The space of night is infinite,
The blackness and emptiness
Crossed only by thin bright fences
Of logic

— Kenneth Rexroth
"Theory of Numbers"

Feed aggregator

Science Crossword: Light Touch

Scientific American.com - Tue, 05/20/2025 - 9:00am

Play this crossword inspired by the June 2025 issue of Scientific American

Categories: Astronomy

Poem: ‘An Electrolysis of Brine’

Scientific American.com - Tue, 05/20/2025 - 9:00am

Science in meter and verse

Categories: Astronomy

Why Mitochondria Are More like a Motherboard Than the Powerhouse of the Cell

Scientific American.com - Tue, 05/20/2025 - 9:00am

When these energy-giving organelles thrive, so do we

Categories: Astronomy

Why a Hurricane’s Storm Surge Can Be So Dangerous

Scientific American.com - Tue, 05/20/2025 - 9:00am

How hurricanes push water onto shore in deadly storm surges, and why storm surges are getting worse

Categories: Astronomy

Surprising Ways That Sunlight Might Heal Autoimmune Diseases

Scientific American.com - Tue, 05/20/2025 - 9:00am

Sunshine may hold healing rays for a variety of autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis. Scientists are turning this surprising discovery into treatments

Categories: Astronomy

The Universe’s First Light Could Reveal Secrets of the Cosmic Dawn

Scientific American.com - Tue, 05/20/2025 - 9:00am

A new generation of telescopes could peer back to the earliest epochs of the universe

Categories: Astronomy

The End of the Universe Could Begin with a Quantum Bubble

Scientific American.com - Tue, 05/20/2025 - 9:00am

A freak particle physics process could wipe out all galaxies and life—but it’s wildly unlikely

Categories: Astronomy

Math Puzzle: Measure the Star

Scientific American.com - Tue, 05/20/2025 - 9:00am

Build a special set of dice in this math puzzle

Categories: Astronomy

'We don't know how bad it could get': Are we ready for the worst space weather?

Space.com - Tue, 05/20/2025 - 9:00am
Space weather forecasting doesn't yet command the same resources as Earth weather forecasting, even though the stakes are growing.
Categories: Astronomy

Ancient Maltese temples may have been schools for celestial navigation

New Scientist Space - Cosmology - Tue, 05/20/2025 - 8:00am
The alignment of some megalithic temples in Malta suggests they may have been used to teach sailors how to navigate by the stars
Categories: Astronomy

Ancient Maltese temples may have been schools for celestial navigation

New Scientist Space - Space Headlines - Tue, 05/20/2025 - 8:00am
The alignment of some megalithic temples in Malta suggests they may have been used to teach sailors how to navigate by the stars
Categories: Astronomy

<p><a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod

APOD - Tue, 05/20/2025 - 8:00am


Categories: Astronomy, NASA

Did Predator just harpoon a plane out of the sky? Oh, count us in for 'Predator: Killer of Killers' after this latest trailer (video)

Space.com - Tue, 05/20/2025 - 8:00am
The first of 2025's two Predator movies is an animated anthology which is looking even bloodier and more action-packed in its second trailer.
Categories: Astronomy

Hubble Images Galaxies Near and Far

NASA - Breaking News - Tue, 05/20/2025 - 7:30am
Explore Hubble

2 min read

Hubble Images Galaxies Near and Far This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the remote galaxy HerS 020941.1+001557, which appears as a red arc that partially encircles a foreground elliptical galaxy. ESA/Hubble & NASA, H. Nayyeri, L. Marchetti, J. Lowenthal

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image offers us the chance to see a distant galaxy now some 19.5 billion light-years from Earth (but appearing as it did around 11 billion years ago, when the galaxy was 5.5 billion light-years away and began its trek to us through expanding space). Known as HerS 020941.1+001557, this remote galaxy appears as a red arc partially encircling a foreground elliptical galaxy located some 2.7 billion light-years away. Called SDSS J020941.27+001558.4, the elliptical galaxy appears as a bright dot at the center of the image with a broad haze of stars outward from its core. A third galaxy, called SDSS J020941.23+001600.7, seems to be intersecting part of the curving, red crescent of light created by the distant galaxy.

The alignment of this trio of galaxies creates a type of gravitational lens called an Einstein ring. Gravitational lenses occur when light from a very distant object bends (or is ‘lensed’) around a massive (or ‘lensing’) object located between us and the distant lensed galaxy. When the lensed object and the lensing object align, they create an Einstein ring. Einstein rings can appear as a full or partial circle of light around the foreground lensing object, depending on how precise the alignment is. The effects of this phenomenon are much too subtle to see on a local level but can become clearly observable when dealing with curvatures of light on enormous, astronomical scales.

Gravitational lenses not only bend and distort light from distant objects but magnify it as well. Here we see light from a distant galaxy following the curve of spacetime created by the elliptical galaxy’s mass. As the distant galaxy’s light passes through the gravitational lens, it is magnified and bent into a partial ring around the foreground galaxy, creating a distinctive Einstein ring shape.

The partial Einstein ring in this image is not only beautiful, but noteworthy. A citizen scientist identified this Einstein ring as part of the SPACE WARPS project that asked citizen scientists to search for gravitational lenses in images.

Text Credit: ESA/Hubble

Facebook logo @NASAHubble

@NASAHubble

Instagram logo @NASAHubble

Media Contact:

Claire Andreoli (claire.andreoli@nasa.gov)
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight CenterGreenbelt, MD

Share

Details

Last Updated

May 20, 2025

Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Related Terms Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From Hubble

Hubble Space Telescope

Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.


Hubble Gravitational Lenses


Focusing in on Gravitational Lenses


Hubble’s Night Sky Challenge

Categories: NASA

Hubble Images Galaxies Near and Far

NASA News - Tue, 05/20/2025 - 7:30am
Explore Hubble

2 min read

Hubble Images Galaxies Near and Far This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the remote galaxy HerS 020941.1+001557, which appears as a red arc that partially encircles a foreground elliptical galaxy. ESA/Hubble & NASA, H. Nayyeri, L. Marchetti, J. Lowenthal

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image offers us the chance to see a distant galaxy now some 19.5 billion light-years from Earth (but appearing as it did around 11 billion years ago, when the galaxy was 5.5 billion light-years away and began its trek to us through expanding space). Known as HerS 020941.1+001557, this remote galaxy appears as a red arc partially encircling a foreground elliptical galaxy located some 2.7 billion light-years away. Called SDSS J020941.27+001558.4, the elliptical galaxy appears as a bright dot at the center of the image with a broad haze of stars outward from its core. A third galaxy, called SDSS J020941.23+001600.7, seems to be intersecting part of the curving, red crescent of light created by the distant galaxy.

The alignment of this trio of galaxies creates a type of gravitational lens called an Einstein ring. Gravitational lenses occur when light from a very distant object bends (or is ‘lensed’) around a massive (or ‘lensing’) object located between us and the distant lensed galaxy. When the lensed object and the lensing object align, they create an Einstein ring. Einstein rings can appear as a full or partial circle of light around the foreground lensing object, depending on how precise the alignment is. The effects of this phenomenon are much too subtle to see on a local level but can become clearly observable when dealing with curvatures of light on enormous, astronomical scales.

Gravitational lenses not only bend and distort light from distant objects but magnify it as well. Here we see light from a distant galaxy following the curve of spacetime created by the elliptical galaxy’s mass. As the distant galaxy’s light passes through the gravitational lens, it is magnified and bent into a partial ring around the foreground galaxy, creating a distinctive Einstein ring shape.

The partial Einstein ring in this image is not only beautiful, but noteworthy. A citizen scientist identified this Einstein ring as part of the SPACE WARPS project that asked citizen scientists to search for gravitational lenses in images.

Text Credit: ESA/Hubble

Facebook logo @NASAHubble

@NASAHubble

Instagram logo @NASAHubble

Media Contact:

Claire Andreoli (claire.andreoli@nasa.gov)
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight CenterGreenbelt, MD

Share

Details

Last Updated

May 20, 2025

Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Related Terms Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From Hubble

Hubble Space Telescope

Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.


Hubble Gravitational Lenses


Focusing in on Gravitational Lenses


Hubble’s Night Sky Challenge

Categories: NASA

Take a closer look at the moon and galaxies with the SkyMaster 15x70 binoculars from Celestron: Now only $76!

Space.com - Tue, 05/20/2025 - 7:07am
With a huge 15x magnification, these binoculars from Celestron will give you great views of star clusters and galaxies.
Categories: Astronomy

Murderbot’s Cyborg Brain Explained by Neuroscience

Scientific American.com - Tue, 05/20/2025 - 7:00am

What would it take to create a cyborg brain like the one in the new TV show Murderbot? The answer reveals what makes our own brain so unique

Categories: Astronomy

Astronomers double down on claim of strongest evidence for alien life

New Scientist Space - Cosmology - Tue, 05/20/2025 - 6:44am
Are there aliens living on the exoplanet K2-18b? Some astronomers believe they have evidence for molecules on the planet that must have a biological origin, but others disagree
Categories: Astronomy

Astronomers double down on claim of strongest evidence for alien life

New Scientist Space - Space Headlines - Tue, 05/20/2025 - 6:44am
Are there aliens living on the exoplanet K2-18b? Some astronomers believe they have evidence for molecules on the planet that must have a biological origin, but others disagree
Categories: Astronomy