Imagine that you're looking up at the night sky — and instead of spotting a single moon above you, you see two glowing orbs instead.In this alternate reality, one of these celestial bodies is about the size and brightness of our present-day moon, but the second appears four times bigger and brighter. From this secondary moon's surface, fountains of magma erupt from volcanoes, creating space debris that enters our atmosphere to produce meteor showers more spectacular than any we know today.Thes ...read more
Hey everyone, Stephen Hawking is throwing a party, and we're all invited! One catch: Stephen Hawking is dead, and the party was in 2009. Still, the invitation stands.What if you threw a party and nobody came, but that's exactly what you expected? That's precisely what famed astrophysicist Stephen Hawking did on June 28, 2009. He rented a space at Cambridge University and got balloons, decorations, and, of course, the champagne. Then he sat in the empty room for a few hours and left. Only then ...read more
As the orb of the Moon transited in front of the Sun on Nov. 13, 2023, the Solar Ultraviolet Imager, or SUVI, aboard the GOES East satellite captured this image of the resulting partial solar eclipse. For a video of the event, see below. (Credit: Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies)Back in October, tens of millions of people in the Western Hemisphere witnessed a rare "ring-of-fire" annular solar eclipse that elicited cheers and shouts of joy. But when another dramatic ecl ...read more
Art is one of the defining characteristics of the human species because nearly all cultures practice it worldwide. From early humans adorning cave walls or painting the body, humans' appreciation of color goes way back. Iconic paintings like Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring and Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People, are renowned for their use of color and details. But how were these color pigments made? Some of the world's most iconic brushstrokes and sought-after pigments were made w ...read more
Hippos are the spring breakers of the animal world – follow them, and you’ll find warmth and water. Today, they reside primarily in the lakes and rivers of Africa, where they splash around as the second-largest land animal on Earth. But according to a new study, these sizable creatures once ventured north into Europe and contended with fluctuations in the continent’s glaciers.The fact that modern hippos, Hippopotamus amphibius, once lived in Europe is well-established science. What scienti ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine