Hunting meteorites in Mauritania
World
Hunting meteorites in Mauritania
April 15, 2025 | 2:09 PM GMT
The Post's Rachel Chason traveled to Mauritania where camel and goat herders search for meteorites in the desert sands.
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Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Yahoo
What is the moon phase today? Lunar phases 2025
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Today, June 27, 2025, the moon is 2 days old and is in the Waxing Crescent phase of its lunar cycle. It is 6% illuminated. Moon phase Date First Quarter June 2 Full Moon June 11 Third/Last Quarter June 18 New Moon June 25 Moon phases reveal the passage of time in the night sky. Some nights when we look up at the moon, it is full and bright; sometimes it is just a sliver of silvery light. These changes in appearance are the phases of the moon. As the moon orbits Earth, it cycles through eight distinct phases. The four primary phases of the moon (new moon, first quarter, full moon, last quarter) occur about a week apart, with the full moon its most dazzling stage. While the moon has four primary phases each month, it is always changing. As you observe the moon during the month, watch as it grows from a new moon to a first quarter moon. As it grows, it is known as a waxing moon, and gradually increases from a waxing "crescent" (for its shape into the first quarter moon. As it continues to brighten, it takes on an oblong, or "gibbous," shape until it reaches the full moon stage. Then it will repeat the steps in reverse as it heads back to a new moon. You can see what today's moon phase is here with the embedded widget on this page, courtesy of Top telescope pick! Looking for a telescope for the moon? We recommend the Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ as the best for basic astronomy in our best beginner's telescope guide. The next moon phase milestone will be the First Quarter Moon on Wednesday, July 2 at 3:30 p.m. EDT (1930 GMT). The First Quarter Moon, also known as the first half moon of the month because the moon appears half-illuminated as seen from Earth, marks the time when the moon is a quarter of its way through its lunar cycle and journey around the Earth. "People may casually call this a half moon, but remember, that's not really what you're witnessing in the sky," NASA wrote in a statement. "You're seeing just a slice of the entire moon ― half of the illuminated half." The First Quarter moon rises around noon and sets at about midnight, according to NASA. That means it will appear high in the sky in the evening, making it an excellent time for lunar viewing, the agency added. Here are the moon phases for 2025, according to NASA's SKYCAL. If you need equipment for viewing the moon, check out our guide to the best telescopes and the best telescopes for kids. You can also check out our guide on how to photograph the moon, as well as how to photograph a lunar eclipse for major moon events. There's even a guide on how to photograph a solar eclipse. If you're looking for imaging gear, our best cameras for astrophotography and best lenses for astrophotography guides can help prepare you for the next lunar sight. New Moon First Quarter Full Moon Last Quarter -- Jan. 6, 6:56 p.m. Jan. 13, 5:27 p.m. Jan. 21, 5:31 p.m. Jan. 29, 7:36 a.m. Feb. 5, 3:02 a.m. Feb. 12, 8:53 a.m. Feb. 20, 12:32 p.m. Feb. 27, 7:45 p.m. March 6, 11:32 a.m. March 14, 2:55 a.m. March 22, 7:29 a.m. March 29, 6:58 a.m. April 4, 10:14 p.m. April 12, 8:22 p.m. April, 20 9:35 p.m. April 27, 3:31 p.m. May 4, 9:52 a.m. May 12, 12:56 p.m. May 20, 7:56 a.m. May 26, 11:02 p.m. June 2, 11:41 p.m. June 11, 3:44 a.m. June 18, 3:19 p.m. June 25, 6:31 a.m. July 2, 3:30 p.m. July 10, 4:37 p.m. July 17, 8:38 p.m. July 24, 3:11 p.m. Aug. 1, 8:41 a.m. Aug. 9, 3:55 a.m. Aug. 16, 1:12 a.m. Aug. 23, 2:06 a.m. Aug. 31, 2:25 a.m. Sept. 7, 2:09 p.m. Sept. 14, 6:33 a.m. Sept. 21, 3:54 p.m. Sept. 29, 7:54 p.m. Oct. 6, 11:48 p.m. Oct. 13, 2:13 p.m. Oct. 21, 8:25 a.m. Oct. 29, 12:21 p.m. Nov. 5, 8:19 a.m. Nov. 12, 12:28 a.m. Nov. 20, 1:47 a.m. Nov. 28, 1:59 a.m. Dec. 4, 6:14 p.m. Dec. 11, 3:52 p.m. Dec. 19, 8:43 p.m. Dec. 27, 2:10 p.m. -- -- Related stories: — How to photograph the moon using a camera: techniques, kit, and settings — How to observe the moon with a telescope — What you can see in this month's night sky — Best cameras for astrophotography The moon, like Earth, is a sphere, and it is always half-illuminated by the sun. As the moon travels around Earth, we see more or less of the illuminated half. Moon phases describe how much of the moon's disk is illuminated from our perspective. New moon: The moon is between Earth and the sun, and the side of the moon facing toward us receives no direct sunlight; it is lit only by dim sunlight reflected from Earth. Waxing crescent: As the moon moves around Earth, the side we can see gradually becomes more illuminated by direct sunlight. First quarter: The moon is 90 degrees away from the sun in the sky and is half-illuminated from our point of view. We call it "first quarter" because the moon has traveled about a quarter of the way around Earth since the new moon. Floating 3D Moon Night Light Lamp | RRP $239.97 | Now: $139.97 If you know someone who can't get enough of the moon, then they'll be delighted with this floating 3D lamp from encalife. Using magnetic levitation technology, the realistic globe will project "moonlight" as it floats and spins in mid-air. Comes in three color modes and wireless LED Deal Waxing gibbous: The area of illumination continues to increase. More than half of the moon's face appears to be getting sunlight. Full moon: The moon is 180 degrees away from the sun and is as close as it can be to being fully illuminated by the sun from our perspective. The sun, Earth and the moon are aligned, but because the moon's orbit is not exactly in the same plane as Earth's orbit around the sun, they rarely form a perfect line. When they do, we have a lunar eclipse as Earth's shadow crosses the moon's face. Waning gibbous: More than half of the moon's face appears to be getting sunlight, but the amount is decreasing. Last quarter: The moon has moved another quarter of the way around Earth, to the third quarter position. The sun's light is now shining on the other half of the visible face of the moon. Waning crescent: Less than half of the moon's face appears to be getting sunlight, and the amount is decreasing. Finally, the moon is back to its new moon starting position. Now, the moon is between Earth and the sun. Usually, the moon passes above or below the sun from our vantage point, but occasionally it passes right in front of the sun, and we get a solar eclipse. We asked Italian amateur astronomer, astrophotographer, and author Giuseppe Donatiello some questions about the moon and its phases. The phases of the moon are a consequence of its motion around Earth in relation to the geometry assumed with respect to the sun. To better understand how it works, let us, first of all, remember that the moon does not emit its own light but reflects that of the sun and partly that reflected by the Earth–phenomenon of ashen light. Of the moon, we always see a hemisphere and a little more because its rotation is synchronous and blocked by the tide. This means that one lunar rotation on its axis corresponds to the time of revolution around Earth, equal to 29.5 days. On a daily basis, the moon appears to move eastward in the sky by 12°, and this determines different angles of its illumination by the sun. As it orbits Earth, the moon will show different illuminated parts based on the angle to the sun and hence the phases of a lunation. Although these lighting variations are gradual, traditionally, only four moments are identified, which are also useful for regulating the ancient calendars. They are in order, New Moon, First Quarter, Full Moon, and Last Quarter. The substantial difference is in the illumination percentage of the side facing the Earth. In the new moon phase, this percentage is 0% and becomes 100% at Full moon, about 14 days later. Thanks to the regular repetition of these moments, since ancient times, the lunar phases have been the basis of the lunisolar calendar. However, it was difficult to establish the exact moment of the new moon, therefore, many ancient civilizations started the lunar month with the appearance of the first crescent after sunset. However, this is a very simplified description since the lunar motion is actually very complex, and the perspective with which we see the near side constantly changes, getting to see almost 60% of the lunar surface thanks to the phenomenon called libration. The production of the phases depends on the Earth-moon-sun geometry and on the revolution motion of the moon around the Earth. Moving towards the east, our satellite rises later every day, and this is the reason why we see it in different positions at the same time. Approximately every day the moon delays its rising (and setting) by about 50 minutes, and this explains why the waxing becomes better visible a few days after the new moon as the elongation from the sun increases and further and further eastward. According to this reasoning, the maximum delay is at the new moon (24 hours) but also the minimum (0 hours) with the start of a new cycle. Tides are periodic changes in sea level known since ancient times. The phenomenon was explained satisfactorily by Isaac Newton, attributing it to the gravitational attraction exerted by the moon and the sun. We can consider the gravitational attraction exerted by the other planets to be negligible, therefore the greatest effects on the Earth will be those produced by the sun and the moon. These three bodies attract each other, however, the greatest effect is in the Earth-moon interaction. Both the moon and the Earth undergo a deformation along the line joining them, however, it is the fluid masses of the oceans that undergo the most significant deformations with the formation of a swelling. In addition to the swelling along the joining line, a diametrically opposite one on the other side of the Earth is formed due to the centrifugal force. The bulges move with the rotation of the moon around the Earth. An observer on the Earth's surface as the bulge approaches will see the sea level rise and then fall after it is exceeded. This observed phenomenon is called a tide. When the sea level is minimum, it is called low tide, while when it is maximum, it is a phase of high tide. The difference in height between the height of high tide and low tide is defined as a tidal range. The behavior of the tides is influenced by the orography and shape of the basins, size, and depth. Two to four tides can occur in one day. If there is one high and one low tide, we speak of diurnal tides, while if there are two high and two low tides, these are called semi-diurnal tides. During diurnal tides, the excursion is minimal, while for diurnal tides, the difference in level can also be considerable. It also depends on the height of the moon above the equator as a result of its inclined orbit. The sun also affects the tides, albeit less so than the moon, by attracting masses of water. The solar role is additive to the lunar one therefore, the respective geometry also influences the tides. When the moon is New or Full, the tides are maximum because the attraction forces of the sun and the moon add up. When the moon is in the First or Last Quarter, forming a 90° angle with the sun and the Earth, the tides are minimal because the attractive forces of the sun and moon oppose each other. To predict the magnitude of the tide we will also consider the position of the sun. NASA's SkyCal Events Calendar offers a comprehensive calendar of moon phases, lunar and solar eclipses and more for the entire calendar year. You can see more about the full moons of 2024, in Full Moon Calendar. Our night sky guide has a list of events for skywatching this month. SkyCal - SkyEvents Calendar, NASA Goddard Spaceflight Centerhttps:// What's Up - Skywatching Tips from NASAhttps://
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Yahoo
Why is Mexico threatening to sue Elon Musk over SpaceX debris?
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has threatened to sue Elon Musk's SpaceX over falling debris from a rocket launch across the border in the United States. SpaceX said its efforts to recover debris from Mexico had been hindered by 'trespassers'. Here is more about what is happening between Mexico and SpaceX. A SpaceX 'Starship' rocket, part of Musk's project to send humans to space, exploded in a giant fireball during a routine launch test in Texas on June 19. Starship rockets are 120 metres (400ft) tall and made primarily from stainless steel. The rocket, called the Starship 36, went through 'catastrophic failure and exploded' at the Starbase launch facility at 04:00 GMT, according to local Cameron County authorities. The facility is located at Starbase, formerly called Boca Chica Village, in Cameron County, Texas, close to the US-Mexico Wednesday this week, Sheinbaum told her morning news conference that 'there is indeed contamination' which has been detected in Mexico in the aftermath of the SpaceX explosion. She said Mexican officials are conducting a review of the environmental effect caused to the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, a little more than 300km (190 miles) from Starbase. Tamaulipas governor, Americo Villarreal Anaya, said authorities were examining 'the internationally required distances are being respected in order to have these types of facilities, so that there is no risk to urban centres', according to a report in The New York Times. 'We are reviewing everything related to the launching of rockets that are very close to our border,' said Sheinbaum. She added that Mexico is currently trying to determine whether international laws had been violated so it can file 'the necessary lawsuits'. In an X post on Thursday, SpaceX claimed its attempts to recover the fallen debris from Mexican territory had been hindered. 'Despite SpaceX's attempts to recover the anomaly related debris, which is and remains the tangible property of SpaceX, these attempts have been hindered by unauthorised parties trespassing on private property,' the X account wrote. It did not clarify who these parties were or where they were 'trespassing'. SpaceX also said there were 'no hazards to the surrounding area' from the rocket debris. 'Previous independent tests conducted on materials inside Starship, including toxicity analyses, confirm they pose no chemical, biological, or toxicological risks. 'We have requested local and federal assistance from the government of Mexico in the recovery,' it added. In May, the Federal Aviation Administration in the US granted SpaceX permission to increase the number of Starships it launches each year from five to 25. Later that month, a Starship prototype exploded over the Indian that, two Starships broke into pieces after launching from Texas during test flights in January and March. In January, airlines were forced to divert flights to avoid falling January this year, a red-hot 500kg (1,100lb) metallic object fell onto a village in Kenya's Makueni county, 115km (70 miles) southeast of Nairobi. The Kenyan space agency said the debris was a fragment of a space object. On Monday, March 3, the Australian Space Agency released an advisory that a Russian rocket making re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere was expected to fall into international waters off the southeast coast of Tasmania, causing a 'sonic boom'. However, the following day, the agency said it had 'monitored a space debris re-entry over the southeast coast of Tasmania' but was 'unaware of any reports or sightings of the debris'. The likelihood of space debris posing a danger to people, aircraft or the Earth, in general, is very low. However, recent studies show that the amount of space debris falling to the ground is on the rise. A study by researchers at the University of British Columbia in Canada, published in Scientific Reports in January 2025, found that uncontrolled re-entries of rocket bodies or space debris into the Earth are on the rise and may pose an increased risk of collision to aircraft. Another study, called The Space Environment Report, released by the European Space Agency (ESA) in March this year, found that at least three 'intact', human-made objects fall back onto the Earth every day. This is besides the several fragments of space debris that fall onto the Earth. NASA has warned that there are millions of pieces of space debris low in the Earth's orbit, but there are no international space laws about cleaning up this debris. Currently, individuals on the ground are not at a high risk of being hit and injured by space debris re-entering the Earth. The US nonprofit space corporation, Aerospace, estimates this risk to be less than a one-in-one-trillion chance.
New York Post
3 days ago
- New York Post
Educators warn that AI shortcuts are already making kids lazy: ‘Critical thinking and attention spans have been demolished'
A new MIT study suggests that AI is degrading critical thinking skills — which does not surprise educators one bit. 'Brain atrophy does occur, and it's obvious,' Dr. Susan Schneider, founding director of the Center for the Future Mind at Florida Atlantic University, told The Post. 'Talk to any professor in the humanities or social sciences and they will tell you that students who just throw in a prompt and hand in their paper are not learning. ' 11 The MIT study used EEG scans to analyze brain activity in the three groups as they wrote their essays. Researchers at MIT's Media Lab found that individuals who wrote essays with the help of ChatGPT showed less brain activity while completing the task, committed less to memory and grew gradually lazier in the writing process over time. A group of 54 18- to 39-year-olds were split into three cohort — one using ChatGPT, one using Google search and one 'brain-only' — and asked to write four SAT essays over the course of four months. Scientists monitored their brain activity under EEG scans and found that the ChatGPT group had the lowest brain engagement when writing and showed lower executive control and attention levels. 11 Dr. Susan Schneider says heavy AI use is degrading her students' thinking skills. Over four sessions, the participants in the study's Chat GPT group started to use AI differently. At first, they generally asked for broad and minimal help, like with structure. But near the end of the study period, they were more likely to resort to copying and pasting entire sections of writing. Murphy Kenefick, a high-school literature teacher in Nashville, said he has seen first-hand how students' 'critical thinking and attention spans have been demolished by AI. 'It's especially a problem with essays, and it's a fight every assignment,' he told The Post. 'I've caught it about 40 times, and who knows how many other times they've gotten away with it.' 11 Eight researchers affiliated with the MIT Media Lab complex carried out the study over four months. Andy Ryan/ MIT 11 Experts are concerned that students who grow up with AI could have their thinking skills especially stunted. – In the MIT study, the 'brain-only' group had the 'strongest, wide-ranging networks' in their brain scans, showing heightened activity in regions associated with creativity, memory and language processing. They also expressed more engagement, satisfaction and ownership of their work. 'There is a strong negative correlation between AI tool usage and critical thinking skills, with younger users exhibiting higher dependence on AI tools and consequently lower cognitive performance scores,' the study's authors warn. 'The impact extends beyond academic settings into broader cognitive development.' Asked to rewrite prior essays, the ChatGPT group was least able to recall them, suggesting they didn't commit them to memory as strongly as other groups. 11 High-school literature teacher Murphy Kenefick fears his students wouldn't even care about the study's findings. Courtest of Murphy Kenefick 11 Nataliya Kosmyna of MIT Media Labs was the lead researcher for the study. MIT The ChatGPT group also tended to produce more similar essays, prompting two English teachers brought in to evaluate the essays to characterize them as 'soulless' — something teachers all over the country say they are seeing more regularly. Robert Black, who retired last week from teaching AP and IB high school history in Canandaigua, New York, said that the last two years of his 34-year career were a 'nightmare because of ChatGPT.' 'When caught, kids just shrug,' he said. 'They can't even fathom why it is wrong or why the writing process is important.' 11 Researchers and experts are especially concerned about the degradation of critical thinking skills in young people due to AI usage. Gorodenkoff – 11 The MIT study found that subjects within the ChatGPT group tended to produce more similar essays, prompting two English teachers brought in to evaluate the essays to characterize them as 'soulless' Inna – Black also points out AI has only worsened a gradual trend of degrading skills that he attributes to smartphones. 'Even before ChatGPT it was harder and harder to get them to think out a piece of writing — brainstorming, organizing and composing,' he told The Post. 'Now that has become a total fool's errand.' Psychologist Jean Twenge, the author of '10 Rules for Raising Kids in a High-Tech World,' agrees that AI is just one additional barrier to learning for Gen Z and Gen Alpha. She points out that international math, reading and science standardized test scores have been on the decline for years, which she attributes to pandemic lockdown and the advent of smartphones and social media. 11 Dr. Jean Twenge says that smartphones and now artificial intelligence pose a threat to youth learning. 11 Dr. Jean M. Twenge is author of the forthcoming book '10 Rules for Raising Kids in a High-Tech World.' 'With the addition of AI, academic performance will likely decline further, as students who regularly use AI to write essays are not learning how to write,' Twenge told The Post. 'When you don't learn how to write, you don't learn how to think deeply.' The MIT study study was spearheaded by Media Lab research scientist Nataliya Kosmyna, who told Time Magazine that 'developing brains are at the highest risk.' While Toby Walsh, Chief Scientist at the University of New South Wales AI Institute in Sydney, Australia, acknowledges that the study's findings are frightening, he also warns educators against outright banning it. 11 AI professor Toby Walsh says that educators need to learn to integrate AI carefully. 'We have to be mindful that there are great opportunities. I'm actually incredibly jealous of what students have today,' Walsh said, recalling his 15-year-old daughter recently using an AI voice to ask her questions in French as a study aide. 'I don't think we should be banning AI,' Walsh said. But, he added, 'the concern is that AI surpasses human intelligence, not because AI got better but because human intelligence got worse.' Kenefick, meanwhile, imagines his students 'wouldn't care' about the study's findings: 'They just want the grade. They see no real incentive to develop any useful skills. It's very troubling.'
