Free Republic

This year could end with a bang. Scientists recently spotted an asteroid on a direct collision course to Earth — projected to hit a day before the presidential elections in November. The flying space object, known as 2018VP1, is expected on Nov. 2, according to the Center for Near Objects Studies at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The asteroid is 6.5 feet in diameter, according to NASA data, and first identified at the Palomar Observatory in California two years ago. The space agency says there could be three potential impacts “based on 21 observations spanning 12.968 days, with the chance of...

Far beyond Pluto, out where the Sun is only a pinpoint of pale light, a frozen world has been found on the dark fringes of the solar system. Astronomers say it is by far the most distant object known to orbit the Sun and the largest one to be detected since the discovery of Pluto in 1930. With one discovery, it seems, the solar system has gotten much bigger, glimpses of its outer reaches bringing a sense of reality to what had been a remote frontier of hypothesis. And perhaps it has gotten stranger, too. "There's absolutely nothing else like...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 August 7 Palomar at Night Credit & Copyright: Greg Redfern (2003 JPL NASA Solar System Ambassador) Explanation: What's wrong with this picture? The summer night sky is clear, and moonlight illuminates the dome of the Hale 200-inch Telescope at Palomar Observatory, northeast of San Diego, California, USA. The familiar stars of the Teapot asterism in the constellation Sagittarius shine above the dome and to the right. In...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 January 25 Palomar 13's Last Stand Credit: M. Siegel & S. Majewski (UVA), C. Gallart (Yale), K. Cudworth (Yerkes), M. Takamiya (Gemini), Las Campanas Observatory Explanation: Globular star cluster Palomar 13 has roamed the halo of our Milky Way Galaxy for the last 12 billion years. The apparently sparse cluster of stars just left of center in this composite color digital image, it is one of the...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 October 9 Quaoar: Large Asteroid in the Outer Solar System Credit: Chad Trujillo & Michael Brown (Caltech) Explanation: Asteroids almost as large as planets are still being discovered in our own Solar System. Recently an asteroid more than half the size of Pluto was found orbiting at a distance only a little further than the Solar System's most distant planet. The large asteroid moves relative to background...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 April 11 Antennae Galaxies in Near-Infrared Credit: Bernhard Brandl and the WIRC team (Cornell), Palomar Observatory Explanation: What happens when galaxies collide? One of the best studied examples of the jumble of star clusters, gas, and dust clouds produced by such a cosmic train wreck is the interacting galaxy pair NGC 4038 / NGC 4039, the Antennae Galaxies, only sixty million light-years away. In visible light images,...