science

miscellanyHubble Space TelescopeMarsclimate changesupernovaeexoplanetscometsgravitational wavessolar systemESA2025Jupiterwhite dwarfsPlutoaliensdustasteroidsneutron starsastrophotographymeteoritesstar clustersvolcanoesmathEarthcosmologyGlobular clusterspulsarsmoonsthe SunscifiFast Radio BurstsVera Rubin ObservatorynebulaAstronomybrown dwarfsNASAPoliticsgalaxy clusterslight pollutionplanetary nebulaerecipedebunkingblack holesphysicsTVnight skygravitational lensingVenusAbout the newsletterspacered dwarfsthe moonActive galaxiesAbout mespace explorationimpactsnovaebinary starsSgr A*starsTNOssciencegalaxiesJWSTGamma-ray burstsdark matterColliding galaxiesstar formationMilky Way GalaxyScientific AmericanGaia
miscellanymiscellany
+7+7
JWST takes a peek at a star being born

JWST takes a peek at a star being born

And of course it’s another jaw-dropper

Philip Plait
Philip Plait
brown dwarfsbrown dwarfs
+2+2
Citizen scientists find over 3,000 nearby brown dwarfs

Citizen scientists find over 3,000 nearby brown dwarfs

No kidding, that’s a lot of brown dwarfs

Philip Plait
Philip Plait
Hubble Space TelescopeHubble Space Telescope
+6+6
A spiral galaxy whizzes through the Virgo Cluster
Premium

A spiral galaxy whizzes through the Virgo Cluster

M88 looks a bit — and kinda sorta acts a bit — like a cosmic buzz saw

Philip Plait
Philip Plait
miscellanymiscellany
+6+6
Protons are very, very small
Premium

Protons are very, very small

It takes a lot of them to fit across an orange, for example. And a mole, too.

Philip Plait
Philip Plait
miscellanymiscellany
+6+6
No aliens for Boyajian’s Star, and trees reach up to connect electrically with the sky
Premium

No aliens for Boyajian’s Star, and trees reach up to connect electrically with the sky

The star seems to have settled its unsettling behavior down, and corona discharges from trees finally seen in the wild

Philip Plait
Philip Plait
miscellanymiscellany
+4+4
CAPTCHA, ergo sum

CAPTCHA, ergo sum

I guess robots don’t know about Planck’s Law

Philip Plait
Philip Plait
miscellanymiscellany
+3+3
The metric system is great, except when it isn’t
Premium

The metric system is great, except when it isn’t

In which I am a millipedant

Philip Plait
Philip Plait
miscellanymiscellany
+3+3
How much carbon-14 is in the air around you?
Premium

How much carbon-14 is in the air around you?

I was surprised to learn how little it actually is

Philip Plait
Philip Plait
miscellanymiscellany
+6+6
The astronomer who discovered what the universe was made of

The astronomer who discovered what the universe was made of

Cecelia Payne-Gaposchkin was an amazing scientist, and her work wasn’t all that long ago

Philip Plait
Philip Plait
miscellanymiscellany
+4+4
How incomplete are we?
Premium

How incomplete are we?

Completeness is an important concept for surveys in astronomy

Philip Plait
Philip Plait
dustdust
+2+2
How to feed a bouncing baby star: Let food fall directly on it

How to feed a bouncing baby star: Let food fall directly on it

A protostar has been found without a disk slowly feeding it

Philip Plait
Philip Plait
miscellanymiscellany
+3+3
No, you weren’t hit by 50,000 volts

No, you weren’t hit by 50,000 volts

A rant about the misuse of scientific units

Philip Plait
Philip Plait