Nature Hub

      From BBC World News      By Alessia Franco and David Robson, Features correspondent               Edited by  Amal Udawatta Share Nasa (Credit: Nasa/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington) From its "absurd" core to the baffling chemical composition of its surface, Mercury is full of surprises – not least the planet's origins. But some answers could be held in rocks found in Cyprus. Curiosity has killed many an explorer, and Nicola Mari feared he was to be the next. Driving around Cyprus's remotest mountains, Mari had relied on his cell phone for directions. But as the light of the day faded, so did his phone battery – and he found himself stuck in the middle of nowhere with little idea of the way back to his lodgings. "I'd travelled for more than 50km (31 miles) without seeing another vehicle," he says. He thought he could remember the way to an inn, where he might refill his stomach, engine, and phone

    From - Sky & Telescope     By  -  David L Chandler      Edited by  - Amal Udawatta Constant Contact Use. This image shows the location and distribution of stars that are part of the Shakti (yellow) and Shiva (blue) streams in the Milky Way. These streams of stars were identified by their shared orbital properties. ESA / Gaia / DPAC / K. Malhan Astronomers have identified two groupings of stars in the inner Milky Way that they conclude represent two early proto-galaxies that collided with an early version of the Milky Way, helping to build it into the large whirlpool of stars that we live in today. If their interpretation is correct, it helps give credence to the idea that galaxies first formed from collisions of many smaller aggregations of gas and stars. The finding may thus provide glimpses of our galaxy in its earliest stages of formation — in essence, our galaxy’s baby pictures. The newly identified groupings have been dubbed Shakti and Shiva, after two Hindu deities, by th

  From - The Washington Post By -  Kasha Patel Edited by - Amal Udawatta          A NASA satellite captured this image of sunspots in February 2013. (Images courtesy of NASA/SDO) The sun’s 2024 resolution came in: Let’s get moving. Solar flares, eruptions on the sun’s surface and sunspots are expected to multiply and intensify throughout this year, as our yellow star enters its most active period in two decades. For Earthlings, that could lead to more beautiful dancing aurora far and wide, but also radio blackouts and satellite disruptions. Sign up for the Climate Coach newsletter and get advice for life on our changing planet, in your inbox every Tuesday. “The level of activity here is the biggest it’s been since about 20 years, since about 2003,” said Mark Miesch, a member of the solar modeling team at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center. If the sun replicates its 2003 behavior, Earth could be in for a treat but also some issues. The  Halloween Storms of 2003  brought dazzling gre