Science

Stargazing—and Steve-Gazing

A close-up look at the universe’s many wonders, from nearby planets to faraway galaxies.
  • Photo: Megan Hoffman/NASA
    01
    There’s a new aurora borealis in town: Steve. The purple arches and green features (Steve’s name stands for Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement) were first spotted over the skies of Canada, and NASA is busy trying to figure out how Steve gets such wonderful colors.
  • Photo: NASA
    02
    This image of the Crab Nebula is a composite made from light gathered by three different telescopes. The Crab is a favorite because it’s powered by a fast-spinning neutron star called a pulsar; as the pulsar spins, it spits out a wind of X-rays, shown here in white.
  • Photo: NASA
    03
    Even Mars got to celebrate Pi Day last week\! Scientists use pi, 3.141592653589793238… and so on to infinity, to figure out how circular a crater is, which in turn tells them a lot about its formation.
  • Photo: Alexandru Tudorică/ESO
    04
    Cerro Paranal, Chile is home to the ESO’s Very Large Telescope. Its unusually clear skies reveal celestial bodies which are often difficult to see with the naked eye—like the Andromeda Galaxy, here visible as a smudge between the two left telescopes.
  • Photo: NASA
    05
    Hey, old-timer. This diffuse, glowing galaxy is mostly made up of aging stars that are around 10 billion years old—only 3 billion years younger than the universe itself. Scientists study unique relics like this to better understand how galaxies formed in the universe’s childhood.
  • Photo: ESA
    06
    NGC 1015 is a barred spiral galaxy, similar to our own Milky Way, located 118 million light years from Earth. Unlike our galaxy, though, NGC 1015 has a central bar made of gas and stars that stretches out from the core bulge.

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