Carlyn Kranking Assistant Editor, Science and Innovation After an evening of trick-or-treating in Maplewood, Minnesota, on October 31, 2003, 4-year-old Vincent Ledvina and his family were heading home for the night. Suddenly, he noticed the sky was lit up in ethereal colors that were like nothing he had ever seen before. To Ledvina, as a … Read more
In short: The Eta Aquariids meteor shower will peak on May 6, with early morning the best time to see them With just a sliver of moon visible, the sky will be darker, which will make it easier to see up to 21 meteors an hour The meteor shower is one of two caused by the … Read more
Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. CNN — Sky-gazers across North America are in for a treat on April 8 when a total solar eclipse will pass over Mexico, the United States and Canada. The event will be visible to millions — including 32 million … Read more
Illustration: Rhett Allain You can see that we have a right triangle with the hypotenuse equal to the distance from the observer’s eyes to the center of the Earth (R + h), with the other two sides being just R and the distance to the horizon (s). Using the Pythagorean theorem, we can solve for … Read more