Rare wispy ice formations streak across the sea near Antarctica in beautiful satellite images

Strong winds and unusual ocean currents helped paint a breathtaking icescape on the surface of the ocean near Antarctica, and the rare phenomenon was recently captured in a stunning satellite image.  The incredible image was taken on Nov. 20 by the Operational Land Imager onboard Landsat 8, a collaboration between NASA and the U.S. Geological … Read more

5 Out-of-This-World Telescope Photos of Space to Get You Excited For The JWST Launch

The forthcoming launch of the James Webb Space Telescope offers unprecedented new opportunities for astronomers. It’s also a timely opportunity to reflect on what previous generations of telescopes have shown us.   Astronomers rarely use their telescopes to simply take pictures. The pictures in astrophysics are usually generated by a process of scientific inference and … Read more

Stellar Video Shows Comet Leonard as It Zips by Earth For The 1st Time in 80,000 Years

Since early this year, skywatchers on Earth have been tracking Comet Leonard, a kilometer-wide dirty snowball made of ice, rock, and dust. Now, as it heads towards a close encounter with the Sun on 3 January 2022, several spacecraft – with the distinct advantage of having an unobstructed front-row seat to the action – have … Read more

James Webb Space Telescope vs. Hubble: How will their images compare?

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is currently poised to launch and become the most powerful telescope in space. But how will its photos compare to Hubble’s? The Hubble Space Telescope launched into low Earth orbit in April 1990. Over the three decades since, the famous observatory has expanded our view of the cosmos and held … Read more

This Footage From The First-Ever Probe to Touch The Sun Will Leave You Speechless

Many science fans were freaking out this week when NASA confirmed that its Parker Solar Probe had become the first spacecraft ever to ‘touch the Sun’ back in April. But if you thought that was mind-boggling, hang on to your seat, because there’s actually time-lapse footage of the spacecraft’s view as it swoops into the … Read more

The Deepest Images Yet of The Galactic Center Reveal a Beautiful Cosmic Dance

In the heart of the Milky Way, stars tread a complex measure. Bound by the gravitational field of the supermassive black hole in the galactic center, Sagittarius A*, a group of stars known as S-stars swoop on wild, years-long orbits. These orbits were recently studied to measure Sgr A*, a result that won the scientists … Read more

Astronomers peer deeper into Milky Way’s heart than ever before with new telescope images

Astronomers have captured the deepest and sharpest images of the Milky Way’s center ever, enabling scientists to estimate the mass of the giant black hole at our galaxy’s heart with unmatched precision.  The Milky Way observations, made with the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Chile, also revealed a … Read more

Stunning New Images Reveal The Chaotic Glory of The Sun in Mind-Blowing Detail

You’re looking at a 300-megapixel photo of our Sun. Astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy used a specially modified telescope, taking over 150,000 individual photos and combining them into this magnificent image (see below).   “It took about 10 hours to stack all the data, and another 3-4 hours to get it from a raw stack to the final image,” … Read more

Elisabeth Bik: I scanned thousands of research images by eye to expose academic fraud

Science consultant Elisabeth Bik is on a mission to detect duplicate images in scientific papers, exposing either genuine mistakes or signs of fraud. Humans 19 February 2020 , updated 2 December 2021 Voyagerix/Getty Images Microbiologist Elisabeth Bik has spent years searching for duplicated and manipulated images within scientific papers, scouring for clues as to whether … Read more

Space photos: The most amazing images this week!

Baby stars create cosmic shockwaves, a dying star emits halos of different ages and a spiral galaxy can help refine physicists’ understanding of the universe’s expansion. These are some of the top photos this week from Space.com. Halos of different ages (Image credit: NASA, ESA, A. Hajian (University of Waterloo), H. Bond (Pennsylvania State University), … Read more