Tag: planetary
Ocean Acidification Threshold Pushes Earth Past Another Planetary Boundary
Humans Have Crossed 7 of 9 ‘Planetary Boundaries’ Earth has breached a critical boundary for ocean acidification, with potentially grim effects for ocean ecosystems and human livelihoods By Andrea Thompson edited by Lee Billings Our planet is sick, and its life-threatening symptoms are getting worse, a new report warns. Earth has been pushed past multiple…
How Planetary Defenders Planned to Stop That City-Killer Asteroid
A Near-Miss with a City-Killer Asteroid Highlights Gaps in Earth’s Defenses The threat from near-Earth asteroid 2024 YR4 may have subsided, but discoveries of other hazardous space rocks are set to soar as new observatories come online By Robin George Andrews edited by Lee Billings In mid-February 2025 astronomers announced that 2024 YR4—a recently discovered…
JWST Spies a Giant Space Hamburger—and Maybe Planetary Origins, Too
The UniverseFridays JWST Spies a Giant Space Hamburger—and Maybe Planetary Origins, Too It’s neither fast nor food, but a spectacular object called HH 30 looks appetizing for astronomers in a new image from the James Webb Space Telescope By Phil Plait edited by Lee Billings HH 30, a complex assemblage of gas and dust surrounding…