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Happy Earth Independence Day | | | |
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 | | | View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Ragini Chaturvedi caught this sunrise on June 22, the day after the solstice. She was at Steptoe Butte State Park in Palouse, Washington. Thank you, Ragini! We reach our farthest point from the sun each year about 2 weeks after the solstice. Is that a coincidence? Read more. | | |
| | Earth farthest from the sun on July 5 | | | Planet Earth will reach a milestone on Monday, as we swing out to aphelion, our most distant point in orbit from the sun. We'll be precisely farthest from the sun at 22:27 UTC on July 5. That's 5:27 p.m. CDT on Monday in North America. Translate UTC to your time.It's been a hot summer in parts of the Northern Hemisphere so far. And Earth's aphelion comes every year in July, in the midst of northerm summer (and southern winter). So it's clear our distance from the sun doesn't cause the seasons. What does? Read more. | | | | Dragon Man may be our closest relative | | | In 1933, bridge construction workers in northeastern China discovered a large and nearly intact skull. The skull was brought to paleoanthropologists in 2018. After many studies, the researchers have now said it belonged to a male who lived approximately 146,000 years ago. They said it represents a new human species they named Homo longi, or Dragon Man. It might be modern humans' closest relative, replacing Neanderthals as our closest kin and changing what we know of human evolution. Read more. | | | | Mars methane mystery? Depends on the time of day | | | For years now, scientists have been trying to figure out what's creating Mars' methane. Earthly life produces methane. Telescopes, orbiters and the Curiosity rover have detected methane on Mars. The evidence seems conclusive. The methane appears to be there, albeit in smaller amounts than on Earth. But there are nagging inconsistencies. Some instruments detect the gas, while others that should detect it don’t. Why? Now a new study brings scientists a step closer to solving the Mars methane mystery. Read more. | | | | | |
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|  | | | Next few mornings … Moon and Mercury, stars in Taurus | | On the mornings of July 5 to 8, watch for the waning crescent moon to travel in front of the constellation Taurus the Bull. You'll see the moon's position will change from day to day as it sweeps closer and closer to the sunrise. The shrinking crescent first sweeps by the Pleiades star cluster (aka the Seven Sisters). Then the moon will pass the bright red star Aldebaran (Eye of the Bull in Taurus). Finally, a very slim crescent will pass the bright yet elusive planet Mercury. Will the early morning twilight at far-northern latitudes interfere? Read more. | | | | | |
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 | | | What causes a highway mirage? | | View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Sheryl R. Garrison captured this highway mirage on July 1, in the midst of last week's dramatic heatwave in the Pacific Northwest. She wrote: "Shot an inferior mirage through the windshield of my car (passenger) on the highway as record-breaking temperatures continue across Southern Alberta, Canada." Thank you, Sheryl. Here's what causes this sort of mirage. | | |
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