Violent Galactic Collision: Stephan’s Quintet
Violent Galactic Collision
What happens when galaxies get too close to one another? Why a galactic collision of course! Stephan’s Quintet happens to be a pretty violent one.
How are Planetary Rings Formed and Which Planets Have Them?
Planetary Rings around Saturn
Most of us have seen the pictures of the lone planet out in space with a dusty looking flat ring orbiting all of the way around it. These rings seem both alien and intriguing – why is it that some planets have rings and our own Earth does not, and which planets in our solar system have such rings?
Giant Green Blobs Found in Space!
Green Blobs in Space
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope recently imaged these giant green blobs in the vicinity of the spiral galaxy IC 2497. This kind of oddity, which is in the constellation Leo Minor, is not well understood and remains unclassified.
A White Dwarf Makes a Butterfly
The Butterfly Nebula
NCG 6302 is known as the Butterfly Nebula. What makes this nebula so intriguing is that is has two distinct lobes – the butterfly wings – that surround one of the hottest white dwarf stars yet detected. The central star of this nebula is estimated to be over 220,000 degrees Celsius.
What is the Closest Planet to Earth – Mars, Venus, or Mercury?
Planet Earth is the third planet closes to the sun. Using the old saying, “My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas,” it can be remembered that the order of the planets goes like this: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto (if you consider it to be a planet). Accordingly, it would seem as though either Venus or Mars would be the closes planet to Earth. But which is it?