A catadioptric optical system is one that employs both lenses and mirrors to focus the image. Perhaps the most popular catadioptric among amateur astronomers, the Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope (or SCT) uses a combination of spherical primary and secondary mirrors, along with a corrector … Read More
NASA’s Curiosity rover discovered some intriguing organic compounds on Mars that could be signs of ancient Mars life, but testing that hypothesis will take a lot more work. Researchers report in a new study that some of the powdered rock … Read More
The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), which is currently pointing at the skies from its home in the Nicholas U. Mayall Telescope at Arizona’s Kitt Peak National Observatory, is tasked with charting the expansion of space, investigating dark energy, and … Read More
The Earth seems to inhale and exhale in a new animation that shows how carbon is taken up and released as the seasons change. During the summer, the animated continents appear to deflate, indicating times and locations where vegetation is … Read More
According to a recent genetic analysis, three previously unknown strains of bacteria were discovered growing on the International Space Station. The discovery could help scientists in developing better ways for growing food on Mars. The study, which was published in … Read More
The image above may look like a fairly normal picture of the night sky, but what you’re looking at is a lot more special than just glittering stars. Each of those white dots is an active supermassive black hole. And … Read More