This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows a galaxy that is difficult to categorize. The galaxy, NGC 2775, lies 67 million light-years away in the constellation Cancer (the Crab). Its center is smooth and featureless, lacking gas, resembling an elliptical galaxy. Yet it also has a dusty ring with patchy star clusters, a…
Hey there, astrodrive.fun readers and fellow night owls! Stop what you’re doing and check your calendar, because tonight—November 21st into the morning of the 22nd—the sky is gearing up for a stunning show, and the conditions couldn’t be more perfect! We’re talking about the peak of the Alpha-Monocerotid meteor shower, a fantastic, if sometimes unpredictable,…
When we think of “weather,” we usually imagine rain, sunshine, or storms here on Earth. But beyond our blue skies lies another kind of weather – space weather – driven by the Sun’s activity. Though invisible to the naked eye, space weather can profoundly affect our planet, influencing everything from power grids to satellite communications….
A Closer Look at Enceladus’ Plumes Researchers took a new look at data from NASA’s Cassini mission and found organic compounds in the icy plumes of Saturn’s moon Enceladus that had never been detected before. The ice grains came from the ocean hidden beneath the moon’s frozen shell. Along with molecules seen in earlier studies,…
