Large galaxies grow by eating small ones. Even our own galaxy engages in a sort of galactic cannibalism, absorbing small galaxies that are too close and are captured by the Milky Way’s gravity. In fact, the practice is common in the universe and illustrated by this striking pair of interacting galaxies from the banks of […]
Woody Hoburg took this photo of Laguna Verde’s inviting waters as the International Space Station orbited 264 miles (425 km) over South America on July 7, 2023. via NASA https://ift.tt/9L35r4b
South of Antares, in the tail of the nebula-rich constellation Scorpius, lies emission nebula IC 4628. Nearby hot, massive stars, millions of years young, irradiate the nebula with invisible ultraviolet light, stripping electrons from atoms. The electrons eventually recombine with the atoms to produce the visible nebular glow, dominated by the red emission of hydrogen. […]
GE Aerospace and magniX have revealed the paint schemes of the hybrid electric aircraft they will fly as part of NASA’s Electrified Powertrain Flight Demonstration (EFPD) project. via NASA https://ift.tt/gs3PaJc
What do the famous Eagle Nebula star pillars look like in X-ray light? To find out, NASA’s orbiting Chandra X-ray Observatory peered in and through these interstellar mountains of star formation. It was found that in M16 the dust pillars themselves do not emit many X-rays, but a lot of small-but-bright X-ray sources became evident. […]
Elaborate Passiflora incarnata, or purple passionflower, sit pretty in a field at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 13, 2023. via NASA https://ift.tt/ToSgibZ
Meteors can be colorful. While the human eye usually cannot discern many colors, cameras often can. Pictured here is a fireball, a disintegrating meteor that was not only one of the brightest the photographer has ever seen, but colorful. The meteor was captured by chance in mid-July with a camera set up on Hochkar Mountain […]
It does what? No one knew that 2,000 years ago, the technology existed to build such a device. The Antikythera mechanism, pictured, is now widely regarded as the first computer. Found at the bottom of the sea aboard a decaying Greek ship, its complexity prompted decades of study, and even today some of its functions […]
A photograph of Buzz Aldrin standing on the Moon taken by Neil Armstrong, was digitally reversed to create this lunar selfie. Captured in July 1969 following the Apollo 11 moon landing, Armstrong’s original photograph recorded not only the magnificent desolation of an unfamiliar world, but Armstrong himself reflected in Aldrin’s curved visor. In the unwrapped […]
In preparation for the retrieval of the sample return capsule from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission, recovery teams tour the projected landing ellipse in the Utah desert on July 17, 2023. via NASA https://ift.tt/9Z0Ja83