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NASA sees powerful Tropical Cyclone Bruce staying away from land

Tropical Cyclone Bruce continued to strengthen over wide open waters of the Southern Indian Ocean and NASA satellite data showed its eye had cleared of clouds. Bruce is forecast to stay away from land areas and weaken over the next four days.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument that flies aboard NASA's Terra satellite captured a visible image of a more wide-eyed Tropical Cyclone Bruce on Dec. 20 at 04:30 UTC. In the satellite image, the ocean surface was visible in the center of Bruce's 25 nautical-mile/28.7 mile/46.3 km-wide eye.

Starless cloud cores reveal why some stars are bigger than others

Massive stars – those at least 8 times the mass of our Sun – present an intriguing mystery: how do they grow so large when the vast majority of stars in the Milky Way are considerably smaller?

To find the answer, astronomers used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope to survey the cores of some of the darkest, coldest, and densest clouds in our Galaxy to search for the telltale signs of star formation.

Sugar cane fires in Louisiana

According to KATC Channel 3 in Lafayette, LA on December 17, 2013 , thick plumes of smoke are visible for miles around Acadiana (the mostly French region of Louisiana in the southern part of the state). They aren't major fires, but instead controlled-sugar cane burns. But some residents living near the fields say the flames have been getting too close for comfort.

Birth of black hole kills the radio star

Astronomers led by a Curtin University researcher have discovered a new population of exploding stars that "switch off" their radio transmissions before collapsing into a Black Hole.

These exploding stars use all of their energy to emit one last strong beam of highly energetic radiation – known as a gamma-ray burst – before they die.

New study shows that more than half of consumers will choose a health-care plan that costs too much

NEW YORK —Right now, many consumers are signing up for healthcare via the new health insurance exchanges set up by the federal and state governments. Using simulated exchanges modeled on the design of the actual exchanges, alarming new research from Columbia Business School suggests that more than 80% of consumers may be unable to make a clear–eyed estimate of their needs and will unknowingly choose a higher cost plan than needed.

NASA sees Tropical Cyclone Bruce still wide-eyed

Tropical Cyclone Bruce was still maintaining hurricane-force in the Southern Indian Ocean when NASA's Terra satellite passed over the eye of the storm.

NASA sees heavy rain continue in Tropical Cyclone Amara

Amara does, however, threaten Rodrigues Island. The Mauritius Meteorological Service or MMS has already put a cyclone class 2 warning in effect for Rodrigues Island. The island is part of the Republic of Mauritius and is located about 350 miles/560 kilometers east of Mauritius.

NASA sees Tropical Cyclone Bruce develop near Cocos Island

NASA's Aqua satellite flew overhead as the fourth tropical cyclone of the Southern Indian Ocean cyclone season developed today, December 18, while it was passing to the northwest of Cocos Island, Australia.

NASA catches Tropical Cyclone Amara's stretched out eye

Tropical Cyclone Amara's eye appeared elongated on satellite imagery from NASA on December 18.

Powerful ancient explosions explain new class of supernovae

Astronomers affiliated with the Supernova Legacy Survey (SNLS) have discovered two of the brightest and most distant supernovae ever recorded, 10 billion light-years away and a hundred times more luminous than a normal supernova. Their findings appear in the Dec. 20 issue of the Astrophysical Journal.

Scientists solve a decades-old mystery in the Earth's upper atmosphere

New research published in the journal Nature resolves decades of scientific controversy over the origin of the extremely energetic particles known as ultra-relativistic electrons in the Earth's near-space environment and is likely to influence our understanding of planetary magnetospheres throughout the universe.

Tropical forests mitigate extreme weather events

Tropical forests reduce peak runoff during storms and release stored water during droughts, according to researchers working at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. Their results lend credence to a controversial phenomenon known as the sponge effect, which is at the center of a debate about how to minimize flood damage and maximize water availability in the tropics.

Leading health care executives optimistic about health care reform, Penn survey shows

Philadelphia - Nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of the nation's leading health care executives say they believe the health care system will be somewhat or significantly better by 2020 than it is today as a result of national health care reform. Additionally, 93 percent believe that the quality of care provided by their own hospital or health system will improve during that time period.

Hubble watches super star create holiday light show

This festive NASA Hubble Space Telescope image resembles a holiday wreath made of sparkling lights. The bright southern hemisphere star RS Puppis, at the center of the image, is swaddled in a gossamer cocoon of reflective dust illuminated by the glittering star. The super star is ten times more massive than our sun and 200 times larger.

RS Puppis rhythmically brightens and dims over a six-week cycle. It is one of the most luminous in the class of so-called Cepheid variable stars. Its average intrinsic brightness is 15,000 times greater than our sun's luminosity.

Pfeiffer fire near Big Sur, Calif.

The MODIS or Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer instrument that flies aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured an image of smoke and detected the heat from the Pfeiffer Fire near Big Sur, California on December 16 at 21:05 UTC/4:05 p.m. EST. The red outlined area represents the heat from the fire.

According to Reuters News, the fire has destroyed at least 15 homes and caused many residential evacuations.