The fastest way to make interstellar travel a reality might not be only science fiction for long! It is humanity’s longstanding dream to venture to the stars. We long to […]
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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 […]
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 […]
A special for the World Cup: how do the world’s best “bend it like Beckham”? “Soccer matches should be something special, something people eagerly look forward to, something that brightens […]
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. […]
This appears to be a dazzling blanket made of diamonds. The Messier 5 globular star cluster has long impressed astronomers. From NASA: “Beautiful Nebula discovered between the Balance [Libra] & […]
There’s a supermassive black hole at the center of almost all of them, but who came first? “One has to be an optimist; one has to hope that somewhere there’ll be […]
The galaxy cluster “El Gordo” has a funny name, but it certainly fits its description. From NASA: It is bigger than a bread box. In fact, it is much bigger […]
It’s been 13.8 billion years since the Big Bang, but our observable Universe is much bigger than just 13.8 billion light years! Image credit: NASA; ESA; G. Illingworth, D. Magee, […]
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 […]
With a planetary nebula, over 80,000 stars and a distance of only 10,000 light-years, it’s one of the most rewarding globulars of all! Image credit: R. Columbari, via http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?t=31833. “I […]
There’s a cosmic creature lurking in IC 1396, a star formation region full of dust clouds and gas. Or at least that’s what it looks like in this image. NASA explains: […]
It’s all relative, but what you might have seen probably isn’t accurate. “There is no such thing as perpetual tranquillity of mind while we live here; because life itself is […]
Hydrogen was the first element ever created, but there’s less of it now than there ever was. “If the human condition were the periodic table, maybe love would be hydrogen at […]
On April 15th, people in North America were treated to a “blood moon,” when dispersed light from Earth’s sunsets and sunrises covered the face of the Moon during a lunar […]
What every middle-to-high schooler should know. Image credit: Bayside STEM academy, via Stanford at https://ed.stanford.edu/news/new-design-thinking-curriculum-targets-middle-school-students. “Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time […]
Incredible photos of the “blood moon” on April 15th show that the lunar eclipse was quite dramatic, as of course expected. Tuesday’s reddish moon is the first in a series […]
If a human hovered close to the giant ringed planet, she would see Saturn as partly blue. In March 2006, the robot Cassini spacecraft, still orbiting Saturn, snapped this image […]
At the top of the Teapot, a fantastic cluster dotted with Red Giants awaits. Image credit: © 2005–2009 by Rainer Sparenberg, via http://www.airglow.de/html/starclusters/m28.html. “The most difficult thing is the decision […]
Sometimes images captured by NASA look like works of art. This one looks painted in the style of Chiaroscuro, sharp contrasts between light and dark. NASA explains why: Deep shadows […]
Dust surrounds the Orion Nebula, a hotbed of star formation some 1,600 light years away. Who knew dust could be this beautiful? The “intricate and picturesque filaments of dust,” as […]
A black hole has never been seen directly. There are always clear indicators of a black hole at work. For instance, this image released by NASA shows a swirling whirlpool […]
Around 1,500 light-years away, hot young stars surrounded by glowing gas make up the Great Nebula in Orion. This massive starbirth region is on the edge of an interstellar molecular […]
Underground oceans may be venting through these long “tiger stripes” on Saturn’s moon Enceladus. The moon’s icy interior shoots ice through the stripes and into space. NASA has more: Long features […]
How does NASA control the flow of fluids in Space? NASA invented ferrofluid. It turns out the stuff is multipurpose when you apply rare earth magnets. Check out the ferrofluid […]
Stargazers have something to look forward to. Over the next few months, a pair of colorful bright objects will be visible close together–Mars and Spica. Next week in particular, Mars […]
Around 6,400 light-years away, in the constellation of Orion, is this sparkling skyscape captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. On the edge of NGC 2174, this image shows a corner […]
Isn’t the Universe wondrous enough without having to cheat? “Some people think that the truth can be hidden with a little cover-up and decoration. But as time goes by, what is […]
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 only way out is to modify the laws of gravity, and new constraints rule those modifications out. “The discrepancy between what was expected and what has been observed has […]