M16: Pillars of Star Creation

2024-10-22

These dark pillars may look destructive, but they are creating stars. This pillar-capturing picture of the Eagle Nebula combines visible light exposures taken with the Hubble Space Telescope with infrared images taken with the James Webb Space ...

Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS over California

2024-10-21 Brian Fulda

The tails of Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS were a sight to behold. Pictured, C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) was captured near peak impressiveness last week over the Eastern Sierra Mountains in California, USA. The comet not only showed a bright tail, ...

Dark Matter in a Simulated Universe

2024-10-20 Tom Abel & Ralf Kaehler (KIPAC, SLAC), AMNH

Is our universe haunted? It might look that way on this dark matter map. The gravity of unseen dark matter is the leading explanation for why galaxies rotate so fast, why galaxies orbit clusters so fast, why gravitational lenses so strongly ...

Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS Flys Away

2024-10-19 Xingyang Cai

These six panels follow daily apparitions of comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS as it moved away from our fair planet during the past week. The images were taken with the same camera and lens at the indicated dates and locations from California, ...

Most of Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS

2024-10-18 Adam Block

On October 14 it was hard to capture a full view of Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS. Taken after the comet's closest approach to our fair planet, this evening skyview almost does though. With two telephoto frames combined, the image ...

The Clipper and the Comet

2024-10-17 Ben Cooper

NASA's Europa Clipper is now headed toward an ocean world beyond Earth. The large spacecraft is tucked into the payload fairing atop the Falcon Heavy rocket in this photo, taken at Kennedy Space Center the day before the mission's ...

Colorful Aurora over New Zealand

2024-10-16 Tristian McDonald

Sometimes the night sky is full of surprises. Take the sky over Lindis Pass, South Island, New Zealand one-night last week. Instead of a typically calm night sky filled with constant stars, a busy and dynamic night sky appeared. Suddenly visible ...

Animation: Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS...

2024-10-15 Nico Lefaudeux

How bright and strange will the tails of Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS become? The comet has brightened dramatically over the few weeks as it passed its closest to the Sun and, just three days ago, passed its closest to the Earth. C/2023 A3 ...

Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS Over the...

2024-10-14 Brennan Gilmore

Go outside at sunset tonight and see a comet! C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) has become visible in the early evening sky in northern locations to the unaided eye. To see the comet, look west through a sky with a low horizon. If the sky is clear ...

Aurora Timelapse Over Italian Alps

2024-10-13 Cristian Bigontina

Did you see last night's aurora? This question was relevant around much of the world a few days ago because a powerful auroral storm became visible unusually far from the Earth's poles. The cause was a giant X-class solar flare on ...