Adam Priester On Society6

Just a typical day on Mars.

A Black Hole is an extraordinarily massive, improbably dense knot of spacetime that makes a living swallowing or slinging away any morsel of energy that strays too close to its dark, twisted core. Anyone fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to directly observe one of these beasts in the wild would immediately notice the way its colossal gravitational field warps all of the light from the stars and galaxies behind it, a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing.

Thanks to the power of supercomputers, a curious observer no longer has to venture into outer space to see such a sight. A team of astronomers has released their first simulated images of the lensing effects of not just one, but two black holes, trapped in orbit by each other’s gravity and ultimately doomed to merge as one.

http://www.universetoday.com/116500/new-simulation-offers-stunning-images-of-black-hole-merger/?

Haleakala Observatory atop a volcano

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NASA originally commissioned these posters for an exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor’s Complex in 2009. As part of their Journey to Mars, these versions are now available to everyone online. 

Credit: NASA/KSC

November 2, 2177 - by Paul Pepera

Cone Nebula

A large, faint emission nebula and bright galactic association of stars known as The Christmas Tree Cluster form object NGC 2264, which itself contains a unique feature known as the Cone Nebula. The Cone Nebula’s shape comes from a dark absorption nebula consisting of cold molecular hydrogen and dust in front of a faint emission nebula containing hydrogen ionized by nearby star S Monocerotos, the brightest star of NGC 2264. The faint nebula is approximately seven light-years long and is 2,700 light-years away from Earth.

Credit: David M. Jurasevich

By artist Kory Hubbell.

Star Trek fans protest the cancellation of the show (1968)

(In the Paratus universe, the Soviets landed on the Moon first.)

Newly Released High Resolution Film Scans from Apollo Missions

8,434 photos from the Apollo missions were just uploaded to flickr by NASA! 

The moon is pretty rad.