EarthSky News - Dec 18 - Alpha Centauri Planets

December 18 Alpha Centauri Planets by:

No big planets at Alpha Centauri, but maybe small ones "Because Alpha Centauri is so close, it's our first stop outside our solar system. There are almost certain to be small, rocky planets around Alpha Centauri A and B." Opportunity rover still going strong This rover has been exploring Mars for 14 years. It and its solar panels recently survived winter darkness and are now facing a possible planet-wide dust storm in 2018. Watch: Grand Canyon cloud inversion And more!  There’s also a Grand Canyon snowstorm and night skies over Death Valley in this gorgeous new time-lapse video. Study: 1/3 of Asia’s glaciers likely gone by 2100 Meltwater from these glaciers supplies water to 800 million people, so the loss would have serious consequences.

Welcome 2018 with an EarthSky lunar calendar Our lunar calendar shows the moon phase for each day of the coming year. Also ... check out the new colors and designs of our EarthSky Cares Tees. A percentage of proceeds collected will be donated to select organizations.

Whole Earth has longest days at solstice-time This is an analemma. It's a way of depicting the height of the sun's path across our skies throughout the year, and it also tells us the difference in time as measured by the clock and the sun. As it turns out, in December, a day - a whole cycle of day and night, for the entire globe - is about half a minute longer than the average 24 hours.

Double green flash Green flashes are best seen over ocean horizons like this one, and, this time, the California wildfires did something helpful. December 13 photo by Chris Mannerino in San Diego. Submit your photo to EarthSky here!

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