Blog

Written by Beth Askham When mysterious lumps of pumice stone washed up on beaches in Tasmania, Australia, Rebecca Carey knew that they must be coming from an underwater volcano. Rebecca is a Tasmanian volcanologist (someone who studies volcanos), and she had been tracking the travelling pumice for more than a year.

Written by Beth Askham A minor geomagnetic storm was forecast for around midday (Australia time) Friday the 13 of March. The storm is a result of three solar flares from the Sun that occurred earlier this week. Looks like we’re in for some rough space weather!

Written by Beth Askham On Monday, the Earth survived a close encounter with a very large asteroid. If you think that a massive rock hurtling through space close to Earth is terrifying, be comforted that in this case, close is still 1.2 million kilometres away.

As the Southern Cross moves across the night sky, learn how to use it as a clock. Safety: This activity asks you to head outdoors at night. Ask an adult for permission, and make sure they know where you are. Check the weather forecast and dress for the conditions.

Written by Sarah Kellett Earlier this week, the Rosetta spacecraft released a lander called Philae (FEE-lay) to land onto a comet’s icy surface. This European Space Agency mission is the first ever to orbit and land on a comet.

Australia’s new Marine National Facility research vessel, Investigator, arrived on Tuesday to its home port of Hobart. The ship will soon take scientists and high-tech equipment to the watery parts of the world; to measure the weather, take samples from the sea floor and study marine life.

To boldly go out of the airlock, astronauts need to look the part. Donning a spacesuit protects astronauts from the dangerous conditions just beyond our atmosphere. The outer layer of NASA’s Extravehicular Mobility Unit spacesuit is built tough from a blend of three fabrics. One fabric is the same stuff used in bulletproof vests. It […]

Written by Sarah Kellett On Saturn’s largest moon, the hills are named after hobbits and elves, and the lakes after lakes on Earth. Titan is, in many ways, the most Earth-like world we’ve ever found.

Written by Sarah Kellett Our Sun has a neighbour, and it’s as cold as the North Pole. An invisible brown dwarf has been found a mere 7.2 light years away, by space telescopes searching in the infrared.

Written by Neha Karl When your car runs out of fuel, it stops. But when a massive star runs out of fuel – it doesn’t just stop – it explodes! An exploding star is called a supernova. The big blast can leave behind a pulsar, which is a kind of neutron star.