The Orion Nebula demonstrates the answer. “So numerous are the objects which meet our view in the heavens, that we cannot imagine a point of space where some light would not […]
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Is Amanda Palmer (who turns 40 today!), queen of pop-up concerts, kickstarter, and social media, the prototypical artist of the future?
As we all still recover from the Paris attacks, remember the beauty and joy of one of the most forgotten French discoveries. “Truth is more valuable if it takes you […]
The death throes of a Sun-like star announce its funeral to the whole galaxy. “The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough.”–Rabindranath Tagore Image credit: Adam Block/Mount […]
It’s rare to find a galaxy where the arms wrap around even a full 360 degrees. But after billions of years, why is that? “The farther we peer into space, the […]
How we went from our Milky Way, alone, to the entire Universe. “Gamow was fantastic in his ideas. He was right, he was wrong. More often wrong than right. Always […]
A once and a lifetime event has come into our field of view. New Year's celebrators should be able to easily spot Comet Lovejoy skirting past the constellation Orion in the night sky till mid January.
After more than two years, we’ve visited all 110 objects. Have a look back at each one! “If you keep your eyes open enough, oh, the stuff you will learn. […]
The massive damage humans have done to the natural world has provoked a backlash that could be just as dangerous, or more. There is a growing global rejection of technology and almost anything human-made in favor of whatever is more 'natural'. But a simplistic rejection of modern technologies eliminates many of our best options for solving the problems we've created.
The Great Orion Nebula is so great, it needed a second Messier object all to itself! “Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others […]
And why do some of them appear to be right here in our own galaxy, which formed much later? Image credit: DSS, of SMSS J031300.36–670839.3, candidate for “oldest star.” “Let […]
How to figure out your location on Earth with only the most primitive tools. “And you may find yourself in another part of the world.And you may find yourself behind […]
There are monster galaxies in the Universe thousands of times the size of ours. But none of them are spirals like us! “Sometimes, I sit alone under the starsand think […]
It’s the faintest and hardest object to see in the entire catalogue, but the rewards — and knowledge you gain — are priceless! “If there is nothing new under the sun, at least the […]
The last object in the entire Messier Catalogue is faint, elusive, and the most common type of galaxy in the Universe! Image credit: Adam Block / NOAO / AURA / […]
They’re one of the great undetected predictions of dark matter, and we may have just found the first ones! “Two qualities are indispensable: first, an intellect that, even in the darkest […]
But with its gaps and unusual structure, we’re lucky it did. “But touch a solemn truth in collision with a dogma of a sect, though capable of the clearest proof, and […]
A big, bright, dust-rich barred spiral galaxy that won’t stay this way for long! “When we are sure that we are on the right road there is no need to plan […]
Supernova SN 2014J is one of the closest to be seen in recent decades and is now the brightest part of M82 and visible in small telescopes in the evening sky.
Washed out by the full Moon on any other night, the lunar eclipse makes this one visible tonight! “All is well, provided the light returns and the eclipse does not become […]
On the shortest night of the year, a galactic giant — the faintest Messier object of all — towers overhead. “It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. […]
Just as poet William Blake asks us “To see a world in a grain of sand” in his poem “Auguries of Innocence,” painter Paul Cézanne asks us to see the […]
In the heart of our nearest big galaxy cluster, a massive spiral fights for its life. “Ali always said I would be nothing without him. But what would he have been […]
A beautifully undisturbed, large spiral can be found right at the heart of the Virgo Cluster. “We’ll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no one’s been.” […]
The handle of the Big Dipper leads you to Arcturus, the brightest star in the Northern Hemisphere. But there’s a deep-sky wonder hiding in plain sight, if you know where […]
Rather than the six or seven you may have learned, your eye is capable of delineating a tremendous number more. But just how many, and what’s the explanation? “The colors […]
What everyone should know about where our matter-and-radiation-filled Universe came from. “I don’t think at this point we have any way of knowing where the laws of physics came from. We […]
It is impossible to overstate how important this is. On Tuesday, President Obama will lay out a plan for dealing with climate change, and reports indicate it will include regulation […]
In honor of Earth Day, I wanted to share an article written by my former colleague Ross Robertson for EnlightenNext magazine called “A Brighter Shade of Green: Rebooting Environmentalism for the 21stCentury.” […]
Henry Rollins shares the DIY philosophy he learned from Abraham Lincoln and has always tried to follow.