Space

The end of the eclipse

For centuries, the rare cosmic occurrences known as eclipses have both inspired and terrified onlookers. Signs of both spiritual and scientific marvels, solar eclipses have often coincided with major historical events, sometimes even rewriting their outcomes. According to ancient records, for example, a great shadow descended over a battle in 585 BCE between the Lydians

The end of the eclipse Read More »

Nature’s light show: Breaking down the 2024 aurora super season

Auroras — dazzling phenomena that paint the night sky with a myriad of colors — have fascinated humans for thousands of years. Occurring in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres, they are known as the aurora borealis and australis, or northern and southern lights, respectively. At the start of 2024, auroras entered a super season,

Nature’s light show: Breaking down the 2024 aurora super season Read More »

A garden in the dark

As the possibility of deep space missions to Mars looms closer, scientists are actively addressing one of the biggest concerns: food.  For previous space missions, scientists prioritized providing astronauts with necessary nutrition over food quality. However, this mindset is not sustainable when considering a long-term space mission. With factors like the weight of the food

A garden in the dark Read More »

A simplified guide to charging your phone with a black hole (theoretically)

The race to find sustainable energy has quite literally led us out of our world. Earth harvests energy from the Sun to keep itself alive, but for the ever-growing human species, even this massive star is not enough to satisfy our high energy needs. Ergo, scientists have been searching further into space for other sources

A simplified guide to charging your phone with a black hole (theoretically) Read More »

Aerial electricity: Lightning and other poorly-understood phenomena

Lightning is not uncommon, nor is it particularly subtle. In fact, with approximately 9 million strikes per day, it is one of the loudest, brightest, and most common natural phenomena known to the terrestrial sciences. Most people know lightning as loud arcs of light that sometimes occur during severe storms. Indeed, this is the most

Aerial electricity: Lightning and other poorly-understood phenomena Read More »

Infinitely larger: How Edwin Hubble proved our galaxy is not alone

When most people hear the name Hubble, they likely think of the groundbreaking telescope that captured unique planets, blazing stars, and clusters of light in its stunning photographs. It is less likely, however, that they think of the famous telescope’s namesake — Edwin Hubble, the astronomer who discovered the expanding universe.  Until the 1920s, astronomers

Infinitely larger: How Edwin Hubble proved our galaxy is not alone Read More »