NEW YORK — Distant, ancient galaxies are giving scientists more hints that a mysterious force called dark energy may not be what they thought. Astronomers know that the universe is being pushed apart at an accelerating rate and they have puzzled for decades over what could possibly be speeding everything up. They theorize that a … Read more
The Johannesburg Planetarium has undergone a major upgrade. The renovated planetarium aims to give visitors a unique experience going forward with its new state-of-the-art digital projectors. New Digital Dome launched Over the past two years, the Johannesburg Planetarium has undergone extensive renovations. This included the replacement of the old analogue Zeiss projector with 10 high-resolution … Read more
After one night in the Manitoba capital city of Winnipeg, 13 of us climbed aboard the Calm Air 62-seater from the charter terminal, ready for our arctic adventure. Soon, we began our smooth 2½-hour flight to Churchill, the “Gem of the North,” as its called, a small former railroad town built by the Hudson Bay … Read more
There’s a new comet in the sky that has gained a lot of attention lately over its potential to become visible to the naked eye. Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) was discovered by observatories in China and South Africa in early 2023. Believed to have originated from the Oort Cloud — a giant spherical shell that … Read more
There’s a lot of debris in our solar system, and every so often we get to see it — meteors streaking against a starry sky, a bright comet or a passing asteroid. And sometimes, Earth temporarily grabs hold of one of these asteroids and keeps it around a little bit longer. That’s what’s happening later this … Read more
washington — Two mighty beams of energy have been detected shooting in opposite directions from a supermassive black hole inside a distant galaxy — the largest such jets ever spotted, extending about 140 times the diameter of our vast Milky Way galaxy. The black hole resides at the heart of a galaxy about 7.5 billion … Read more
If you don’t look up at the moon very often, tonight’s the night you should. It’s a lunar trifecta of sorts, and it’s all the rage. This month’s full moon is being called a “super blue moon.” Don’t know what that is? Read on. What is a supermoon? The moon completes one orbit of Earth … Read more
For the more than 100,000 years humans have been on Earth, we have looked up at night and seen the stars and our celestial home, the Milky Way galaxy. Cultures all around the world have stories and records incorporating this majestic, sublime sight. However, nearly 3 billion people can no longer see the Milky Way … Read more
If you have clear skies this week, be sure to look up: It’s time for one of the best meteor showers of the year: the Perseids. While you can see a meteor on any given night — with patience and dark skies — strong meteor showers provide a rare chance to see dozens an hour. Almost … Read more
Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have imaged a planet that is, relatively speaking, in our galactic backyard — and that fresh data has led to new details about this massive “cold” Jupiter. The gas giant exoplanet has the unceremonious name of Epsilon Ind Ab. Epsilon (or “Eps”) is the fifth letter in the Greek … Read more
