At least we, or whatever forms of intelligence that will be present, have about a billion years to workout how to deal with the consequences of another form of global warming; the Sun becoming hotter as it ages... The Sun is slowly getting warmer as it burns the hydrogen in its core. In about 5 billion years, the Sun will begin evolving into a bloated red giant. Its outer ... Read full entry

The Atlas of the Real World is a fascinating representation of how big and small countries and regions are when assessed according to immigration intake, popularity as a tourist destination, rail travel, and wealth, to name a few. I'm surprised Antarctica features so prominently, or that even makes the map in the first place, though.

Orbiting space junk is no laughing matter. Not only does it pose a possible threat by falling out of orbit and crashing to Earth, even the minutest particle of space waste can present hazards to orbiting craft and satellites. For instance check out what a speck of paint, drifting about in Earth orbit, did to a window of one of the space shuttles. There are some unusual things ... Read full entry

The Association of Space Explorers (ASE) is calling on the United Nations (UN) to co-ordinate efforts to defend Earth from "potentially catastrophic asteroid threats". The report asks the UN to assume responsibility for responding to potentially catastrophic asteroid threats. "For 4.5 billion years, we've been bashed continuously by asteroids. It's time for that to stop," former Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart told the assembly. The ASE's vision ... Read full entry

More to the point I read that in addition to the Moon, Earth has another four satellite like companions. While very small and actually orbiting the Sun, they stay relatively close to Earth so rating as, well, companions. Most people think the Earth has one natural moon, which is why we call it the Moon. These people are right. But there are four other objects - at least - ... Read full entry

Should the radio telescopes that are (or are not, as the case may be) patrolling the skies, detect an asteroid that potentially poses a threat to Earth, a space probe which acts as a "gravity tractor" may be our first, and possibly only, line of defence against disaster. A "gravity tractor" could deflect an Earth-threatening asteroid if it was deployed when the asteroid was more than one orbit ... Read full entry

It's a death star, but that's life How's this for a science (non)fiction movie synopsis; two stars, closely orbiting each other, 8000 light years from Earth, pose a direct threat to life on this planet should one of them explode. Eight years ago Dr Tuthill's team, using Hawaii's huge Keck telescope, discovered that one of the objects is a highly unstable beast called a Wolf-Rayet star. They inevitably die in huge ... Read full entry

Hope dims that Earth will survive Sun's death Hopes that planet Earth may survive the Sun's red giant phase, which will occur in a couple of billion years time (hopefully later rather than sooner), have been dashed by a recent study into the eventuality. In a few billion years, the Sun will fuse the last of its hydrogen into helium, turn into a red giant and expand to 250 times ... Read full entry