Spiral Galaxies Spiral galaxies are a type of galaxy that was first described by Edwin Hubble in his 1936 book The Realm of the Nebulae and are…
Intermediate Spiral Galaxy An intermediate spiral galaxy is a type of galaxy that exists between the two main types of spiral galaxies: barred spiral galaxies and unbarred spiral…
NGC 248 – an emission nebula NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope captured two festive-looking nebulas that appear to be one. They live in the Small Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy that is…
Messier 78 – a reflection nebula Messier 78, or M78, is a reflection nebula in the constellation Orion. It is one of the most well-known and visible reflection nebulae in the…
For The Majority Of This Year, Antarctic Sea Ice Has Been at Record Lows Something unusual is occurring to the sea ice in Antarctica. The areal extent of floating ice surrounding the continent is not just at a record…
According to an Unusual new Method, Small Planets May Form “like a Sandwich.” Astronomers have discovered a new and unique mechanism for planets to form, which could explain why planets like Mars and Uranus form sandwiched between much…
Messier 43 – a star-forming nebula Messier 43, also known as De Mairan’s Nebula and NGC 1982, is a star-forming nebula with a prominent H II region in the equatorial constellation…
The Discovery of a Brown Dwarf That is Hotter Than the Sun A planet-like object hotter than the sun has been discovered by an international team of astronomers. Their paper was accepted for publication in Nature Astronomy…
Human-Necessary Amino Acid Discovered in Interstellar Space One of the 20 amino acids required by humans has been identified by astronomers in the Perseus Molecular Complex, a star-forming region 1,000 light-years from…
IC 2118 – a Witch Head Nebula IC 2118 (also known as the Witch Head Nebula due to its shape) is an extremely faint reflection nebula in the constellation of Orion that…
Trifid Nebula The Trifid Nebula is a H II region in the Milky Way’s Scutum-Centaurus Arm, located northwest of Sagittarius. It also known as Messier 20 (M20),…
Will it be Unsafe to Look at Betelgeuse With a Telescope When it Goes Supernova? Betelgeuse is a red supergiant on the verge of exploding in a supernova explosion, which could happen within the next 1,000 years. When the star…