An unassuming region in the constellation Taurus holds these dark and dusty nebulae. Scattered through the scene, stars in multiple star systems are forming within their natal Taurus molecular cloud […]

What happens after a star explodes? A huge fireball of hot gas shoots out in all directions. When this gas slams into the existing interstellar medium, it heats up so […]

It was a new year, and the sky was doubly red. The new year meant that the Earth had returned to its usual place in its orbit on January 1, […]

Eclipses tend to come in pairs. Twice a year, during an eclipse season that lasts about 34 days, Sun, Moon, and Earth can nearly align. Then the full and new […]

Recorded during 2024, this year-spanning series of images reveals a pattern in the seasonal drift of the Sun’s daily motion through planet Earth’s sky. Known to some as an analemma, […]

The closest star system to the Sun is the Alpha Centauri system. Of the three stars in the system, the dimmest — called Proxima Centauri — is actually the nearest […]

What do you think this is? Here’s a clue: it’s bigger than a bread box. Much bigger. The answer is that pictured NGC 4753 is a twisted disk galaxy, where […]

Is this what will become of our Sun? Quite possibly. The first hint of our Sun’s future was discovered inadvertently in 1764. At that time, Charles Messier was compiling a […]

What are these bubbles frozen into Lake Baikal? Methane. Lake Baikal, a UNESCOWorld Heritage Site in Russia, is the world’s largest (by volume), oldest, and deepest lake, containing over 20% […]

Orion seems to come up sideways, climbing over a distant mountain range in this deep skyscape. The wintry scene was captured from southern Poland on the northern hemisphere’s long solstice […]