Charon is 1,214 kilometers (754 miles) across. That’s about 1/10th the size of planet Earth but a whopping 1/2 the diameter of Pluto itself, and makes it the largest satellite relative to its parent body in the Solar System. Still, the moon appears as a small bump at about the 1 o’clock position on Pluto’s disk in the...
An increase in surface activity is expected because our Sun is approaching solar maximum in 2025. However, last month our Sun sprouted more sunspots than in any month during the entire previous 11-year solar cycle – and even dating back to 2002. The featured picture is a composite of images taken every day from January to June...
Grains of cosmic dust streaked through night skies in early May. Swept up as planet Earth plowed through the debris streams left behind by periodic Comet Halley, the annual meteor shower is known as the Eta Aquarids. This year, the Eta Aquarids peak was visually hampered by May’s bright Full Moon, though. But early morning...
his tantalizing trio of galaxies sometimes called the Draco Group, is located in the northern constellation of Draco, the Dragon all found within this single telescopic field of view that spans a little more than the width of the full moon.
A mere 390 light-years away, Sun-like stars and future planetary systems are forming in the Rho Ophiuchi molecular cloud complex, the closest star-forming region to our fair planet. The James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam peered into the nearby natal chaos to capture this infrared image at an inspiring scale.
Deep in the South constellation Apus lies a truly spectacular field of nebulosity. Not far from the South Celestial Pole (at declination -80º), this nebula is very rarely captured, especially in full colour. This image shows a region catalogued by Steve Mandel and Michael Wilson in early 2000s as the 9th and last entry to their...
NASA - Eta Carinae may be about to explode. But no one knows when - it may be next year, it may be one million years from now. Eta Carinae’s mass - about 100 times greater than our Sun - makes it an excellent candidate for a full blown supernova. Historical records do show that about 170 years ago Eta Carinae underwent an...