Astrophysics

NASA spots Cookie Monster on Mercury

Clusters of craters can resemble all kinds of everyday objects. On the surface of giant asteroid Vesta, for example, three craters positioned in a line give rise to a terrestrial formation commonly known as “Snowman”. In the photo featured up top, three craters in “superposition” bear a striking resemblance to one cookie-crazed muppet. Says NASA:…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Oct 16

NASA releases four jaw-dropping images of planetary nebulae

NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory just wrapped up its first systematic survey of planetary nebulae within our solar neighborhood, and the results are absolutely beautiful. In an article published in the August 2012 issue of The Astronomical Journal, researchers led by Joel Kastner and Rodolfo Montez Jr used Chandra to observe 21 planetary nebulae, all of…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Oct 11

SpaceX has completed its first commercial cargo delivery to the ISS

Early this morning, SpaceX’s supply-hauling Dragon capsule was successfully captured by astronauts aboard the International Space Station, in the first-ever commercial cargo delivery to the manned space outpost. With 11 resupply missions remaining in the SpaceX/NASA contract, it seems the private company’s billion-dollar delivery deal with The Agency is off to a good start. “Looks…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Oct 10

Earth’s magnetic field is singing. This is what it sounds like.

It sounds like the call of an extraterrestrial bird species, but the recording featured in the video up top (and the player, down below) is actually made by our very own planet. Scientists call the eerie sequence of quavering whooping sounds “chorus” — and this is one of the clearest examples of the phenomena NASA…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Oct 1

For the Weekend: A Vintage Visualization of the Sun, Circa 1971

The sun’s disc and solar corona as observed by ultraviolet-sensing equipment aboard NASA’s Orbiting Solar Observatory-7, launched from Cape Kennedy in September 1971. Regions of intense solar activity have been visualized upon columns of data. Vintage datavis for the win. [Click here for hi-res] [The Best of Creative Computing, Volume 1 via Eric Fischer via…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Sep 28

The solar system is doomed and so are you

XKCD’s Randall Munroe on the inexorable march toward complete and total solar devastation. Best to just hunker down and wait for our star to turn us into crispy bits, right? Granted, our fiery fate is still a ways off, but in situations such as these it’s always a good idea to resign to one’s demise…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Sep 26

This spectacular image is the deepest view of the Universe ever captured

Astronomers working with the Hubble Space Telescope have just released the most detailed view of the early Universe ever captured. It’s called the eXtreme Deep Field, or XDF for short. The image combines over ten years’ worth of photographs by Hubble. It required 2-million seconds of exposure time to produce, and contains over 5,500 of…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Sep 26

A Detailed Plan for Getting Humans Off Earth

At first glance, this dizzying flowchart looks more like a map of metabolic pathways than a plan for establishing a permanent human presence in space, but that’s precisely what it is. This remarkably detailed, chronologically organized “Integrated Space Plan” was created by aerospace conglomerate Rockwell International back in the 1980s, and gives an exhaustive (if…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Sep 24

New Dark Energy Telescope Can Photograph Galaxies up to 8 Billion Light-Years From Earth

A high-powered camera that NOAA calls “the most powerful sky-mapping machine ever created” has caught its first glimpse of some of the Universe’s most far-flung galaxies — and they are an absolute wonder to behold. The so-called “Dark Energy Camera” (a 570-megapixel astronomical-imaging behemoth) will be used in the eponymous Dark Energy Survey to scan…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Sep 18

Here’s one last video of Curiosity’s landing. Because holy crap, is it spectacular.

Think you’ve seen the internet’s best video of Curiosity descending to the surface of Mars? Think again. Featured above is likely the world’s first “true motion-flow” version of Curiosity’s touchdown, and it is nothing short of remarkable. Trust us — you need to see this. It’s been over a month since Curiosity touched down on…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Sep 13

Watch JFK’s iconic Moon speech, delivered fifty years ago today

Today marks the fiftieth anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s legendary clarion call to the United States, to invest its heart, hopes and mind in the exploration of space. An enduring message of audacity and spirit, it remains as rousing (and, arguably, as relevant) today as it did when Kennedy delivered it at Rice University in…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Sep 12

This solar eruption video will straight up melt your face it’s so awesome

Damn. We’ve seen us some solar eruption videos in our day, but this here’s a sight to behold. We’ve got some incredible photo and video for you here, so pay attention — you don’t want to miss any of this. Up top you’ll find some downright gorgeous footage of a coronal mass ejection (a roiling…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Sep 7

1960’s NASA employment ads appealed to the science-fiction-loving kid in all of us

As far as job adverts go, it doesn’t get much better than this. Originally featured in a 1967 issue of Scientific American, the full-page ad by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory resonates perfectly with something Neil deGrasse Tyson mentioned in an interview with io9 back in July: “Good science fiction inspires people to pursue science every…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Sep 5

NASA discovers millions of supermassive black holes

NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) telescope surveyed the universe twice during its 14-month mission, generating a wealth of data in the process. Now, by sifting through that data, WISE astronomers have unveiled one of the telescope’s most impressive finds yet: 2.5 million supermassive black holes — about three times as many as have been…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Aug 30

NASA announces new findings on black holes and extreme cosmic objects

In 2009, NASA launched its Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) telescope, an Earth-orbiting infrared observatory designed to map the entire sky in unprecedented detail. WISE surveyed the sky for less than two years, but in that time collected vast quantities of information: It’s been eighteen months since the observatory was decommissioned, and astronomers are still…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Aug 29

This is hands down the most breathtaking version of Curiosity’s descent we’ve seen yet (Updated)

Drop whatever you’re doing and watch this. A few days ago, NASA released the full-resolution video of the Curiosity rover touching down on the surface of Mars. It’s absolutely beautiful, but the images were only captured at about four frames per second, resulting in clear but choppy footage. That’s where this video comes in. https://gizmodo.com/this-is-what-it-feels-like-to-land-on-mars-5936921…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Aug 26

The best way to honor Neil Armstrong

The family of the late Neil Armstrong released a brief but touching statement earlier this afternoon, to recognize the passing of the former U.S. astronaut. The entire thing won’t take you more than a couple minutes to read, and definitely warrants your attention, but we found this, the closing paragraph, to be particularly moving. Rest…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Aug 25

NASA to send another robot to Mars in 2016

Hot on the heels of Curiosity’s flawless landing, NASA has just announced a brand new mission to Mars, one that will provide us with our best look yet into the Red Planet’s mysterious interior. The mission is named InSight, and it’s set to launch in 2016. InSight will mark the 12th project to be selected…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Aug 21

And now, a video of 2,299 exoplanets orbiting a single star

There are 2,299 exoplanets featured in the video up top, all of which have been discovered by NASA’s Kepler spacecraft since 2009. In reality, these planets — which all reside within the Milky Way, albeit well beyond the reaches of our own solar system — circle some 1,770 different stars, but thanks to some handy…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Aug 20

Curiosity has acquired its first scientific targets!

It’s been just shy of two weeks since Curiosity’s wheels touched down on the surface of Mars, and things are looking excellent. Since landing, the rover has been busy stretching out, extending its mast cam to its full height, snapping photos of its surroundings and running its impressive suite of scientific instruments through its paces.…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Aug 17

NASA spots Cookie Monster on Mercury

NASA releases four jaw-dropping images of planetary nebulae

SpaceX has completed its first commercial cargo delivery to the ISS

Earth’s magnetic field is singing. This is what it sounds like.

For the Weekend: A Vintage Visualization of the Sun, Circa 1971

The solar system is doomed and so are you

This spectacular image is the deepest view of the Universe ever captured

A Detailed Plan for Getting Humans Off Earth

New Dark Energy Telescope Can Photograph Galaxies up to 8 Billion Light-Years From Earth

Here’s one last video of Curiosity’s landing. Because holy crap, is it spectacular.

Watch JFK’s iconic Moon speech, delivered fifty years ago today

This solar eruption video will straight up melt your face it’s so awesome

1960’s NASA employment ads appealed to the science-fiction-loving kid in all of us

NASA discovers millions of supermassive black holes

NASA announces new findings on black holes and extreme cosmic objects

This is hands down the most breathtaking version of Curiosity’s descent we’ve seen yet (Updated)

The best way to honor Neil Armstrong

NASA to send another robot to Mars in 2016

And now, a video of 2,299 exoplanets orbiting a single star

Curiosity has acquired its first scientific targets!

I’m Worried About the Helpless AI Disruptors of the Future

Russia Allegedly Swung at VPNs but Accidentally Hit Its Own Banking Sector Instead

Ryan Coogler Is Shifting ‘Animorphs’ Into a Disney+ Show

No Fooling, ‘Spaceballs 2’ Will Hit Theaters April 2027

I Regret to Inform You That the Artemis II Astronauts Are Having Lots of Screen Time

The First ‘Maul: Shadow Lord’ Reactions Are Most Solid

‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Season 3 Is Doing What You Hoped

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