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space science

These interstellar spaceship designs are wildly impractical

Space

These interstellar spaceship designs are wildly impractical

51¶¯Âþs’ ideas for travelling to the stars range from the the wholly improbable to the hugely expensive and very difficult, says Ed Regis

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Caption This image from NASA?s James Webb Space Telescope shows a portion of the Leo P dwarf galaxy (stars at lower right represented in blue). Leo P is a star-forming galaxy located about 5 million light-years away in the constellation Leo. A team of scientists collected data from about 15,000 stars in Leo P to deduce its star formation history. They determined that it went through three phases: an initial burst of star formation, a ?pause? that lasted several billion years, and then a new round of star formation that is still continuing. The image from Webb?s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) combines infrared light at wavelengths of 0.9 microns (represented in blue), 1.5 microns (green), and 2.77 microns (red). The stars in Leo P appear blue in comparison to the background galaxies for several reasons. Young, massive stars that are common in star-forming galaxies are predominantly blue. Leo P also is extremely lacking in elements heavier than hydrogen and helium, and the resulting ?metal-poor? stars tend to be bluer than Sun-like stars. A bubble-like structure at bottom center is a region of ionized hydrogen surrounding a hot, massive O-type star. Credits Image NASA, ESA, CSA, Kristen McQuinn (STScI) Image Processing Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

Space

James Webb captures a beautiful smattering of blue stars

51¶¯Âþ

The physicist trying to build humanity's lunar future with moon dirt

Space

The physicist trying to build humanity's lunar future with moon dirt

Features

Incredible images show the moment SpaceX's Starship exploded

Space

Incredible images show the moment SpaceX's Starship exploded

Regulars

Adrian Tchaikovsky:

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Adrian Tchaikovsky: "Could life have gone any other way?"

Culture

Read an extract from Adrian Tchaikovsky's Alien Clay

Space

Read an extract from Adrian Tchaikovsky's Alien Clay

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Atlas C2024-G3 Jan 11, 2025

Space

See comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) as viewed from Earth's orbit

51¶¯Âþ

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - JUNE 16: Portrait of Iain M. Banks being interviewed by SFX Magazine/Future via Getty Images on June 16, 2010. (Photo by Joseph Branston/SFX Magazine/Future via Getty Images)

Space

Rereading the best science fiction writers of all time: Iain M. Banks

Culture

The physicist on a mission to understand Mercury's epic solar storms

Space

The physicist on a mission to understand Mercury's epic solar storms

Features

n 2025 BepiColombo image1 Top three images from BepiColombo's sixth Mercury flyby 09/01/2025 619 views 4 likes ESA / Science & Exploration / Space Science / BepiColombo On 8 January 2025, the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission flew past Mercury for the sixth time, successfully completing the final ?gravity assist manoeuvre? needed to steer it into orbit around the planet in late 2026. The spacecraft flew just a few hundred kilometres above the planet's north pole. Close-up images expose possibly icy craters whose floors are in permanent shadow, and the vast sunlit northern plains. At 06:59 CET, BepiColombo flew just 295 km above Mercury's surface on the planet's cold, dark night side. Around seven minutes later, it passed directly over the Mercury's north pole before getting clear views of the planet's sunlit north. European Space Agency (ESA) Director General Josef Aschbacher revealed the first image during his Annual Press Briefing on 9 January. As during BepiColombo's previous flybys, the spacecraft's monitoring cameras (M-CAMs) did not disappoint. This flyby also marks the last time that the mission's M-CAMs get up-close views of Mercury, as the spacecraft module they are attached to will separate from the mission's two orbiters ? ESA?s Mercury Planetary Orbiter and JAXA?s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter ? before they enter orbit around Mercury in late 2026. Celebrating the M-CAMs' final hurrah, let's explore the best three images from BepiColombo's sixth close encounter with the little planet, and what they reveal about mysterious Mercury.

Space

BepiColombo snaps Mercury's dark craters and volcanic plains

The BepiColombo spacecraft is due to start orbiting Mercury next year, but a recent flyby has captured breathtaking images of its pockmarked surface

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Mathematics

How a typo spoiled my proof of Fermat’s last theorem

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The best new science fiction books of January 2025

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The best sci-fi TV shows of all time, according to 51¶¯Âþ

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The best science fiction TV shows to look forward in 2025

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