Evolution, Evolutionary history of Life on Earth and Geologic Time Scale

EvolutionEvolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. Evolutionary processes give rise to biodiversity at every level of biological organisation, including the levels of species, individual organisms, and molecules.All life on Earth shares a common ancestor known as the last universal common ancestor (LUCA),...

PLEASE SHARE

Tweet

Read More

Moonrise seen from the International Space Station

ISS, Orbit of the EarthAugust 2016Image Credit: NASA/ESA...

PLEASE SHARE

Tweet

Read More

Spiral Galaxy NGC 24

This shining disc of a spiral galaxy sits approximately 25 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Sculptor. Named NGC 24, the galaxy was discovered by British astronomer William Herschel in 1785, and measures some 40 000 light-years across.This picture was taken using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space...

PLEASE SHARE

Tweet

Read More

Abiogenesis - Origins of Life on Earth

Abiogenesis or biopoiesis or OoL (Origins of Life), is the natural process of life arising from non-living matter, such as simple organic compounds. It is thought to have occurred on Earth between 3.8 and 4.1 billion years ago. Abiogenesis is studied through a combination of laboratory experiments and extrapolation...

PLEASE SHARE

Tweet

Read More

Sunset seen from the International Space Station

ISS, Orbit of the EarthAugust 2016Image Credit: NASA/ESA...

PLEASE SHARE

Tweet

Read More

Reflection Nebula BFS 29

NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, captured this colorful image of the nebula BFS 29 surrounding the star CE-Camelopardalis, found hovering in the band of the night sky comprising the Milky Way. Most of the gas and dust in this image cannot be seen directly in visible light,...

PLEASE SHARE

Tweet

Read More

Origin of water on Earth

The origin of water on Earth, or the reason that there is clearly more liquid water on Earth than on the other rocky planets of the Solar System, is not completely understood. There exist numerous more or less mutually compatible hypotheses as to how water may have accumulated on...

PLEASE SHARE

Tweet

Read More

Clouds over Pacific Ocean seen from the International Space Station

ISS, Orbit of the EarthAugust 2016Image Credit: NASA/ESA...

PLEASE SHARE

Tweet

Read More

Mercury

Mercury is the smallest and innermost planet in the Solar System. Its orbital period (about 88 Earth days) is less than any other planet in the Solar System. Seen from Earth, it appears to move around its orbit in about 116 days. It has no known natural satellites. It...

PLEASE SHARE

Tweet

Read More

Late Heavy Bombardment

The Late Heavy Bombardment (abbreviated LHB and also known as the lunar cataclysm) is an event thought to have occurred approximately 4.1 to 3.8 billion years (Ga) ago, corresponding to the Neohadean and Eoarchean eras on Earth. During this interval, a disproportionately large number of asteroids are theorized to...

PLEASE SHARE

Tweet

Read More

Earth seen from the International Space Station

ISS, Orbit of the EarthAugust 2016Image Credit: NASA/ESA...

PLEASE SHARE

Tweet

Read More

Herbig Haro 32

HH 32 is an excellent example of a "Herbig-Haro object," which is formed when young stars eject jets of material back into interstellar space. This object, about 1,000 light-years from Earth, is somewhat older than Hubble's variable nebula, and the wind from the bright central star has already cleared...

PLEASE SHARE

Tweet

Read More

Formation of the Moon

Several mechanisms have been proposed for the Moon's formation 4.527 ± 0.010 billion years ago, some 30–50 million years after the origin of the Solar System. Recent research presented by Rick Carlson indicates a slightly lower age of between 4.40 and 4.45 billion years. These mechanisms included the fission...

PLEASE SHARE

Tweet

Read More

Sun's reflection on Atlantic Ocean seen from the International Space Station

ISS, Orbit of the EarthAugust 2016Image Credit: NASA/ESA...

PLEASE SHARE

Tweet

Read More

Planetary Nebula NGC 6826

NGC 6826's eye-like appearance is marred by two sets of blood-red 'fliers' that lie horizontally across the image. The surrounding faint green 'white' of the eye is believed to be gas that made up almost half of the star's mass for most of its life. The hot remnant star...

PLEASE SHARE

Tweet

Read More

Early Earth - Theia collision

The giant-impact hypothesis, sometimes called the Big Splash, or the Theia Impact suggests that the Moon formed out of the debris left over from a collision between Earth and an astronomical body the size of Mars, approximately 4.5 billion years ago, in the Hadean eon; about 20 to 100...

PLEASE SHARE

Tweet

Read More

Aurora seen from the International Space Station

ISS, Orbit of the EarthAugust 2016Image Credit: ESA/NASA...

PLEASE SHARE

Tweet

Read More

The Crab Pulsar

The Crab Pulsar (PSR B0531+21) is a relatively young neutron star. The star is the central star in the Crab Nebula, a remnant of the supernova SN 1054, which was widely observed on Earth in the year 1054. Discovered in 1968, the pulsar was the first to be connected...

PLEASE SHARE

Tweet

Read More

Hadean: the first eon in Earth's history

The Hadean is a geologic eon of the Earth, and lies before the Archean. It began with the formation of the Earth about 4.6 billion years ago and ended, as defined by the ICS, 4 billion years ago. The geologist Preston Cloud coined the term in 1972, originally to...

PLEASE SHARE

Tweet

Read More

Clouds over South Pacific Ocean seen from the International Space Station

ISS, Orbit of the EarthAugust 2016Image Credit: ESA/NASA...

PLEASE SHARE

Tweet

Read More

Planetary Nebula NGC 2440

The star is ending its life by casting off its outer layers of gas, which formed a cocoon around the star's remaining core. Ultraviolet light from the dying star makes the material glow. The burned-out star, called a white dwarf, is the white dot in the center. Our Sun...

PLEASE SHARE

Tweet

Read More

Early Earth

The early Earth is loosely defined as Earth in its first one billion years, or gigayear. On the geologic time scale, this comprises all of the Hadean eon (starting with the formation of the Earth about 4.6 billion years ago), as well as the Eoarchean (starting 4 billion years...

PLEASE SHARE

Tweet

Read More

Moon seen from the International Space Station

ISS, Orbit of the EarthAugust 2016Image Credit: ESA/NASA...

PLEASE SHARE

Tweet

Read More

Hubble Finds Planet Orbiting Pair of Stars

This artist's illustration shows a gas giant planet circling a pair of red dwarf stars. The Saturn-mass planet orbits roughly 300 million miles from the stellar duo. The two red dwarf stars are a mere 7 million miles apart.Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, and a trick of nature,...

PLEASE SHARE

Tweet

Read More

Earth Formation

The oldest material found in the Solar System is dated to 4.5672±0.0006 billion years ago (Gya). By 4.54±0.04 Gya the primordial Earth had formed. The formation and evolution of the Solar System bodies occurred along with those of the Sun. In theory, a solar nebula partitions a volume out...

PLEASE SHARE

Tweet

Read More

Typhoon Lionrock seen from the International Space Station

ISS, Orbit of the EarthAugust 2016Image Credit: NASA/ESA...

PLEASE SHARE

Tweet

Read More

Sirius - the brightest star in the Earth's night sky

This Hubble Space Telescope image shows Sirius A, the brightest star in our nighttime sky, along with its faint, tiny stellar companion, Sirius B. Astronomers overexposed the image of Sirius A [at centre] so that the dim Sirius B [tiny dot at lower left] could be seen. The cross-shaped...

PLEASE SHARE

Tweet

Read More

Earth

Earth (otherwise known as the world, in Greek: Gaia, or in Latin: Terra) is the third planet from the Sun, the densest planet in the Solar System, the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets, and the only astronomical object known to harbor life.According to radiometric dating and...

PLEASE SHARE

Tweet

Read More

Cassiopeia A

This image taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope provides a detailed look at the tattered remains of a supernova explosion known as Cassiopeia A (Cas A). It is the youngest known remnant from a supernova explosion in the Milky Way. The Hubble image shows the complex and intricate...

PLEASE SHARE

Tweet

Read More

Martian Sand Dune

Two sizes of wind-sculpted ripples are evident in this view of the top surface of a Martian sand dune. Sand dunes and the smaller type of ripples also exist on Earth. The larger ripples -- roughly 10 feet (3 meters) apart -- are a type not seen on Earth...

PLEASE SHARE

Tweet

Read More

Gale Crater Lake on Mars, 3 billion years ago

This illustration depicts a lake of water partially filling Mars' Gale Crater, receiving runoff from snow melting on the crater's northern rim. Evidence of ancient streams, deltas and lakes that NASA's Curiosity Mars rover mission has found in the patterns of sedimentary deposits in Gale Crater suggests the crater...

PLEASE SHARE

Tweet

Read More