New Horizons Pluto flyby from Bjorn Jonsson on Vimeo.

Below is a timelapse video of the exploding star V838 Monocerotis taken by the Hubble Space telescope from 2002 to 2006.

From the video’s notes…

The unusual variable star V838 Monocerotis (V838 Mon) continues to puzzle astronomers. This previously inconspicuous star underwent an outburst early in 2002, during which it temporarily increased in brightness to become 600,000 times more luminous than our Sun. Light from this sudden eruption is illuminating the interstellar dust surrounding the star, producing the most spectacular “light echo” in the history of astronomy.

Awesome

Okay, this is definitely weird.

Quote:
“The University of Buckingham reports that the minuscule metal globe was discovered by astrobiologist Milton Wainwright and a team of researchers who examined dust and minute matter gathered by a high-flying balloon in Earth’s stratosphere.”

Now Dr. Wainwright has claimed to have found other traces of alien life in similar high altitude samples. I’ve read some pretty good debunking of his conclusions. This is really odd though.

UK Scientists: Aliens May Have Sent Space Seeds To Create Life On Earth

What, exactly, would happen if two black holes collided? They would probably merge to become one bigger black hole, but it would be extremely violent, producing enormous amounts of energy and sending gigantic ripples through the universe called gravitational waves. Watch in High Res. Amazing.

The landing of the booster was cancelled due to rough seas, but it was recovered anyway. The space probe launched was the long awaited Global Climate Observer. Originally to have been launched over a decade ago and delayed for political reasons. But oh, what a launch! Liftoff at about 15:40…

More on the launch…

SpaceX launches observatory on 3rd try, nixes landing test

Betelgeuse is a star in the constellation Orion. It is a Red Super Giant star. It’s really, really big. If you put Betelgeuse where our sun is, it wouldn’t just swallow the Earth, its surface would go all the way to Jupiter’s orbit.

And it’s getting ready to go supernova.

The Betelgeuse Supernova

So NASA has just released the largest digital picture of our galactic neighbor Andromeda. This link will allow you to zoom in on just a part of it. Wow.

It’s impossible to appreciate how vast the universe is. But this video will help.

OMG!

via The Verge

How cool! Best lines in the article…
“Astronomers can measure a distant planet’s age using a technique called asteroseismology, which measures the oscillations of the host star caused by sound waves trapped within it.
These waves lead to small pulses in the star’s brightness, which can be analyzed to measure its diameter, mass and age.”

Wow

Astronomers find oldest known star with Earth-like planets

Interesting.

Solar System Set For Eventual Collision With Stellar Orange Dwarf

Update: Even more on the subject! There are two orange dwarves that could affect us. Mind you, we are talking about 500,000 years from now minimum.

Two Orange Dwarf Stars To Reach The Solar System Might Wipe Out Human Race

If your a bit of an Astronomy junkie like me, you’ll love this website…

Space Weather Gallery

And don’t forget their companion site for what’s happening with the skies…

Spaceweather.com

I believe the evidence for “Dark Matter” is a bit weak. To paraphrase Neil DeGrasse Tyson, It could just has easily, and more correctly be termed “Dark Gravity”. Note, this is a long and technical article, but very interesting.

Dwarf Galaxies Dim Hopes of Dark Matter

Well, not exactly the X-Wing you might be thinking of. Space X continues to improve its Falcon 9R (R for reusable). It has now added small fins with a sort of X shaped grille work. This allows for even more control. It’s still a scary landing. Additionally, Elon Musk intends to build high-tech floating landing pads for the craft.

Falcon 9R test flight from June

Story with more pictures…

Elon Musk shows off rockets with ‘X-wings’ and landing pads in the sea

It could happen again. Not as likely as a massive solar outburst, but still a very possible risk humanity faces.

Did Deadly Gamma-Ray Burst Cause a Mass Extinction on Earth?

So cool. You can now watch from an HD webcam mounted on the International Space Station.

NOTE: You will see a black screen when the ISS is on the night-side of the Earth

Broadcast live streaming video on Ustream

This is just beautiful.

Wanderers – a short film by Erik Wernquist from Erik Wernquist on Vimeo.

“Wanderers is a vision of humanity’s expansion into the Solar System, based on scientific ideas and concepts of what our future in space might look like, if it ever happens. The locations depicted in the film are digital recreations of actual places in the Solar System, built from real photos and map data where available.”

The brave little lander from the Rosetta probe has been shut down after relaying the results of its first (and sadly, probably only) tests.

Comet lander shuts down after sending data

BTW, if you are interested in just how big the comet 67P actually is…

A size comparison of the comet 67P with popular sci-fi spaceships

The European Space Agency has landed it’s Rosetta probe onto a comet nucleus. The probe does not appear to have anchored properly, but the pictures are amazing.

Rosetta on Flickr

European probe lands on comet, but fails to anchor down

From Neatorama…