Shapes

How snowflakes get their distinct and various shapes

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View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Tawnya Silloway in Colorado submitted this imgae on January 23, 2025, and wrote: “I was able to photograph many fluffy snowflakes yesterday, but this one stood out because she brought a daisy.” Thank you, Tawnya! Exquisite crystalline snowflakes capture the imagination. But what is the science behind their formation, … Read more

NASA’s IXPE Details Shapes of Structures at Newly Discovered Black Hole

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NASA’s IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer) has helped astronomers better understand the shapes of structures essential to a black hole – specifically, the disk of material swirling around it, and the shifting plasma region called the corona. The stellar-mass black hole, part of the binary system Swift J1727.8-1613, was discovered in the summer of 2023 … Read more