From a distance, most of Saturn’s moon Dione resembles a bland cueball. Thanks to close-up images of a 500-mile-long (800-kilometer-long) mountain on the moon from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, scientists have found more evidence for the idea that Dione was likely active in the past. It could still be active now. The Cassini spacecraft looks [continue reading]
Detailed analysis and review have borne out researchers’ initial interpretation of pebble-containing slabs that NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity investigated last year: They are part of an ancient streambed. NASA’s Curiosity rover found evidence for an ancient, flowing stream on Mars at a few sites, including the rock outcrop pictured here, which the science team [continue reading]
May 31, 2013 Hubble-X, a glowing gas cloud in Barnard’s Galaxy Image Credit: C. R. O’Dell (Vanderbilt University) et al., NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) Hubble-X, a glowing gas cloud of about 110 light-years across, is one of the most active star-forming regions within one of the Milky Way’s closest neighbors: the barred [continue reading]
May 30, 2013 NGC 6362, a globular cluster in Ara Image Credit: ESO NGC 6362 is a globular cluster located about 24,800 light-years away from Earth in the southern constellation of Ara (The Altar), while it is approaching us at approximately 13 kilometers per second. It contains tens of thousands of very ancient stars, along [continue reading]
It’s the default premise in science: If you observe something in nature only once, you assume that what you’ve seen is typical. That’s because “typical” is just another way of saying “most probable.” Consequently, ever since Copernicus redrew the blueprint of the Cosmos nearly five centuries ago, we’ve assumed that there would be other planets [continue reading]
May 29, 2013 CG4, a cometary globule in Puppis Image Credit: T.A. Rector/University of Alaska Anchorage, T. Abbott and NOAO/AURA/NSF CG4 (also known as The Hand of God) is a cometary globule that lies about 1,300 light-years away from Earth in the southern constellation of Puppis (the Stern). Its “head” is some 1.5 light-years across, [continue reading]