This cartoon shows the transiting planet GJ 1132b to scale against its host star GJ 1132. Credit: Zach Berta-Thompson Scientists have discovered a new exoplanet that, in the language of “Star Wars,” would be the polar opposite of frigid Hoth, and even more inhospitable than the deserts of Tatooine. But instead of residing in a …
Venus’ twin? Earth-sized rocky planet orbiting a nearby star Read More »
The partial solar eclipse taking place on Sunday 13 September will be visible from southern Africa (southwards from southern Angola, Zambia, Malawi, southern Mocambique and southern Madagascar), the southern Atlantic and Indian Oceans, and Antarctica. As it will be easier to observe the eclipse the closer to the South Pole one is, the far south …
One of my favorite planetary nebulae in the sky, Sh2-68, aka The Flaming Skull Nebula. Photo by T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage) and H. Schweiker (WIYN and NOAO/AURA/NSF) I’ll be honest: Every episode of Crash Course Astronomy has been fun to write, edit, and shoot. They all really have. But the past few episodes, …
Crash Course Astronomy: White Dwarfs and Planetary Nebulae Read More »
This is an image of the Twin Jet planetary nebula. NASA/ESA/Hubble/Judy Schmidt Two dying stars are in a dance of death in this spectacular image of the Twin Jet planetary nebula. The butterfly shape is created by the stellar ballet of the two sun-like stars at the end of their lives. The primary star of …
High resolution image of Messier 43 taken with the 6.5 meter Magellan telescope in Chile and the MMIRS, which sees into the near-infrared spectrum. (Image by Yuri Beletsky and Igor Chilingarian) Recently crowned the “astronomy photo of the year” by Slate’s Bad Astronomy blog, a new image of a region of Orion’s belt reveals the …
Stunning deep space photo reveals new details of Orion nebulae Read More »
