Collisions between black holes can launch newly melded cosmic sinkholes at speeds up to nearly one-tenth the speed of light, researchers report August 18 in Physical Review Letters. Moving that fast — about 28,500 kilometers per second — it would take about 13 seconds to complete the average trip from Earth to the moon. The […]
Jupiter’s lightning bolts contort the same way as Earth’s
On Jupiter, lightning jerks and jolts a lot like it does on Earth. Jovian lightning emits radio wave pulses that are typically separated by about one millisecond, researchers report May 23 in Nature Communications. The energetic prestissimo, the scientists say, is a sign that the gas giant’s lightning propagates in pulses, at a pace comparable […]
An incendiary form of lightning may surge under climate change
A form of lightning with a knack for sparking wildfires may surge under climate change. An analysis of satellite data suggests “hot lightning” — strikes that channel electrical charge for an extended period — may be more likely to set landscapes ablaze than more ephemeral flashes, researchers report February 10 in Nature Communications. Each 1 […]
Rare ‘dark lightning’ might briefly touch passengers when flying
CHICAGO — More than electricity can illuminate a thundercloud. Brilliant bursts of gamma radiation, known as dark lightning or terrestrial gamma-ray flashes, also explode in lightning storms. And on rare occasions, those powerful blasts — the most energetic radiation to naturally arise on Earth — might even strike a passing airplane, researchers reported December 13 […]
50 years ago, physicists found the speed of light
A New Figure for the Cosmic Speed Limit – Science News, December 2, 1972 A group at the National Bureau of Standards at Boulder, Colo., now reports an extremely accurate [speed of light] measurement using the wavelength and frequency of a helium-neon laser.… The result gives the speed of light as 299,792.4562 kilometers per second. […]