Astronomers Have Discovered a Rare ‘Polar Ring Galaxy’ Wrapped in a Huge Ribbon of Hydrogen

A polar ring galaxy.

Galaxies come in many shapes and sizes, from giant, slowly rotating ovals and fast-whirling spiral disks to faint ball-shaped blobs and dwarf irregulars. (Image: Jayanne English (U. Manitoba) / N. Deg (Queen’s U.) via The WALLABY team / CSIRO / ASKAP / NAOJ / Subaru Telescope)

How Should a Robot Explore the Moon? A Simple Question Shows the Limits of Current AI Systems

A space rover on the surface of the Moon.

Success of an autonomous lunar rover, powered by AI, in navigating the Moon's surface would rely heavily on the precision of its initial beliefs and the degree of confidence in them. (Image: via University of Alberta)

A Neutrino Portrait of Our Galaxy Reveals High-Energy Particles From Within the Milky Way

Illustration of a map of the solar system created by information from neutrinos.

For the first time, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica has produced an image of the Milky Way using neutrinos. (Image: via IceCube Collaboration/Science Communication Lab for CRC 1491)

Why Is the Sky Dark at Night? A Question that Transformed Our Understanding of the Universe

Image of the solar system.

Last year, the New Horizons space probe, out beyond the orbit of Pluto and away from the dust of the inner Solar System, found the sky is twice as bright as we expected it to be. (Image: via ESA / Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Martel)

Betelgeuse Is Continuing to Behave Mysteriously: What Would Happen if It Exploded?

https://www.nspirement.com/2022/08/17/red-supergiant-star-betelgeuse.html

Betelgeuse, the bright, yellow star at the top of the picture, dimmed considerably in 2020 (as seen in second image) and has since brightened by 50 percent. (Image: H. Raab via Flickr)

Astronomers Have Found Life-Supporting Molecules Called Phosphates on Enceladus

Saturn's moon Enceladus.

The search for habitable conditions beyond Earth has just become more interesting with the discovery of biologically available phosphorus from one of Saturn’s moons. Phosphorus is the most elusive of the six crucial elements needed for life. (Image: JPL / Space Science Institute via NASA)

Astronomers Detected 2 Major Targets With a Single Telescope

The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope dishes are located in the Western Australian desert.

The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope dishes are located in the Western Australian desert. (Image: via CSIRO)

For the First Time, Astronomers Have Detected a Radio Signal From the Massive Explosion of a Dying White Dwarf

Illustration of a binary star system with a planet and spiraling galaxy visible.

When stars like our Sun die, they tend to go out with a whimper and not a bang – unless they happen to be part of a binary (two) star system that could give rise to a supernova explosion. (Image: Anei via Dreamstime)

New Look at ‘Einstein Rings’ Around Distant Galaxies Just Got Us Closer to Solving the Dark Matter Debate

Hubble Space Telescope image of LRG 3-757.

Physicists believe most of the matter in the universe is made up of an invisible substance that we only know about by its indirect effects on the stars and galaxies we can see. (Image: European Space Agency / Hubble via NASA)

Humans Have Been Predicting Eclipses for Thousands of Years

The Antikythera mechanism on display.

The Antikythera Mechanism, an ancient Greek 'computer' was used to predict eclipses. (Image: Scaliger via Dreamstime)