A new photo taken by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has revealed the hidden gaseous “bone” structure of a distant galaxy — and it’s absolutely spectacular. The cosmic knot of gas, dust and stars belongs to the spiral galaxy IC 5332, located in the constellation Sculptor more than 29 million light-years from Earth. As … Read more
As far as stars go, our sun gets a lot of fanfare. Not only does life on Earth literally revolve around it, it dwarfs the rest of the stars in the sky — from our perspective, at least. But if you zoom out to the far reaches of our galaxy, the sun no longer looks … Read more
Researchers in China have discovered a new type of crystal nestled among the volcanic debris of the near side of the moon, as well as a potential fuel source that could help revolutionize the production of clean and efficient energy on Earth. The small, transparent crystal — named Changesite-(Y), after the Chinese moon goddess Chang’e … Read more
Black holes are cosmic vacuum cleaners — massive objects so large that not even light can escape them. Most people imagine black holes do nothing but sit there and devour wandering pieces of gas or dust. But could black holes actually have more interesting interior lives? Could they, for instance, explode? If an “explosion” is … Read more
Scientists have captured the first direct evidence of the sun’s magnetic field quickly switching directions, which could help explain the mysterious force that flings particles across our solar system. The researchers observed the phenomenon using the Solar Orbiter probe, which was developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and is jointly run with NASA. The … Read more
In 1859, British astronomer Richard Carrington saw a blast of white light on the surface of the sun. This was the Carrington Event, as scientists now call it, and it is the largest recorded solar storm ever recorded. It was linked with extraordinary auroras — the Northern and Southern Lights — that were visible in … Read more
A new image captured by NASA’s Juno Jupiter explorer reveals features in the turbulent atmosphere of the solar system’s largest planet in the same colors a human observer would see them. Juno(opens in new tab) took the image on July 5, 2022, during its 43rd close flyby of Jupiter(opens in new tab) using its JunoCam instrument. The spacecraft … Read more
In Liu Cixin’s short story “The Wandering Earth (opens in new tab)” (first published in Chinese magazine Science Fiction World in July 2000), Cixin portrays a scenario in which the planet’s leaders agree to propel Earth out of the solar system to escape an imminent solar flare that is expected to decimate all of the … Read more
All life on Earth owes its existence to the sun’s radiant heat. But what happens when that radiation surges out of control, and billions of tons of charged solar material suddenly barrel our way at thousands of miles a second? What happens when Earth takes a direct hit from a solar flare — and could … Read more
The Artemis mega moon rocket is NASA’s latest and most powerful launch vehicle, intended to return astronauts, robots, and supplies to the moon for the first time in more than 50 years. It consists of a multistage rocket called the Space Launch System (SLS), which can carry various additional modules atop it, such as the … Read more
