It’s not just the shadows themselves, though, it’s where they are—because there shouldn’t be any shadows at all. »
Our neighbor planet has a south pole like we do...with perhaps a slightly less impressive ice cap. »
This is Lake Amadeus, the largest salt lake in Australia’s Northern Territory. Taken by Sentinel-2A (mean orbital altitude of 786 km/488 miles), this image of Lake Amadeus shows the salt crust, rock, and sand that are part of this lake’s unique look. »
In the distant reaches of the Universe, exploding stars and supermassive black holes are bending the very fabric of spacetime. It’s hard to wrap our brains around such tremendous forces, but we may be able to quantify them, in the form of gravitational waves. A new European Space Agency mission marks humanity’s first… »
There’s a lot going on in this brand new X-ray view of our galaxy’s center—but just what does all that sound, fury, and color mean?
At the very southernmost point of Earth is Concordia Station, a joint French-Italian inland Antarctic research station with isolation, long stretches of darkness, and low oxygen levels that allow research into the adaptation of human psychology and physiology. Despite all this, it is beautiful. »
Inside the constellation Sagittarius is the Lagoon Nebula, a tempestuous cloud of gas and star formation. See the full image below. »
Europe’s MSG-4 geostationary weather satellite is up and running after its launch on July 15. Earlier today, it’s Spinning Enhanced Visible Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) snapped its first image of Earth. And yes, we are impressed.
Deep at the bottom of the Atlantic, NASA has built an underwater lab—and there are astronauts living there. I joined them (sadly, in a digital format) to see what they’re up to down there and just what kinds of things they might be bringing back from the depths. »
This is an image of dwarf galaxy NGC 1140, which is ten times smaller than the Milky Way but is producing stars at roughly the same rate as our lovely galaxy. The blue stars in the image are the new ones. »
Late last week, the European Space Agency lofted its Sentinel-2A satellite into orbit. Now, just four days later, it’s started beaming its first images back to Earth. »
Sentinel-2A conducted its first ever scan of Earth on June 27th. The result was this gorgeous image of the Sahara in central Algeria, showing a glorious terrain of rocks and sand. »
Nebula NGC 6153 is 4,000 lightyears away, located in the constellation of Scorpius. The elliptical cloud is the remains of the star that was once there, all its remains ejected once it ran out of fuel. »
Earlier this year, NASA’s MESSENGER mission continued to take photos of Mercury right up until it crashed into the planet. This enhanced image of the usually grey-looking planet shows how color doesn’t quite capture the diversity of the planet’s make up. »
It’s full of galaxies! This new image from the Hubble Space Telescope and the ESO’s New Technology Telescope shows four of the seven galaxies in the galaxy group HCG 16: NGC 839, NGC 838, NGC 835, and NGC 833. Check out those glowing centers and wispy tails of gas! »
This past weekend, the Philae Lander awoke from its 211-day hibernation on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. The dramatic receipt of signals from the probe triggered renewed activity among mission planners who are now trying to figure out what to do next. Here’s how things could unfold.