Phil Plait

The way things are going these days I can't blame anyone for going to a bar but geez one that's a light-year long and made of ionized iron?

Bad Astronomy Newsletter

A dying star goes to an iron bar

A mysterious new feature has been spotted in the Ring Nebula

This has bugged me for years but I only just now finally got around to writing about it. I guess resistance is futile.

Bad Astronomy Newsletter

No, you weren’t hit by 50,000 volts

A rant about the misuse of scientific units

I have some really cool pix from Mars in the newsletter today: the amazing HiRISE camera's *100,000th* image, and some crepuscular rays and iridescent clouds! It's like someone at mission control took all these shots just for me specifically.

Bad Astronomy Newsletter

Red Planet special: HiRISE’s 100,000th image, and Martian crepuscular rays

Big milestone for a Mars mission, and a weirdly familiar sight in the Martian sky

When I woke up this morning one thing I noticed right away is that Earth wasn't violently torn to vaporous shreds by a supermassive black hole. So yeah, that's cool.

Bad Astronomy Newsletter

Today our planet will not be destroyed. Probably.

I mean, no promises. But it won’t be because the Maya predicted it.

Get ready for one of the very best meteor showers of the year! The Geminids are great and this year's show over the weekend should be excellent. Also: a gorgeous star cluster with a dramatic swirl of stars.

Bad Astronomy Newsletter

Watch the Geminids! And a cluster’s stars swirl down the drain.

A great meteor shower for the weekend, and a gorgeous star cluster slowly spins

My "The Universe" column today in Scientific American is about an extremely weird effect where distant objects actually start to appear *bigger* instead of smaller with distance.

Scientific American

Do Objects Always Appear Smaller with Distance? Not on Cosmic Scales!

In our topsy-turvy universe, sometimes the farther away an object is, the bigger it seems to be

This is a staggering cool JWST image of one of the most terrifying star systems I have ever seen. Apep is a monster… *three* monsters, actually, and blasting out radiation and dust and junk at speeds to freeze the soul. Read all about it!

Bad Astronomy Newsletter

A ridiculously jaw-dropping JWST image of a fantastically terrifying star system

Apep consists of three immense and immensely powerful stars blasting out a fierce dusty wind

Have you ever heard of Betty Webster? I hadn't until recently, and she co-discovered the first black hole ever found! Here's her story, to honor her memory and fantastic accomplishment.

Bad Astronomy Newsletter

The woman who discovered the first black hole

Betty Webster is a name to remember. Also: more rogue binary jovians

In 1885, after traveling for over two million years, the light from an exploding star swept over caused astronomers to think the universe was way smaller than it really is.

Bad Astronomy Newsletter

The irony of Supernova 1885A

It proved the Universe was bigger than astronomers thought, but they couldn’t believe it

Holy moly did we get a close shave from an asteroid last week: it missed Earth by *230 km*! Barely above the atmosphere. OTOH it was only about the size of a beachball, so no worries either way. Meet 2025 UC11.

Bad Astronomy Newsletter

A wee asteroid came VERY close to us last week

Plus, Rubin is going to find a lot more