Astronomy
Planetary Habitability Depends on its Star’s Magnetic Field
The extrasolar planet census recently passed a major milestone, with 5500 confirmed candidates in 4,243 solar systems. With so many…
Astro-Challenge: Catching Pluto at Opposition 2024
Why July 2024 is a prime time to see distant Pluto before it fades from view.
Gaia Hit by a Micrometeoroid AND Caught in a Solar Storm
For over ten years, the ESA's Gaia Observatory has monitored the proper motion, luminosity, temperature, and composition of over a…
New Images From Webb Reveal Jupiter's Complex Atmosphere
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has accomplished some spectacular feats since it began operations in 2021. Thanks to its…
Webb Completes Its Second Year of Operations
What happens when a spiral and an elliptical galaxy collide? To celebrate the second anniversary of the "first light" for…
‘Fly Me to the Moon’ Points to the Past and Future of Moonshot Marketing
In a new movie titled “Fly Me to the Moon,” a marketing consultant played by Scarlett Johansson uses Tang breakfast drink, Crest…
The Moon Occults Spica This Weekend For North America
The ‘Great North American Occultation’ sees the Moon blot out Spica Saturday night.
Ancient People Saw a Kilonova Light up the Sky
What happens when aging white dwarf stars come together? Observers in feudal Japan in the year 1181 had a front-row…
Webb Looks at One of the Best Gravitationally Lensed Quasars Ever Discovered
It looks like a distant ring with three sparkly jewels, but the Webb telescope's (JWST) most recent image is really…
Black Holes Dominate Large Regions of Space, But They’re Mysterious
In the beginning, the Universe was all primordial gas. Somehow, some of it was swept up into supermassive black holes…