Astronomy

Behold, the first-ever geologic map of volcanic moon Io

Feast your eyes on the volcano-covered surface of Io, the innermost of Jupiter’s four Galilean moons. We’ve been snapping photo’s of Io’s stunning surface features for decades, but only recently did the US Geological Survey team up with NASA to create a detailed “global” picture of the moon; what you see here is the product…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

Your ticket to Mars will cost only half a million dollars

You could go to Mars for just half a million bucks. That, at least, is the latest big proclamation from SpaceX entrepreneur and private spaceflight pioneer Elon Musk, who says a round-trip to Mars could be within reach of the “average” person in as little as 30 to 50 years. Of course, let’s clarify a…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Major Spoilers for the End of the World, the Solar System, and the Universe

This sure is a nice planet we have here — but we shouldn’t get to attached to it. Nothing lasts forever: Not our planet, not our solar system, not even the entire universe. But how will our world and everything else meet their fates? Check out the ultimate spoilers, below. How the Earth Ends Technically,…

io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell

Scientific Evidence that Geomagnetic Storms Are Making You Sick

Geomagnetic storms aren’t just beautiful to look at — these disturbances in the Earth’s magnetic field could also be messing with your mind and body. There’s a ton of evidence suggesting that geomagnetic storms can cause everything from depression to cardiac problems — and may even be influencing the stock market. A new paper suggests…

io9 Tim Barribeau

NASA releases infrared map of the entire universe

After fourteen years of preparation and three years of collecting data, we now have an atlas of the entire infrared sky. This image is just the capstone for a cosmic map that contains 18000 images and 560 million different objects. This represents the culmination of years of work by NASA’s WISE satellite and the astronomers…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Say hello to one of the most violent sunspots we’ve seen in years

You’re looking at a picture of Active Region 1429 — that’s the decidedly dull name that NOAA has given the sunspot region behind some of the most wicked solar flares and coronal mass ejections astronomers have seen in close to decade. Remember all that news last week about downed radio communications and rerouted plane flights?…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

Absolutely mindblowing video shot from the Space Shuttle during launch

Drop whatever you’re doing and watch this. NASA has released videos shot from onboard the Space Shuttle’s Solid Rocket Boosters in the past, but you’ve never seen one prepared as masterfully as this. For one thing, the footage was shot in high definition, so the image is exceptionally clear. But what puts this video head…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

What Is That Strange Ginormous Object That Just Appeared Next to the Sun?

Check out this video, made from images taken by NASA’s Solar Dynamic Observatory. Notice that weird object the size of Jupiter apparently connected to the Sun. Is it the Death Star refueling? Galactus’ ship? An alien star dreadnought? What is it? The answer is simple. According to Alex Young, one of the scientists at NASA…

Space & Spaceflight Jesus Diaz

This is why astronomers build telescopes in the mountains of Chile

When it comes to enjoying the full-blown magnificence of a star-studded sky, or the peak of a spectacular meteor shower, the Moon (to borrow a phrase from astronomer Mike Brown) is your nemesis. But if this map of light pollution in the United States is any indication, you might as well think of city lights…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

Witness the Moon’s breathtaking 4.5-billion-year evolution in less than three minutes

When we gaze up at the Moon, we expect a certain degree of consistency. Sure, it moves through its phases, shifting in and out of darkness over the course of the month, but generally speaking, the Moon’s surface looks the same to us — night after night, year after year. But the Moon has not…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

Galaxies all grew more violent, when they became “teenagers”

This huge panorama of the constellation Cetus shows countless galaxies, all at different distances from Earth, and at different stages of their evolution. It reveals the huge cosmic shift in how galaxies go about growing bigger and bigger. This image was created using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope. For the purposes of this…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

The insane physics that lets us see the Man in the Moon

For millennia, people have looked up at the full Moon and sworn that they could see something up there. Depending on the culture, it’s anything from a face to a dragon. But why is anything there in the first place? The Man in the Moon – which we’ll use as the collective name for everything…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

10 Moons Every Person Should Know

Pretty much everyone can rattle off the names of our solar system’s eight (formerly nine) planets, but ask the average person to list some moons and you’ll be lucky if they can tell you more than two or three. Now, you obviously can’t expect people to remember the name of every single satellite in the…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

Earth’s twin could be hiding in a thick dust cloud

Our solar system is pretty sparkling clean when it comes to dust. That isn’t necessarily the case elsewhere, as many other stars are surrounded by thick disks of debris. These might actually be the perfect places to find Earth-like planets. That’s the finding of astrophysicist Sean Raymond of France’s Observatory of Bordeaux. He has run…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Behold the eerie infrared glow of the Sombrero Galaxy

This gorgeous infrared image offers a colorful spin on this famous Hubble image of the Sombrero Galaxy. It’s actually a spiral galaxy much like the Milky Way…even if it looks more like a giant floating ring than anything else. https://gizmodo.com/heres-what-the-glow-of-100-billion-stars-looks-like-5550545 NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope provided the infrared data for this image, which builds on the…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

The real reason Neil deGrasse Tyson wanted Pluto demoted

Oh sure, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson says that he wanted Pluto downgraded from planet to dwarf planet because he wants to give similar objects similar classifications. But artist Burton Durand has revealed the real reason for Pluto’s reclassification — he’s in cahoots with famed physicist. And Pluto is patient. [Burton Durand via It’s Okay to…

io9 Lauren Davis

A Pressure Suit for Every Occasion and Atmosphere

When a sealed, pressurized vessel (say, you) is exposed to a vacuum (say, space), things tend to get splattery—hence the exo-suits. These fifteen examples of atmospheric apparel from our friends at Oobject are the hallmarks of life-support design from the golden age of exploration. When you’re done appreciating the pressure suit’s role in keeping our…

Space & Spaceflight David Galbraith - Oobject.com

The Seagull Nebula spreads its wings across 100 light-years

This beautiful image is an up-close look at one of the universe’s best examples of pareidolia: the Seagull Nebula, also known as the Parrot Nebula or Eagle Nebula, depending on your ornithological preference. Point is, this is one gargantuan bird. Just like the Man in the Moon, the face on Mars, and, for some reason,…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

A huge coronal mass ejection slammed into Earth today

On Tuesday night, the surface of the Sun erupted in an violent solar flare, blasting a massive wave of charged particles in the direction of Earth. And early this morning, those particles smashed into our planet’s atmosphere. The coronal mass ejection (CME) arrived this morning at approximately 5:45 EST. In the picture up top you…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez

Galaxies are smashing into each other all over this cluster

This is the Hercules galaxy cluster, located relatively close to us at just 500 million light-years away. But the way its galaxies are colliding with each other makes it look like a throwback to the chaos of the early universe. This new image from the European Southern Observatory gives us our best look yet at…

io9 Alasdair Wilkins

Behold, the first-ever geologic map of volcanic moon Io

Your ticket to Mars will cost only half a million dollars

Major Spoilers for the End of the World, the Solar System, and the Universe

Scientific Evidence that Geomagnetic Storms Are Making You Sick

NASA releases infrared map of the entire universe

Say hello to one of the most violent sunspots we’ve seen in years

Absolutely mindblowing video shot from the Space Shuttle during launch

What Is That Strange Ginormous Object That Just Appeared Next to the Sun?

This is why astronomers build telescopes in the mountains of Chile

Witness the Moon’s breathtaking 4.5-billion-year evolution in less than three minutes

Galaxies all grew more violent, when they became “teenagers”

The insane physics that lets us see the Man in the Moon

10 Moons Every Person Should Know

Earth’s twin could be hiding in a thick dust cloud

Behold the eerie infrared glow of the Sombrero Galaxy

The real reason Neil deGrasse Tyson wanted Pluto demoted

A Pressure Suit for Every Occasion and Atmosphere

The Seagull Nebula spreads its wings across 100 light-years

A huge coronal mass ejection slammed into Earth today

Galaxies are smashing into each other all over this cluster

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