Sept 21 - Top Stories This Week

September 21 Top Stories This Week by:

Artist’s concept of K2-18b, the planet that caused a controversy earlier this month. The image also depicts a 2nd planet in this system, K2-18c. The parent star, a red dwarf, is shown in the background. Image via Alex Boersma/ iREx.

Is K2-18b really a habitable super-Earth? Even as scientists announced water vapor in a super-Earth's atmosphere, other scientists were cautioning that the planet - K2-18b - is probably less like a super-Earth and more like a planet Neptune. Read more. Milky Way's black hole appears to be getting hungrier In May, astronomers caught the supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy having an unusually large meal of interstellar gas and dust. And they don’t yet understand why. Read more. No, asteroid 2007 FT3 won't hit Earth in October Here comes the newest asteroid scare story: asteroid 2007 FT3. No, it won't hit us This post introduces you to some important terminology in understanding a potential asteroid threat. Read more. More top stories Did an asteroid collision cause an ice age? Will a huge volcano on Jupiter's moon Io erupt this month? Mystery green blob in distant galaxy Enormous island of pumice after a recent volcano Tsunamis and wildfires after dinosaur-killing impact Last summer tied for hottest on record How carbon dioxide influences Earth's climate Fomalhaut: The loneliest star What we're reading From The Atlantic ... The quiet disappearance of birds in North America Birds are disappearing, according to a startling new report. The total North American avian population has decreased by an estimated 29 percent over the past half century. Today, there are 3 billion fewer birds than there were in 1970. “It’s as if all birds are canaries, and the entire world their coal mine,” reports Ed Yong.

EarthSky lunar calendars are back in stock We're guaranteed to sell out, get one while you can! Your support means the world to us and allows us to keep going. Purchase here.

Tonight … Find the Andromeda galaxy The Andromeda galaxy is the closest big galaxy to our Milky Way. Here are a couple of different ways to find it. Just be sure your sky is dark! Read more.

A man, the sun and a ruin View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Kevan Hubbard captured this image in Amman, Jordan. He was inspired to post it to our site, we think, because we were talking about how to take safe sun photos last week. Kavan wrote that he "… used part of the ruined temple to block out the sun. Don't know who the man in the photograph is. He wandered up as I was taking the photo, but he shows the scale." By the way, this looks like the Temple of Hercules in Amman. Thank you, Kevan! Submit your photo to EarthSky here! Did a friend forward EarthSkyNews to you? Click here to get your own subscription!

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