Space and Planetary Sciences

GeoTalk: Drilling into the crater which contributed to the demise of dinosaurs

Laura Roberts-Artal October 28, 2016

The Onshore Science Party for Expedition 364. Image courtesy of Volker Diekamp@ECORD_IODP

Six months ago, somewhere in the tropical waters off the coast of Mexico, scientists began drilling into one of the most iconic geological features on Earth: the Chicxulub crater; the 66 million year old remnants of a deadly asteroid impact, thought to have contributed to the demise of dinosaurs and most other forms of life which inhabited the Earth at the time. Today we speak to Sonia Tikoo, Assi ...[Read More]

Geosciences column: Making aurora photos taken by ISS astronauts useful for research

Laura Roberts-Artal October 7, 2016

Northern lights appeared over Murphy Dome, Alaska. Credit: Taro Nakai (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

It’s a clear night, much like any other, except that billions of kilometers away the Sun has gone into overdrive and (hours earlier) hurled a mass of charged particles, including protons, electrons and atoms towards the Earth. As the electrons slam into the upper reaches of the atmosphere, the night sky explodes into a spectacular display of dancing lights: aurora. Aurora remain shrouded in myste ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: counting stars

Vytas Huth August 22, 2016

There is never enough time to count all the stars you want The straight ring . Credit: Vytas Huth (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

This year’s imaggeo photo contest saw humdreds of great entries. Among the winning images was a stunning night-sky panorama by Vytas Huth. In today’s post, Vytas describes how he captured the image and how the remote location in Southern Germany is one of the few (in Europe) where it is still posssible to, clearly, image the Milk Way. I took the image in October 2015, usually the last ...[Read More]

GeoTalk: Matt Taylor of ESA’s Rosetta mission

Laura Roberts-Artal July 15, 2016

Screenshot from the Rosetta mission cartoons. Credit: ESA. All Rosetta Mission videos are available on YouTube

In November 2014, space exploration history was made. Millions of kilometres away, orbiting a piece of ice and rock, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Rosetta mission sent its probe Philae to become the first spacecraft to soft-land on a comet. After the tense 7-hour wait that followed the separation from the main orbiter, a tweet confirmed that the little lander had successfully completed the fir ...[Read More]