A long time ago in a galaxy 50 million light-years away, a star exploded. Light from that supernova was first detected by telescopes on planet Earth on July 14th though, […]

Our Sun frequently erupts in loops. Hot solar plasma jumps off the Sun’s surface into prominences, with the most common type of prominence being a simple loop. The loop shape […]

Globular star cluster Omega Centauripacks about 10 million stars much older than the Sun into a volume some 150 light-years in diameter. Also known as NGC 5139, at a distance […]

Meteors from the Kappa Cygnid meteor shower are captured in this time-lapse composite skyscape. The minor meteor shower, with a radiant not far from its eponymous star Kappa Cygni, peaks […]

Every 15 years or so, Saturn’s rings are tilted edge-on to our line of sight. As the bright, beautiful ring system grows narrower and fainter it becomes increasingly difficult to […]

Have you ever seen a fireball? In astronomy, a fireball is a very bright meteor — one at least as bright as Venus and possibly brighter than even a full […]

Can some supernovas explode twice? Yes, when the first explosion acts like a detonator for the second. This is a leading hypothesis for the cause of supernova remnant (SNR) 0509-67.5. […]

Nebulas are perhaps as famous for being identified with familiar shapes as perhaps cats are for getting into trouble. Still, no known cat could have created the vast Cat’s Paw […]

About 1,300 images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft’s wide angle camera were used to compose this spectacular view of a familiar face – the lunar nearside. But why is […]

The sixth object in Charles Messier’s famous catalog of things which are not comets, Messier 6 is a galactic or open star cluster. A gathering of 100 stars or so, […]