Items tagged with astronomy
Astronomers have for the first time observed a violent cosmic collision dubbed the "cosmic joust." This dramatic encounter involving two galaxies 11 billion light years away, reveals how one galaxy effectively "spears" its opponent with a beam of radiation from a powerful quasar, severely hindering the latter's...
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In a discovery that has astronomers both captivated and perplexed, a mysterious perfectly-spherical object, dubbed "Teleios," has been detected in the vast expanse of deep space. Discovered and observed exclusively through its radio emissions by the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope...
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It's now or never, dear readers—the final so-called "micro" full Moon this year will be culminating tonight. The Moon will technically be furthest away from Earth today at 251,939 miles, but when viewed this evening near the horizon, our little planetary satellite will still appear larger than usual due to a human perception phenomenon called
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Billions of years ago, Mars had beautiful golden beaches skirting oceans that covered almost half the entire planet. A Chinese-American research team, with the help of data from China's Zhurong martian rover, have found pretty conclusive proof of vast, ancient oceans, although it's probably safe to say that they...
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Almost by accident, a researcher stumbled upon a unique galactic event 50 million years in the making. Apparently NASA's Hubble Space Telescope had captured a ringed galaxy (LEDA 1313424) that not only heavily resembles a bullseye, but with nine (perhaps more) rings now holds the record for the most rings observed in...
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Stargazers are in for a rare planetary treat from now until the end of February. If you look up into the night sky tonight (under the right conditions, of course), six planets—Jupiter, Mars, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus, and Venus—will be visible. Even better is that on February 28, Mercury will join the rather special...
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A new research has revealed that sun-like stars in our galaxy experience one violent "superflare" approximately once every hundred years—far more often that scientists previously thought. With that, many believe that the Sun in our solar system is overdue for such a superflare, especially since the last one was back...
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Grab a warm blanket, lawn chair, some hot cocoa, and get ready for one of the most dazzling meteor showers of the year. The colorful Geminid meteor light show is expected to peak tonight as well as tomorrow night with up to 160 meteors per hour (with the right conditions, of course). Bonus: the Geminids usually occur...
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Jupiter is well-known for its Great Red Spot, but astronomers have recently discovered equally large spots at the giant gas planet’s north and south poles that appear and disappear at random. The dark UV ovals were first spotted by NASA’s Hubble spacecraft in the late 1990s, but have only recently been studied in...
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NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft captured the moment when a headless Halloween comet flew too close to the Sun and vaporized. Comet 2024 S1 ATLAS reached its perihelion, or closest approach to the Sun on Sunday around 7:30am ET.
Comet 2024 S1 was first discovered on September 27, 2024, in...
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Researchers from Japan’s National Astronomical Observatory (NAOJ) are throwing shade at the now iconic image of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way captured by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). The image in question, constructed by another group of researchers from data collected by the EHT...
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NASA says a bus-sized asteroid is about to make a close approach, coming within 148,000 miles of Earth. According to the space agency, the asteroid, named 2024 UQ1, measures approximately 32-feet across.
Astronomers and scientists are constantly on the lookout for large space rocks that could pose a threat to...
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A supernova event recorded by Chinese and Japanese astronomers in 1181 is at the heart of a first-of-its-kind 3D animated map, unveiling new secrets of a flowering “zombie star.” Supernova Sn 1181 is one of the few to be documented before the invention of telescopes.
The zombie star in question was first discovered...
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The month of September is chock full of celestial goodness, with a partial lunar eclipse highlighting the festivities. September’s full moon, also called the Harvest moon, will also be a Supermoon, meaning it will appear ever so slightly bigger and brighter than the average full moon.
As NASA and the US government...
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Be sure to look up this month, as night skies in August will be filled with cosmic wonders, ranging from meteor showers, the Lagoon Nebula, and Jupiter and Mars converging. So, pack a blanket, grab a few friends, and enjoy the celestial shows occurring throughout the month.
About a week after August’s new moon, the...
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NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office, in partnership with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), conducted the fifth biennial Planetary Defense Interagency Tabletop Exercise this week. The tabletop exercise gathering aimed “to inform and assess the ability as a nation to respond effectively to the...
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As June brings the heat of summer, it also brings the Strawberry Moon, and the earliest summer solstice in 228 years. The last time the summer solstice arrived this early was in 1796, when it took place at 1:45pm ET on June 20.
The summer solstice will begin at 4:50pm EDT on Thursday, June 20 (today), and with it...
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According to NASA, there are several airplane-sized asteroids hurtling toward Earth this week. The largest of the five is estimated to be 110 feet in size, while the closest will come within 447,000 miles of Earth.
It is not uncommon for large asteroids to go zipping by Earth at a safe distance. This week, however...
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With summer coming in hot, it is time for cookouts, camping trips, and of course, fireworks. But this summer, NASA says to be on the lookout for a different type of fireworks, a "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity to see the results of a nova explosion in the night sky.
T Coronae Borealis, also known as the “Blaze...
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Star Trek fans may be disappointed to learn that Spock’s home planet of Vulcan has turned out to be an illusion. While the planet Vulcan may not exist in real life, Spock’s star system, 40 Eridani, is very real.
Star system 40-Eridani is located 16.5 light-years away from Earth, and NASA says its primary star can...
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Stargazers will be able to view six of the Solar System’s planets form a straight line as they take their place in a parade of planets. Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus will all take part in the parade, with Venus being the only one absent.
While the recent aurora that stretched across much of...
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NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) made its first ever startling discovery of a free-floating rogue planet, and NASA says it is hunting for more. While TESS will continue to be on the lookout for more rogue planets, the space agency is hopeful that its upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will...
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