El Polo Norte magnético se desplaza cada vez más rápido, según cuentan en un artículo de National Geographic. Localizado por primera vez por los científicos en 1831, en 1904 comenzó a desplazarse hacia el noreste a una velocidad de unos 15 kilómetros al año. En 1989 la velocidad aumentó y, en 2007, se calculó que avanza rapidamente hacia Siberia, a una velocidad de unos 60 kilómetros al año.

La causa hay que buscarla en el núcleo terrestre, en cuya superficie se ha hallado una región de rápidos cambios magnéticos debida posiblemente a una misteriosa columna magnética que surge desde dentro del núcleo.

Year in Space 2009: un magnífico resumen de la Msnbc en imágenes.

Visto en Redux.

Bonito poster explicativo de los diez principales tipos de nubes, a la venta en Etsy. Lo vimos en Swissmiss.

Hace unos días la NASA publicó una imagen de nuestro sol, pero de color azul: Blue Sun Bristling.

Explanation: Our Sun may look like all soft and fluffy, but it’s not. Our Sun is an extremely large ball of bubbling hot gas, mostly hydrogen gas. The above picture of our Sun was taken last month in a specific red color of light emitted by hydrogen gas called Hydrogen-alpha and then color inverted to appear blue. In this light, details of the Sun’s chromosphere are particularly visible, highlighting numerous thin tubes of magnetically-confined hot gas known as spicules rising from the Sun like bristles from a shag carpet. Our Sun glows because it is hot, but it is not on fire. Fire is the rapid acquisition of oxygen, and there is very little oxygen on the Sun. The energy source of our Sun is the nuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium deep within its core. No sunspots or large active regions were visible on the Sun this day, although some solar prominences are visible around the edges.

On occasion of the International Year of Astronomy and of the 4th Centenary of the introduction of astronomic observation, the National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF), the Vatican Observatory and the Vatican Museums have organized an exhibition. It falls under the patronage of His Eminence The Cardinal Secretary of the Vatican State, of the President of the Italian Republic and of the following institutions: Pontifical Council for Culture, Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Ministry for Universities and for Research.
Due to its scientific and historical approach, the exhibition is orientated on the history, functioning and evolution of the different instruments created by Man over ten centuries for the observation of the sky, for the location of the stars and celestial bodies.
An important selection of the most precious and rarest instruments for astronomic observation, lent by many Italian observatories, will be on show for the public to admire.
All the items are part of the property of the INAF, and were created between the 11th and 20th century and are largely unknown by the general public. The visitor will also be able to admire other items belonging to the Vatican State, on loan from the Vatican Observatory, the Vatican Apostolic Library as well as other important works of art (paintings, celestial globes and earth globes from different periods) normally housed in the Vatican Museums or belonging to private Italian collectors.

Opening hours of the Vatican Museums. Open Monday to Sunday: the Ticket Office is open from 9 am to 4 pm.
The Museums close at 6 pm. Closed: Sunday; 8, 25, 26 December 2009; 1, 6 January 2010.
Free Entrance the last Sunday of every month from 9 am to 12.30 am. The Museum close at 2 pm.

Los más extraños objetos del universo, los quasars, son los que ayudan a nuestros navegadores GPS a orientarse.

Según los últimos estudios, la luna de Jupíter, Europa, podría contener suficiente oxígeno para albergar vida, tal y como nosotros la conocemos.

Una galaxia con forma de paralelogramo se encuentra en el interior de la galaxia Centaurus A.

["The Secret Galaxy" of Centaurus A]