TagsTagsUsing the European Space Agency’s infrared Herschel Space Observatory, astronomer Sergio Molinari discovered a gigantic Moebius Strip at the center of our galaxy: Milky Way’s Core Hides Big Twisted Ribbon. Click to enlarge A space telescope peering into the Milky Way galaxy’s dusty core has spied a colossal twisted ribbon of ...
Astronomy, Herschel Space Observatory, Milky Way, Moebius Strip
Phil Plait has a great post on the latest mind-expanding discovery from the Hubble Space Telescope -- what may be the most distant galaxy ever observed, at an awe-inspiring distance of 13.2 billion light years from Earth, formed not long after the Big Bang. Click to enlarge The galaxy was found ...
The ESA-NASA Planck spacecraft recently completed a year-long imaging project, surveying the entire sky in a range of microwave light frequencies from 30 to 857 gigahertz, and here’s the result — an oval projection, with the Milky Way as the bright center area. The cosmic microwave background left over from ...
Astronomy, Planck Telescope, Photography, Universe, Microwave
This astounding new photograph from the Hubble Space Telescope shows a gigantic brain-like formation of gas clouds and star clusters in our neighboring galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud. Phil Plait has an analysis of the photo with a bit of a surprise at the end: A vast, cosmic cloudy brain ...
Astronomy, Hubble Space Telescope, Space Brain, Photography, Universe
Today’s big science news is this incredible image: the first direct optical sighting of a planet orbiting a star in another solar system. For the first time, astronomers have been able to directly follow the motion of an exoplanet as it moves from one side of its host star to the ...
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope, here’s a mind-bending new image of the Carina Nebula.
Phil Plait points out some incredible super-high resolution photos from the HiRISE camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, showing evidence for the presence of liquid water on Mars. The “gullies” in these images are only a few meters across. (More photos are here.) Click to embiggen…
Mars, Astronomy, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, HiRISE, Photography
A great piece at the New York Times by Dennis Overbye looks at the latest research from the Hubble Space Telescope’s new Wide Field Camera 3, which is recording images from a time ever closer to the beginning of the universe itself: With Updated Hubble Telescope, Reaching Farther Back in ...
Astronomy, Milky Way, Galaxies, Photography, Space, Hubble Space Telescope
This really is the new golden age of astronomy. Now the three telescopic stars in this new age (Hubble, Chandra, and Spitzer) have been joined by another awesome new tool: VISTA (the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy). And the VISTA team is now releasing their first images, including this ...
Phil Plait has a great description of what you see in this stunning new picture of the center of the Milky Way galaxy, a mosaic comprised of images from the Hubble (visible light), Chandra (X-rays), and Spitzer (infrared) space telescopes. There is so much going on in this image it’s ...
A spectacular image from the Hubble Space Telescope’s newly-installed Wide Field Camera 3, showing a birthplace of stars in the nearby galaxy M83: Hubble Image Showcases Star Birth in M83, the Southern Pinwheel. (Hat tip: Phil Plait, who has interesting commentary on how this image was generated, and what you’re seeing.) ...
Science, Space, Astronomy, Hubble Space Telescope, NASA, Photography, Galaxies, Universe
Astrophotographer Axel Mellinger of Central Michigan University has created a new panoramic image of the Milky Way galaxy. You may have seen version 1.0 of Mellinger’s panorama; it’s even for sale as a poster at Amazon. Version 2.0 is an order of magnitude more detailed. It was assembled from more than ...
A race between gamma rays across 7.3 billion years of time and space has resulted in a virtual tie, confirming Einstein’s theory of relativity once again. The race was between gamma rays of differing energies and wavelengths spit in a burst from an exploding star when the universe was half ...
Science, Space, Astronomy, Relativity, Albert Einstein, Speed of Light
I’m an unabashed fan of Carl Sagan. I’ve read all his books, some of them several times, and they’ve enriched my life more than I can express. This video is delightful and sad at the same time — a celebration of one of humanity’s great original intellects. [Video]
Newly released images from the Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys give us a look at two galaxies that are losing it. Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) allows astronomers to study an interesting and important phenomenon called ram pressure stripping that is so powerful, it is capable of ...
Science, Space, Astronomy, Hubble Space Telescope, NASA, Photography, Galaxies, Universe
The Hubble Space Telescope gets all the publicity, but there’s another orbiting telescope that sees into the X-ray spectrum and is also sending back mind-bending images from the depths of space — the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The latest photograph from Chandra shows the center of our Milky Way galaxy, and the ...
Space, Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra Observatory, Astronomy, Milky Way, black hole
The Hubble Space Telescope is back in business, and sending back photographs of the universe that can only be described with that overworked word “awesome:” Hubble Opens New Eyes on the Universe. [Video]
Space, Hubble Space Telescope, Astronomy, Galaxies, nebulae, Video
A fascinating discovery, from the tail of a comet 242 million miles away from Earth: Building block of life found on comet. LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The amino acid glycine, a fundamental building block of proteins, has been found in a comet for the first time, bolstering the theory that ...
Science, Space, NASA, Comet, Astronomy, origin of life, Space Exploration
By the way, if you’re into rocks and bits of sand that speed through the solar system for billions of years, then burn up in fiery streaks as they enter the Earth’s atmosphere, tonight’s your night. The annual Perseid meteor shower is expected to put on a good show this ...
From the W. M. Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea in Hawaii, this infrared image shows the impact site where something huge slammed into Jupiter sometime in the last few days, with its relative size compared to Earth.
Space, Astronomy, Jupiter, Asteroid Impact, Keck Observatory, Hawaii
Using his backyard telescope, Australian amateur astronomer Anthony Wesley discovered that the planet Jupiter was recently struck by something very large — leaving an Earth-sized impact site: New NASA Images Indicate Object Hits Jupiter. Scientists have found evidence that another object has bombarded Jupiter, exactly 15 years after the first ...
The Hubble Space Telescope isn’t the only orbiting observatory sending back incredible images from the depths of space; here’s a picture generated by the Chandra X-ray Observatory combined with optical imagery: a group of colliding galaxies known as “Stephan’s Quintet.” Credits: X-ray: NASA/CXC/CfA/E. O’Sullivan Optical: Canada-France-Hawaii-Telescope/Coelum This beautiful image gives a ...
Space, Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra Observatory, Astronomy, Galaxies
The $591 million Kepler mission launched successfully last night, and will soon begin looking for Earth-like planets in other solar systems. The Delta II rocket carrying the Kepler planet-hunting spacecraft lifted off on time at 10:49 p.m. EST from Launch Complex 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in ...
NASA’s Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes teamed up to expose the chaos that baby stars are creating 1,500 light years away in a cosmic cloud called the Orion nebula. This striking composite indicates that four monstrously massive stars, collectively called the “Trapezium,” at the center of the cloud may ...
Science, Astronomy, Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer, Orion Nebula
If this had happened a little bit closer to our solar system, we wouldn’t be worrying about the stimulus bill any more: Huge gamma-ray blast spotted 12.2 bln light-years from earth. WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US space agency’s Fermi telescope has detected a massive explosion in space which scientists say ...