thequarkside

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There’s gonna be a game based on my comic!!

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Ploonets are a new class of theorized objects when a moon leaves its host planet to become a planet itself! You can read more about them here: http://www.astronomy.com/news/2019/07/ploonets-when-a-planets-moon-goes-rogue

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This truly is INCREDIBLE news. The first image ever of a black hole! This black hole is at the center of a nearby galaxy called M87 and was chosen because it’s a supermassive black hole (as opposed to the black hole at the center of our Milky Way, which is much smaller). You can read more about this amazing accomplishment here:  http://www.astronomy.com/news/2019/04/event-horizon-telescope-releases-first-ever-black-hole-image

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Did you hear the big news?! Check out PromotePluto.com for more info!

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At the rate astronomers keep discovering these distant objects, we're gonna end up with A LOT of fars in their names!

You can read more about Farout and Farfarout here: http://www.astronomy.com/news/2019/03/a-map-to-planet-nine-charting-the-solar-systems-most-distant-worlds

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Did you hear the news? For the first time ever, scientists successfully landed a lander (Chang'e 4) and a rover (Yutu 2) on the far side of the moon!!

The "dark side" of the moon is a misnomer. It gets light, but since the moon is tidally locked we never get to see its far side. But I still like to think of it as it's "dark" side ;)

You can read more about this mission and watch some really cool footage taken from the lander here: http://www.astronomy.com/news/2019/01/change-4-sends-another-trove-of-images-from-the-moons-far-side

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Did you hear the news? Ultima Thule is now the most distant object we've ever visited.  And it came with a surprise - it's two objects that turned into one!  You can read all about New Horizons and Ultima Thule here: http://www.astronomy.com/news/2019/01/ultima-thule-the-cosmic-snowman

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OSIRIS-REx arrived at asteroid Bennu this week! It will stay in orbit to do a complete survey of the asteroid. But even cooler, it will get so close to the surface it will touch Bennu briefly and use a puff of hydrogen to dislodge surface material, that it will then collect. After that, OSIRIS-REx heads back to Earth to deliver the sample!

Here is a really cool video on how this little orbiter got to Bennu and detailing its mission.

https://youtu.be/NYGHbl_esgw

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InSight landed safely on Mars yesterday!! This little guy isn't a rover, but a lander that will be studying seismic activity on the red planet.

You can read more about InSight here: https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/26/world/nasa-insight-mars-landing-today/index.html

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Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!!

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So this is pretty cool! Researchers just discovered a very large, but very dim dwarf galaxy right in our own backyard! There are some questions as to how this mysterious "ghost galaxy" is able to be so large and so faint (usually galaxies shrink as they lose stars).

You can read more about Antlia 2 here: https://news.sky.com/story/astronomers-discover-ghost-galaxy-near-milky-way-11553834

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Pluto should have done his research.

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On Oct 31, 2015 scientists used radar imaging to photograph a little dead comet. Much to their surprise, it looked quite a lot like a skull! Due to that and the timing, they nicknamed it Death Comet.

Death Comet will swing by us again this year (albeit a little later than last time). 

You can read more about the Death Comet here: https://www.universetoday.com/140108/the-death-comet-will-pass-by-earth-just-after-halloween/

Happy Halloween, all!!! 💀🎃

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While we've never seen one, theoretically moons orbiting moons is possible under the right circumstances. But what would we call them?? And why is it so difficult to come up with names in astronomy anyway?

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Giant ice spikes would make for a rough landing if we ever make it to Europa. You can read more about this study here: https://phys.org/news/2018-10-giant-jagged-ice-spikes-jupiter.html

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More evidence supporting the Planet 9 theory.. and it's a dwarf planet called The Goblin! 

You can read more about Planet 9 and The Goblin here:  http://www.astronomy.com/news/2018/10/goblin-planet-solar-system