to your liking, but on April 8, you’ll have cause to envy the people who do live there. That’s because Radar Base will experience four minutes and 27 seconds of totality during the eclipse that will cross the mainland U.S. that day. The celestial spectacle will track from southwestern Texas up through New England in a 185 km (115 mi.) band of totality passing over more than 31 million people. But no other U.S. city wil...
Source: TIME: Science - March 28, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Jeffrey Kluger Tags: Uncategorized Eclipse healthscienceclimate Source Type: news
These Are All the Different Types of Eclipses
No one in human history has ever seen an eclipse quite like the one seen by the crew of Apollo 12 on Nov. 21, 1969. Countless billions of us have seen the moon eclipse the sun, casting its shadow on the Earth; countless billions have seen the Earth similarly block solar light, casting a shadow on the moon. But the Earth eclipsing the sun, as viewed from far off in deep space? That’s a different matter—but it’s precisely what the astronauts bore witness to when they were on their way back to Earth after having stuck history’s second crewed lunar landing, in the moon’s Ocean of Storms, two days ...
Source: TIME: Science - March 28, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Jeffrey Kluger Tags: Uncategorized Eclipse healthscienceclimate Source Type: news
The Challenge and Necessity of a Shared Reality
All animals, including humans, have limitations in how they find out about the world. And we humans invent instrumentation to correct for weaknesses in our perceptions of the world. The most basic weakness we have is that our perceptions don’t tell us everything about what’s going on with the world. So we need corrective devices. Some of us need spectacles. To see very distant things, like distant galaxies or planets, we use telescopes; to see very small things, like cells, we use microscopes. It’s hard for many of us to hear the difference between a single tone and a chord, so sound analyzers let us...
Source: TIME: Science - March 28, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Saul Perlmutter, John Campbell, and Robert MacCoun Tags: Uncategorized freelance Source Type: news
A Faster Spinning Earth May Cause Timekeepers to Subtract a Second From World Clocks
Earth’s changing spin is threatening to toy with our sense of time, clocks and computerized society in an unprecedented way — but only for a second.
For the first time in history, world timekeepers may have to consider subtracting a second from our clocks in a few years because the planet is rotating a tad faster than it used to. Clocks may have to skip a second — called a “negative leap second” — around 2029, a study in the journal Nature said Wednesday.
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“This is an unprecedented situation and a big deal,” said study lead a...
Source: TIME: Science - March 27, 2024 Category: Science Authors: SETH BORENSTEIN / AP Tags: Uncategorized News Desk wire Source Type: news
I Applied to Be a NASA Astronaut. You Can Too
Recently, I applied to become an astronaut. I would like to be able to say that there is a non-zero chance I will be accepted, but sub-zero is more like it. Not a whole lot of people who can actually recall Sputnik—which, for the record, was launched on Oct. 4, 1957—quite make the age cut to climb on top of a rocket. Still, I filled out the nine-page form and sent it in, even if I have no doubt I’ll wind up in the cosmic slush pile.
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You, however, may have more luck. NASA is hiring; on March 5 it opened its doors to a new class of 12 or so astronauts and wil...
Source: TIME: Science - March 26, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Jeffrey Kluger Tags: Uncategorized healthscienceclimate Source Type: news
How Animals and Nature React to an Eclipse
Of all of the animals worth observing during a total solar eclipse, some of the most intriguing are humans. They stop what they’re doing; they stare skyward; they lower their voices to a hush. Some may gather their young close. Some may even shed tears. If you’ve ever witnessed a solar eclipse yourself, none of this comes as a surprise; indeed, you’ve surely exhibited some of these behaviors too. Other species of animals display other kinds of behavioral changes, as the weather and lighting and nature itself seem to turn on their axes. So what should you expect to experience on April 8, as a total eclipse...
Source: TIME: Science - March 25, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Jeffrey Kluger Tags: Uncategorized Eclipse Source Type: news
Auroras and a Worm Moon Eclipse: Celestial Events Light Up Sky Ahead of April Total Eclipse
Ahead of next month’s much-anticipated total solar eclipse, the night sky was illuminated late Sunday and early Monday by a flurry of other celestial activity over the weekend.
First, a Friday outburst of plasma, or coronal mass ejection, from the sun’s outermost layer caused a “severe” geomagnetic storm that was observed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on Sunday evening. While such storms could have effects on telecommunications technology, few were observed. But the celestial activity did pave the way for a stunning spectacle. Auroras, also known as northern or sou...
Source: TIME: Science - March 25, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Chad de Guzman Tags: Uncategorized News Desk overnight Source Type: news
How Cities Around the U.S. Are Celebrating the Eclipse
I’ve never before heard the music of the Cleveland Orchestra. I’ve certainly never heard them perform the fourth movement from Motzart’s Symphony No. 41—better known as “Jupiter.” But that will change on April 7, when I join tens of thousands of others at the city’s Great Lakes Science Center where the orchestra will be featured as just one part of a three-day festival built around the next day’s solar eclipse, which will reach totality over Cleveland just after 3:13 p.m. CDT.
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On April 8, the eclipse’s path of totality wi...
Source: TIME: Science - March 22, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Jeffrey Kluger Tags: Uncategorized Eclipse Source Type: news
The ‘ Devil Comet ’ Will Be a Heavenly Co-Star During the Eclipse. Here ’ s What to Know
One of cosmic history’s greatest acts of photo-bombing will take place on April 8, when the great solar eclipse is unfolding across North America. Tens of millions of people in the path of the event will be turning their eyes upward as the moon passes in front of the sun. But at least a few people—including an untold number of astronomers—will be looking off to the side too, as Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, more evocatively known as the Devil Comet, streaks through the skies.
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It was 1954 when the Devil Comet last reached perihelion—its closest approach...
Source: TIME: Science - March 21, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Jeffrey Kluger Tags: Uncategorized Eclipse healthscienceclimate Source Type: news
How to Find Solar Eclipse Glasses —And Spot Fake Ones
Jan Mars is so excited about the upcoming solar eclipse that she purchased 1,200 branded pairs of solar eclipse glasses for her clients and friends.
“Man, it was definitely one of those things you will remember for your whole life,” says the 58-year-old real estate agent based in Collierville, Tenn. of witnessing her first total solar eclipse in 2017. “I looked at when the next [solar eclipse] was on the way home from that one. I saw that [my brother’s ranch] was going to be in the middle of totality and I called him and said, ‘I hope you really are enjoying your ranch, because you got to k...
Source: TIME: Science - March 20, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Solcyré Burga Tags: Uncategorized Eclipse Explainer News Desk Source Type: news
French Bulldogs Remain the Most Popular U.S. Breed. Many Fans Aren ’ t Happy
(NEW YORK) — French bulldogs. U.S. dog owners. C’est l’amour.
Frenchies remained the United States’ most commonly registered purebred dogs last year, according to American Kennel Club rankings released Wednesday. The club calls the Frenchie the most popular breed, though other canine constituencies may beg to differ.
Is it a coup to be celebrated? Au contraire, say longtime fans who rue what popularity is doing to the breed. Nevertheless, after lapping Labrador retrievers to take the top spot in 2022, the bat-eared, scaled-down bulldogs held on in the new standings, which reflect puppies and o...
Source: TIME: Science - March 20, 2024 Category: Science Authors: JENNIFER PELTZ / AP Tags: Uncategorized News Desk wire Source Type: news
China Launches Satellite to Explore Moon as Neighbors on Earth Worry About Rocket Debris
China launched a lunar satellite designed to play a critical role in its competition with the U.S. to be the leader in exploration of the moon.
The Queqiao-2 relay satellite went into orbit aboard a Long March-8 rocket at 8:31 a.m. Beijing time from the Wenchang launch site in southern China’s Hainan province, according to the China National Space Administration.
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The 1.2-ton satellite is necessary to ensure communication for Chang’e-6, a Chinese spacecraft scheduled to travel to the far side of the moon in the first half of this year.
Because the moo...
Source: TIME: Science - March 20, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Bloomberg News Tags: Uncategorized News Desk overnight wire Source Type: news
U.N. Weather Agency Issues ‘ Red Alert ’ on Climate Change After Record Heat in 2023
GENEVA — The U.N. weather agency is sounding a “red alert” about global warming, citing record-smashing increases last year in greenhouse gases, land and water temperatures and melting of glaciers and sea ice, and is warning that the world’s efforts to reverse the trend have been inadequate.
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The World Meteorological Organization said there is a “high probability” that 2024 will be another record-hot year.
The Geneva-based agency, in a “State of the Global Climate” report released Tuesday, ratcheted up concerns that a much-va...
Source: TIME: Science - March 19, 2024 Category: Science Authors: JAMEY KEATEN and SETH BORENSTEIN/AP Tags: Uncategorized climate change healthscienceclimate wire Source Type: news
The Spring Equinox Is Here. What Does That Mean?
Spring is almost here — officially, at least.
The vernal equinox arrives on Tuesday, marking the start of the spring season for the Northern Hemisphere.
But what does that actually mean? Here’s what to know about how we split up the year using the Earth’s orbit.What is the equinox?
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As the Earth travels around the sun, it does so at an angle.
For most of the year, the Earth’s axis is tilted either toward or away from the sun. That means the sun’s warmth and light fall unequally on the northern and southern halves of the planet....
Source: TIME: Science - March 18, 2024 Category: Science Authors: Associated Press Tags: Uncategorized WEF2024 Source Type: news
SpaceX Mega Rocket Test Flight Ends With Loss of Spacecraft
SpaceX’s mega rocket blasted off on another test flight Thursday and made it farther than two previous attempts, but the spacecraft was lost as it descended back to Earth.
The company said it lost contact with the spacecraft as it neared its goal, a splashdown in the Indian Ocean, about an hour after liftoff from the southern tip of Texas near the Mexican border.
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Two test flights last year both ended in explosions minutes after liftoff.
Starship, the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built, headed out over the Gulf of Mexico after launch Thursday. Minutes lat...
Source: TIME: Science - March 14, 2024 Category: Science Authors: MARCIA DUNN / AP Tags: Uncategorized healthscienceclimate wire Source Type: news
