Explorations of the Inner Solar System
Lunar farside, 1959In 1962, the American Mariner 2 staged the first successful encounter with another planet when it flew past […]
Lunar farside, 1959In 1962, the American Mariner 2 staged the first successful encounter with another planet when it flew past […]
The stars aren’t visible because they are too faint. The astronauts in their white spacesuits appear quite bright, so they
Why can’t we see stars in the pictures of spacewalking or moonwalking astronauts? Read More »
The Sun was born about 4.6 billion years ago from the gravitational collapse of a vast cloud of gas and
This bright ring of light is quite common. It’s related to the same process that creates rainbows: refraction. In this
What causes the bright halo that sometimes surrounds the Moon? Read More »
According to Albert Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity, it is feasible in areas of intensely strong gravity to create “wormholes”
The famous Northern and Southern Lights — Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis for those Latin lovers among us — are
While no direct link between sunspots and Earthly events, such as volatile stock markets, has ever been found, extremes in
Of course, the nearest star to Earth is the one we see every day — our dear old Sun. At
The farthest known object orbiting our Sun is a ball of ice and rock unofficially called FarFarOut, which lies about
No. On August 23, 2006, the International Astronomical Union decided that the solar system contains only eight planets. Pluto, which