Near-Earth asteroids like Bennu pose a potential danger to our planet, so it's important to predict their orbits with great accuracy. Unfortunately, a phenomenon called the Yarkovsky effect can make these predictions difficult over long time periods. How does this effect work?

The post How Does Sunlight Push Asteroids? appeared first on The Sun Today with Dr. C. Alex Young.

Today’s full moon is the year’s closest supermoon. Today’s full moon is the year’s closest supermoon. A supermoon is when a full moon or a new moon is coincident with the closest approach (called perigee) of the Moon to Earth. […]

The post Super Supermoon Sunday! appeared first on The Sun Today with Dr. C. Alex Young.

What are your questions? Post them in the comments & I’ll work on getting them getting answered ASAP.

The post Comet ISON Q&A appeared first on The Sun Today with Dr. C. Alex Young.

Current Status of Comet ISON Updated Nov. 27, 2013 – 10:40 am EST or 15:40 UT Size 1.3 mi in diameter or 2 in diameter km Date and Time of Perihelion  28 November 2013, 18:38 UT (1:38 EST) Distance from […]

The post Comet ISON: Coming to a Sun Near You appeared first on The Sun Today with Dr. C. Alex Young.

“One of the brightest Sungrazers we’ve seen in a long time …”, tweeted Karl Battams (@SungrazerComets) of NRL’s Sungrazing Comets Project. Battams estimates the comet to be approximately 30-50 kilometers wide and expects it to reach speeds of at least 500 […]

The post SOHO/LASCO C3 Sees a Very Bright Kreutz-group Sungrazing Comet appeared first on The Sun Today with Dr. C. Alex Young.

Learn about this new result in a video by NASA Goddard Heliophysics Division. NASA presented these results at a press conference today. Tomorrow I will be on a Google Hangout with several of my colleagues at NASA Goddard. http://bit.ly/YzL5Mz Ask […]

The post Van Allen Probes Discover a 3rd Radiation Belt around Earth appeared first on The Sun Today with Dr. C. Alex Young.

Sungrazing comet seen for the first time with the SOHO/SWAN instrument. It is aptly named Comet SWAN. Ukrainian Amateur astronomer, citizen scientist, and SOHO Comet Hunter Vladimir Bezugly reported a bright blob on images taken by the SWAN instrument on […]

The post Comet SWAN Heading for the Sun! appeared first on The Sun Today with Dr. C. Alex Young.

UPDATE: Lovejoy survived despite most predictions to the contrary! Check out the videos below. A sungrazing comet called Lovejoy is near what will surely be its end. Sungrazers melted by the Sun is not really new. In fact, SOHO has become […]

The post Lovejoy’s Last Day – Unprecedented Multi-spacecraft Observations of a Comet’s Demise (Surprise filled update 12/16/2011) appeared first on The Sun Today with Dr. C. Alex Young.