Earthlings, meet your new moon 🌚

Yes, We Really Do Have Two Moons Now (At Least Until Nov. 25th)

Have you ever looked up at the night sky and thought to yourself, I really wish Earth had two moons orbiting the planet?

Then you’re in luck! Now through November 25th, an asteroid named 2024 PT5 is stopping by for a temporary orbit around Earth 🌝

Dubbed a ‘mini-moon,’ the friendly asteroid will:

🪨 Measure 37 feet in diameter

🪨 Get within 1.3 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun

🪨 Head toward the Sun on a horse-shoe-shaped path after Nov. 25th

Determined to catch a glimpse? Although 2024 PT5 probably won’t be visible to the naked eye, it may be viewable with a larger telescope 🔭

Cheers to one of Earth’s most obscure cameos yet!

The Massive Reservoirs of Water Lurking Under the Surface of Mars

It’s not science fiction: NASA scientists now estimate there may be oceans-worth of groundwater trapped within the crust of Mars 🔒

Using findings from NASA’s InSight lander – a retired mission that used a seismometer to study Mars’ interior from 2018 to 2022 – researchers believe that:

💧 There may be groundwater in the middle of the planet’s crust, trapped in tiny cracks and pores 

💧 Collectively, there may be enough groundwater to fill an ocean along the planet’s surface

💧 If distributed across the entirety of Mars’ surface, that ocean would be 1 mile deep

🌊 In other words, humanity might have just located the infamous ‘lost’ water of Mars 🌊

This discovery adds to the theory that Mars was a warm, wet planet billions of years ago, complete with lakes, rivers, and deltas. As the story goes, the planet lost this climate when its atmosphere disappeared about 3 million years ago 🏜️

What’s next?

👽 If scientists do manage to reach the water (located 7-12 miles under the planet’s surface), the search for life on Mars may get far more interesting 👽

Peek this Colossal Star’s Surface 178 Lightyears Away

Scientists have long believed that our star isn’t the only one with a bubbling surface, but we’ve never actually seen another star’s bubbling surface – until now 🌞

☀️ R Doradus is the very first star to be filmed in enough detail for humankind to admire its hot bubbles in action 

☀️ R Doradus is a red giant with a diameter 350 bigger than our sun. Each bubble is about 75 times bigger than our suns’ bubbles!

☀️ R Doradus is 178 light-years away in the constellation Dorado

Thanks for showing off your bubbles, R Doradus 🤝

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