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Unicorns in space
This picture isn't a pony from My Little Pony. This is the Trifid Nebula, a giant gas cloud that happens to look exactly like a sparkly space unicorn. -
The Universe’s Largest Water Reservoir
Twelve billion light years away, the universe’s largest water reservoir resides in the heart of a quasar. (I inferred on the date) -
The LQG
So yeah, the Himiko Cloud is pretty big—like, half the size of our galaxy. This structure, is the LQG—the Large Quasar Group. (I inferred on the date) -
A Giant Magnifying Glass
Gravity does some weird things to the universe, and we don't just mean scary things like galaxy-swallowing black holes. The power of gravity also bends light, which means that the objects astronomers are looking at might not be where they appear to be. Scientists call this gravitational lensing. -
The Diamond Planet
Finally, a planet fit for Oprah, or perhaps even Bill Gates. 55 Cancri e—made entirely out of crystallized diamonds. Yes, diamonds. Are you impressed yet? -
A planet of burning ice
Do you remember Gliese? That hell-hole of a star that we visited earlier? We’re heading back to the same solar system. Gliese supports a planet made almost entirely out of ice. (Gliese 436 b.) -
Gliese 581c
This planet orbits a red dwarf star, which is many times smaller than our Sun. This means that the planet is closer to its star than Earth is to ours. Because of this, it is stuck in a state of tidal locking, meaning that one side of the planet is always facing the star, and one side is always facing away. -
Hypervelocity Stars
Everyone knows that shooting stars are just meteors entering the atmosphere, right? If you didn’t, congratulations, you just failed fourth grade science. What some people don’t know, however, is that real shooting stars exist as well; they’re called hypervelocity stars. (I inferred on the date) -
The Universe’s Largest Electrical Current
Only a few years ago, scientists came upon an electrical current of cosmic proportions.The lightning is thought to originate from an enormous black hole in the center of the galaxy. -
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