“Watch out, America!”
Hubble captures the death of a star, offering a glimpse of our sun’s final days
A spectacular image captured by the Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) gives us a glimpse into how the Sun will look at its death.
The entire Universe in one Logarithmic Map
Don’t you just love it when art and science get together? Here, artist Pablo Carlos Budassi managed what seems impossible: representing the entire Universe in one picture. Using lots and lots of telescope, satellite images and photos snapped from NASA’s rovers, he painstakingly stitched many of the prominent features in the known Universe. He started from our solar system and then moved on in
AstroPicture of the Week: Black Hole and Galaxy
NGC 5195 and the Whirlpool Galaxy comprise one of the most noted interacting galaxy pairs in astronomy. The two galaxies are connected by a dust-rich tidal bridge. The dust in this tidal bridge can be seen silhouetted against the center of NGC 5195. This demonstrates that NGC 5195 appears to lie behind the Whirlpool Galaxy.
AstroPicture of the Day: North Korea highlighted by its own darkness
Can you find the border? A Nasa Earth Observatory spokesman said at the time the picture was taken: ‘North Korea is almost completely dark compared to neighboring South Korea and China. The darkened land appears as if it were a patch of water joining the Yellow Sea to the Sea of Japan. Its capital city, Pyongyang, appears like a small
AstroPicture of the Day: Geminids of the South
I know, I know, we recently posted another AstroPicture… but I can’t help it if there’s too much space awesomeness! Here, the annual Geminid meteor shower did not disappoint, peaking before dawn on December 14 as the Earth plowed through dust from active asteroid 3200 Phaethon. This image, captured in the southern hemisphere by (Carnegie Las Campanas Observatory, TWAN) and published on
New Horizons images suggest Pluto is geologically active
NASA released a stunningly colorful new image of the dwarf planet Pluto, the latest in a series of images that steadily trickle down from the New Horizons probe since it left the solar system this July. And it’s not only eye candy either; the features this picture reveals has left the smart guys at the agency scratching their heads.
Meteor strikes Thailand twice in 3 months
The first (seen in the first animation) took place on September 7 and the second one on the November 2. People though these were some planes crashing, but were later confirmed to be small meteor showers. Just so you know, this happens all the time in our atmosphere and there is nothing to be alarmed about. Albeit, legion of these
AstroPicture of the Day: Clouds, as seen from above
We generally look at clouds from below, but thanks to this lovely picture from the International Space Station, we also get amazing views like this one. Notice the shades from the clouds stretching for miles and miles.
Astropicture of the Week: Pluto
We’ve seen Pluto in all its splendor recently thanks to the New Horizons mission that flew by the former planet / currently planetoid, but just when you thought it can’t surprise you anymore… something like this comes along. This is Pluto. Recently, a paper was published based on the data that New Horizons sent back to Earth, including impressions about Pluto
Looking at the universe naked – an Ontological Awakening
It was Stephen Hawking who said:
We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the universe. That’s what makes us special.
AstroPicture of the Day: Moonless Meteors and the Milky Way
All APODs are spectacular in their own way – but every once in a while, there’s one that’s just amazing. This is the case with Petr Horálek‘s picture of the Perseids. “The Perseid meteor shower last occurred near a New Moon in 2013. That’s when the exposures used to construct this image were made, under dark, moonless skies from Hvar Island
AstroPicture of the Week: Reddit user captures mind blowing Milky Way panorama
Reddit user aryeh95 captured this mind blowing photo after many “failed attempts”: “After many failed attempts I finally made my first full Milky Way arch panorama”
AstroPicture of the Day: An Eclipse at the End of the World
A total solar eclipse took place on November 23, 2003; the Moon elegantly set itself in between the Sun and the Earth, but this was only visible from the Antarctic region. But that didn’t stop an enthusiastic group of photographers who went on to take some stunning pictures, including the one you see above. The image, pictured as an APOD,
AstroPictures of the Day: Pictures from the moon, by the Chinese Rover Chang’e
Chang’e are a series of Chinese lunar-orbiting spacecrafts and rovers, part of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program. Here are just a few of the pictures taken during the mission. The Chang’e 1 mission had four major goals: to obtain a 3D image of landforms and geological structures of the lunar surface, so as to provide a reference for planned future soft
AstroPicture of the Week: Types of Suits Worn by Astronauts and Cosmonauts
I stumbled upon this image a while ago, and reddit user ethan829 was kind enough to identify and name them. I managed to verify most of them. Credits for the image edit go to u/imaginedmind
AstroPicture of the Week: A volley of NASA rockets launched this morning
NASA’s Sun Watching Observatory Captures Picture of a Solar Flare
A solar flare is a sudden flash of brightness observed over the Sun’s surface or the solar limb, which is interpreted as a large energy release. The sun emitted a mid-level solar flare, peaking at 11:50 p.m. EST on Dec. 16, 2014. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the sun constantly, captured an image of the event. Flares occur when accelerated charged
Fantastic pictures of the Helix Nebula
The Helix Nebula used to be a star much like our Sun, but it is now in a different stage – ejecting most of its material. It’s estimated that our Sun will also become a nebula in about 5 billion years. It lies 650 light-years away, in the constellation of Aquarius. Also known by the catalog number NGC 7293, it is
Astropicture of the Day: Orion goes for a swim
The Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) is a spacecraft intended to carry a crew of up to four astronauts to destinations beyond-low Earth orbit (LEO); in the future, Orion will hopefully facilitate human exploration to asteroids, the Moon and even Mars. The first Orion test was successful on Friday, after a one day delay. In the meantime, the shuttle was