Latest news with #NorthernHemisphere
Bloomberg
15 hours ago
- Climate
- Bloomberg
Burning Roads, Invading Octopus Signal a Hot Summer Ahead
Today's newsletter looks at the summer ahead for the Northern Hemisphere and all of the troubling, surprising and weird impacts climate change is creating. Read on or get the full story on baking highways, new employee heat laws and a British octopus invasion on For unlimited access to climate and energy news, please subscribe. By Joe Wertz
Forbes
2 days ago
- Lifestyle
- Forbes
Mars Meets The Moon As ‘Space Clouds' Gather: June's Night Sky
Each month, I pick out North America's celestial highlights for the week ahead (which also apply to mid-northern latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere). Check my main feed for more in-depth articles on stargazing, astronomy, eclipses and more. Stargazers in the Northern Hemisphere have a complicated relationship with June. It's a great month to get outdoors to go hiking and camping, but with the solstice coming on June 20, the hours of true darkness are short. So what's a stargazer to do? Stay up late and make those short nights count! Here's everything else you need to know about stargazing and the night sky in June 2025: When: local moonrise during dusk on Tuesday, June 10 and Wednesday, June 11, 2025 Where: eastern horizon Tonight's full strawberry moon will appear on the southeastern horizon just as the sun sets in the west, then hang low all night. This is its "lunar standstill," when it rises as far southeast as it ever does during its 18.6-year cycle. The moon actually reaches 100% illumination at 3:45 a.m. EDT on June 11. When: after sunset on Monday, June 16, 2025 Where: western sky In the west, after sunset tonight, two lights will shine very close to one another — reddish planet Mars and blueish star Regulus. The brightest star in the constellation Leo, 'the Lion,' Regulus, is 78 light-years distant. It and Mars will be less than a degree apart tonight and June 16. When: before sunrise on Monday, June 23, 2025 Where: eastern sky In the east-northeast, a slender waning crescent moon will be under half a degree from the Pleiades, a spectacular open cluster of stars also called the "Seven Sisters" and M45. As a bonus, Venus will shine brightly nearby. When: any night in June Where: high up in the eastern sky June is the best time to point a small telescope at the constellation Hercules close to the bright star Vega. Also called M13, it's a dense ball of thousands of ancient stars that orbits in the halo of our Milky Way galaxy. It's about 22,000 light-years from the solar system. When: after sunset on Friday, June 27, 2025 Where: western sky If you've never seen the tiny planet Mercury, here's a great chance to see it with a moon at its spectacular best. A slender 9%-lit waxing crescent moon will shine to the upper-right of tiny Mercury, visible just above the western horizon. When: June 30-July 21, 2025 Where: northern sky During twilight, look to the northern sky from the Northern Hemisphere for high altitude noctilucent clouds, web-like "space clouds" that grow as ice crystals form around dust in the high atmosphere left by meteors. When: after sunset on Sunday, June 29, 2025 Where: western sky This is June's celestial highlight — a very close conjunction of the moon and Mars. Taking place after sunset in the west, the moon and Mars will appear less than a fifth of a degree apart. That's super close. Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
Giant 'senior citizen' sunspot on 3rd trip around the sun could break a century-old record
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. A massive, "geriatric" sunspot is currently making its third trip across the sun's Earth-facing surface, around two months after it first appeared. The senior citizen has lasted far longer than most other solar blemishes and looks like it might persist for a while longer, potentially breaking a centuries-old sunspot longevity record. The giant dark patch, currently named AR 14100, is located on the sun's northern hemisphere, just above the solar equator. It first emerged on April 5, when it was dubbed AR 14055, before disappearing from view as it rotated onto the sun's far side. It then reappeared on April 28, and was renamed AR 14079, before disappearing from view once again and reemerging on Monday (May 26) with a new name. (Sunspots get a new name every time they reappear on the sun's near-side to help researchers better track their space weather potential.) The hefty spot has fluctuated in size as it's spun around our home star. It reached its maximum size in early May (when it was labeled AR 14079), spanning 87,000 miles (140,000 kilometers) across — roughly the equivalent of 11 times Earth's diameter. This made it the largest sunspot of 2025 so far, but it is now around half the size. Most sunspots last only around a week, while some of the larger ones can sometimes survive long enough to reappear after transiting the sun's far side, which takes approximately two weeks. But it is rare for the dark patches to live any longer, even when they are this large. To compare it to human lifespans, AR 14100 is most definitely a "senior citizen," according to "Contact the AARP [formerly the American Association of Retired Persons]," representatives wrote. "Sunspot 14100 wants to join." Related: 10 supercharged solar storms that blew us away in 2024 It is hard to tell what the record for the longest-lived sunspot is because historical data is far less accurate than what researchers currently collect using advanced spacecraft. For example, astronomers previously believed that a sunspot had persisted for 18 months between 1840 and 1841. However, a century later, scientists showed that this was actually multiple different sunspots appearing in the same place. Instead, the longest lasting sunspot on record is most likely a dark patch from 1919, which lasted for 134 days (or more than four months), according to Although AR 14100 is smaller than it was two weeks ago, it shows no signs of disappearing completely, and has unleashed several solar flares since reemerging. But it would need to survive for another two or three months to break the longevity record. "It might," representatives wrote. "The sunspot is remarkably stable." "I'm curious to see how long the sunspot will be with us," amateur astronomer Harald Paleske, who has photographed the sunspot multiple times from near his home in Germany, told "This is its third run across the sun." Sunspots appear when parts of the sun's magnetic field break through the solar surface. This makes them cooler than their surroundings, making them appear very dark via an optical illusion, even though they are only slightly dimmer than the rest of the sun. We are currently in the midst of the most active phase of the sun's roughly 11-year cycle of activity, known as solar maximum, which began in early 2024 and is likely now coming toward an end. During this period, the number of sunspots also peaks as the sun's magnetic field becomes increasingly chaotic and disorganized before eventually flipping entirely. The current cycle has been much more active than initially expected, and in August 2024, the average number of daily sunspots reached its highest monthly value in 23 years, peaking at 337 individual spots in a single day. Scientists have seen several other massive sunspots during the current cycle, including one that was up to 15 times wider than Earth and a "sunspot archipelago" that was about the same size. These giant spots tend to emerge very quickly, swelling up to their full width in just a couple of days. But while giant sunspots can spit out powerful solar storms capable of disrupting , such as the great Halloween solar storms of 2003, their size is no guarantee that they will be dangerous. Instead, it is their magnetic configuration that determines how likely they are to impact our planet. RELATED STORIES —We are fast approaching the sun's 'battle zone' — and it could be even worse than solar maximum, experts warn —X-class solar flares hit a new record in 2024 and could spike further this year —A mysterious, 100-year solar cycle may have just restarted — and it could mean decades of dangerous space weather Luckily, new technologies, such as the recently completed Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope in Hawaii, which recently captured the clearest-ever image of a sunspot, are helping researchers predict which spots will be most dangerous. Scientists are also using NASA's Mars rovers to spy on giant sunspots when they are pointed away from Earth. Though we have seen some sizable dark patches sweeping across the sun in recent years, they pale in comparison to historic giants, including a whopping spot that covered up to 14% of the solar disk and spat out the Carrington Event — the most powerful solar storm ever witnessed by humans — in 1859.
RNZ News
4 days ago
- General
- RNZ News
How to play traditional games for the Dragon Boat Festival
Photo: RNZ / Ruth Kuo The Dragon Boat Festival is typically a time of nostalgia as Chinese households think back with fondness of their time as children in summer in East Asia. With the weather now warm enough to enjoy time outside in the Northern Hemisphere, children spend hours upon hours playing traditional games that have ties to the season. Eventually growing up to become adults, many struggle to leave these games behind. Here's a handful of traditional Chinese games for children that stand out for their uniqueness as much as their longevity over time. Grass duels are as simple as they are ingenious. With pastures thickening in the warmer temperatures, two children select what they think look like strong grass stems and engage in a delicate tug of war. The children interlock two blades of stems holding the ends in each hand. At the signal, they pull both ends towards them until one snaps, sending the loser tumbling. The victor then waits for another challenger to confront them, silently praying they don't come armed with a thicker stem. Deceptively simple and endlessly uncertain, the game tests one's grip and reflexes - no one knows who'll be the last one standing. Photo: RNZ / Ruth Kuo Eggs are ubiquitous during the Dragon Boat Festival as various poultry seemingly lay them by the dozen at this time of year. It's not surprising, then, that children use them in duels to determine which cracks first. The rules are as simple as the game above: Two children press hard-boiled eggs against each other. The egg that cracks is deemed the loser and its owner devours the contents. The winner moves on to the next challenger. It's common to find children in parts of China that carry eggs of their choice in colourful pouches hanging around their necks. In some regions, the eggs are dyed bright red to bring good luck. The games are decided by those who master grip and angle, with some forming a crook with their thumb and forefinger to support the tip as the shells press against each other. Photo: RNZ / Ruth Kuo Some parts of China have a tradition of standing eggs on their ends for the Dragon Boat Festival. Folklore has it that eggs can be balanced in this way at specific times of the year. Those who believe in the complementary, contradictory principles of yin and yang say the active, expansive energies of yang usually peak for the Dragon Boat Festival, creating perfect conditions for an egg to stand. Contemporary theory has it that the sun's position over the Northern Hemisphere during the spring equinox or Dragon Boat Festival slightly offsets gravity, making it easier to balance eggs - or even coins. There is no scientific proof for either theory, but it doesn't stop children from trying to succeed in completing the challenge. Photo: RNZ / Ruth Kuo Children in China typically wear brightly coloured ornaments that have been made from five vibrantly coloured threads during the Dragon Boat Festival. The five colours - red, green, yellow, white and black - represent fire, wood, earth, metal and water under the "five elements theory", countering the "five pests" that exist in the universe - centipedes, snakes, scorpions, geckos and toads - and offering good health and protection. Following a custom that dates to the Han Dynasty, adults tie the ornaments around children's wrists, ankles or necks on the morning of the festival. Tradition demands the children to remain silent while this is being done, and so parents typically complete the task while they are asleep. In some regions, the threads are removed when during the first rainfall following the Dragon Boat Festival and cast into a river, which symbolises the washing away of illness and leaving behind well-being. Photo: RNZ / Ruth Kuo Families in southern China typically take advantage of the strong winds that to fly kites. Traditional kites are made with bamboo frames, with auspicious symbols or blessings painted on paper or silk sails. In some parts of China, kites are flown in an attempt to "release misfortune", sending illness and bad luck that are believed to come with the rain as the seasons change away with the wind. In ancient times, people held archery competitions during the Dragon Boat Festival, aiming at centipedes, snakes, scorpions, geckos and toads that were painted on targets. Children typically joined in the fun by throwing stones at the targets. Members of the aristocracy refined the game over time, tossing arrows from a distance into a pitch-pot that was placed on the ground. The pitch-pot game is believed to have played by aristocrats and officials in China's Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. In contemporary times, participants use chopsticks instead of arrows as they seek to land the elongated pieces of wood in the tall cannisters. Photo: RNZ / Ruth Kuo Zongzi are sticky rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves and tied together with cotton string, hemp string or traditional grass rope, making ideal targets to hook on a fishing line. Participants use fishing lines or improvised hooks to try to snare as many as possible within a set time. The person who lands the largest number of dumplings in that time is declared the winner. Families who don't have any dumplings can use toys or small gifts wrapped with a ribbon as an alternative. Photo: RNZ / Ruth Kuo Although it's not a game per se, another tradition typically observed by Chinese families during the Dragon Boat Festival is the regular appearance of tigers. The tiger is the king of beasts in Chinese culture - a fierce guardian that is rooted in folk belief and Taoist tradition. Households traditionally hung tigers made from mugwort from doors during the festival to ward off pests and misfortune. Over time, cloth and brocade have been increasingly used to craft the talisman. In some parts of China, children wear hats and shoes with the image of a tiger. In another custom, parents use realgar wine to draw the Chinese character for "king" - 王 - on a child's forehead, symbolising their transformation into a little tiger. The Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated on Saturday, 31 May, this year. Some members of New Zealand's Chinese community are bound to observe a few of these traditions over the coming weekend, so don't hesitate to join them in on the fun if you happen to stumble across them.
News.com.au
25-05-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
US markets experience ‘volatile session' amid trade concerns
Northern Hemisphere markets experienced a 'volatile session' of trading, particularly in the United States, according to CommSec's Tom Piotrowski. 'Revisiting of trade concerns was at the heart of a decline for US markets,' he told Sky News Australia. 'So, you had the Nasdaq down by about a per cent, the S&P 500 down by almost three quarters of a per cent, the Dow Jones was down by about 0.6 of a per cent.'
