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The official Universal-Sci Bluesky account - Providing you with a selection of the most interesting science-related news and background stories - https://www.universal-sci.com/
Alluring: The W40 nebula
What looks like a red butterfly in space is, in reality a nursery for hundreds of baby stars, revealed in this infrared image.
(Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
What looks like a red butterfly in space is, in reality a nursery for hundreds of baby stars, revealed in this infrared image.
(Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
November 17, 2025 at 11:04 PM
Alluring: The W40 nebula
What looks like a red butterfly in space is, in reality a nursery for hundreds of baby stars, revealed in this infrared image.
(Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
What looks like a red butterfly in space is, in reality a nursery for hundreds of baby stars, revealed in this infrared image.
(Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
A close-up look at the dwarf galaxy NGC 2366. Though it lacks the graceful spiral arms seen in larger galaxies, it hosts a brilliant, star-forming nebula — and lies near enough for astronomers to observe its individual stars in detail.
(Credit: NASA & ESA)
(Credit: NASA & ESA)
November 17, 2025 at 12:21 AM
A close-up look at the dwarf galaxy NGC 2366. Though it lacks the graceful spiral arms seen in larger galaxies, it hosts a brilliant, star-forming nebula — and lies near enough for astronomers to observe its individual stars in detail.
(Credit: NASA & ESA)
(Credit: NASA & ESA)
Fascinating: NGC 2775 has a smooth, gas-poor centre like an elliptical galaxy but a dusty, star-filled ring like a spiral
Because we see it from a single angle, it’s classified as lenticular-a mix of both
(Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, F. Belfiore, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST Team)
Because we see it from a single angle, it’s classified as lenticular-a mix of both
(Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, F. Belfiore, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST Team)
November 15, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Fascinating: NGC 2775 has a smooth, gas-poor centre like an elliptical galaxy but a dusty, star-filled ring like a spiral
Because we see it from a single angle, it’s classified as lenticular-a mix of both
(Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, F. Belfiore, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST Team)
Because we see it from a single angle, it’s classified as lenticular-a mix of both
(Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, F. Belfiore, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST Team)
Awe-inspiring: The Cone Nebula, lying about 2,500 light-years from us. Its pillar-like form is a prime example of the shapes sculpted in colossal clouds of cold molecular gas and dust, the cradles of star formation.
(Credit: ESO)
(Credit: ESO)
November 14, 2025 at 1:02 AM
Awe-inspiring: The Cone Nebula, lying about 2,500 light-years from us. Its pillar-like form is a prime example of the shapes sculpted in colossal clouds of cold molecular gas and dust, the cradles of star formation.
(Credit: ESO)
(Credit: ESO)
Because we live inside our own galaxy, we cannot be sure what it really looks like
But nearby galaxy NGC 6744 is thought to resemble the Milky Way, making this image feel like a postcard from beyond - offering a glimpse of what our home galaxy might look like from afar...
(Credit: ESO)
But nearby galaxy NGC 6744 is thought to resemble the Milky Way, making this image feel like a postcard from beyond - offering a glimpse of what our home galaxy might look like from afar...
(Credit: ESO)
November 13, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Because we live inside our own galaxy, we cannot be sure what it really looks like
But nearby galaxy NGC 6744 is thought to resemble the Milky Way, making this image feel like a postcard from beyond - offering a glimpse of what our home galaxy might look like from afar...
(Credit: ESO)
But nearby galaxy NGC 6744 is thought to resemble the Milky Way, making this image feel like a postcard from beyond - offering a glimpse of what our home galaxy might look like from afar...
(Credit: ESO)
Orbiting within the Galactic bulge, 28,000 light years away, NGC 6440 is a globular cluster. Globular clusters are full of older stars (hundreds of thousands to millions of them!) tightly bound together by gravity
Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, P. Freire; Acknowledgement: M. Cadelano and C. Pallanca
Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, P. Freire; Acknowledgement: M. Cadelano and C. Pallanca
November 13, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Orbiting within the Galactic bulge, 28,000 light years away, NGC 6440 is a globular cluster. Globular clusters are full of older stars (hundreds of thousands to millions of them!) tightly bound together by gravity
Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, P. Freire; Acknowledgement: M. Cadelano and C. Pallanca
Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, P. Freire; Acknowledgement: M. Cadelano and C. Pallanca
Breathtaking: Hubble captured the spiral galaxy UGC 11105 in Hercules, 110 million light-years away
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. J. Foley (UC Santa Cruz)
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. J. Foley (UC Santa Cruz)
November 13, 2025 at 1:03 AM
Breathtaking: Hubble captured the spiral galaxy UGC 11105 in Hercules, 110 million light-years away
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. J. Foley (UC Santa Cruz)
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. J. Foley (UC Santa Cruz)
An amazing view of NGC 5248, a rare spiral galaxy with two active nuclear rings of intense star formation, showcasing powerful flows of matter and energy.
(Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, F. Belfiore, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST Team, N. Bartmann)
(Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, F. Belfiore, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST Team, N. Bartmann)
November 11, 2025 at 6:17 PM
An amazing view of NGC 5248, a rare spiral galaxy with two active nuclear rings of intense star formation, showcasing powerful flows of matter and energy.
(Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, F. Belfiore, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST Team, N. Bartmann)
(Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, F. Belfiore, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST Team, N. Bartmann)
Spectacular: Panning across the Cosmic Seagull!
(Credit: ESO, Risinger)
(Credit: ESO, Risinger)
November 10, 2025 at 11:17 PM
Spectacular: Panning across the Cosmic Seagull!
(Credit: ESO, Risinger)
(Credit: ESO, Risinger)
A somewhat surreal yet highly impactful picture: rover tracks on Mars..
(Credit: NASA/JPL, Cornell)
(Credit: NASA/JPL, Cornell)
November 9, 2025 at 5:25 PM
A somewhat surreal yet highly impactful picture: rover tracks on Mars..
(Credit: NASA/JPL, Cornell)
(Credit: NASA/JPL, Cornell)
Fascinating: The moons of Saturn to Scale
(Credit: Data: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/CICLOPS / Processing & Layout: Kevin M. Gill)
(Credit: Data: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/CICLOPS / Processing & Layout: Kevin M. Gill)
November 8, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Fascinating: The moons of Saturn to Scale
(Credit: Data: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/CICLOPS / Processing & Layout: Kevin M. Gill)
(Credit: Data: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/CICLOPS / Processing & Layout: Kevin M. Gill)
A breathtaking view of NGC 6188, also known as the Firebird nebula, located about 4100 light-years away in the constellation Ara. This gas cloud harbours a cluster of young stars called NGC 6193
(Credit: ESO/VVVX survey / video by Universal-Sci)
(Credit: ESO/VVVX survey / video by Universal-Sci)
November 6, 2025 at 7:33 PM
A breathtaking view of NGC 6188, also known as the Firebird nebula, located about 4100 light-years away in the constellation Ara. This gas cloud harbours a cluster of young stars called NGC 6193
(Credit: ESO/VVVX survey / video by Universal-Sci)
(Credit: ESO/VVVX survey / video by Universal-Sci)
IC 2948, the brightest region of the Running Chicken Nebula shows dark, hand-shaped clouds reaching toward clusters of new-born suns.
This striking nebula offers a glimpse into the turbulent early stages of star formation.
(Credit: ESO/VPHAS+ team. Acknowledgement: CASU)
This striking nebula offers a glimpse into the turbulent early stages of star formation.
(Credit: ESO/VPHAS+ team. Acknowledgement: CASU)
November 6, 2025 at 12:29 AM
IC 2948, the brightest region of the Running Chicken Nebula shows dark, hand-shaped clouds reaching toward clusters of new-born suns.
This striking nebula offers a glimpse into the turbulent early stages of star formation.
(Credit: ESO/VPHAS+ team. Acknowledgement: CASU)
This striking nebula offers a glimpse into the turbulent early stages of star formation.
(Credit: ESO/VPHAS+ team. Acknowledgement: CASU)
This gorgeous image shows part of N11, a star-forming region in the LMC, a dwarf galaxy about 160,000 light-years away. Bright young stars illuminate gas and dust, shaping the clouds with powerful ultraviolet light.
(Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, C. Murray, J. Maíz Apellániz)
(Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, C. Murray, J. Maíz Apellániz)
November 4, 2025 at 9:14 PM
This gorgeous image shows part of N11, a star-forming region in the LMC, a dwarf galaxy about 160,000 light-years away. Bright young stars illuminate gas and dust, shaping the clouds with powerful ultraviolet light.
(Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, C. Murray, J. Maíz Apellániz)
(Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, C. Murray, J. Maíz Apellániz)
An intriguing perspective: Space without the space
(Credit: xkcd)
(Credit: xkcd)
November 3, 2025 at 5:08 PM
An intriguing perspective: Space without the space
(Credit: xkcd)
(Credit: xkcd)
Fascinating - This is a piece of the Fukang meteorite, a 1,003 kilogram meteorite discovered in China
It is a so-called pallasite, a type of stony iron meteorite with olivine crystals, estimated to be 4.5 billion years old!!
(Credit: Wolfgang Sauber)
It is a so-called pallasite, a type of stony iron meteorite with olivine crystals, estimated to be 4.5 billion years old!!
(Credit: Wolfgang Sauber)
November 2, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Fascinating - This is a piece of the Fukang meteorite, a 1,003 kilogram meteorite discovered in China
It is a so-called pallasite, a type of stony iron meteorite with olivine crystals, estimated to be 4.5 billion years old!!
(Credit: Wolfgang Sauber)
It is a so-called pallasite, a type of stony iron meteorite with olivine crystals, estimated to be 4.5 billion years old!!
(Credit: Wolfgang Sauber)
Fascinating: UGC 8201, a dwarf irregular galaxy 15 million light-years away
It recently ended a several-hundred-million-year star-forming era and now offers clues to how low-mass galaxies can sustain such activity despite limited gas and energy
(Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA)
It recently ended a several-hundred-million-year star-forming era and now offers clues to how low-mass galaxies can sustain such activity despite limited gas and energy
(Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA)
November 2, 2025 at 1:32 AM
Fascinating: UGC 8201, a dwarf irregular galaxy 15 million light-years away
It recently ended a several-hundred-million-year star-forming era and now offers clues to how low-mass galaxies can sustain such activity despite limited gas and energy
(Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA)
It recently ended a several-hundred-million-year star-forming era and now offers clues to how low-mass galaxies can sustain such activity despite limited gas and energy
(Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA)
Behold the spectacular Bullet Cluster, where two massive galaxy clusters collide.
Each of these fuzzy patches is an entire galaxy of its own!
Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, J. Jee (Yonsei University, UC Davis), S. Cha (Yonsei University), K. Finner (Caltech/IPAC)
Each of these fuzzy patches is an entire galaxy of its own!
Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, J. Jee (Yonsei University, UC Davis), S. Cha (Yonsei University), K. Finner (Caltech/IPAC)
October 31, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Behold the spectacular Bullet Cluster, where two massive galaxy clusters collide.
Each of these fuzzy patches is an entire galaxy of its own!
Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, J. Jee (Yonsei University, UC Davis), S. Cha (Yonsei University), K. Finner (Caltech/IPAC)
Each of these fuzzy patches is an entire galaxy of its own!
Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, J. Jee (Yonsei University, UC Davis), S. Cha (Yonsei University), K. Finner (Caltech/IPAC)
M101, a spiral galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major quite similar to our own Galaxy.
A supernova is clearly visible as the bright, bluish star in the upper right of the image.
Credit: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage), H. Schweiker & S. Pakzad NOIRLab/NSF/AURA)
A supernova is clearly visible as the bright, bluish star in the upper right of the image.
Credit: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage), H. Schweiker & S. Pakzad NOIRLab/NSF/AURA)
October 31, 2025 at 1:11 AM
M101, a spiral galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major quite similar to our own Galaxy.
A supernova is clearly visible as the bright, bluish star in the upper right of the image.
Credit: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage), H. Schweiker & S. Pakzad NOIRLab/NSF/AURA)
A supernova is clearly visible as the bright, bluish star in the upper right of the image.
Credit: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage), H. Schweiker & S. Pakzad NOIRLab/NSF/AURA)
NGC 6559: A gorgeous realm of star birth!
(Credit: ESO, U.G. Jørgensen)
(Credit: ESO, U.G. Jørgensen)
October 29, 2025 at 8:11 PM
NGC 6559: A gorgeous realm of star birth!
(Credit: ESO, U.G. Jørgensen)
(Credit: ESO, U.G. Jørgensen)
Astonishing: a ring propeller in one of Saturn's rings created by a tiny moon (too small to see) of just a few 100 meters in diameter.
We see the "propeller"-shaped disturbances the moon creates which are several km across.
(Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/CICLOPS/Kevin M. Gill)
We see the "propeller"-shaped disturbances the moon creates which are several km across.
(Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/CICLOPS/Kevin M. Gill)
October 29, 2025 at 3:30 AM
Astonishing: a ring propeller in one of Saturn's rings created by a tiny moon (too small to see) of just a few 100 meters in diameter.
We see the "propeller"-shaped disturbances the moon creates which are several km across.
(Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/CICLOPS/Kevin M. Gill)
We see the "propeller"-shaped disturbances the moon creates which are several km across.
(Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/CICLOPS/Kevin M. Gill)
Fascinating: NGC 4753, a lenticular galaxy, is thought to have been formed by the merger with a neighbouring dwarf galaxy roughly 1.3 billion years ago.
The unique dust lanes around its nucleus are believed to be the result of this merger.
(Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, L. Kelsey)
The unique dust lanes around its nucleus are believed to be the result of this merger.
(Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, L. Kelsey)
October 28, 2025 at 12:53 AM
Fascinating: NGC 4753, a lenticular galaxy, is thought to have been formed by the merger with a neighbouring dwarf galaxy roughly 1.3 billion years ago.
The unique dust lanes around its nucleus are believed to be the result of this merger.
(Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, L. Kelsey)
The unique dust lanes around its nucleus are believed to be the result of this merger.
(Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, L. Kelsey)
These dark nebulae, Barnard 92 on the right and Barnard 93 on the left, block out starlight due to their heavy concentration of gas and dust, making them appear like dark, spectral forms against the sky
Credit: ESO/VPHAS+ team. Acknowledgment: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit
Credit: ESO/VPHAS+ team. Acknowledgment: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit
October 26, 2025 at 4:34 PM
These dark nebulae, Barnard 92 on the right and Barnard 93 on the left, block out starlight due to their heavy concentration of gas and dust, making them appear like dark, spectral forms against the sky
Credit: ESO/VPHAS+ team. Acknowledgment: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit
Credit: ESO/VPHAS+ team. Acknowledgment: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit
This galaxy has a far more exciting classification than most — it is a megamaser.
Megamasers are intensely bright, around 100 million times brighter than the masers found in galaxies like our own.
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA - Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt (geckzilla)
Megamasers are intensely bright, around 100 million times brighter than the masers found in galaxies like our own.
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA - Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt (geckzilla)
October 26, 2025 at 12:28 AM
This galaxy has a far more exciting classification than most — it is a megamaser.
Megamasers are intensely bright, around 100 million times brighter than the masers found in galaxies like our own.
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA - Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt (geckzilla)
Megamasers are intensely bright, around 100 million times brighter than the masers found in galaxies like our own.
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA - Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt (geckzilla)
A tour of the stunning Gum 41 nebula
Set against a colourful backdrop of stars, Gum 41 is a pleasantly symmetric example of a Strömgren sphere: a shell of hydrogen gas atoms glowing in due to the radiation of the central star
(Credit: ESO/VPHAS+ team. Acknowlegement: CASU)
Set against a colourful backdrop of stars, Gum 41 is a pleasantly symmetric example of a Strömgren sphere: a shell of hydrogen gas atoms glowing in due to the radiation of the central star
(Credit: ESO/VPHAS+ team. Acknowlegement: CASU)
October 24, 2025 at 10:45 PM
A tour of the stunning Gum 41 nebula
Set against a colourful backdrop of stars, Gum 41 is a pleasantly symmetric example of a Strömgren sphere: a shell of hydrogen gas atoms glowing in due to the radiation of the central star
(Credit: ESO/VPHAS+ team. Acknowlegement: CASU)
Set against a colourful backdrop of stars, Gum 41 is a pleasantly symmetric example of a Strömgren sphere: a shell of hydrogen gas atoms glowing in due to the radiation of the central star
(Credit: ESO/VPHAS+ team. Acknowlegement: CASU)