wind

A Huge Beam of Antimatter Has Been Caught Streaming From This Runaway Pulsar

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A runaway dead star zooming through space at breakneck speeds has left behind a huge trail of matter and antimatter particles. The star is a pulsar called PSR J2030+4415 or J2030 for short; it’s around 20 kilometers (12 miles) in diameter, and it’s speeding through space at a breakneck velocity of around 450 kilometers per … Read more

Mars: China’s Zhurong rover finds hints landscape was shaped by water

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The first reported findings from China’s Mars rover suggest the plain it is exploring was shaped by winds – and perhaps also by water Space 7 March 2022 By Chen Ly China’s first Mars rover Zhurong with the landing platform Xinhua / Alamy China’s Zhurong Mars rover landed at Utopia Planitia – a large plain … Read more

An Expert Explains How Solar Storms Can So Easily Destroy Satellites

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On Feb. 4, 2022, SpaceX launched 49 satellites as part of Elon Musk‘s Starlink internet project, most of which burned up in the atmosphere days later. The cause of this more than US$50 million failure was a geomagnetic storm caused by the Sun.   Geomagnetic storms occur when space weather hits and interacts with the … Read more

Three Fixes to Build Energy Projects Cleaner and Faster

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Reducing carbon emissions in the U.S. to net zero is achievable. It’s economically sustainable, environmentally essential, technologically feasible and, with some work, even politically viable. But to have a good chance of reaching net zero, we must change the way we regulate the construction of clean energy projects. We have all of the building blocks: … Read more

A giant Mars dust pile is sculpted by the wind in this photo by a European probe

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The Medusae Fossae Formation on Mars.  (Image credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO) An enormous dust deposit on Mars shows the power of Martian wind in a new image snapped from orbit.  Standing on the surface of Mars is possibly the largest single dust source on the Red Planet: the Medusae Fossae Formation (MFF). … Read more

Mike Cannon-Brookes: Can a tech billionaire squash Australia’s coal industry by buying it?

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Frustrated with the Australian government’s inaction on climate change, software king Mike Cannon-Brookes is trying to buy several big coal plants so he can shut them down in favour of renewables Environment | Analysis 22 February 2022 By Alice Klein Open-cast coal mining in Hunter Valley, Australia PETER HARRISON/Getty Images Mike Cannon-Brookes, the third-richest person … Read more

How Marine Wildlife can Coexist With Offshore Wind [Sponsored]

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This podcast was produced for Ørsted by Scientific American Custom Media, a division separate from the magazine’s board of editors. April Reese: Offshore wind in the US is poised for a boom. States from Rhode Island on down to Virginia all have plans to ramp up offshore wind over the next decade, and the Biden administration … Read more

There’s a Hidden Mathematical ‘Law’ in The Sand Megaripples Found All Over Earth

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Wherever there is sand and an atmosphere, prevailing winds may whip the grains into undulating shapes, pleasing to the eye with their calming repetition. Certain sand waves, with wavelengths between 30 centimeters (almost 12 inches) and several meters (around 30 feet), are known as megaripples: they’re between ordinary beach ripples and full dunes in size, … Read more

Comet Leonard puts on a final, spectacular display with ion tail in solar wind

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Comet Leonard is falling out of view, but not without putting on one last show. Discovered just a year ago, the comet, formally known as Comet C/2021 A1, made its closest approach to Earth on Dec. 12, marking the climax of a month full of prime observing opportunities. As the comet has continued on its … Read more

‘Wind’ from Earth’s middle layer blows through a secret passage beneath Panama

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A geological secret passage beneath Panama may explain why rocks from Earth’s mantle are found more than 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers) from where they originated.  This opening, located some 62 miles (100 km) below Earth‘s surface, may allow a flow of mantle materials to travel all the way from beneath the Galápagos Islands to beneath … Read more