In 1610, Galileo Galilei became the first astronomer to discover the large moons of Jupiter, using a telescope of his own design. At time passed, these moons – Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto – would collectively come to be referred to as the Galilean Moons, in honor of their discoverer. And with the birth of the space exploration, what we’ve come to know about these satellites has fascinated and inspired us.
The oceans are full of plastic, but why do seabirds eat it?
Red, yellow, pink and green: How the world’s languages name the rainbow
It is striking that English color words come from many sources. Some of the more exotic ones, like “vermilion” and “chartreuse,” were borrowed from French, and are named after the color of a particular item (a type of mercury and a liquor, respectively). But even our words “black” and “white” didn’t originate as color terms. “Black” comes from a word meaning “burnt,” and “white” comes from a word meaning “shining.”
Is our Milky Way galaxy a zombie, already dead and we don’t know it?
Colonizing The Inner Solar System
Science fiction has told us again and again, we belong out there, among the stars. But before we can build that vast galactic empire, we’ve got to learn how to just survive in space. Fortunately, we happen to live in a Solar System with many worlds, large and small that we can use to become a spacefaring civilization.
What Is Moon Mining?
Ever since we began sending crewed missions to the Moon, people have been dreaming of the day when we might one day colonize it. Just imagine, a settlement on the lunar surface, where everyone constantly feels only about 15% as heavy as they do here on Earth. And in their spare time, the colonists get to do all kinds of cool research trek across the surface in lunar rovers. Gotta admit, it sounds fun!
What Is The World's Deepest Ocean?
One look at planet Earth on a map, or based on an image taken from space, ought to convey just how immense and important our oceans are. After all, they cover 72% of the planet’s surface, occupy a total volume of around 1.35 billion cubic kilometers (320 million cu mi), and are essential to life as we know it. And in their great depths, many mysteries still wait to be discovered.
What Are Active Galactic Nuclei?
In the 1970s, astronomers became aware of a compact radio source at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy – which they named sagittarius A. After many decades of observation and mounting evidence, it was theorized that the source of these radio emissions was in fact a supermassive blakc hole (SMBH). Since that time, astronomers have come to theorize that SMBHs at the heart of every large galaxy in the Universe.
Six different ways to think about ‘extinction’
The cosmic crime-scene hunt for clues on how galaxies are formed
Even Though It's An Alien World, Titan's Canyons Would Look Very Familiar
Titan is tough moon to study, thanks to its incredibly thick and hazy atmosphere. But when astronomers have ben able to sneak a peak beneath its methane clouds, they have spotted some very intriguing features. And some of these, interestingly enough, are reminiscent of geographical features here on Earth. For instance, Titan is the only other body in the Solar System that is known to have a cycle where liquid is exchanged between the surface and the atmosphere.
The Orbit Of The Moon
Since time immemorial, people have been staring up at the Moon with awe and wonder. For as long as there has been life on this planet, the Moon has been orbiting it. And as time went on, scholars and astronomers began to observe it regularly and calculate its orbit. In so doing, they learned some rather interesting things about its behavior.
What Is A Magnetic Field?
Everyone knows just how fun magnets can be. As a child, who among us didn’t love to see if we could make our silverware stick together? And how about those little magnetic rocks that we could arrange to form just about any shape because they stuck together? Well, magnetism is not just an endless source of fun or good for scientific experiments; it’s also one of basic physical laws upon which the universe is based.
What Is The Wettest Place On Earth?
Those who live along the “wet coast” – which is what people living in Puget Sound or the lower mainland of British Columbia and Vancouver Island affectionately call their home – might think that they live in the wettest place on Earth. Then again, people living in the Amazon rain forest might think that there lush and beautiful home is the dampest place in the world.
Mars' Moon Deimos
Mars and Earth have several things in common. Like Earth, Mars is a terrestrial planet (i.e. composed of silicate rock and minerals). It also has polar ice caps, a tilted axis, and evidence of liquid water on its surface. On top of that, Mars and Earth are the only terrestrial planets in the Solar System to have natural satellites.
How Many Planets Are There In Our Galaxy?
On a clear night, and when light pollution isn’t a serious factor, looking up at the sky is a breathtaking experience. On occasions like these, it is easy to be blown away by the sheer number of stars out there. But of course, what we can see on any given night is merely a fraction of the number of stars that actually exist within our Galaxy.
What Are Volcanoes?
A volcano is an impressive sight. When they are dormant, they loom large over everything on the landscape. When they are active, they are a destructive force of nature that is without equal, raining fire and ash down on everything in site. And during the long periods when they are not erupting, they can also be rather beneficial to the surrounding environment.
Are we sleeping less than we used to? Here are the facts
Many of us might respond to this question with a resounding yes. It is easy to think that we all got better rest in those halcyon days when summers were long and hot, winters were snowy and life was a bit less frenetic. But even if this is true about your own sleep, is it really true of people as a whole?
