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Robert H. Goddard , considered the father of modern rocketry, was born in Worcester Massachusetts in 1882. As a 16 year old, Goddard read H.G. Wells' science fiction classic "War Of The Worlds" and dreamed of space flight. By 1926 he had designed, built, and flown the world's first liquid fuel rocket. Launched 100 years ago , on March 16, 1926 from his aunt Effie's farm in Auburn Massachusetts, the rocket dubbed "Nell", rose to an altitude of 41 feet in a flight that lasted about 2 1/2 seconds. In this posed photo Goddard stands next to the 10 foot tall rocket, holding the launch stand frame. To achieve a stable flight without the need for fins, the rocket's heavy motor was located at the top, fed by lines from liquid oxygen and gasoline fuel tanks at the bottom. Widely recognized as a gifted experimenter and engineering genius , his rockets were many years ahead of their time. Goddard was awarded over 200 patents in rocket technology, most of...

Scanning the skies for galaxies, Canadian astronomer Paul Hickson and colleagues identified some 100 compact groups of galaxies , now appropriately called Hickson Compact Groups . The four prominent galaxies seen in this intriguing telescopic skyscape are one such group, Hickson 44. The Hickson 44 galaxy group is about 100 million light-years distant, far beyond the foreground Milky Way stars, toward the northern springtime constellation Leo. The two spiral galaxies in the center of the image are edge-on NGC 3190 with distinctive, warped dust lanes, and S-shaped NGC 3187. Along with the bright elliptical, NGC 3193 (left) they are also known as Arp 316. The spiral toward the lower right corner is NGC 3185, the 4th member of the Hickson group. Like other galaxies in Hickson groups , these show signs of distortion and enhanced star formation , evidence of a gravitational tug of war that will eventually result in galaxy mergers on a cosmic timescale. The merger process is now understood ...

What is the sound of two black holes merging in deep space? Sound waves don't propagate in vacuum, but gravitational waves do. In 2015 we were able to "hear" them for the first time and confirm one of Albert Einstein 's theoretical predictions. Each square on the grid of the featured image represents one of the gravitational wave detections announced so far by the LIGO - VIRGO - KAGRA Collaboration . These plots show how the binary pair accelerates in their orbit around each other towards merger: the rising frequency effect is called a " chirp ". Although there are significantly more neutron stars than black holes , most of the detections are binary black hole mergers. That happens because black holes are heavier and their signals are louder and can be seen farther away, resulting in more detections. These events are rare , and we don't expect to see one close by in our Galaxy any time soon. But they are happening continuously throughout t...

In the words of today's astrophotographer, Rositsa Dimitrova, "What have these silent sentinels watched pass across the sky?" The volcanic mo'ai (meaning statue) of Ahu Tongariki stand guard over Rapa Nui (Isla de Pascua, Easter Island), a Polynesian island (annexed by Chile in 1888) located thousands of kilometers off the coast of South America in the Pacific Ocean. Due to the island's remoteness, the mo'ai , with their backs to the dark ocean, are able to gaze upon a clear and vibrant night sky. Pictured , these larger-than-life statues stare at the bright band of the Milky Way , partly obscured by interstellar dust and blurred by Earth's clouds. Under such clear night skies, the Rapa Nui created observatories and used astronomical observations for navigation, calendar calibration, celebrations, and more . Images like this one remind us of the importance of dark skies , protecting the land underneath them, and preserving the culture that they ins...

What's happening at the end of that street? Pictured here are not auroras but light pillar s, a phenomenon typically much closer. In most places on Earth , a lucky viewer can see a Sun pillar , a column of light appearing to extend up from the Sun caused by flat fluttering ice-crystals reflecting sunlight from the upper atmosphere . Usually, these ice crystal s evaporate before reaching the ground. During freezing temperatures, however, flat fluttering ice crystals may form near the ground and are sometimes known as a crystal fog . These small ice crystal s may then reflect not the Sun but ground lights . The featured image captured not only numerous light pillars but also the iconic constellation of Orion , and was taken in Mohe , the northernmost city in China . from NASA https://ift.tt/03tl1Vq

Spiral NGC 1300 and elliptical NGC 1297 are galaxies that lie on the banks of the southern constellation Eridanus (The River) . At 70 million light-years distant or more, both are members of the Eridanus Galaxy Cluster . About 100,000 light-years across, at lower left in this sharp, galaxy group photo NGC 1300 is seen face-on with a prominent central bar and grand, sweeping spiral arms. Like other spiral galaxies , including our own barred spiral Milky Way Galaxy, NGC 1300 is thought to have a supermassive central black hole. A contrast in appearance and slightly more distant, NGC 1297 is the roughly spherical large elliptical galaxy near the top of the frame. With little active star formation, elliptical galaxies are composed of older populations of stars and are likely he result of multiple collisions and mergers with spirals. from NASA https://ift.tt/DwaxEc6

The defining astronomical moment of the equinox today is at 14:46 UTC (March 20). That's when the Sun crosses the celestial equator moving north in its yearly journey through planet Earth's sky, marking the beginning of spring for our fair planet in the northern hemisphere and fall in the southern hemisphere. Then, day and night are nearly equal around the globe . In fact, both day and nighttime exposures from a spring equinox at the Observatorio del Teide in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, are used in this composited skyscape. Over 1,000 images were taken with a fisheye lens and merged in the ambitious equinox project. The apparent motion of the Sun setting along the celestial equator on the equinox date follows the bright linear, diagonal track from the sequence of daytime exposures taken over 6 hours. After sunset, nighttime exposures recorded startrails, with the celestial equator as a linear track and concentric arcs circling the north celestial pole near Polaris at ...

Even if you live with your head in the clouds , you won’t find a jellyfish like this one very often. The featured image shows a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida on March 4. The launch happened 52 minutes before sunrise , and the second stage rocket exhaust plume was high enough in the sky to catch the light of the rising sun , while the photographer was still in the dark. This combination of light and shadow, possible at dawn or dusk , makes the exhaust, mostly water vapor and carbon dioxide , appear as a glowing cloud. It only looks like it's going down, as the rocket follows the curvature of the Earth on its way to space . A related effect is the twilight phenomenon , which causes colorful contrails sometimes mistaken for UFOs . But, in case you are wondering: real jellyfish were sent to space by NASA in the 1990s as part of a science experiment . from NASA https://ift.tt/vmlbN7Y

A lone tree stands in a quiet meadow in Guadalajara, Spain , silhouetted against the Cygnus region rising above like flames in the night sky. This deep night skyscape is a composite of exposures that reveals a range of brightness and color human eyes can't quite see on their own. Spanning over a thousand times the angular size of the full moon, Cygnus sets the sky afire with active star formation where clouds of gas and dust collapse under gravity until nuclear fusion ignites and new stars are born. These stars ionize the surrounding hydrogen gas, causing it to glow crimson , while tendrils of interstellar dust absorb some of that light and cast dark shadows across the sky. Cygnus is a trove of celestial treasures, notably the Veil , Crescent , and Pelican nebulae, as well as Cygnus X-1 , the first confirmed black hole . Cygnus continues to yield fresh science, including a new three-dimensional model of the Cygnus Loop made possible by the Chandra X-ray Observatory . f...

This telescopic close-up shows off the central regions of otherwise faint emission nebula IC 410, captured under backyard skies. Presented in a Hubble color palette, the image combines visible broadband and narrowband data with data from the near-infrared. Below and right of center are two remarkable inhabitants of the interstellar pond of gas and dust. the Tadpoles of IC 410. Partly obscured by foreground dust, the nebula itself surrounds NGC 1893, a young galactic cluster of stars. Formed in the interstellar cloud a mere 4 million years ago, the intensely hot, bright cluster stars energize the glowing gas. But the cosmic tadpoles themselves are composed of denser cooler gas and dust. Around 10 light-years long they are likely sites of ongoing star formation . Sculpted by stellar winds and radiation their heads are outlined by bright ridges of ionized gas while their tails trail away from the cluster's central young stars. IC 410 lies some 10,000 light-years away, toward th...

To see the feathered serpent descend the Mayan pyramid requires exquisite timing. You must visit El Castillo -- in Mexico 's Yucatán Peninsula -- near an equinox . Then, during the late afternoon if the sky is clear, the pyramid 's own shadows create triangles that merge into the famous illusion of a slithering viper . Also known as the Temple of Kukulkan , the impressive step-pyramid stands 30 meters tall and 55 meters wide at the base. Built up as a series of square terraces by the pre-Columbian civilization between the 9th and 12th century, the structure can be used as a calendar and is noted for astronomical alignments . The featured composite image was captured in 2019 with Jupiter and Saturn straddling the diagonal central band of our Milky Way galaxy . In a few days another equinox will occur -- not only at Temple of Kukulcán, but all over planet Earth . from NASA https://ift.tt/E2wnAdr

Want to visit a planet that has 3.14 days in a year? Then plan a trip to K2-315b, an earth-sized planet orbiting around a cool, red, M dwarf star about once every 3.14 days. The exoplanet's discovery , based on publicly available data from the planet-hunting Kepler Space Telescope's extended K2 mission, was announced in 2020. K2-315b's measured orbital period in days is nearly equal to the extremely popular irrational number Pi. That puts the exoplanet so close to its parent star that its surface is likely very warm, baking-hot in fact . And this Pi planet is over 185 light-years away. So instead of trying to arrange for an interstellar vacation to K2-315b, there may be easier and more comfortable ways for you to celebrate Pi day on planet Earth . from NASA https://ift.tt/uFCQ2Mn

In this composited night skyscape, stacked exposures trace graceful star trails above Lake Toolondo, Victoria, Australia, planet Earth. Captured while the lunar eclipse of March 3 was in progress , the exposures used were made during the hour-long total eclipse phase . So faint star trails are easily visible along with the trail of the reddened Moon in the eclipse-darkened skies above the lake and trees. Of course, the apparent motion of Moon and stars revealed in the timelapse composite reflect the Earth's daily rotation around its axis . Dramatically punctuating the Moon's trail as totality ended, a single, separate telephoto image of the totally eclipsed Moon was scaled and blended into the scene. from NASA https://ift.tt/AbQgh8n

Is this a cosmic monster ready to devour an unsuspecting galaxy? Thankfully, that is not the case. The red “monster” shown in the featured image is Cometary Globule CG 4 , 1,300 light-years away in the Constellation Puppis . CG 4 is a molecular cloud , where hydrogen becomes cold enough to form molecules that can be brought together by gravity to create stars . The shape of CG 4 resembles that of a comet , but its head is 1.5 light-year in diameter and its tail is 8 light-years long; for comparison, the distance from the Earth to the sun is only 8 light-minutes . Astronomers believe that the tail of a cometary globule could have been shaped by a nearby supernova explosion or by irradiation from hot, massive stars. Indeed, CG 4 and other nearby globules point away from the Vela Supernova Remnant , at the center of the Gum Nebula . The edge-on spiral galaxy , ESO 257-19, is more than a hundred million light-years beyond CG 4, and is completely safe from the “ monster ”. from NA...

Are lasers from giant telescopes being used to defend the Earth? No. Lasers shot from telescopes are now commonly used to help increase the accuracy of astronomical observations. In some directions, Earth atmosphere-induced fluctuations in starlight can indicate how the air mass over a telescope is changing, but in other directions, no bright star exists. In these directions, astronomers can create an artificial star with a laser . Subsequent observations of the artificial laser guide star can reveal information so detailed about the changing blurring effects of the Earth's atmosphere that much of it can be removed by rapidly flexing a telescope's mirror. Such adaptive optics techniques allow high-resolution ground-based observations of real star s, planets , and nebulas . Pictured here , telescopes at Paranal Observatory in Chile study a colorful sky filled with green airglow and the Magellanic Clouds on the left, red airglow on the right, and the majestic cent...

Yes, but can your tree do this? Pictured is a visual coincidence between the dark branches of a nearby tree and bright glow of a distant aurora. The beauty of the aurora -- combined with how it seemed to mimic a tree right nearby -- mesmerized the photographer to such a degree that he momentarily forgot to take pictures. When viewed at the right angle , it seemed that this tree had aurora for leaves. Fortunately, before the aurora morphed into a different overall shape , he came to his senses and captured the awe-inspiring momentary coincidence . Typically triggered by solar explosions , aurora are caused by high energy electrons impacting the Earth's atmosphere around 150 kilometers up. The unusual Earth-sky collaboration was witnessed in March of 2017 in Iceland . from NASA https://ift.tt/xXbMjfW

Centered on maximum eclipse, these two total lunar eclipse sequences look almost identical. Yet the one shown on top is composed of images recorded in February 2008, while at the bottom is the recent March 2026 total eclipse of the Moon. Why are they so similar? Because these two total lunar eclipses are from the same Saros cycle. The Saros cycle was discovered historically from observations of the Moon's orbit. With a period of 18 years, 11 and 1/3 days, the cycle predicts when the Sun, Earth, and Moon all return to the same relative geometry for a lunar ( or solar ) eclipse. Eclipses separated by one Saros period belong to the same numbered Saros series, in this case Saros 133. So expect the next lunar eclipse in Saros 133 to be a repeat of this year's March 3 eclipse. You can watch the next Saros 133 total lunar eclipse on March 13, 2044 . from NASA https://ift.tt/r0nNI4G

Do young stars blow bubbles? The larger view shows a stellar field observed with the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, and the inset highlights HD 61005 , a star like our Sun , only 120 light-years away. Much younger than the Sun, at just about 100 million years old, it blows a fast and dense stellar wind that pushes out the cooler dust and gas that surrounds it, forming a bubble called an astrosphere . The star-blown bubble was detected with the Chandra X-ray Observatory , and it has a diameter roughly 200 times the Earth-Sun distance . Our Sun has a bubble too, called the heliosphere , which protects the planets from cosmic radiation . Also shown in the inset is debris left behind from star formation, observed by Hubble . The debris appears as wings , giving the star its nickname: the Moth . from NASA https://ift.tt/b5vghaU

Earlier this week, Earth’s shadow swept across the full Moon in the year’s only total lunar eclipse . This stunning sequence combines images showing the Moon’s path across the night sky. Each lunar image captures our planet’s shadow gradually engulfing the Moon, culminating in its red glow. Sunlight scatters and refracts as it passes through Earth’s atmosphere toward the Moon. Shorter wavelength light (blue and green) scatters more efficiently , leaving red, orange, and yellow hues to paint the lunar surface. Tsé Bit'a'í (”rock with wings”, also known as Shiprock), located in Navajo Nation , provides a powerful volcanic foreground central to this photo and to stories of Navajo origin, adventure, and heroism . As the first full moon of the lunar new year , this eclipse held significance across cultures. Visible from East Asia to North America , this eclipse united observers across great distances, a cosmic reminder that we share the same sky. from NASA https://ift.tt/hjK...

What’s looking back at you isn’t a cosmic eye, but Shapley 1 , a beautifully symmetric planetary nebula . Shapley 1, also known as the Fine Ring Nebula or PLN 329+2.1 , bejewels the southern sky constellation of the Carpenter's Square ( Norma ). The nebula is the result of a star near the mass of our Sun running out of fuel and shedding its outer layers . Glowing oxygen from those expelled layers makes up the circular halo. The bright central point is actually a binary: a white dwarf , the remaining stellar core after the outer layers are expelled into space, and another star, orbiting each other every 2.9 days. Shapley 1’s annular shape is due to our top-down view of the system and provides insight into the influence of central stars on planetary nebula structures . from NASA https://ift.tt/vDaNb8X