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While NASA and other space agencies keep their telescopes trained on near-Earth objects that could smash into us, we don't know how to prevent an impact. Here are some of the best (and weirdest) ideas for protecting Earth from incoming asteroids. More »
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Although NASA vigilantly searches the skies, dozens of near-Earth asteroids remain undetected, any one of which could strike our planet and cause devastating damage. But better detection will mean more facilities and better equipment — and a lot more money. More »
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It's been almost a week since an Australian astronomer discovered a weird black spot on Jupiter, which is believed to be a comet impact. And now the Hubble Space Telescope has captured this crisp image of Jupiter's "scar." [Hubble Site] More »
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Dinosaurs may not have been Earth's only creatures to face extinction from above. A team of researchers has found evidence that suggests a comet once hit North America, taking the continent's mammals down with it. More »
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Yesterday, an amateur astronomer noticed that a large black spot had appeared near Jupiter's Southern pole. These first pictures of the phenomenon are prompting many to speculate that a passing comet or asteroid struck the gas giant. More »
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Today's spoilers include film-makers talking about their adaptations of the classic Lensmen novels and the Cowboy Bebop anime series. Plus David Tennant talks Doctor Who, and there are new True Blood and Scott Pilgrim pics. Plus Impact and Virtuality spoilers. More »
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Impact, the ABC miniseries that premiered last night, made a couple of convincing cases: that a "brown dwarf" hitting the Moon could doom humanity. And that these self-centered, vapid, sniveling humans completely deserve obliteration. Spoilers ahead. More »
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Spoilers include new Transformers 2 concept art, and Ghostbusters 3 hints. Plus new Torchwood promos, Lost and Heroes casting news, and hints about FlashForward's first season finale. Also: V, Fringe, Warehouse 13, New Moon, True Blood and Impact. Spoilers, dudes! More »
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Television doesn't hate you! In fact, the TV gods are trying to please you with a whole batch of special summer programming, including Virtuality, Warehouse 13, True Blood, Eureka and Impact. What are you most excited for? More »
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The vampires are back with a girls' night out, Kings dies a slow death on Saturdays, and Batman has to fight Planet Of The Apes-style Cat People from the future. I say let ABC's moon-meteor collision destroy the planet. More »
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See, ABC's forthcoming Impact miniseries, in which a meteor shower sends the moon careening toward the earth, isn't all junk science. A new planetarium show demonstrates that such celestial collisions can be common, devastating — and strangely beautiful. More »
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Natasha Henstridge, promoting her upcoming sci-fi mini-series Impact, chatted with us about her fanbase, cloning, her upcoming collaboration with Stan Lee, and aging gracefully out of the space-hottie pigeonhole. More »
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ABC have announced their summer schedule, and amongst the specials about JK Rowling and Primetime specials, there were a couple of shows that caught our eye. Mostly because they sounded like SciFi Original Movie escapees. More »
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A German miniseries (with American actors) shows us that doomsday doesn't have to be such a downer. In fact, when the Moon hurtles on a collision course with Earth, the upside is no more gravity. More »
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A German mini-series with American stars about the international danger when the moon gets pushed onto a collision course with Earth... Sound weird? If ABC has its way, it may be your favorite summer show. More »
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The US Space Program is in peril. As the government deals with its spiraling economic crisis, many are questioning the value of space exploration, and the new administration may consider scaling back NASA’s Ares and Orion programs. But a recent report from NASA reminds us that the Space Program has had a profound effect not only on our imaginations, but on the technological, economic, and social development of American culture. More »
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We usually think of asteroid impacts as harbingers of mass extinction, but they might be the reason life exists on our planet at all. It's possible for bacteria to hitch rides on rocks ejected by space impacts and move from planet to planet. We know that certain Earth bacteria are capable of surviving the hostile conditions of space, but could they survive the impacts themselves? A group of scientists put them to the test, and we've got the results for you. More »
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One hundred years ago today, June 30th, 1908, a great explosion rained Hell over Siberia, flattening 830 square miles of forest. Easily big enough to destroy a city, the 30-meter diameter space rock missed Moscow by about 4 hours. And it will happen again. But even as we track the objects headed our way in the next century, the flood of media hype over the centennial this past week shows there are still some major mysteries about the Russian blast that need solving. More »
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For a small planet, Mars sure knows how to go big. It's about half as large as Earth, but it's got the hugest volcano in the solar system in the Arizona-sized Olympus Mons and the grandest of all canyons in the 7 kilometer-deep Vallis Marineris. Now it can add its coolest, most-braggable title: the Biggest Impact Crater in the Solar System. In a new study out in Nature, scientists have shown that Mars was probably hit by an asteroid the size of the Moon sometime in its early history, which left a crater the size of the planet's entire northern hemisphere. More »
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With all the space rocks zipping by Earth these days, we're pretty much cruising for an interplanetary bruising. But NASA's line on the situation is, to paraphrase administrator Mike Griffin: "Forget about that whole thing; we're going back to the Moon! Yay!" Fortunately, the B612 Foundation is slightly more serious about making sure our civilization isn't snuffed out by an asteroid or comet. Headed by former astronaut Rusty Schweickart, the non-profit is kicking $50,000 to a group of experts at Jet Propulsion Labs to study the "gravity tractor" method of deflecting doomsday objects that are inbound for momma Earth. More »
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When it comes to comet impacts, the denizens of Earth may be living on borrowed time. Of course, comets are only about half the problem — there are plenty of asteroids whizzing around the inner solar system too — so we decided to have a look and see just how close modern society has come to destruction since 1900, and how close we're going to come over the next 100 years. The answers, provided in our nifty infographic, aren't reassuring. More »
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Well, it's about time. Asteroids hitting Earth has been a big problem for life this planet since forever, and at last governments around the world have been united in their inability to give a shit. And they did it without Gort the giant robot forcing them! Next year, the Canadian Space Agency will launch the Near Earth Object Surveillance Satellite (NEOSSat), the first space-borne asteroid hunting device ever made. More »
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Natasha Henstridge (Species, Ghosts Of Mars) is filming a two-part disaster miniseries that will probably turn up on the Sci Fi Channel sooner or later. Impact is about a meteor (or a dwarf-star fragment, in some accounts) which strikes the Moon and causes massive disasters on Earth — including the Eiffel Tower getting squashed and a high-speed train flying up into mid-air. But Impact isn't just about gravity gone awry — it has a vital message about international cooperation. Are you excited yet? More »
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