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astronomy

Space

How to see the moon, Venus, Jupiter and Mars line up tonight

Tonight, after sunset, it will be possible to see three planets line up with the crescent moon – and a fourth, if you have binoculars and a dark sky

News

Space

Spring equinox 2023: Why day and night aren't actually equal in length

News

Plaster bust of philosopher Anaximander and group of other busts. Portraits of ancient historical persons. Mass-product souvenir in Turkey. Copy space, selected focus; Shutterstock ID 2261783295; purchase_order: -; job: -; client: -; other: -

Humans

Anaximander review: Did Anaximander create science, asks Carlo Rovelli

Culture

The magnificent spiral galaxy M99 fills the frame in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. M99 ??? which lies roughly 42 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Coma Berenices ??? is a ???grand design??? spiral galaxy, so-called because of the well-defined, prominent spiral arms visible in this image. M99 was captured by Hubble???s Wide Field Camera 3 on two separate occasions, helping astronomers study two entirely different astronomical phenomena.?? The first set of observations aimed to explore a gap between two different varieties of cosmic explosions; novae and supernovae. Novae, which are caused by the interactions between white dwarfs and larger stars in binary systems, are far less bright than the supernovae which mark the catastrophically violent deaths of massive stars. However, current astronomical theories predict that sudden, fleeting events could occur that shine with brightnesses between those of novae and supernovae. Despite being described by astronomers as being shrouded in mystery and controversy, just such an event was observed in M99. Astronomers turned to Hubble???s keen vision to take a closer look and precisely locate the fading source. The second set of observations were part of a large Hubble project which aims to chart the connections between young stars and the clouds of cold gas from which they form. Hubble inspected 38 nearby galaxies, identifying clusters of hot, young stars. These galaxies were also observed by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), a colossal radio telescope consisting of 66 individual dishes perched high in the Chilean Andes. The combination of Hubble???s observations of young stars and ALMA???s insight into clouds of cold gas will allow astronomers to delve into the details of star formation, and paves the way for future science with the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope.??

Space

Galaxies’ missing matter may be found – but now there’s too much of it

News

Conjunction of Jupiter and Venus as seen from the Giants Causeway in Northern Ireland

Space

What is the Venus-Jupiter conjunction and how can you view it?

News

Northern lights, aurora borealis, over Fort William, Scotland, on 27 February 2023

Space

Northern lights: The best pictures of the aurora taken across the UK

News

lighthouse at Ynys Enlli, International Dark Sky Sanctuary

Space

Welsh island Ynys Enlli becomes Europe's first dark sky sanctuary

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Nordic Optical Telescope

Space

A weird comet is travelling through space with a dust blob it made

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Abell 2256

Space

Galaxy clusters are smashing together to form 'flaming cosmic narwhal'

News

This image by NASA?s James Webb Space Telescope?s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) features the central region of the Chamaeleon I dark molecular cloud, which resides 630 light years away. The cold, wispy cloud material (blue, center) is illuminated in the infrared by the glow of the young, outflowing protostar Ced 110 IRS 4 (orange, upper left). The light from numerous background stars, seen as orange dots behind the cloud, can be used to detect ices in the cloud, which absorb the starlight passing through them.

Space

JWST has seen building blocks of life in a dark, cold cloud in space

The James Webb Space Telescope has observed a frigid cloud of dust and gas where stars are forming, and it found frozen elements that are crucial for the development of life

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Space

The Milky Way seems to be missing nearly half of its regular matter

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Physics

How sounds from space are revealing otherwise hidden cosmic phenomena

Features

Space

How Vera C. Rubin telescope could halve interference from satellites

News

Space

JWST captured the most thrilling and inspiring space images of 2022

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