It's a bird! It's a plane! It's....

Maybe it's baby Kal-El streaking to earth from the doomed planet Krypton.

Astronomers yesterday discovered an automobile-sized meteor hurtling towards our planet. It is predicted to burn up over Sudan this evening at 10:46 p.m. ET, according to Wired Science.

"A typical meteor comes from an object the size of a grain of sand," Gareth Williams of the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center, which made the prediction, said in a statement Monday. Objects this size are what cause the nighttime streaks that many people think of as shooting stars. "This meteor will be a real humdinger in comparison!"

I hope it really is a red and blue cradle carrying a child who will grow into the Man of Steel. The world needs Superman.

Update, Thurs., Oct. 9: Earth survived. And Great Caesar's Ghost!, it was a big bang.

Unfortunately, it wasn't Superman.

Superman | Meteor | Sudan | Burning Taper | BurningTaper.com

'That's hot!': NASA probe to explore the Sun

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) plans to launch the mundanely-named "Solar Probe+" (pronounced "Solar Probe Plus") in 2015 on a seven-year mission to explore the Sun.

The solar-powered probe will come within 7 million km (4.35 million miles) of the Sun, and is being designed to withstand temperatures exceeding 1400 degrees Celsius (2550 degrees Fahrenheit). That's hot.

Scientists hope to answer two solar mysteries: Why the temperature in the Sun's outer atmosphere, the corona, is millions of times hotter than the surface of the Sun, and why the velocity of the Sun's "wind" increases the further it gets out into the solar system.

According to NASA, "Solar Probe+'s repeated plunges into the corona will be accomplished by means of Venus flybys. The spacecraft will swing by Venus seven times in six years to bend the probe's trajectory deeper and deeper into the sun's atmosphere."

Isn't that the technique both Captain Kirk and Superman used to travel back in time?

Space Exploration | Solar Probe Plus | Time Travel | Solar Wind | NASA | Burning Taper | BurningTaper.com