Extraterrestrial News & Deep Space Exploration
If you ask someone to name a constellation, chances are they’ll say Orion. With his three bright belt stars and a glowing sword, the Hunter is one of the rare star patterns that truly resembles its legend. For centuries he has ruled winter skies in the north. Yet travel far enough south—from New York to... Continue Reading →
Let’s drop the poetry. Once you pass the asteroid belt, the solar system stops being about rocky little worlds like Earth or Mars. Out there, it becomes the realm of giants. Jupiter and Saturn are the gas giants—the heavyweights of our planetary neighborhood. They dominate everything around them and play by rules very different from... Continue Reading →
Around 12,900 years ago, as the last Ice Age was drawing to a close, Earth experienced a sudden and violent climate reversal. Temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere dropped rapidly, ecosystems were disrupted, large Ice Age animals vanished, and human cultures were forced to adapt or disappear. This period is known to science as the Younger... Continue Reading →
By Cosmic Watcher | December 16, 2025 It is a problem that has annoyed astronomers for twenty years: How did the universe get so heavy, so fast? According to standard physics, black holes need time to grow. They start small—perhaps 10 to 100 times the mass of our Sun—and slowly feed on gas or merge... Continue Reading →
By Cosmic Watchers | December 16, 2025 In the search for habitable worlds, we usually look for "Earth 2.0"—blue oceans, green land, and fluffy clouds. TOI-561 b is the opposite of that in every way. It is a Super-Earth with a surface temperature of 3,100°F (1,700°C), likely covered in a global ocean of molten lava.... Continue Reading →
For as long as people have watched the sky, the Sun and Moon have shaped our sense of time, season, and wonder. Among all the sights our ancestors passed down through stories and observations, few feel as striking—and almost uncanny—as a total solar eclipse. One simple astronomical coincidence makes it possible: the Moon appears almost... Continue Reading →
When we gaze up at the stars, we assume we are late to the party. The universe is ancient—more than 13.8 billion years old. Our Sun, in contrast, is a mere 4.6 billion years old, and humanity has existed for only the final blink of that span. Surely, we reason, if life could arise here,... Continue Reading →
The Milky Way, our cosmic home, is not a static entity. It's hurtling through space at roughly 600 km/s relative to the cosmic microwave background. But beyond this rapid motion, intriguing observations have led astronomers to speculate about another dynamic behavior: the "flapping" of its spiral arms. The Galactic Motion The Milky Way is part... Continue Reading →
When it comes to long-term human space exploration, radiation is one of the biggest threats we face. Outside Earth's protective atmosphere and magnetic field, astronauts are exposed to dangerous levels of cosmic radiation and solar energetic particles. This raises an intriguing question: could we build an artificial magnetic field on spacecraft to mimic Earth’s protective... Continue Reading →
Imagine floating above Earth, stars twinkling beyond your visor, and suddenly—you’re thirsty. But you're in a spacesuit. In the vacuum of space. So… how do you take a sip? Is drinking in open space even possible? Let’s dive into this wonderfully weird question. First, What Is Open Space? “Open space” means the environment outside the... Continue Reading →
Cosmic Watchers 