Shop Now

Telescopes and astronomy products

Latest News

From around the web

Images from the Mars Perseverance Rover – Photo stream updated daily!

Mars Image

Camera: Front Hazard Avoidance Camera - Left

Earth Date: Tue February 4th, 2025

Sol: 1409

Mars Image

Camera: Front Hazard Avoidance Camera - Left

Earth Date: Tue February 4th, 2025

Sol: 1409

Mars Image

Camera: Front Hazard Avoidance Camera - Left

Earth Date: Tue February 4th, 2025

Sol: 1409

Mars Image

Camera: Front Hazard Avoidance Camera - Left

Earth Date: Tue February 4th, 2025

Sol: 1409

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day (July 24th, 2026):

RCW 86: Historical Supernova Remnant

From NASA: "In 185 AD, Chinese astronomers recorded the appearance of a new star in the Nanmen asterism. That part of the sky is identified with part of the southern constellation Centaurus on modern star charts. In fact, the new star was reported to be visible to the naked-eye for months before it faded from view, and is now thought to be the earliest recorded supernova. In this 21st century telescopic image, the wispy outlines of a faint emission nebula recognized as the remnant of that historical stellar explosion can be traced against a starry background. The ragged but roughly circular extent of the nebula, cataloged as RCW 86, represents interstellar gas ionized by the supernova's still expanding shock wave. Space-based images indicate an abundance of the element iron in RCW 86 and the absence of a neutron star or pulsar within the remnant, suggesting that the original supernova was Type Ia. Unlike the core collapse supernova explosion of a massive star, a Type Ia supernova is a thermonuclear detonation on a white dwarf star that has accreted material from its companion in a binary star system. Near the plane of our Milky Way galaxy and larger than the full moon on the sky this supernova remnant is too faint to be seen by eye though. RCW 86 is some 8,000 light-years distant and around 100 light-years across."

Deep Dives into Space and Beyond