The sky often treats us to new wonders like meteor showers, intriguing planets, and captivating lunar eclipses. However, it’s not just about new arrivals in space — some things are saying their goodbyes and Saturn’s famous rings are on the way out. Scientists are closely monitoring this phenomenon.
Soon, Saturn’s rings are going to disappear from our view.
© NASA / JPL / Space Science Institute / Wikimedia Commons, © Public domain
Those iconic rings we’ve admired from Earth will no longer be visible in just 18 short months. These rings are composed of a mix of icy and rocky bits, often dust-coated, encircling the sixth planet in our solar system. But the reality is, even though it might not seem soon in human terms, they are on the path to becoming invisible to us by 2025, a cosmic blink of an eye. While the full disappearance will take millions of years, the show in the night sky won’t last much longer.
© NASA / JPL-Caltech / SSI / Wikimedia Commons, © Public domain
Here’s why this is happening: as Saturn orbits the Sun, its tilt angle will drop to zero on March 23, 2025. When this tilt reaches zero, it essentially means that Saturn will present itself perfectly on its side to us here on Earth. Saturn is about 746 million miles away from us at its nearest point, and when it’s sideways, we won’t see its iconic rings. This unique alignment will occur again on October 15, 2038, and then in quick succession on April 1 and July 9, 2039.
© NASA / ESA / A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center), M.H. Wong (UC Berkeley), OPAL Team / Wikimedia Commons, © Public domain, © NASA / JPL / Wikimedia Commons, © Public domain
After Saturn’s rings disappear in 2025, we won’t get a full view of them again until 2032. Saturn’s rings are tilted towards our planet at an angle of nine degrees. By next year, this tilt will reduce to only 3.7 degrees. We haven’t witnessed this disappearing act since September 2009; prior to that, it hadn’t occurred since February 1996. So, it’s a relatively rare event for skywatchers to witness.
NASA captured an image of an unusual celestial object resembling a question mark.
© Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Anton M. Koekemoer (STScI) / NASA, ESA, CSA
NASA’s James Webb Telescope has spotted a mysterious object shaped like a question mark. Although the true nature of this object is currently unknown, scientists have some speculations about it. This intriguing discovery has piqued the interest of astronomers and researchers eager to learn more about this enigmatic celestial feature.
© Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Anton M. Koekemoer (STScI) / NASA, ESA, CSA
The object is part of the Herbig Haro 46/47 star system, where two young stars orbit each other under the influence of gravity. These stars are located in the Vela Constellation, approximately 1,470 light-years away from Earth. The object’s distinct question mark shape is of a reddish hue, signifying it is more distant than the other stars in the image.
The true nature of this celestial entity remains a puzzle, but its unique shape and color provide some hints. It may represent a distant galaxy or even the result of two galaxies colliding, which gives it the distinctive question mark appearance. This interpretation is supported by experts at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore.
The search for extraterrestrial life continues, and with technological advancements and our understanding of the cosmos, we may one day make significant discoveries. In the meantime, exploring the wonders of the starry sky through cosmic images can be a truly enchanting experience.
Shaq speaks out after PDA photo of ‘his hands’ on influencer goes viral
The NBA Hall of Famer addressed the allegations in a manner characteristic of Shaq.
Shaq may be the man in the picture of an unidentified man holding a woman with his big hands, according to social media investigators.
Shaquille O’Neal, the NBA Hall of Famer, has since spoken out following the viral success of the endearing picture.
Maria Ozuna Teachey posted a photo of herself holding a very tall man who was hugging her from behind, but the selfie she took in the mirror left his head off.
The photo was captioned “Unapologetically us” by eachey. Guess who feet, guys? #loveyou.
Claimantly identifying themselves as the seven-foot-one-inch, 325-pound basketball icon, Shaq’s more than 200,000 strong Instagram followers instantly flooded her feed with comments.
“People on social media seem to think #Shaq has a new girlfriend,” wrote the popular social media account WorldStar when it published the image on its Instagram page.
The legendary former LA Lakers player remarked, “Nope not the kid.”
Then, in a hilarious turn of events, Shaq posted a video of himself with five women on his own Instagram account, writing, “Is this my girlfriend too? Trust me, I’ll let y’all know who my woman is. By the way, her name is Shaqirah.”
He also uploaded a video of himself lip-syncing to the iconic Training Day speech delivered by Denzel Washington, along with the message, “I’ll let you know when I fall in love.”
Although Teachey removed the post from her Instagram account a while ago, it remains on Facebook.
Since divorcing his ex-wife Shaunie Henderson, the founder and CEO of Amirah, Inc., the business behind Basketball Wives, in 2011, Shaq has been remarkably silent on the dating scene.
Together, the couple has five children: Shareef, Amirah, Me’arah, Shaqir, and Myles B. O’Neal, Shaunie’s step-son from a previous relationship. In addition, Shaq and his ex-girlfriend Arnetta Yardbourgh are the parents of Taahirah O’Neal, their daughter.
Shaq has been quiet about his current girlfriend despite a number of speculations circulating about her.
The Olympic gold champion, who once challenged Michael Phelps in a swimming competition, is unquestionably a sporting star.
The 15-time NBA All-Star finished the race in 23.14 seconds, while Phelps finished in 24.03 seconds—though, it should be noted, he was only swimming 25 yards, while the most decorated Olympian of all time had to cover 50 yards with a five-second head start—back when he was filming the competitive ABC series, Shaq Vs.
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