World's Largest Digital Camera Snaps Its First Photos of the Universe
The U.S.-funded observatory, perched in an area of the Chilean Andes known for exceptionally dark skies, is equipped with the world's largest digital camera and a 27.5-foot mirror that can capture light too faint for other telescopes to see.
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Yahoo
26 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Moon phase today: What the moon will look like on August 19, 2025
The moon is getting less and less visible each night, and it won't be long before we see nothing at all. The moon is looking a little darker right now due to where we are in the lunar cycle, a series of eight unique phases of the moon's visibility. The whole cycle takes about 29.5 days, according to NASA, and these different phases happen as the Sun lights up different parts of the moon whilst it orbits Earth. So let's see what's happening with the moon tonight, Aug. 19. What is today's moon phase? As of Tuesday, Aug. 19, the moon phase is Waning Crescent, and it is 16% lit up to us on Earth, according to NASA's Daily Moon Observation. We're on day 26 of the lunar cycle, and there's really not a whole lot for us to see tonight. With no visual aids other than your eyes, try and spot the Aristarchus Plateau. This is positioned in the top left of the moon (bottom right, if you're in the Southern Hemisphere). With binoculars, see even more, including the Grimaldi Basin, and with a telescope, enjoy a glimpse of the Reiner Gamma. When is the next full moon? The next full moon will be on Sept. 7. The last full moon was on Aug. 9. What are moon phases? According to NASA, moon phases are caused by the 29.5-day cycle of the moon's orbit, which changes the angles between the Sun, Moon, and Earth. Moon phases are how the moon looks from Earth as it goes around us. We always see the same side of the moon, but how much of it is lit up by the Sun changes depending on where it is in its orbit. This is how we get full moons, half moons, and moons that appear completely invisible. There are eight main moon phases, and they follow a repeating cycle: New Moon - The moon is between Earth and the sun, so the side we see is dark (in other words, it's invisible to the eye). Waxing Crescent - A small sliver of light appears on the right side (Northern Hemisphere). First Quarter - Half of the moon is lit on the right side. It looks like a half-moon. Waxing Gibbous - More than half is lit up, but it's not quite full yet. Full Moon - The whole face of the moon is illuminated and fully visible. Waning Gibbous - The moon starts losing light on the right side. Last Quarter (or Third Quarter) - Another half-moon, but now the left side is lit. Waning Crescent - A thin sliver of light remains on the left side before going dark again. Solve the daily Crossword
Digital Trends
an hour ago
- Digital Trends
All eyes are on Starship, but SpaceX has another key mission on Sunday, too
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New York Times
3 hours ago
- New York Times
‘Alien: Earth' Season 1, Episode 3 Recap: Weird Science
Season 1, Episode 3: 'Metamorphosis' The 'Alien' franchise explores two overlapping nightmares. The first is the Alien, a cold and implacable force against which humanity is defenseless. The second is humanity itself, which through technological hubris and old-fashioned greed might well invite its own destruction. Against the first we are helpless; with the second, we are all too eager to help. Where, then, does this leave a man like Morrow? The cyborg science officer aboard the doomed deep-space research vessel the Maginot may or may not have the freedom to make his own decisions regarding his mission to preserve the hostile alien life forms the ship was carrying. It seems highly possibile that his paymasters at the Weyland-Yutani Corporation have hacked his brain and forced him to comply. He also speaks of those awful aliens as his life's work, however, the mission to which he gave up 65 years of his life, in frozen slumber, in order to see it through. Everyone he knew in his old life, from his daughter to his crew, is now dead. The eyeball octopus, the bloodsucker, the dangling tentacle plant, the barfing bug and xenomporph are all he has left. Even when Ms. Yutani waves him off, he tells her that he will get those specimens back. Whether motivation or compulsion drove him to seal himself inside a safe room and allow the monsters to slaughter his fellow voyagers, the decision clearly weighs on Morrow. While downloading the ship's data into his computer-augmented brain — a process that involves a set of light-up tubes and, evidently, a good deal of pain — Morrow tries to explain his plight to Slightly and Smee (Jonathan Ajayi), the childlike human-synthetic hybrids left behind to guard a cache of Alien eggs. 'There's a feeling you get,' he says, 'when the monsters come, and you can't — you don't — help.' The dilemma leaves him wishing he were the robot the hybrids suspect him to be, since being fully mechanical would relieve him of the moral burden of what he has done. But when he is interrupted by Kirsh, the hybrids' synthetic guardian, and he sees one of the Alien eggs beginning to hatch, he makes a leap into the chasm created by his crashed ship and disappears. For a time, at least, it seems as if Morrow's mission is a failure. Kirsh and the hybrids secure the alien specimens and bring them back to the island headquarters of the genius inventor Boy Kavalier and his upstart mega-corporation, Prodigy. (The company's teddy-bear logo is particularly noxious considering its conduct.) Kavalier is especially smitten with the xenomorph corpse, seeing an ocean of potential in that hunk of obsidian exoskeleton and acidic blood. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
