Rubin’s GalaxyIn this Hubble Space Telescope image the bright, spiky stars lie in the foreground toward the heroic northern constellation Perseus and well within our own Milky Way galaxy. In sharp focus beyond is UGC 2885, a giant spiral galaxy about 232 million light-years distant. Some 800,000 light-years across compared to the Milky Way’s…Read More

Solar EclipseOn April 20, 2023 the shadow of a New Moon raced across planet Earth’s southern hemisphere. When viewed along a narrow path that mostly avoided landfall, the Moon in silhouette created a hybrid solar eclipse. Hybrid eclipses are rare and can be seen as a total eclipse or an annular “ring of fire” eclipse depending on the observer’s…Read More

25 Brightest Stars in the Night SkyDo you know the names of some of the brightest stars? It’s likely that you do, even though some bright stars have names so old they date back to near the beginning of written language. Many world cultures have their own names for the brightest stars, and it is culturally and historically important to remember…Read More

Enceladus in True ColorDo oceans under the ice of Saturn’s moon Enceladus contain life? A reason to think so involves long features — some dubbed tiger stripes — that are known to be spewing ice from the moon’s icy interior into space. These surface cracks create clouds of fine ice particles over the moon’s South Pole and create Saturn’s…Read More

Between Scylla and Charybdis: A Double Cosmic DiscoveryCan you identify this celestial object? Likely not — because this is a discovery image. Massive stars forge heavy elements in their cores and, after a few million years, end their lives in powerful supernova explosions. These remnants cool relatively quickly and fade, making them difficult t…Read More