TOP 5 ENERGY COMPANIES THAT ARE CHANGING THE FACE OF RENEWABLE ENERGY IN 2019

Top 5 Energy Companies that Are Changing the Face of Renewable Energy in 2019
By Kashyap Vyas, Interesting Engineering, 29 September 2019.

Climate change debates have started taking their force in the international discussions after the increase in global warming and the melting of glaciers. This has also led to a renewed interest in using renewable energy to reverse the damages caused by the exploitation of non-renewable resources.

According to the recent data, some countries are entirely or mainly relying on renewable energy for their regular consumption. Countries like Paraguay and Iceland are 100% on renewable energy while Norway is 98.5 and Costa Rica is 99.

Related: 5 Top Renewable Energy Research Centers In Europe And The USA

Regions like Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Germany are 100% on renewable energy. Similarly, Quebec and British Columbia in Canada are also 100% entirely on renewable energy sources.

These sources usually come in the form of solar, wind, hydropower, or geothermal energy. Currently, 25% of the planet’s energy comes from renewable sources. However, there are predictions from the International Energy Agency that says 40% of Earth’s energy would come from renewable sources by the year 2040.

Thanks to the strong potential, many energy companies have entered the market. These companies can be assessed in terms of their capacity with how many megawatts of energy they produce as well as the views that they receive.

With that as a basis, here is a list of some of the top five energy companies in the renewable sector that have the largest and the most significant share in the renewable energy market.

1. Siemens Gamesa

Siemens Gamesa is an energy company that is known for its initiatives in the renewable energy sector. It is selected by Dow Jones Sustainability World Indices (DJSI World) which is an organization that tracks the social, economic, and environmental performance of all the major sustainability-driven companies around the world.

This company is a pioneer in generating wind power. They were amongst the first few companies who started wind generators and owned some of the largest wind farms in the world.

Siemens Gamesa can be called one of the top companies that have contributed to changing the face of renewable energy in the wind energy sector.

2. GE Energy

GE Energy has some massive operations in the renewable energy sector because they see the potential of scaling it in the future. They are one of the largest wind turbine suppliers around the world.

They have offshore and onshore turbines where they also provide a flexible support service. Moreover, GE is also one of the largest generators of hydro turbines and represents about 25% of the total capacity that is installed around the world.

GE is working tirelessly towards hybrid energy storage systems to store the energy generated by renewable resources and use it later. GE Energy deserves to be in the list of top energy companies changing the face of the renewable energy system in 2019.

3. Berkshire Hathaway Energy

Berkshire Hathaway Energy is a renowned name in the renewable energy sector. The company delivers reliable and safe service to almost 11.8 million customers.

They believe in investing in sustainable energy sources to safeguard the interests of future generations. The company uses wind energy, solar, energy, hydro energy, as well as geothermal energy.

They generate almost 7800 megawatts of wind energy and have 1,500 megawatts of solar capacity in operation. The Topaz and Solar Star projects are known to be two of the most significant projects for solar photovoltaics around the world.

With their hydroelectric power plants, they use the energy generated by flowing water into electrical energy. Finally, their geothermal energy plants generate electricity from the steam that occurs naturally.

Berkshire Hathaway Energy is indeed a massive energy company making significant contributions in the renewable energy sector.

4. Cypress Creek Renewables

Cypress Creek Renewables is a company that is primarily driven by the motive of using solar energy to make the environment healthier and cleaner. They have been working for decades to create solar projects that can benefit communities.

They have more than 300 projects with 3.2 gigawatts of solar facilities that they have deployed across the United States. This is an energy company that also develops, constructs, finances, and operates several solar farms so that many communities can use affordable clean energy.

They also undertake many community projects to promote the use of solar energy. Their contributions towards the changing face of the renewable energy sector are massive and cannot be overlooked.

5. NextEra Energy Resources

NextEra Energy is one of the world’s largest producers of wind and solar energy. They are committed to finding innovative solutions to improve the energy situation and the environmental issues that are prominent around the world.

The company believes in having a sustainable future by making substantial investments in the infrastructure to develop clean energy. NextEra Energy started in the year 1925 and has become the energy leaders today with a market capitalization of over $100 billion.

With their plans to invest additional $50-55 billion over the coming years, NextEra Energy is essential in the field of wind and solar power and is continually looking for innovative solutions to improve the renewable energy sector.

Final words

To sum up, it is highly evident that renewable energy is super essential for a sustainable future. Therefore, the role of these energy companies is critical as they are using innovative measures to improve the energy generation through renewable resources and promote clean energy consumption.

Energy that comes from renewable sources has abundant potential. Renewable energy companies are not just great for curbing environmental pollution but also provide an excellent way to fight poverty and provide electricity to people in rural areas.

Related: 7 Energy Efficiency Innovations Changing The Game

It is a great way to satisfy the energy needs of the people as compared to traditional sources. Moreover, it can also help in improving the relationship with neighboring countries by having joint solar, wind, and hydroelectricity projects.

This is the right time to take these energy companies as examples and work towards making them available to people around the world.

Top image: Renewable energy development in the California desert. Credit: Bureau of Land Management/Flickr.

[Source: Interesting Engineering.]

6 HOUSEHOLD ITEMS WITH HIDDEN PLASTIC IN THEM

6 household items with hidden plastic in them
By Robin Shreeves, Mother Nature Network, 26 September 2019.

It's hard to get away from plastic. The easiest thing to do is to get serious about reducing your use of plastic, but after that, it gets trickier.

Recycling is important way to keeping plastics and microplastics out of landfills and waterways, where fish, birds and other creatures are likely to ingest them. However, there are plastics hiding in places you may not suspect. Once you know something contains plastic, you can be more responsible about avoiding it in the first place. Just like it took you a minute to embrace the reusable bag habit, these solutions just require a change of habit, but they're easy to do.

1. Paper cups

Credit: Yuri_B/Pixabay

Paper cups are made of paper, right? Actually, most of a paper cup is made from paper, but disposable cups you'll get when you pick up a cup of coffee also frequently contain a thin plastic lining. It makes sense if you think about it. If a cup was 100 percent paper, it would buckle under the load of a very hot liquid. And while Starbucks gets points for recycling 25 million used cups into new ones, we still have a long way to go on this front.

What can you do: Take reusable water bottles and coffee cups with you whenever you go. At home, use real glassware.

2. Tea bags

Credit: congerdesign/Pixabay

Plastic could be hidden in two places in tea bags. The bags themselves may contain a small amount of plastic that's added to help them keep their shape in boiling water. Unfortunately, that handy bag is also the biggest source of the problem, as researchers at McGill University in Montreal discovered. The found that steeping a plastic tea bag in water heated to 203 degrees Fahrenheit (95 degrees Celsius) released around 11.6 billion microplastics into a single cup, according to New Scientist.

In addition the bag, the wrappers for individually wrapped tea bags may also contain a plastic lining.

What can you do: Purchase loose leaf tea and use a reusable tea infuser, which will eliminate the plastic waste and a lot of the paper waste, too. Or look for tea bags that aren't made with plastic, like Numi, Organic Traditional Medicinals or Tetley Black and Green Tea. (Clean Plates has a list with more options.)

3. Fleece clothing

Credit: Ryj/Wikimedia Commons

Fleece clothing is made with plastic microfibers. Often fleece is made from recycled plastic, which seems like a good reuse for plastic bottles, but all fleece is bad in this regard. Every time a fleece item is washed, it releases thousands of microscopicplastic fibers into the environment. When those microfibers make their way into drinking water or into the ocean, humans and marine creatures ingest them.

What can you do: The jury is still out on how harmful these microfibers are to our health, but it's clear they aren't good, so choosing not to buy fleece is the best option as Starre explains in her handy guide to reducing your microfiber pollution. As she points out, you can purchase a filter for your washing machine that will remove many of the microfibers, but the easier option is to try something like the CoraBall, which simply goes into the machine with your clothes. It also helps to wash your fleece only when necessary.

4. Disposable wipes

Credit: Marco Verch/Flickr

One-time-use disposable wipes are so convenient. Baby wipes, personal hygiene wipes, antibacterial wipes, makeup removing wipes...there are many types. They often come packaged in plastic, which is a problem itself, but at least those packages can be recycled. The wipes themselves are also frequently made with plastic - and they rarely get recycled. They end up in the trash or flushed, which really isn't a good idea - but I'll get to that in a minute.

Wipes contain plastic fibers that aren't generally biodegradable, according to The Guardian. Those that get flushed clog up our sewers and create fatbergs - giant chunks of wipes and diapers held together by fats like bacon grease that gets dumped down the drain. Wipes that end up in the ocean can be mistaken for food by turtles. These convenient wipes are turning out to be majorly inconvenient to the environment.

What can you do: Only use disposable wipes when absolutely necessary. Inconvenience yourself. Use rags to clean surfaces instead of anti-bacterial wipes (and wash the rag after one use). Ditch the disposable bathroom wipes and use toilet paper. For babies, make DIY reusable baby wipes and use them as often as possible. Take your makeup off with a washcloth. And, when you do use disposable wipes, never flush them down the toilet.

5. Cigarette butts

Credit: PublicDomainPictures/Pixabay

When people toss their butts on the ground instead of disposing of them responsibly, they end up in waterways. It's strange that so many people still find it acceptable to throw cigarette butts, which is why they are the most pervasive man-made pollutant. Yet it takes just one cigarette butt to contaminate a gallon of water, says Science Alert. Part of that contamination comes from plastic, which is used in the filter.

What can you do: It would be easy to simply say, "quit smoking," but there are very few smokers who don't realize they should quit for their own health, let alone the health of the planet. If you do smoke, don't throw your butts on the ground or in the water. Dispose of them in the trash or in a safe cigarette receptacle.

6. Glitter

Credit: Evi Michailidou/Wikimedia Commons

Glitter is so hard to get rid of, and here's proof: there are services that will send glitter bombs to your enemies. When the envelope is opened, glitter flies everywhere. The glitter will be on that person's clothes, carpet and couch seemingly forever. And, even if they do manage to clean it up and put it in the trash, it will live in the landfill for a very long time. So just don't.

Glitter is made from plastic that's bonded with aluminum. If it winds up in the water, it becomes part of marine plastic litter - consumed by plankton, fish, shellfish, seabirds and other creatures. Birds that have plastic litter buildup in their stomachs can die of starvation.

What can you do: At least this one is simple: Avoid all glitter.

Top image: Tea bags. Credit: freephotocc/Pixabay.

[Source: Mother Nature Network. Images added.]

9 HORRIFYING WAYS ORDINARY THINGS CAN HARM YOU (SKULL EATING BACTERIA IS JUST ONE)

9 Horrifying Ways Ordinary Things Can Harm You (Skull Eating Bacteria Is Just One)
By Jana Louise Smit, Listverse, 27 September 2019.

There may be monsters in the closet after all - only this kind was purchased at the store. Everyday items sitting on the shelf are designed to make life easier. In some cases, they can do the opposite. Cosmetic treatments can cause comas and burns inside the body, while dental products come with paralysis and blue people. Then there were the exploding scooters and the earbuds that caused bacteria to eat a woman’s skull.

See Also: 10 Ridiculous Health Myths (Science Says Are Actually True)

9. Mouthwash - Higher Blood Pressure

When it comes to mouthwash, most people receive their education from television. The lesson is short. Just swirl the advertised product and all your bacterial worries are over. In 2019, scientists became concerned. Not all bacteria are bandits. Was there a drawback to wiping out all dental microorganisms? They found an alarming side-effect.

First, they grilled volunteers for half an hour on a treadmill. Directly afterward, the participants gargled with either a real mouthwash or a placebo. The results were undeniable. Many people exercise for healthier blood pressure to avoid heart disease and strokes. Indeed, the placebo group showed a reduction but the volunteers who used the mouthwash experienced a drastic interference with this benefit.

The reason is nitric oxide. Produced during exercise, it opens the blood vessels which reduces blood pressure. When it degrades, a waste product called nitrate is formed. Only recently did researchers discover that certain oral bacteria turns the nitrate into nitrite. The latter is crucial to boost the production of the beneficial nitric oxide. The 2019 study proved that there are goobers in our mouths that should stay there. When they are missing, the resulting lack of nitrite prevents blood vessels from opening. As a result, no amount of exercising could lower one’s blood pressure.

8. Acid Reflux Syrup - Werewolf Syndrome

Imagine the following scenario. Your infant has acid reflux and as a dutiful parent, you spoon the syrup prescribed by a doctor into the kid. Pretty soon, you have a hairy baby. Like, abnormally hairy. This happened in Spain to 17 shocked families in 2019. One infant blinked at his parents with adult eyebrows and swathes of hair on his face and limbs.

Abnormal hair growth is called hypertrichosis or “Werewolf Syndrome.” The congenital condition is diagnosed at birth. However, these children had an acquired form. In other words, they were born without the condition but something triggered it when they were around two years old. Spain’s health regulators identified a common factor - the children all used a syrup for acid reflux. It contained omeprazole but this medication had never caused excessive hair growth in anyone.

Inspectors visited the factory that sold the drug. Their shipment originally came from India but tests proved that the omeprazole was perfect. Things went wrong when the factory decided to divide the bulk shipment and re-sell the smaller batches. The idea was to stick the omeprazole label on bottles. For some reason, the labels ended up on another product at the factory, one that contained minoxidil. This compound fights baldness by encouraging hair growth. Luckily, the children are expected to shed the extra fuzz as they grow older.

7. Hoverboards - Explosions And Burns

The future has arrived. Human beings are finally zipping around on hoverboards. To be fair, these devices do not fly. They resemble high-tech skateboards driven forward by an internal power source. The hoverboards became a hot item during the 2015 and 2016 holiday season. However, it became a little too hot. The battery pack’s design was faulty, causing several machines to overheat during a ride. There were fires. Some hoverboards exploded.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) received 99 complaints about the two-wheeled scooters, 18 of which involved injuries. Most were burns to the limbs and neck. Needless to say, this was not what people expected after paying up to $900 for a hoverboard. The unpredictable devices were banned from campuses, railroads, and airlines due to safety concerns. Not only riders were injured but the fiery scooters also damaged property. At the end of the day, over 500,000 hoverboards were recalled from ten companies.

6. Denture Cream - Permanent Paralysis

In 2017, a man from the United Kingdom experienced symptoms that became increasingly frightening. First, there was a tingling in his fingers. However, soon numbness and pain weakened his legs so much that the 62-year-old had to depend on a cane to move around. Within six months, he was housebound.

Doctors suspected a neurological problem and wheeled the patient through an MRI scan. Indeed, they found he was suffering from copper deficiency myelopathy. This was weird. The body needs very little copper. For someone to become so deficient that they develop a brain condition, something peculiar had to be going on.

The reason turned out to be an overdose of zinc. Too much zinc is known to block copper absorption. The source of the zinc turned out to be the man’s dental cream. He admitted to applying too much cream because of ill-fitting dentures. For the past fifteen years, the patient used up to four tubes a week. The cream was immediately removed from his dental regimen and he was treated with copper supplements. Sadly, the nerve damage was irreversible and the man remains wheelchair-bound.

5. Acupuncture - Pierced Lungs

Acupuncture’s benefits are not uniformly verified by science. Even so, the practice remains a flourishing alternative for those looking for less invasive therapies. The craft is ancient but not flawless. For centuries, practitioners have known that a point called Gallbladder 21 was a tricky one. Incorrect manipulation of this spot could have dangerous consequences for the patient, including pierced lungs. Frighteningly, prospective clients are not always informed about the risks involved.

In 2019, a woman from New Zealand found this out the hard way. The 33-year-old had an arm injury that affected her breathing. The acupuncturist inserted a pair of needles into her Gallbladder 21, which, despite the name, is located in the shoulder region. As the needles went in, the woman experienced pain and became worried because the insertion felt too deep. The pins were left for 30 minutes, rotated and pulled out. Almost immediately, she felt uncomfortable. The woman told the acupuncturist that there was a strange sensation around her lungs. It felt airy and painful. She was told to go home and rest.

That night, her husband took her to the hospital where the woman received emergency care. Doctors diagnosed bilateral apical pneumothoraces. The condition is as scary as it sounds. The needles pierced the top of one lung, which later caused both organs to collapse. Punctured lungs are a common problem in acupuncture. A 2010 study identified Gallbladder 21 as the culprit behind 30 percent of such complications.

4. Vaginal Steaming - Second-Degree Burns

Actress Gwyneth Paltrow endorsed vaginal steaming and predictably, it turned into a trend. Said to cleanse the vagina, the technique is simple – just hover over a steaming bowl full of herbs. In 2019, a painful incident proved that celebrities can give really stupid advice. A Canadian woman was recently told she had a vaginal prolapse, a condition where pelvic organs slip out of their normal position. The 62-year-old was hopeful that the steaming remedy might help. Instead, she wound up in the emergency room with second-degree burns on her vaginal membranes and cervix.

The sad part is that the trend is bogus. Scientists found only risks and no benefits. Biologically, the vagina also cleans itself. It does not need to go through a herbal steaming, which incidentally also interferes with beneficial bacteria that safeguards the vagina. The woman’s prolapse was scheduled to be treated surgically but the procedure had to be delayed until she could recover from the burns.

3. Cotton Swabs - Skull-Eating Infection

A woman, identified only as Jasmine, visited a doctor because she could not hear properly. The physician gazed into the offending left ear and declared that she had an infection. Jasmine was prescribed antibiotics but the deafness remained.

In 2019, she cleaned her ears with cotton swabs. This was a daily habit but that night there was blood on the swabs. When the patient visited a specialist, she was given a serious dressing down about her swab habit. The specialist was probably still in shock. A CT scan had shown, in graphic detail, a horrifying skull infection caused by her ear-cleaning regimen. Cotton fibers had been collecting inside her ears for as long as five years and resulted in a bacterial infection. The microorganisms feasted on the bone behind her ear and were literally eating it away. As a result, the skull region was paper-thin.

The 37-year-old underwent a 5-hour operation to remove the corrupted tissue and rebuild her ear canal. Jasmine’s surgery managed to eradicate the infection but the hearing loss in her left ear was permanent.

2. Tooth Gel - Blue Blood

In 2019, a woman entered the emergency room of a Rhode Island hospital. “I’m blue,” she told the doctors. The 25-year-old was not being funny nor did she make a reference to depression. Her skin had a light blue tinge. The staff whipped out a syringe and pulled some blood, which turned out to be dark navy blue.

The diagnosis was methemoglobinemia. This condition occurs when there is a dangerous lack of oxygen in the blood due to an iron abnormality. The patient was already in the danger zone. Serious tissue damage can start when blood oxygen levels reach 70 percent. She was at 67 percent. The treatment was swift and successful. The patient was given a remedy that was aptly named - methylene blue. Two doses later and a night in hospital returned the woman to her pink self.

But what caused the Smurf look? When questioned, the patient said she had a toothache the night before. She applied copious amounts of a numbing medication that contained benzocaine. This freaky customer can influence the iron inside the blood. Benzocaine changes iron so much that the element can no longer bind to oxygen. When this bond severs, blood circulation becomes a problem and blood, skin, and nails turn blue.

1. Face Lotion - Coma

In 2019, a Sacramento woman followed her usual beauty routine. She reached for her favorite face cream, a brand that she had been using twice daily for years. This time something went horribly wrong. Her extremities went numb and she could not walk or talk properly. The 47-year-old was rushed to the emergency ward where she lapsed into a semi-comatose state. At first, she reacted to staff when they spoke to her but eventually the mother of five became unresponsive.

Blood tests identified the culprit. On average, everyone carries 5 micrograms of mercury per liter of blood. The patient had a staggering 2,630 micrograms per liter. Worse, it was methylmercury. Nobody could say with certainty if this dangerous type of mercury’s addition to the cream was accidental or homicidal. Mercury is often the ingredient that makes age and blemish lotions effective.

But this brand was a risky one. Imported from Mexico and sold informally to the public, the woman’s son admitted she loved the anti-wrinkle cream because it outperformed all pharmacy brands. Unfortunately, this the first such poisoning in the United States. Doctors do not have enough experience to say when or if she will ever wake up again.

Top image: The methylmercury-tainted skin cream that caused a Sacramento woman to lapse into a semi-comatose state. Credit: Screenshot  KCRA News/YouTube.

[Source: Listverse. Top image added.]

10 TERRIFYINGLY HUGE BIRDS YOU SHOULD KNOW

10 Terrifyingly Huge Birds You Should Know
By Kat Long, Mental Floss, 20 September 2019.

They’re gigantic, they’re often defensive, and you wouldn’t want to run into them in a zoo after hours. Meet a few of the world’s biggest birds with attitude, from flightless giants to modern-day pterodactyls.

1. Ostrich

Credit: Yathin S Krishnappa/Wikimedia Commons

Everyone knows that the ostrich is the world’s biggest bird, weighing an average of 230 pounds and standing 7 feet tall (and some individuals can grow up to 9 feet). They can also chase you down: Ostriches are the fastest species on two legs, with a top speed of about 43 mph. They can maintain a swift 30 mph pace for 10 miles, making them the marathon champs of the avian world.

2. Southern Cassowary

Credit: Daiju Azuma/Wikimedia Commons

Often called the most dangerous bird on Earth, in addition to being one of the planet’s biggest birds, the southern cassowary is roughly 150 pounds of mean. On each foot is a 5-inch claw that cassowaries use to defend themselves. At least two people have been kicked to death by cassowaries, the most recent being a Florida man who unwisely kept one of the birds as a pet.

3. Emu

Credit: Antony Grossy/Wikimedia Commons

Like a smaller, shaggier ostrich, the 5- to 6-foot emu is the second-largest bird on Earth (as well as a goofy spokesbird for insurance). During the breeding season, female emus fight enthusiastically over unattached males. But the results of this mating ritual are impressive: clutches of forest-green, oval eggs that resemble giant avocados.

4. Greater Rhea

Credit: Nino Barbieri/Wikimedia Commons

This flightless bird is named for the Titan goddess Rhea, who gave birth to all of the Olympian gods and goddesses in Greek mythology. At up to 5 feet tall and 66 pounds, the greater rhea may not seem like as much of a terror as the ostrich. But it gathers in massive flocks of up to 100 birds during the non-breeding season, so watch out if you happen to be in its South American habitat.

5. Dalmatian Pelican

Credit: depaulus/Pixabay

How scary can a pelican be, you ask? When it stands almost 6 feet tall, weighs 33 pounds, and has a wingspan of 9 feet - all traits of the Dalmatian pelican - it's pretty petrifying. These scruffy-feathered monsters, native to Europe and Asia, breed in colonies of up to 250 pairs and can gulp impressive mouthfuls of fish in one go.

6. Mute Swan

Credit: Michal Klajban/Wikimedia Commons

One of the heaviest flying birds, mute swans look harmless as they glide over ponds, lakes, and rivers. But mute swans are far from silent when defending their families and territory. Male swans warn interlopers that they’re getting too close with a hiss, then can launch a straight-up assault, bashing the intruder with their wings. They’ll even attack kayakers, canoeists, and people just minding their own business.

7. Andean Condor

Credit: Anne and David/Flickr

This freakishly big vulture isn’t satisfied with just any carrion - it prefers large carcasses like cattle and deer for dinner. Maintaining its average weight of 25 pounds requires a lot of calories, after all. Its wingspan is slightly less than its northern cousin, the California condor, but it still reaches a dramatic 9 to 10 feet.

8. Cinereous Vulture

Credit: 4028mdk09/Wikimedia Commons

Another big bird with a 10-foot wingspan, this Old World vulture has excellent vision to spot carrion while it flies, and a featherless head that resists the accumulation of gore when it feeds. Though it’s intimidating to look at, the cinereous vulture plays an important role in its ecosystem by cleaning up roadkill and other dead animals.

9. Marabou Stork

Credit: Charles J Sharp/Wikimedia Commons

As if its red-tinged wattle, black back, and dagger-esque bill weren’t alarming enough, the marabou stork is sometimes called the “undertaker bird” thanks to its Dracula-like appearance. It also eats other birds. The largest verified wingspan on a marabou stork measured 10.5 feet, though unverified reports cited a specimen with 13.3-foot span.

10. Shoebill

Credit: Wiemann/Pixabay

Shoebill storks may not be the tallest, heaviest, or widest-winged birds, but just look at that death stare. On top of having a nutcracker for a face, the 5-foot-tall shoebill leads a fearsome lifestyle. It stands absolutely still for hours to hunt prey, watching for lungfish or baby crocodiles, then spreads its wings and collapses over it while trapping the target in its bill.

Top image: Ostriches. Credit: cocoparisienne/Pixabay.

[Source: Mental Floss. Images added.]

THE MOST AMAZING SPACE IMAGES THIS WEEK

Space Photos: The Most Amazing Images This Week!
By Doris Elin Salazar, Space.com, 21 September 2019.

A region of star-formation is so colorful that it resembles fireworks, southern lights shine over Antarctica, and the International Space Station views a sparkling sight as it flies over the Nile river at night. These are just some of the top photos this week from Space.com.

1. 'Dove' Has Bird's Eye View of Drone Attack

Image credit: Planet Labs/Twitter

From space, one bread-loaf sized satellite could see the aftermath of last week's drone attack on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia. An Earth-observing satellite called Dove, from the commercial company Planet, caught this sight of black billowing smoke thanks to its resolution of 10 feet to 16.5 feet (3 to 5 meters). According to the New York Times, Yemen's Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for the Sept. 14 drone attack that struck at least 17 Saudi oil facilities in Abqaiq and Khurais.

Full Story: Satellite Photo Shows Aftermath of Drone Attack on Saudi Oil Facilities

2. Martian Avalanche

Image credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Last spring, a NASA mission flying over Mars captured imagery of an avalanche near the planet's north pole. The space agency released the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's May 29th image last week (Sept. 11), which features a plume of red dirt ascending into the Martian sky due to the warming that occurs on the Red Planet during springtime; this heating destabilizes ice in polar deposits, causing material to break loose and dust to be kicked up, according to agency officials.

Full Story: Avalanche on Mars Kicks Up Dirt Near Red Planet's North Pole in Amazing Photo

3. The Vibrant Colors of Rho Ophiuchi

Image credit: Miguel Claro

No, this isn't the sight of fireworks, but the colors in this composite image from astrophotographer Miguel Claro could have fooled anyone. This is in fact a dense cloud of interstellar dust and gas, known otherwise as a nebula. This particular structure is Rho Ophiuchi, the closest star-forming region to the solar system. This final image is the product of 67 combined frames with a total exposure time of 117 minutes.

Full Story: Rho Ophiuchi's Colorful Cosmic Clouds Glisten in Starry Deep-Space Photo

4. Third SpaceShipTwo Vehicle Gets Wings

Image credit: Virgin Galactic 2019

Although Virgin Galactic hasn't yet announced the name of its third SpaceShipTwo suborbital vehicle, company representatives did recently share that its main body, or fuselage, has been mated with the finished wing section. This vehicle's predecessor is VSS Unity, which has reached suborbital space twice over the last year and is undergoing work in Mojave, California, where the third SpaceShipTwo is also being assembled.

Full Story: Virgin Galactic's Newest Spaceship Just Got Its Wings (Photos)

5. SOFIA Awaits First Flight Over Europe

Image credit: DLR/NASA via Space.com

SOFIA, a stratosphere-flying observatory run by a joint program between NASA and Germany's space program, DLR, is seen here in Palmdale, California before its flight to Germany early this week. On Wednesday (Sept. 18) it took off again for its two-day observation mission high above Germany, France, Great Britain and Italy where it studied the environment around two black holes circling each other within a distant galaxy.

Full Story: NASA's Airborne Observatory SOFIA Takes Flight Over Europe Today

6. China Found Weird Stuff on the Moon

Image credit: CNSA/CLEP via Space.com

China's Yutu-2 moon rover captured this image from the edge of the small crater on the far side of the moon where it found a mysterious material described as "胶状物" (jiao zhuang wu), which can be translated as "gel-like." Our Space, a Chinese-language science outreach publication, announced the findings on Tuesday (Aug. 17). The material highlighted in the center of the crater image resembles a sample of impact glass found during the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, according to a lunar scientist at the University of Notre Dame.

Full Story: China's Lunar Rover Scopes Out Weird Substance on Far Side of the Moon (Photos)

7. The Nile Delta at Night

Image credit: NASA

City lights around the Nile River and its delta sparkle by night in this stunning view from the International Space Station. When an Expedition 60 astronaut captured this photo, the International Space Station was flying 255 miles (410 kilometers) above the border between Sudan and Egypt around 1 a.m. local time on Sept. 2. - Hanneke Weitering

8. Southern Lights in Antarctica

Image credit: A. Mancini/ESA/IPEV/PNRA

A brilliant aurora appears to rise like a glowing, green smoke plume from Concordia research station in Antarctica in this photo by European Space Agency (ESA) photographer Alessandro Mancini. "I turn my gaze away from the horizon and dusk, there is a stripe in the sky that is not the Milky Way, at first just white and cloud-like, but there is no doubt - the green hues are visible and the curtain-like waves in the sky are unmistakable," ESA's on-site doctor Nadja Albertsen wrote in a blog post after witnessing the aurora at the remote research station. - Hanneke Weitering

9. Noctilucent Clouds Seen from Space

Image credit: Luca Parmitano/ESA/Twitter

A wispy layer of mesospheric clouds illuminates Earth's atmosphere in this photo taken from the International Space Station. European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano tweeted this photo from space, writing, "Mesospheric clouds tinge the sunset, south of the Indian Ocean." Mesospheric clouds, also known as noctilucent clouds, from 47 to 53 miles (76 to 85 kilometers) above Earth's surface, an altitude where water vapor can freeze into clouds of ice crystals. For comparison, the International Space Station orbits at an average altitude of 250 miles (400 km). - Hanneke Weitering

10. Hubble Eyes a Faint Galaxy in Cetus

Image credit: ESA/NASA/Hubble/LEGUS/B. Tully/D. Calzetti/Judy Schmidt

The faint galaxy UGC 695 shimmers in deep space in this view from the Hubble Space Telescope. Located 30 million light-years away within the constellation Cetus (The Sea Monster), UGC 695 is considered a low-surface-brightness galaxy, which means that it's even dimmer than the background brightness of Earth’s atmosphere, which makes it difficult to observe. While galaxies like this don't contain as many stars as their brighter counterparts, they are rich with dark matter. - Hanneke Weitering

Top image: Young stellar objects in the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/WISE Team/Wikimedia Commons.

[Source: Space.com. Top image added.]