Spectacle

By Lauren Perkins, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center March 22, 2024Lunar eclipses happen during the full moon phase when Earth aligns exactly between the Moon and Sun, casting Earth’s shadow on the Moon. This shadowing dims the Moon and can turn it a vivid red for several hours. Visible from one hemisphere of Earth at a time, there are three kinds of lunar eclipses: total, partial, and penumbral. Credit: NASAApril’s solar eclipse has stolen the headlines for many months now, and rightfully so with millions of Americans…

In a cosmic ballet set to mesmerise skygazers, Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, fondly dubbed the "Devil Comet," is poised for an extraordinary rendezvous with the Great North American Total Solar Eclipse on April 8. While enthusiasts anticipate the prospect of witnessing this extraordinary alignment, uncertainty shrouds whether the comet will unveil itself to the naked eye amidst the daytime eclipse.The Journey of the "Devil Comet”Dubbed a "dirty snowball" by the late Harvard astronomer Fred Whipple, Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks is…

It’s a storyline worthy of a WWE superstar: washed up, widely ridiculed, apparently on its way to obscurity, WWE 2K20 was video game wrestling’s lowest ebb. Not five years later, presumably having performed all manner of off-screen training montages in meat lockers, the game returns revitalised, with a twinkle in its eye and, much more pertinently, controls that not only function but actually put a smile on your face.Conceptually, wrestling has always been hard to translate to a game. Why not just keep leathering your…

A significant solar flare, peaking at 1:53 a.m. EST on February 16, 2024, was observed by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. Classified as an X2.5, it represents a high-intensity energy burst with potentially disruptive effects on technology and space missions. Credit: NASA/SDOThe Sun emitted a strong solar flare, peaking at 1:53 a.m. EST on Friday, February 16, 2024. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the Sun constantly, captured an image of the event.Solar flares are powerful bursts of energy. Flares and…

The second part of Denis Villeneuve’s monumental Dune adaptation lands with a sternum-juddering crash; it’s another shroom of a film, an epic sci-fi hallucination whose images speak of fascism and imperialism, of guerrilla resistance and romance. Villeneuve’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel – working with co-writer Jon Spaihts – draws on David Lean, George Lucas and Ridley Scott’s Gladiator in the (perhaps inevitable) mega-stadium combat scene with the tiny billions of CGI crowds in the bleachers. But he really…

When Taylor Swift first played in Melbourne 15 years ago, it was to an audience of 900. This week in the city, the US megastar performs for a quarter of a million.Love her or hate her, there’s no denying it: Australia is in the thick of Swiftmania. Leading up to the hotly anticipated Australian leg of Swift’s Eras Tour, Melbourne was lit up with it all, from a Swift-themed academic symposium to a pop-up merchandise stand at Crown, to a projection on Flinders Street Station welcoming Swifties to town – with the clock…

PHOENIX —  As he threw batting practice to Shohei Ohtani on Friday, Dodgers third base coach Dino Ebel learned more about the superstar slugger based on what he did with bad pitches, not good ones.Plenty of players, Ebel noted, can launch towering drive after towering drive at soft throws over the middle of the plate.But on pitches that missed the heart of the zone Friday, Ohtani either laid off — a rare trait Ebel said spoke to the hitter’s efficient approach and purposeful work ethic — or made a quick and powerful…

Early on in Harmony Korine’s new experimental action film Aggro Dr1ft, hitman protagonist BO (Jordi Mollà) strangles a guy to death in his pool. Or maybe that happens toward the end. And, come to think of it, that might have been a hot tub. You’ll have to forgive my confusion, because the movie is defiantly nonlinear, shot entirely in the garish neons of infrared vision, and not anchored in any baseline reality: the moment he snuffs out this man, BO unleashes a gigantic Balrog-like kaiju that appears to breathe flame…

Breadcrumb Trail LinksTelevisionNFLMusicPublished Jan 31, 2024  •  Last updated 10 minutes ago  •  5 minute read Prince performs during the 'Pepsi Halftime Show' at Super Bowl XLI between the Indianapolis Colts and the Chicago Bears on February 4, 2007 at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla. Photo by Jamie Squire /Getty ImagesArticle contentUnderneath his umbrella, NFL legend Dan Marino stood nearly drenched on the sideline watching Prince’s epic “Purple Rain” Super Bowl halftime performance in 2007 during a…

Skywatching in January 2024 features the Quadrantid meteor shower, planetary conjunctions with the Moon, and the ever-changing star positions due to Earth’s orbit, with stars rising four minutes earlier each day. Credit: SciTechDaily.comWhat are some skywatching highlights in January 2024?The year kicks off with the Quadrantid meteors, and some great Moon-planet pairings. Plus, did you know the stars shift in the sky by four minutes each day?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjctqlG78wAWHAT TO LOOK FOR:Meteors and shifting…