[CLICK ON IMAGE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION, STS-132 Crew, Expedition 23 Crew, NASA] The International Space Station is the largest object ever constructed by humans in space. The station perimeter extends over roughly the area of a football field, although only a small fraction of this is composed of modules habitable by humans. The station is […]
[CLICK ON IMAGE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION, Cassini Imaging Team, SWRI, JPL, ESA, NASA] Cassini, a robot spacecraft launched in 1997 by NASA, became close enough in 2002 to resolve many rings and moons of its destination planet: Saturn. At that time, Cassini snapped several images during an engineering test. Several of those images were combined […]
Famed astrophysicist Stephen Hawking and Russian billionaire Yuri Milner just announced a bold new initiative to visit Alpha Centauri — the second-closest star to Earth — within our lifetimes. “For the first time in human history we can do more than just gaze at the stars, we can actually reach them,” Milner told a crowd […]
[There have been few UFO sightings in recent years, with the exception of India (see one example below). But there has been a dramatic increase in the number of unmanned aerial vehicles (drones).] The Indian Air Force, and security agencies at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport, have been put on alert for aerial threats […]
[CLICK ON IMAGE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION, NASA, ESA, Hubble Legacy Archive; Processed & Copyright: Hunter Wilson] Why is this galaxy so thin? Many disk galaxies are actually just as thin as NGC 5866, pictured above, but are not seen edge-on from our vantage point. One galaxy that is situated edge-on is our own Milky Way […]
As secret airbases go, the single runway in the test site’s Area 6 is easily overshadowed by the world’s most famous secret military base, Area 51, a dozen miles northeast. Area 51’s existence was only recently acknowledged, even after decades of speculation by UFO enthusiasts that the aircraft development and test facility also houses space […]
[CLICK ON IMAGE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION, NASA/GSFC/Arizona State U./Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter] On the Moon, the Earth never rises — or sets. If you were to sit on the surface of the Moon, you would see the Earth just hang in the sky. This is because the Moon always keeps the same side toward the Earth. […]
[CLICK ON IMAGE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION, Chris Kotsiopoulos (GreekSky)] A southern exposure and striking symmetry made Lulworth Cove, along the Jurassic Coast of England, a beautiful setting during December’s Solstice. Five frames in this dramatic composite view follow the lowest arc of the Sun, from sunrise to sunset, during the shortest day of the year. […]
A powerful solar storm set to slam Earth today will make for stunning views of the Northern Lights just before New Year’s Eve. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center said the “strong” storm could allow the Northern Lights to dip as far south as Oregon and Illinois. NOAA classifies solar storms […]
[CLICK ON IMAGE FOR HIGH RESOLUTION, ESA/Hubble & NASA and S. Smartt (Queen’s University Belfast), Robert Gendler] This huge swirling mass of stars, gas, and dust occurs near the center of a nearby spiral galaxy. Gorgeous spiral NGC 3521 is a mere 35 million light-years distant, toward the constellation Leo. Spanning some 50,000 light-years, its […]
