Crystal Mysteries and Galactic Twins: Space Photos of the Week
A close-up look at the universe’s many wonders, from nearby planets to faraway galaxies.
- Photo: NASA01This photo of the Wishing Well open galactic star cluster was taken a record-breaking 3.79 billion miles away from Earth by NASA’s Pluto-grazing New Horizons spacecraft. (The runner-up, by Voyager, was taken a paltry 3.75 billion miles away.)
- Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech02Jupiter’s odd zigzagged storms are on full display here. In case you need some scale: The small white cyclone visible on the surface is size of an entire continent on Earth. Photo Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
- Photo: ESA/Hubble/NASA03This Hubble image looks like an artfully crafted watercolor painting, but it’s a real photograph of galaxy NGC 7331, our own Milky Way’s galactic sibling—each is roughly the same size and hosts upwards of 100,000 million stars.
- Photo: NASA/ESA04Hubble at it again\! This wispy galaxy is officially named NGC 7252, but its nickname is Atoms for Peace, inspired by a 1953 Dwight Eisenhower speech that called for a peaceful resolution to nuclear power.
- Photo: NASA/JPL05Don’t worry—no one spilled paint on Mars. This naturally occurring feature is caused by dust flowing downhill, and the contrast in color can be attributed to the differences in composition between the two types of dust.
- Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech06NASA’s Curiosity rover sent back this image of a Martian rock. On its surface, geologists identified star- and swallowtail-shaped crystals; back home on Earth, such shapes are found in gypsum after salt water evaporates. The water mystery continues….
TopicsAMP Stories
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Space Photos: So Long, Cassini. Thanks for All the Pics
A glittering barred spiral galaxy, Jupiter's storms, and Cassini's long-awaited Grande Finale dive this week in space.
How to Follow the Trajectory of Comet 3I/Atlas
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The First Radio Signal From Comet 3I/Atlas Ends the Debate About Its Nature
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In Orbit You Have to Slow Down to Speed Up
Driving a spacecraft around a planet isn’t anything like driving on a planet. A physicist explains orbital navigation.
The Physics of the Northern Lights
Solar winds at a million miles an hour and freaky magnetic turbulence are sparking some of the best light shows in centuries.
Can a Hydroelectric Dam Really Make the Days Longer?
By shifting water to a higher elevation, the giant Three Gorges Dam caused the Earth to spin more slowly.
Physicists Create a Thermometer for Measuring ‘Quantumness’
“Anomalous” heat flow, which at first appears to violate the second law of thermodynamics, gives physicists a way to detect quantum entanglement without destroying it.
Astronomers Have Discovered Earth’s Latest Quasi-Lunar Moon
As mankind was planning the first moon landing in the 1960s, an asteroid approached Earth—and still hasn’t left.
The ‘10 Martini’ Proof Connects Quantum Mechanics With Infinitely Intricate Mathematical Structures
The proof, known to be so hard that a mathematician once offered 10 martinis to whoever could figure it out, uses number theory to explain quantum fractals.