The Circinus West molecular cloud is a huge star-forming region located 2,500 light-years from Earth. The gas and dust in this cloud are so dense that it is opaque. (Image credit: CTIO/NOIRLab/DOE/NSF/AURA) A battle between light and dark is unfolding…
There are currently more than 5,800 known exoplanets outside our solar system. Artist Martin Vargic depicts some of them above. (Image courtesy of Martin Vargic (used with permission)) Space is truly enormous. There are about 100 billion stars in our…
Scientists have long believed that all large galaxies harbor colossal supermassive black holes at their centers. This means that the failure to detect such a cosmic giant at the center of the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy, also known as Messier 83…
An updated version of the Hubble image of the Eagle Nebula, first released in 2005, using state-of-the-art imaging technology. (Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, K. Noll) Few images from the Hubble Space Telescope can match this one. A huge column…
Can Astronauts Burp in Space? (Image courtesy of NASA) Digestive gases get the better of everyone at one time or another, often in the form of burping. Burping is the body’s method of releasing excess gas in the upper digestive…
Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, is the only object outside Earth known to have stable water on its surface. (Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona/University of Idaho) Scientists have long known about the presence of rivers and seas of liquid methane on Titan’s…
An illustration of a planet that is breaking apart while orbiting a giant star. (Photo credit: Jose-Luis Olivares, MIT) Researchers have found a planet that is actually breaking apart as it orbits its star. About 140 light-years from Earth in…
An artist’s impression of the exoplanet K2-18b. Could an alien world have a biosphere? (Image credit: A. Smith, N. Madhusudhan (University of Cambridge)) The most talked about planet in the universe right now is K2-18b, a potentially habitable planet orbiting…
(Image credit: Science Photo Library via Getty Images) Jump to: Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system and the fifth farthest from the sun. This gas giant is known for its beautiful cloud bands, a set of thin…
A storm near Jupiter’s north pole was captured by NASA’s Juno spacecraft. The ammonia-rich clouds produced by these storms help create accurate weather models for many exoplanets. (Image credit: NASA) Jupiter weather forecasting now includes softball-shaped hailstones known as “mushballs”…
An illustration of a supermassive black hole surrounded by dust. (Image credit: ESA) Observations made with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) show that a black hole that grows rapidly and appears to defy the laws of physics is actually…
A mosaic of Saturn taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft on November 20, 2017. The image is a composite of 42 wide-angle photographs taken with red, green, and blue spectral filters that were combined and stitched together to form a natural-color…