Space & Spaceflight

The Dark Side of Another Moon

Saturn’s moon Iapetus has both a light side and a dark side—but it’s nothing to do with sunlight. In fact, this moon takes on two distinct colors. Scientists actually believe that the moon’s dark-light asymmetry is a result of material migrating across the the moon due to variations in temperature. Over time, subtle darkening leads…

Space & Spaceflight Jamie Condliffe

We Got to See This Supernova Explode Four Times Simultaneously

It’s not every day we get to see a supernova, and a single exploding star split into four images is an absolute first. Here’s how it happened. The stellar explosion in question was captured by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, and appears as four bright yellow dots in the zoomed-in image above, encircling an elliptical galaxy…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone

A Satellite Exploded in Orbit and No One’s Quite Sure Why Yet

How many satellites would you say are currently orbiting the Earth? A few hundred? Maybe a thousand? No: There are about 3,700 satellites hurtling through orbit above us—so when one of them “breaks up,” it’s a big deal. This week, Space.com reported that a Department of Defense satellite exploded on February 3rd, creating a debris…

Space & Spaceflight Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan

The Ultimate Shadow Selfie: Rosetta’s Silhouette On Comet 67P

This brand new image from the OSIRIS scientific imaging camera of European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft reveals two fascinating things. First, we have an incredibly detailed view of the surface of Comet 67P. Second, look at that fuzzy, dark patch at the bottom of the photo—it’s the shadow of the spacecraft itself! The photo was…

Space & Spaceflight Attila Nagy

Massive Spacecraft Transport Vehicles Are Still Going After 50 Years

NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida has two of the largest vehicles ever built on treads. Crawler-transporter No. 1 and crawler-transporter No. 2 (CT-1 and CT-2) have carried rockets and spacecraft to the launch pad for the last 50 years. Plus, they’re still being modified and upgraded by the Ground Systems Development and Operations Program…

Space & Spaceflight Attila Nagy

An Incredibly Touching Leonard Nimoy Tribute From The ISS

Since Leonard Nimoy passed away yesterday, tributes have been pouring in from around the web. But this one, posted without comment from NASA astronaut Terry Virts aboard the ISS, is probably the most touching. LLAP.

Space & Spaceflight Chris Mills

The First People On Mars Could Have One Hell Of A Case Of Jet Lag

A day on Mars—or a “sol”—is 24 hours and 40 minutes long, close enough to Earth’s that for a long time NASA didn’t think much of it. But those 40 minutes a day add up, and sleep scientists now worry that our Earthly circadian rhythms could be one more major headache for the first humans…

Space & Spaceflight Sarah Zhang

Astronomers Discover Mysterious Black Hole As Massive As 12 Billion Suns

In a galaxy far, far away—12.8 billion light-years away to be more exact—is a newly-discovered supermassive black hole that weighs as much as 12 billion of our suns. The most surprising thing about the black hole, though, is not its size but its age. Black holes grow as they age, gobbling up gas and stars…

Space & Spaceflight Sarah Zhang

Google Is Hosting “Nascar On The Moon”

The Lunar XPrize is a $30 million competition for a privately-funded mission to get to the moon, land a rover, and travel across the Moon sending back images and telemetry. The Google-sponsored prize has been around since 2007, but it looks like first place is going to come down to a mad dash across the…

Space & Spaceflight Chris Mills

Blood Vessel Cells Up Close Remind Us We Are Made of Star Stuff

This image of blood vessel cells stained for identification is a stunning reminder: We are made of star stuff. The image above shows components of human endothelial cells, which will be sent to the Space Station this year to study how blood vessels react in zero gravity. The protein that allows cells to move, adhere,…

Space & Spaceflight Attila Nagy

Looking for Alien Life on Bizarre “Eyeball Planets”

It’s easy for us Earthlings to imagine life evolving on planets like ours. But there are exoplanets out there that strain the imagination. Take “eyeball planets,” which are half frozen, half broiling with the heat of their suns. Earthlike planet Zarmina, in the Gliese system, is one of these. We shouldn’t rule these bizarre planets…

Space & Spaceflight Sarah Zhang

This Is How Astronauts Practice Jetpack Missions in Space

Forget your Oculus Rift or Google Cardboard. In the International Space Station, virtual reality is vitally important—but a rather more makeshift affair. In this image, posted to Twitter by astronaut Terry W. Virts, you can see how astronauts train to use their jetpacks before missions in space. Yes, that’s a laptop strapped to his face.…

Space & Spaceflight Jamie Condliffe

Stunning Close-Up Comet Photos From Rosetta’s High-Speed Flyby

The Rosetta probe has been consistently blowing our puny little minds with photos beamed back from Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, but these new photos, taken as Rosetta conducted a low-altitude flyby, give a whole new perspective. As 67P gets close to the Sun (close in space terms: it’s still over 200 million miles away), it’s heating up…

Space & Spaceflight Chris Mills

Black Hole Emits Ferocious Winds With the Energy of a Trillion Suns

A black hole and its galaxy are locked in a cosmic struggle, evolving in tandem and balancing each other’s growth. In this artist’s recreation, you can see cosmic winds howling out of supermassive black hole PDS 456. These winds are so strong that they prevent the galaxy from forming new stars. NASA’s NuSTAR telescope and…

Space & Spaceflight Sarah Zhang

Find Out Where All Our Space Probes Are Right Now

The many space agencies of Earth have sent out a number of probes over the years to explore our solar system and beyond. Now Spacehack founder Ariel Waldman and SETI web developer Lisa Ballard have created a helpful guide to all our currently functioning probes — along with amazing minimalist designs for each one. The…

Space & Spaceflight Annalee Newitz

A 500-Pound Meteor Lit Up the Pittsburgh Sky Last Night

NASA reports that it observed a 500-pound meteor, around two-feet in diameter, which zipped through the Earth’s atmosphere above Pittsburgh last night. If you were in the vicinity, you may well have just noticed it. The lump of rock passed by at about 45,000 miles per hour. While it fell from visibility at an altitude…

Space & Spaceflight Jamie Condliffe

This Polish Human Centrifuge Has Special Ways of Making You Sick

The human centrifuge has been a staple of space cinema and Bond movies for decades, and they’re still used to prepare astronauts and pilots for the effects of gravity shifts. But this Polish version has an extra-special trick up its sleeve, to to make your guts spin almost as fast as it does. The centrifuge…

Space & Spaceflight Jamie Condliffe

The Most Clever Ideas For Vehicles to Explore Saturn’s Moon Titan

Forget a boring old rover and try nuclear-powered boats or quadcopter space drones. If we want to explore Saturn’s moon Titan—with its liquid methane lakes and dense nitrogen atmosphere—we’ll need exploration schemes that are just as unique as the alien moon itself. To date, space crafts have usually landed on celestial bodies with entirely solid…

Space & Spaceflight Sarah Zhang

How Asteroid Mining Could Pay for Our First Space Colony

Many of us dream of living on other planets, but are two things we’ll need before it can actually happen: money and raw materials. Now some companies say they have a solution to this problem. They’ll mine asteroids for valuable metal ores, and for basic resources like water that we’ll need once we’re far from…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone

The Remnants of an Exploding Star Are Beautiful Outer Space Chaos

NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory snapped this image of the aftermath of a thermonuclear explosion of a white dwarf star. According to NASA: G299 was left over by a particular class of supernovas called Type Ia. Astronomers think that a Type Ia supernova is a thermonuclear explosion – involving the fusion of elements and release of…

Space & Spaceflight Darren Orf

The Dark Side of Another Moon

We Got to See This Supernova Explode Four Times Simultaneously

A Satellite Exploded in Orbit and No One’s Quite Sure Why Yet

The Ultimate Shadow Selfie: Rosetta’s Silhouette On Comet 67P

Massive Spacecraft Transport Vehicles Are Still Going After 50 Years

An Incredibly Touching Leonard Nimoy Tribute From The ISS

The First People On Mars Could Have One Hell Of A Case Of Jet Lag

Astronomers Discover Mysterious Black Hole As Massive As 12 Billion Suns

Google Is Hosting “Nascar On The Moon”

Blood Vessel Cells Up Close Remind Us We Are Made of Star Stuff

Looking for Alien Life on Bizarre “Eyeball Planets”

This Is How Astronauts Practice Jetpack Missions in Space

Stunning Close-Up Comet Photos From Rosetta’s High-Speed Flyby

Black Hole Emits Ferocious Winds With the Energy of a Trillion Suns

Find Out Where All Our Space Probes Are Right Now

A 500-Pound Meteor Lit Up the Pittsburgh Sky Last Night

This Polish Human Centrifuge Has Special Ways of Making You Sick

The Most Clever Ideas For Vehicles to Explore Saturn’s Moon Titan

How Asteroid Mining Could Pay for Our First Space Colony

The Remnants of an Exploding Star Are Beautiful Outer Space Chaos

‘The Mummy 4’ Is Getting the Family Back Together

JD Vance Says UFOs Are Actually Demons

Breville Barista Express Espresso Machine Hits Its Lowest Price of the Year for Amazon’s Big Spring Sale, Cut Your Daily Coffee Costs at Home

Amazon Clears Out Govee LED Smart Light Bulbs (2-Pack) at a Record Low, Each Bulb Costs Just a Few Dollars

The First Proper ‘Ghost in the Shell’ Trailer Is a ’90s Anime Fever Dream

JBL PartyBox Club 120 Speaker Drops Back to Black Friday Pricing for Amazon’s Big Spring Sale Only

YouTuber Resolves Fraternal Disagreement With Excavator and Hilariously Large Sword

Should We Be Hyped—or Freaked Out—About Nuclear Microreactors?

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

The Ikea Varmblixt Smart Lamp Fills a Donut Hole in My Life

Nothing Headphone A vs. Headphone 1: Which Pair of ANC Wireless Headphones Wins?

Asus ROG’s Cetra Open Wireless Gaming Earbuds Might Be Better Than Wearing a Headset

Nintendo’s Talking Flower Is Annoying as Hell. I Love It

Level Lock Pro Review: As Good as a Secret Smart Lock Gets

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