In 2018, it was revealed that a pioneering telescope the size of Earth had taken, for the first time, an image of a black hole. That same instrument, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), has now witnessed the same black hole erupt with a powerful and unexpected explosion. Scientists hope that by studying this emission, they … Read more
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Jared Isaacman, a billionaire, philanthropist and private astronaut to lead NASA. What do we know about the potential next administrator of America’s space agency? Isaacman, born in Union, New Jersey in February 1983, is worth an estimated $1.8 billion, according to Forbes. He accrued this fortune from his payment-processing … Read more
The Geminid meteor shower put on a dazzling show this week, delighting skywatchers worldwide. The Geminids are one of the most prolific showers of the year, known for bright, colorful meteors and impressive hourly rates. This year, despite the almost full moon, they lived up to their reputation. We’ve rounded up some of the most … Read more
Of all the planets in our solar system, Saturn is by far the mooniest. And that’s saying a lot. Sure, we’re here in our corner with our single friend, The Moon™, but Neptune wanders the universe with 16 known companions, Uranus boasts 28 of its own, and there are a whopping 95 moons in the … Read more
In 2018, NASA mission planners selected the Jezero Crater as the future landing site of the Perseverance rover. This crater was a natural choice, as it was once an ancient lake bed, as evidenced by the delta fan at its western edge. On Earth, these features form in the presence of flowing water that gradually … Read more
HBO’s “Dune: Prophecy” is lurching towards its season finale on Dec. 22, but before we’re further embroiled in the heated court politics of House Corrino and Valya Harkonnen’s vengeful thirst for power and Sisterhood control comes to a head, fans were treated to some intimate time with the two brooding patriarchs, Evgeny Harkonnen (Mark Addy) … Read more
Exomoons are a hot topic in the science community, as none have been confirmed with astronomers finding new and creative ways to identify them. But while astronomers have searched for exomoons orbiting exoplanets around single stars like our Sun, could exomoons exist around exoplanets orbiting binary stars? This is what a recent study submitted to … Read more
As this illustration of the Apollo VIII command module reentering Earth shows, heat shields protect the crew capsule from high temperatures. Credit: NASA Johnson Space Center Off the coast of Baja California in December 2022, sun sparkled over the rippling sea as waves sloshed around the USS Portland dock ship. Navy officials on the deck … Read more
The Game Awards 2024 ceremony (Dec. 12) was one of the best in years, mixing tons of surprises with welcome updates on video games that we’ve all been wondering about. This also meant learning more about upcoming space games and being shocked by new reveals that made our sci-fi-loving hearts very, very happy. These are … Read more
Neutron stars are so named because in the simplest of models they are made of neutrons. They form when the core of a large star collapses, and the weight of gravity causes atoms to collapse. Electrons are squeezed together with protons so that the core becomes a dense sea of neutrons. But we now know … Read more