High-res image of Comet 67P, where it's thought to be almost -70°C or so, taken this week by the ESA Rosetta spacecraft from less than ten miles above the surface
Energy prices finally pause after a dead-cat bounce
this week:
The U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its official data at 11 a.m. EST Thursday. Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expect the agency’s report to show oil inventories last week rose by 3.7 million barrels.
In recent weeks, oil futures have rebounded strongly, with Brent—the global price benchmark—up close to 30% from its mid-January low. But U.S. stockpiles and production data, which have been hitting records in recent months, indicate that the market is still suffering from the oversupply which drove oil prices off a cliff last year.
Light, sweet crude for March delivery recently fell $2.90, or 5.6%, to $49.24 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
- Too cold for crime!
- Not long ago, a small red-dwarf star may have slid past the solar system less than a light-year distant.
- A round-up of record cold temperatures in the Northeast this week.
- The Year of the Dwarf Planet arrives: Dawn zooms in on icy Ceres, New Horizon's tracks ever closer to the mysterious heart of Pluto and its enigmatic moons!
- A nice piece of writing on the past and future of space:
Each new advance brings us closer to the day when the rare experience I have been lucky enough to enjoy becomes widely available. And I firmly believe that when thousands or even millions of human beings begin rocketing out of the atmosphere, space will continue to work its transformative magic. And what could be better for the future of the human race than to have a critical mass of people who see the entire planet as a unified home for all of humanity?
- A drone too far over icy Niagara: