Over 1,000 light-years in diameter, the Tarantula Nebula is a giant star forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a galaxy near ours. NASA released an image of it today. […]

"We have all a better guide in ourselves, if we would attend to it, than any other person can be." - Jane Austen

Big Think is a knowledge forum that features insights from the world’s leading thinkers. Whether it’s Michio Kaku discussing energy sources of the future or Stephen Dubner, the co-author of […]

A radio dish that broadcasts galaxies? No, but they can detect them, according to NASA. In this image, taken two weeks ago, we can see the photogenic superposition of a night sky over New Zealand. NASA explains: As pictured above, the central part of our Milky Way Galaxy is seen rising to the east on the image left and arching high overhead. Beneath the Galactic arc and just above the horizon are the two brightest satellite galaxies of our Milky Way, with the Small Magellanic Cloud to the left and the Large Magellanic Cloud on the right. The radio dish is the Warkworth Satellite Station located just north of Auckland. Image credit: NASA

"Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal." - Albert Camus

Are you a country that needs an economic boost? Just make sure that your national team wins the World Cup. Soccer fever is upon us, or football fever as the […]

What does the x-ray of an entire spiral galaxy look like? NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory took an x-ray of interacting galaxies known as M51, or the Whirlpool.  NASA explains: The […]

"If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things." - Rene Descartes

Ed Mitchell is a renowned pitmaster in Raleigh, North Carolina. He owns a restaurant in Durham called Que. Mitchell can be considered not only a barbecue connoisseur but also a […]

Attention stargazers, NASA released this helpful infographic today. From NASA: What is that light in the sky? Perhaps one of humanity’s more common questions, an answer may result from a […]

"Man is so made that whenever anything fires his soul, impossibilities vanish." - Jean de la Fontaine

How do you avoid a panic? Timothy Geithner knows quite well. In his memoir, Stress Test: Reflections on Financial Crisis, he gives you a fly-on-the-wall look at how our global […]

Ai Weiwei. Kara Walker. Pussy Riot. Guerrilla Girls. Orwell. Art has long been an empowering outlet for speaking out against injustices. Politics aside, just the simple act of enjoying another […]

Elizabeth Taylor would swoon over this stellar jewel box. NASA released this image of NGC 290, an open star cluster and a treasure chest of sparkling objects. From NASA: Like […]

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great." - Mark Twain

The Eagle has landed. NASA released this image of the roughly 2 million years old (a relatively youthful star cluster) of M16, surrounded by glowing gas and natal clouds of […]

"The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another." - William James

Look up in the sky, it’s a bird, it’s a plane! It’s comet PanSTARRS C/2012 K1, and NASA snapped this photograph of it crossing the constellation Ursa Major. From NASA: […]

"The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office." - Dwight D. Eisenhower

No, this is not a still from David Lynch’s Dune. But it could be! The Cat’s Eye Nebula, or NGC 6543, is one of the better known planetary nebulae for […]