Astronaut captures Northern Lights from space

The Aurora Borealis, also known as the Northern Lights, dazzle stargazers on Earth and in space.

Watch this amazing video (timelapse)

Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly has captured timelapse footage of the spectacular sight, from the International Space Station.

The splashes of colour are caused by the interaction of charged particles and the Earth's magnetic field and atmosphere.

Scott took the sunrise footage on his 141st day of his #yearinspace mission. (CBBC Newsround)

Scott Kelly who is on a year-long space mission to collect important scientific data for future human exploration of our solar system. Scott Kelly started his “Year In Space” mission in March 2015. Scott Kelly served as commander of 26th long-duration mission, Expedition 26 which reached the station on 10 October 2010. (The Indian Express)

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What is a sinkhole?

Sinkholes are so wierd!

What is a sinkhole?

A sinkhole is a hole in the ground formed when the rock underneath dissolves by groundwater.

Where do they form?

Sinkholes usually form in areas of chalk or limestone - types of rock slowly that dissolve with rain water.

Sinkhole collapses are pretty common in the American state of Florida. Virtually the whole of the state is a limestone platform.

But sinkholes are extremely rare in the UK.

What are they like?

Sinkholes can be of all different sizes ranging from just a few metres to large ones around 20 metres deep.

Collapsed sinkholes generally have steep rock sides and may have streams that then flow underground.

From CBBC Newsround

Watch the following compilation!

Huge vortex appears in lake in America

A giant spiralling vortex has appeared in a lake in the United States.

Video footage has captured the vortex on Lake Texoma, which is on the border between the states of Texas and Oklahoma.

It opened up after water was drained from the lake after severe floods.

The hole is two and a half metres wide but is walled off to make sure vessels and small boats are not caught up in it. (CBBC newsround)

What's a Vortex?

In fluid dynamics, a vortex is a region, in a fluid medium, in which the flow is mostly rotating on an axis line, the vortical flow that occurs either on a straight-axis or a curved-axis. The plural of vortex is either vortices or vortexes.

Once formed, vortices can move, stretch, twist, and interact in complex ways. A moving vortex carries with it some angular and linear momentum, energy, and mass. In a stationary vortex, the streamlines and pathlines are closed. In a moving or evolving vortex the streamlines and pathlines are stretched by the overall flow into loopy but open curves. (in Wikipedia)

Did you know vortices spin in different directions weather you are in northern or southern hemisphere?

Watch this video

Solar Eclipse

Huge 'ice fountain' draws big crowds in American park

A huge ice fountain has formed in a New York park, as freezing cold weather continues to grip the eastern half of America.

Letchworth State Park's fountain runs year-round from a stream, but has been encased in ice as temperatures continue to plummet.The icy formation - 15.24 metres tall is continuing to draw big crowds.Park staff think it could grow even bigger.Temperatures are 20-40F below normal for February.They've come in from the Mid-Atlantic to the South.

From CBBC Newsround

'Ice pancakes' form on River Dee in Aberdeenshire

The River Dee in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, has provided a spectacular winter scene with the formation of hundreds of "ice pancakes".

These strange formations are known as 'ice pancakes' but look like a fleet of flying saucers.

The River Dee in Aberdeenshire provided a spectacular winter scene, with freezing weather causing the pancakes to form overnight.

The discovery was made by members of The River Dee Trust at Lummels Pool at Birse in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

The phenomenon is thought to happen when foam floating on the water's surface starts to freeze and bump together.

The pancakes - more commonly seen in the Antarctic - then grow bigger as more and more foam appears.

Joanna Dick, from The River Dee Trust, said: "What we think happened is foam floating about on the water started to freeze, probably at night.

These strange formations are known as 'ice pancakes' but look like a fleet of flying saucers.

The River Dee in Aberdeenshire provided a spectacular winter scene, with freezing weather causing the pancakes to form overnight.

The discovery was made by members of The River Dee Trust at Lummels Pool at Birse in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

The phenomenon is thought to happen when foam floating on the water's surface starts to freeze and bump together.

The pancakes - more commonly seen in the Antarctic - then grow bigger as more and more foam appears.

Joanna Dick, from The River Dee Trust, said: "What we think happened is foam floating about on the water started to freeze, probably at night.

"Bits of frozen foam got swirled around in an eddy, and became roughly circular.

"Perhaps each disc grew when smaller pieces of unfrozen foam struck the disc, adhered and then froze in place."

It is believed that when temperatures were colder during the night they grew in size and after daybreak they softened.

When the 'pancakes' collided with each other their sides were pushed up to create a bowl like rim"

The circular formations are often seen in the Antarctic and the Baltic Sea.

Joanna added: "This is the first time we have seen them on the River Dee.

"They are a rare occurrence and conditions have to be right for them to form."

From CBBC newsround 

and

Mirror-http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/weather-bomb-causes-spectacular-ice-4832197

The amphibious car helping flood-hit village

A car that can travel on BOTH road and water has been doing its bit to help a flood-hit village.

Much of Wraysbury in the Thames Valley has been left covered in water - but that's no problem for an amphibious car.

Peter Kavanagh owns the car for a bit of fun, but has found it's become really useful to get around and do things like picking up shopping and inspecting damage.

He's taken the BBC's David Shukman on a tour of the village to show him how the car works and how it can help.

Giant spinning ice circle found in US river

Imagine coming across this on a walk in the countryside!

                               Really weird!

The mysterious ice whirl was discovered in a river in America.

It looks so perfect it could be man-made but apparently it occurred naturally.

From CBBC News

Volcano causes new island to pop out of the sea near Japan

A brand new island has popped out of the sea near to Japan.

It's tiny - about 200 metres wide - and it might not last very long because it's made out of volcanic rock that erodes quite easily.

It was caused by a volcanic eruption under the sea bed which forced lava and rock to burst through the surface of the water.

The molten rock has then cooled and hardened on the water, turning it into a mini island.

It was first spotted because of massive clouds of smoke blowing out into the air, and when coastguards went to investigate they saw land that wasn't there before.

It's not been named yet because experts want to wait and see if it will stick around, but if it does it's a new mark to make on the map!

From CBBC Neewsround

Meteor hits Russia

A meteor has fallen over Russia - injuring 500 people and damaging buildings.

Most of those people hurt only suffered minor cuts and bruises but windows were blown out of buildings.

A fireball was seen racing through the sky above the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, followed by loud bangs.

Reports say that the meteor landed in a lake near Chebarkul, a town in the neighbouring Chelyabinsk region.

Thousands of rescue workers have now arrived in the area to provide help.

Officials say fragments falling from a large meteor that partially burned up in the lower atmosphere caused the damage.

Debris also reportedly fell on the west Siberian region of Tyumen.

Asteroids, meteors and meteorites

• Asteroids are small bodies that orbit the Sun as the Earth does
• Larger asteroids are called planetoids or minor planets, smaller ones often called meteoroids
• Once any of these enters our planet's atmosphere, it becomes a meteor
• Many meteors break into pieces or burn up entirely as they speed through the atmosphere
• Once meteors or fragments actually impact the surface, they become meteorites

Fom CBBC

Whale vomit found on a beach could be worth thousands

A man and his dog have found a strange yellow lump on Morecambe beach, in Lancashire - no biggie you might think...

But the yellow rock-like substance could actually be whale vomit - and worth thousands of pounds!

Ken Wilman and Madge the dog

Sounds gross, but the substance is called ambergris, and comes from the stomachs of sperm whales.

Continue reading the main storears, it turns harder and sweeter.

Then it can be worth lots of money because companies use it to make perfumes, medicines and sometimes as food flavouring.

Sounds gross, but the substance is called ambergris, and comes from the stomachs of sperm whales.

Continue reading the main storyturn hard.

At first it's soft and smelly and floats on the water, but after a few years, it turns harder and sweeter.

Then it can be worth lots of money because companies use it to make perfumes, medicines and sometimes as food flavouring.

• Amergris is made up of beaks, squid and cuttlefish that whales can't digest.
• Its nick-named 'floating gold' because it's worth a lot of money to people who make perfumes.
• It takes between ten and twenty years for the vomit to turn hard.

Madge the dog sniffed out the rock

From CBBC News

Cyclone leaves Mooloolaba covered in foam

This was the bizarre scene on Australia's Sunshine Coast over the weekend, where extreme weather has blanketed coastal towns with several feet of 'sea foam'.

Tourists, residents and emergency services were left bemused by the huge swathes of foam which were whipped up by high winds and then thrown onto land in eastern Australia.

Wild weather in the Australian state of Queensland has led to a small town becoming covered in foam whipped up by rough seas.

Residents and visitors could be seen playing in the foam and taking pictures of the unusual phenomenon in Mooloolaba on the Sunshine Coast.

Onlookers said the foam reached three metres high at its peak, with emergency services urging residents and tourists to cancel all non-essential travel.

From:

•  BBC News 
•  Yahoo! News

Saturn's stunning backlit image from Nasa spacecraft

A stunning new backlit image of the planet Saturn and its rings has been released by Nasa.

The view of Saturn being lit up from behind by the Sun was taken by the Cassini spacecraft in October.

Carolyn Porco from Cassini's imaging team said: "Of all the many glorious images we have received from Saturn, none are more strikingly unusual than those taken from Saturn's shadow."

Cassini has been orbiting gas giant Saturn for more than eight years.

Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and has beautiful rings made of ice particles.

It's the second largest planet in the Solar System but is the least dense - it would float in water if there was a bathtub big enough to hold it!

From CBBC News

Aurora Borealis ( Northern Lights) seen over the UK

A very rare event in the UK!

The Northern Lights, or aurora borealis, have been glimpsed in Scotland and England in recent years but astronomers say unusually strong solar storms have produced its best appearance for more than a decade – with purples, yellows, oranges and even neon green filling the sky.

The display was captured on Sunday but should have been visible last night and again tonight and tomorrow. Robin Scagell, of the Society for Popular Astronomy, said: 'It looks like we could be treated to another cosmic light show and so it is well worth watching the northern part of the heavens.

These lights are really beautiful, aren't they?