Asteroid won't threaten Earth
Feb 27, 2025
An asteroid that astronomers thought could hit the earth seven years from now will not be threatening our planet after all, officials said Monday.
The good news was announced by NASA which had been tracking the rock, designated 2024YR4, as it wandered through space. The more they watched, the more researchers became worried that the object could slam into Earth in the year 2032.
On Dec. 27, scientists calculated that the asteroid had a 1 percent chance of hitting Earth, the only large asteroid known to have an impact probability so big.
Somewhere between 130 and 300 feet wide, 2024 YR4 is big enough to potentially wipe out a city. Early estimates of the asteroid’s trajectory showed it could possibly slam into or explode in the air over large metropolitan areas, including Mumbai, India, and Lagos, Nigeria.
The odds of a collision rose during the first two months of this year, hitting 3 percent last week. But on Monday afternoon, astronomers calculated that the risk had dropped to 0.004 percent, or a one in 25,000 chance. A closer look at the asteroid revealed that the threat had been overblown, said Davide Farnocchia, a navigation engineer at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.
“I knew this was likely to go away as we collected more data,” he said. “I was sleeping pretty well.”
According to Farnocchia, that value is already outdated. The newest estimate is even smaller: a one in 59,000 chance.
The probability of impact shifted as astronomers gathered more information about the asteroid using ground-based telescopes. With additional data, the uncertainty of its route through the solar system began to shrink, eventually so much so that planetary defenders decided we were no longer in danger.
“This is normal behavior, what you would expect when you discover an asteroid,” Dr. Farnocchia said. It is “just the scientific process at work,” he added.
While Earth may have evaded destruction, NASA said there was a slight chance — about 1.7 percent — that 2024 YR4 would crash into the moon.
The agency is continuing to monitor the asteroid from observatories around the world, including with the Lowell Discovery Telescope in Arizona and the Nordic Optical Telescope in the Canary Islands. By the end of April, 2024 YR4 will be hidden from our view until 2028.
“The asteroid is going to do what it’s going to do,” Dr. Farnocchia said. That astronomers found it and measured the odds of a collision so far in advance, he added, “is actually a good sign that we’re doing what we’re supposed to do to deal with the risk of asteroid impacts.”
Asteroid strikes have had a devastating impact throughout Earth’s history. A collision millions of years ago caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. One formed a giant crater in Arizona another flattened hundreds of miles of trees in rural Russia at the turn of the last century.
Astronomers have calculated that asteroids large enough to cause widespread devastation are unlikely to collide with our planet in the oreseeable future based on their current orbits.
But a relatively small asteroid hit a community in Siberia a decade ago, shattering windows and frightening residents. It had been undetected and could have been deadly if it had landed in a heavily populated area.
The good news was announced by NASA which had been tracking the rock, designated 2024YR4, as it wandered through space. The more they watched, the more researchers became worried that the object could slam into Earth in the year 2032.
On Dec. 27, scientists calculated that the asteroid had a 1 percent chance of hitting Earth, the only large asteroid known to have an impact probability so big.
Somewhere between 130 and 300 feet wide, 2024 YR4 is big enough to potentially wipe out a city. Early estimates of the asteroid’s trajectory showed it could possibly slam into or explode in the air over large metropolitan areas, including Mumbai, India, and Lagos, Nigeria.
The odds of a collision rose during the first two months of this year, hitting 3 percent last week. But on Monday afternoon, astronomers calculated that the risk had dropped to 0.004 percent, or a one in 25,000 chance. A closer look at the asteroid revealed that the threat had been overblown, said Davide Farnocchia, a navigation engineer at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.
“I knew this was likely to go away as we collected more data,” he said. “I was sleeping pretty well.”
According to Farnocchia, that value is already outdated. The newest estimate is even smaller: a one in 59,000 chance.
The probability of impact shifted as astronomers gathered more information about the asteroid using ground-based telescopes. With additional data, the uncertainty of its route through the solar system began to shrink, eventually so much so that planetary defenders decided we were no longer in danger.
“This is normal behavior, what you would expect when you discover an asteroid,” Dr. Farnocchia said. It is “just the scientific process at work,” he added.
While Earth may have evaded destruction, NASA said there was a slight chance — about 1.7 percent — that 2024 YR4 would crash into the moon.
The agency is continuing to monitor the asteroid from observatories around the world, including with the Lowell Discovery Telescope in Arizona and the Nordic Optical Telescope in the Canary Islands. By the end of April, 2024 YR4 will be hidden from our view until 2028.
“The asteroid is going to do what it’s going to do,” Dr. Farnocchia said. That astronomers found it and measured the odds of a collision so far in advance, he added, “is actually a good sign that we’re doing what we’re supposed to do to deal with the risk of asteroid impacts.”
Asteroid strikes have had a devastating impact throughout Earth’s history. A collision millions of years ago caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. One formed a giant crater in Arizona another flattened hundreds of miles of trees in rural Russia at the turn of the last century.
Astronomers have calculated that asteroids large enough to cause widespread devastation are unlikely to collide with our planet in the oreseeable future based on their current orbits.
But a relatively small asteroid hit a community in Siberia a decade ago, shattering windows and frightening residents. It had been undetected and could have been deadly if it had landed in a heavily populated area.
Feb. 13, 2025
Ancient people dropped corpses into Thames River.
Human bones found in Britain’s Thames River are mostly from the Bronze and Iron ages, a new study has revealed. And no one knows why.
Researchers based their findings on radiocarbon dating of 30 skeletons found in the river, according to the science journal Live Science
“Most people-including Londoners- are quite taken aback to hear that hundreds of human bones have come from the River Thames,” said the study’s lead author Nichola Arthur, a curator at the National History Museum in London. “Human skeletons have been encountered fairly regularly in the water places of northwest Europe,” she said. “But the Thames’ human bones represent a uniquely large assemblage.”
The Bronze age lasted from 3000 B.C. to 1200 B.C. The Iron Age, which saw the rise of civilizations like the Greeks, was from 1200 B.C to 500 B.C.
Archeologists have been hauling up Thames remains since the 19th Century but have disagreed about how the bones got there. One theory held that the remains were left from a battle between the Celts and the Romans. Other researchers suggested that the bodies may have fallen in the river when nearby riverbanks eroded, or when people drowned.
But Arthur insists the remains suggest a far more dramatic source.
“We can now say with confidence that these don’t appear to just be bones that have steadily accumulated in the river through time,” she said. “There was something really going on in the Bronze and Iron ages.”
Count the Birds
This weekend, thousands of bird watchers will take part in the Great Backyard Bird Count and you can join them.
From Feb.14-17, birders in the United States and Canada will each take a few minutes to conduct a census of their feathered friends outside. All you need to do is count the birds in one place for 15 minutes, identify them and record the results online for researchers. The event will help scientists determine the populations of different bird species before they begin their annual migration. The event is co-sponsored by the Audubon Society, the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology and Birds Canada. More information can be found at birdcount.org and birdcount.org/participate.
Ancient people dropped corpses into Thames River.
Human bones found in Britain’s Thames River are mostly from the Bronze and Iron ages, a new study has revealed. And no one knows why.
Researchers based their findings on radiocarbon dating of 30 skeletons found in the river, according to the science journal Live Science
“Most people-including Londoners- are quite taken aback to hear that hundreds of human bones have come from the River Thames,” said the study’s lead author Nichola Arthur, a curator at the National History Museum in London. “Human skeletons have been encountered fairly regularly in the water places of northwest Europe,” she said. “But the Thames’ human bones represent a uniquely large assemblage.”
The Bronze age lasted from 3000 B.C. to 1200 B.C. The Iron Age, which saw the rise of civilizations like the Greeks, was from 1200 B.C to 500 B.C.
Archeologists have been hauling up Thames remains since the 19th Century but have disagreed about how the bones got there. One theory held that the remains were left from a battle between the Celts and the Romans. Other researchers suggested that the bodies may have fallen in the river when nearby riverbanks eroded, or when people drowned.
But Arthur insists the remains suggest a far more dramatic source.
“We can now say with confidence that these don’t appear to just be bones that have steadily accumulated in the river through time,” she said. “There was something really going on in the Bronze and Iron ages.”
Count the Birds
This weekend, thousands of bird watchers will take part in the Great Backyard Bird Count and you can join them.
From Feb.14-17, birders in the United States and Canada will each take a few minutes to conduct a census of their feathered friends outside. All you need to do is count the birds in one place for 15 minutes, identify them and record the results online for researchers. The event will help scientists determine the populations of different bird species before they begin their annual migration. The event is co-sponsored by the Audubon Society, the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology and Birds Canada. More information can be found at birdcount.org and birdcount.org/participate.
“Cocaine Sharks” discovered off Brazil
Sharks are aggressive enough already, but a study in Brazil found that some may be on cocaine as well.
Researchers found the drugs in 13 sharpnose sharks caught in the waters off Rio de Janeiro during a two-year period, according to National Geographic. Cocaine and benzoylecgoine, a metabolite produced when the drug is broken down in the body, were found in the muscle and liver tissues of all the fish.
It’s unknown whether the drug, which is a powerful stimulant, could affect the fish. Biologist Rachael Ann Hauser-Davis and ecotoxicologist Enrico Saggioro did not test the sharks’ health but suspect the drug could cause some damage, similar to results found when zebrafish and mussels have been exposed.
Brazil is one of the biggest cocaine markets in the world, with 1.8 million users, according to the study. The drugs may be getting into the ocean from human waste getting in the local sewage system or being dumped by secret cocaine- refining laboratories into canals that empty into the sea.
Female frogs may eat their boyfriends
It’s not easy being green. Especially if you are a male frog trying to impress a female.
Australian ecologist John Gould thinks female green and gold frogs may devour their male suitors, if they fail to be impressed by the male’s mating song. While studying a nearby pond, Gould said he watched a female chomping down on a male’s leg, and trying to pull him into a hole as the poor amphibian shrieked in horror.
Cannibalism is common among amphibians, but this was the first time it was observed among two adults of this species, according to the New York Times.
“The females are almost the ultimate predators for the males,” Gould said, because their ears can hear the males’ songs and determine if they would make suitable mates or a good meal.
Biology professor David Pfennig of UNC, Chapel Hill, said he would need more evidence to determine if the frog mating-or-meal phenomenon is real. The males could fight back or a female might choke on her unlucky date, he said.
Lunar Cave Discovered
A cave that could someday shield astronauts from the harsh environment on the moon has been discovered. The NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter which circles Earth’s satellite, found the entrance in a pit located in the Sea of Tranquility. That’s the site where astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong landed during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969.
The cave measures 148 feet wide and 98 to 262 feet long, according to CNN. It is likely part of a longer lava tube cavity, created when the moon was forming millions of years ago.
It could also serve as an emergency shelter for future astronauts living and working on the moon. Temperatures near the moon’s equator reach 250 degrees Fahrenheit during daylight, and drop to 208 degrees below zero at night. Lunar pits, which may lead into other caves, remain at around 63 degrees.
“Lunar caves would provide massive benefits for astronauts and rovers as they seek shelter from the hazards on the lunar surface such as radiation, micrometeorites and temperature extremes, “said UCLA doctoral student Tyler Horvath.
Scientists have discovered a large lunar cave connected to the pit found within the Sea of Tranquility on the moon.
NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University/photo
NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University/photo