SpaceTime 20160219 series 19 episode 05

Climate change showing Earth’s rotation

A new study has confirmed that climate change caused by human activity such as burning coal, oil and other fossil fuels has both slowed Earth's rotation and caused a migration of the planet’s spin axis. A report in the journal Science Advances found the melting of glaciers caused by the world's rising temperatures has resulted in Earth's rotation slowing by about a thousandth of a second during the past century and the planet's rotational axis has been migrating at a rate of almost a centimetre per year.
 
The aliens are silent because they’re dead

A new study claims life on other planets would likely be brief and become extinct very quickly. The findings reported in the journal Astrobiology provide a possible explanation for what’s become known as the Fermi paradox – if the universe is full of alien life as often postulated why haven’t we found it yet?
 
Third Sentinel satellite launched for Copernicus

The European Space Agency has launched the third Sentinel Earth-observation satellite for Europe’s Copernicus environment programme. Sentinel-3A carries sensors to measure the temperature, colour and height of the sea surface as well as the thickness of sea ice.
 
ASTRO-H launched

JAXA the Japanese space agency has launched its new X-Ray astronomy satellite ASTRO-H aboard an H2A rocket from the Tanegashima Space Centre south of Tokyo. ASTRO-H is designed to study the hot and energetic universe using X-Ray eyes and extend into gamma ray wavelengths.
 
Sky Watch
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We check out the skies of February with Jonathan Nally the editor of Australian Sky and Telescope Magazine.