The rocky body at the outer edge of our solar system was downgraded to a dwarf planet in 2006. And that decision has been hotly debated ever since. Maybe Pluto is a planet after all. The icy ball at the outer edge of the solar system was considered a planet from its discovery in 1930 […]

By Adrian McDermott Globally, nations are trying hard to replace CFCs and HCFCs with eco-friendly coolants. CFC and HCFC are responsible for the depletion of the ozone layer and global warming. Heating and cooling systems that still use these greenhouse gases violate the Kyoto- and Montreal protocols. Geothermal heat pumps are being explored as a […]

Looking back at historic space weather may help us understand what’s coming next. Space weather can disrupt electronics, aviation and satellite systems, and communications. This depends on solar activity, but as this is different for each solar cycle, the overall likelihood of space weather events are difficult to forecast. “…there is an underlying pattern to […]

An important discovery has been made on our celestial neighbor, Mars, and the Red Planet will be very close to Earth next week. During the evening, those looking towards the sky may have noticed a bright orange-red star. That “star” is actually the planet Mars. Jason Major, a local space blogger for LightsInTheDark.com, said it will be […]

Auroras appear on Earth as ghostly displays of colorful light in the night sky, usually near the poles. Our rocky neighbor Mars has auroras too, and NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft just found a new type of Martian aurora that occurs over much of the day side of the Red Planet, where auroras are very hard to […]