Moonrise over the Wasatch Mountains. NASA.
This summer is really the summer of the Moon. As we approach the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing, many people are thinking about our past and future relationship with our celestial partner. It is the only object in space whose surface can be seen with the naked eye (without going blind ... sorry Sun), yet only two dozen people have even been there. As we look back at our first visit five decades ago, it's worth taking a moment to consider ...read more
A short history of the universe since the time of the Big Bang. We can directly observe more than 13 billion years of change, but the beginning itself is an enduring mystery. (Credit: ESA)
The Big Bang is the defining narrative of modern cosmology: a bold declaration that our universe had a beginning and has a finite age, just like the humans who live within it. That finite age, in turn, is defined by the evidence that universe is expanding (again, and unfortunately, many of us are familiar ...read more
A mockup of the Apollo Guidance Computer that navigated Apollo's way to the Moon. MIT Library.
Driving, say, to a friend’s house, we usually have directions to follow like “turn left at the light then it’s the third door on the right.” The same isn’t true when going to the Moon; there are no signposts guiding the way. So how exactly did Apollo astronauts know where they were going when they went to the Moon?
This one is tough. You can’t just lau ...read more
An artist's depiction of space junk. (Credit: ESA)
SpaceX’s ambitious Starlink
project could eventually launch more than 10,000 satellites into orbit and
rewrite the future of the internet. But Elon Musk’s company has been taking
heat from the astronomical community after an initial launch in late May
released the first 60 satellites. The 500
pound (227 kg) satellites were clearly visible in
Earth’s night sky,
inspiring concern that they could increase light pollution, ...read more
Temple 1 at the ancient Maya city of Tikal in Guatemala. (Credit: Rob Crandall/Shutterstock)
Two trophy skulls, recently discovered by archaeologists in the jungles of Belize, may help shed light on the little-understood collapse of the once powerful Classic Maya civilization.
The defleshed and painted human skulls, meant to be worn around the neck as pendants, were buried with a warrior over a thousand years ago at Pacbitun, a Maya city. They likely represent gruesome symbols of military ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine