When two giant ellipticals get together, the astronomical chaos is beautiful. “Look and think before opening the shutter. The heart and mind are the true lens of the camera.” –Yousuf […]
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It burns so hot and intense, it’s probably already gone. But what a sight! “The flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long.” –Lao Tzu Image credit: NASA, […]
A once and a lifetime event has come into our field of view. New Year’s celebrators should be able to easily spot Comet Lovejoy skirting past the constellation Orion in the night sky till mid January.
After more than two years, we’ve visited all 110 objects. Have a look back at each one! “If you keep your eyes open enough, oh, the stuff you will learn. […]
Originating out beyond Neptune, thousands of world originate. Who’s the largest? It’s not who you expect, Pluto-lovers! “It is not when truth is dirty, but when it is shallow, that […]
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 […]
NASA represents a full 50% of the world’s expenditures on space science & exploration. What should we expect from it? “This Administration has never really faced up to where we […]
It’s a choice you re-make every day, and — just like love — you can’t fake it. “Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice.” –Wayne Dyer I […]
Another world orbits the Sun once a year at the same distance as our planet. “The moon was like this awesome, romantic, mysterious thing, hanging up there in the sky […]
The possibilities were almost limitless, so why does everything line up? “Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless […]
What the first signs of life beyond our Solar System will look like. Image credit: Tanga et al., 2012. “Language… has created the word ‘loneliness’ to express the pain of […]
Sure, they wiped out the dinosaurs, but do they really pose a risk to humans? “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind […]
Kepler took a look at 150,000 stars, searching for habitable worlds. Based on what it found, how many should be in our galaxy? “I’m sure the universe is full of […]
The last object in the entire Messier Catalogue is faint, elusive, and the most common type of galaxy in the Universe! Image credit: Adam Block / NOAO / AURA / […]
There’s a chance the Earth will turn green, and even though there’s no such thing as a green star, perhaps someday, the Sun will, too. “‘You are a different kind […]
The Great Orion Nebula is so great, it needed a second Messier object all to itself! “Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others […]
With an unforgettable “blue fog” caused by the galaxy itself that makes it stand out among all the others. “Derive happiness in oneself from a good day’s work, from illuminating […]
Our Milky Way is only the second-largest galaxy in our local group. Take an interactive dive into the biggest! “He who would search for pearls must dive below.” –John Dryden […]
A huge percentage of our Universe is blocked by the plane of our own Milky Way. Here’s how we’re finally seeing what’s there! “I am undecided whether or not the […]
It’s home to everything we’ve ever directly explored, but where did our Solar System come from? “When you look at the stars and the galaxy, you feel that you are […]
Sometime over the next few weeks, Planck will release their new results. What will that mean for gravitational waves from inflation? “The paradigm of physics — with its interplay of data, theory […]
How new developments in measuring the highest-energy particles and earliest signals from the Universe are teaching us what all this is. Big questions in the field of Cosmology are often […]
At the bottom of the teapot in Sagittarius, the ancient giants burn for your pleasure. Image credit: REU program / NOAO / AURA / NSF. “I told my father that […]
And why do some of them appear to be right here in our own galaxy, which formed much later? Image credit: DSS, of SMSS J031300.36–670839.3, candidate for “oldest star.” “Let […]
It’s the greatest source of energy in the Universe, and yet we had no idea until less than 100 years ago. “The sun is a miasmaOf incandescent plasmaThe sun’s not […]
Perhaps the most spectacular example of rebirth in our galaxy, this cavernous nebula is giving rise to the next generation of stars! Image credit: ESO, via http://www.eso.org/public/images/eso0925a/. “For in the […]
How Worlds Thought in the 1960s to be Circling Barnard’s Star Turned out to be Illusions. Image via: http://www.wingmakers.co.nz/universe/extrasolar/Barnards.html. In this golden age of exoplanet discovery, it is hard to […]
There have been many supernovae in the Milky Way seen over the past 2,000 years, but nobody ever saw the most recent ones! Image credit: NASA/CXC/NCSU/K.Borkowski et al. “When I […]
We claim to know the Universe’s history to incredible precision. But is this justified? “The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.”-Albert Einstein We’ve reached […]
With the full suite of observations of the Universe now at our disposal, what is the story, contents, and history of the Universe? “People are trapped in history and history […]