First Alien Space Rock Seen in Our Solar System

For the first time ever, astronomers have spotted an alien space rock floating around in our solar system. The asteroid is the first unexpected visitor from outside our system, and it’s moving fast (5.8 miles per second) so scientists are frantically trying to learn as much as possible about it before it disappears. Discovered by Hawaii’s Pan-STARRS 1 telescope, the rock is less than a …

Link About It: This Week’s Picks

Prison rodeos, designs for natural disasters, Halloween pooches and more in our look around the web

1. Highlights From 2017’s Tompkins Square Park Halloween Dog Parade Every year the Tompkins Square Park Halloween Dog Parade brings plenty of joy to New Yorkers, with pooches (and oftentimes their owners) dressed up in all kinds of sweet, silly and clever costumes. This year, of course, was no different—from a pup in Bjork’s famous swan dress, to unicorns and GoT-style dragons. One of the …

A Moon Cave for an Astronaut Base

A few things inhibit a full-time, human-populated base on the moon: micrometeorites, intense surface radiation and crazy temperature swings (from 100°C/212°F days into -173°C/-280°F nights). Japanese scientists from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency believe they have discovered something that can solve this: a massive cave (potentially once a lava tube) just below surface level. At 31 miles long and 330 feet wide, the space now …