Latest Articles - Page: 4
Do red galaxies exist?
The simple confirmation is that yes, red galaxies absolutely exist, and they have captivated astronomers for decades, le...
What is the problem with exoplanets?
The universe is thick with worlds beyond our solar system, a fact confirmed by thousands of confirmed exoplanets. Yet, t...
What are SI units in astronomy?
The immensity of the cosmos presents a fundamental challenge for science: how do we effectively measure distances spanni...
Why is the Sun not a star?
The premise that the Sun is *not* a star fundamentally misunderstands celestial classification, as the Sun is, by every ...
What did the Spirit rover find on Mars?
The Mars Exploration Rover *Spirit* landed on the Red Planet with a singular, profound objective: to determine if ancien...
What's it called when rocks fall from the sky?
When an object made of rock or metal from space successfully navigates our atmosphere and strikes the ground, the genera...
Are they still finding pieces of Columbia?
The aftermath of the Space Shuttle *Columbia* disaster on February 1, 2003, initiated one of the largest debris recovery...
Is Mercury or Venus more habitable?
The comparison between Mercury and Venus regarding habitability often pits one extreme environment against another, both...
Where do most stars come from?
The birthplace of stars is not a single, fiery location but rather vast, cold, and incredibly dense regions scattered th...
Why are stars called dwarfs?
The classification of stars into categories like "dwarf" can often sound counterintuitive when we look up at the night s...
What makes a planet a habitable zone?
The search for life beyond Earth often boils down to finding the right address—a place neither too scorching nor too fri...
What is the difference between a planetary and a diffuse nebula?
Nebulae, those magnificent clouds of gas and dust scattered across the cosmos, represent the raw material and the dramat...
How long does it take to fly around UY Scuti?
The sheer scale of the cosmos often defies easy comprehension, yet few celestial objects illustrate this better than **U...
Which unit is used in astronomy?
Measuring the cosmos is a task that quickly renders familiar units like the kilometer or the mile utterly useless. The d...
How do astronomers think the four Galilean moons of Jupiter formed?
The celestial dance of Jupiter’s four largest satellites—Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto—has captivated observers sin...
Why can't rockets be electric?
The fundamental challenge behind powering a rocket entirely with electricity for liftoff isn't a matter of impossibility...
What makes satellites orbit the Earth?
The simple visual of a machine circling our world often conjures the question of how it manages to hang suspended in the...
What was the biggest NASA fail?
The history of space exploration, particularly for an organization as ambitious as NASA, is intrinsically linked with hi...
What is the stellar period?
The duration of a star’s life, often referred to as its **stellar period**, is one of the most fascinating timescales in...
What is the path followed by a planet called?
The curved line traced by a planet as it moves around a star, or any celestial object around another, has a specific sci...
Why do planetary nebulas have so many different shapes?
The vast, glowing clouds known as planetary nebulas present a stunning array of forms across the night sky, from simple ...
How do astronomers determine the size of a planet using the transit technique?
When astronomers want to figure out just how big an alien world is, especially one orbiting a distant star, they often t...
How did Galileo's discovery of the Galilean moons of Jupiter impact our understanding of the universe?
The initial flicker of light Galileo Galilei noticed in January of 1610, when pointing his newly improved telescope towa...
In which of the following cases would the transit method be used?
The transit method, a powerful technique in astronomy, is specifically employed in the quest to find and characterize **...