The nature of our Universe defies our intuition. That just might be the greatest thing of all. “I asked the Zebra,are you black with white stripes?Or white with black stripes?And […]
Search Results
You searched for: sun
This April 15th, Earth experiences a total lunar eclipse, followed by an annular solar eclipse just 14 days later. “And everything under the sun is in tuneBut the sun is eclipsed […]
If there’s something before the Big Bang, then what does that mean for the beginning of our Universe? “You can try to lie to yourself. You can try to tell […]
The simple truths revealed by the sky throughout the night give us a perspective unlike any other. “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you […]
Look at this photograph and it’s easy to feel as though you’re in the cockpit of a spaceship, speeding down a galactic highway. NASA released the image today and explains: […]
Look up in the sky, it’s a bird, it’s a plane! It’s comet PanSTARRS C/2012 K1, and NASA snapped this photograph of it crossing the constellation Ursa Major. From NASA: […]
On the shortest night of the year, a galactic giant — the faintest Messier object of all — towers overhead. “It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. […]
They’re one of the great undetected predictions of dark matter, and we may have just found the first ones! “Two qualities are indispensable: first, an intellect that, even in the darkest […]
It’s the greatest cosmic masquerade of all: a star that fakes its own death! “If you are a dreamer come inIf you are a dreamer a wisher a liarA hoper a […]
“All the while, the glorious sun pours immaculate free energy down upon us, more than we will ever need. Why can’t we summon the ingenuity and courage of the generations […]
On April 29th, some lucky skywatchers will get to see the “Ring of Fire”–the year’s first solar eclipse that will make the sun appear to be a series of rings. […]
After decades of searching, still no evidence for dark matter has emerged, and some scientists are ready to abandon ship.
A dazzling bouquet of cotton candy? That would be one way to describe this gigantic dust pillar and star-forming region known as the Cone Nebula. NASA explains this photograph snapped […]
I’m lucky to spend a couple weeks each August up at Moosehead Lake in Maine, where paved roads and power lines disappear and an endless blanket of rich green forests […]
Beyond our own galaxy, this ancient relic holds a key to our cannibalistic past. Image credit: NASA / Hubble / Wikisky. “A hungry man can’t see right or wrong. He […]
A forgotten almost-hero of the 19th century still has something to teach about science… and style. “There is nothing more contemptible than a bald man who pretends to have hair.” –Martial […]
Every letter holds a special story for those who marvel at the Universe. “When I was having that alphabet soup, I never thought that it would pay off.” –Vanna White […]
It took Messier himself more than a decade to observe it, but the reward is a glimpse into the ancient Universe! Image credit: Daniel Verschatse, via http://www.astrosurf.com/antilhue/m55.htm. “The only thing […]
How we discovered what the Universe was made of when it first formed. Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/PSU/K. Getman et al.; IRL NASA/JPL-Caltech/CfA/J. Wang et al. “The nitrogen in our DNA, […]
And how, in the end, they help us gain the resolution of a space-based telescope without leaving the ground! Image credit: Y. Beletsky/ESO, via http://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1036a/. “But certainly the laser proved […]
Since the 1820s, scientists have observed an increase of suicides in the spring. The trend has been recorded in dozens of countries around the world. The most suicidal month is May, when rates […]
And the unheralded astronomer who brought its secrets to light. “In a word, in the eyes of a giant, to whom our Suns were what our atoms are to us, the […]
And what are the odds that it’s out there? “Since stars appear to be suns, and suns, according to the common opinion, are bodies that serve to enlighten, warm, and sustain […]
With all the matter-and-energy so close together and so dense at the moment of the Big Bang, why didn’t it recollapse? Image credit: Mark A. Garlick / University of Warwick. […]
The radiating “donut shape” around Earth has a surprising structure discovered this week. The scientists who made the discovery have dubbed it “zebra stripes.” Wired has the story: The Van […]
The far side looks *nothing* like the side that faces us. After 55 years, we may finally know why. “When you’re finally up at the moon looking back on earth, all […]
Someday, the Sun will expand, engulfing Mercury and Venus, and then some. Will we survive? “They do not see what lies ahead, when Sun has faded and Moon is dead.”-J.R.R. Tolkien […]
Happy equinox! The Sun will cross the celestial equator at 4:57 UT, heralding the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere. To honor the day, NASA released this cool […]
I recently stumbled upon an excellent essay by Steven Poole in Aeon Magazine on teleology (the widely abandoned philosophical idea used to support arguments for intelligent design, that in nature, […]
If you had never heard of global warming before, how would you figure out whether it’s happening? “There is no question that climate change is happening; the only arguable point […]