Happy Halloween from the BOOniverse, which is a word I just made up in my day job as a science writer.
But seriously, the Universe is gorgeous as we already know, but it is also freaky as hell when you think about it. I wrote about some of the more terrifying aspects of space for @syfy Fangrrls, where I now have a weekly column called Star Stuff <wink wink>:
Star Stuff is a weekly column by rocket scientist & astrophysicist Summer Ash highlighting some amazing things happening every day on and off the planet, especially great science done by and/or for women. She harnesses her science communication powers to smash the patriarchy and advocate for equality and inclusion across all time and space. Throwdowns with pseudoscience may occur.
As pictured above, the current column’s highlights include: the Ghost Nebula, the Witch Nebula screaming at Rigel, the Hourglass Nebula keeping an eye out for women in astronomy (full story in article), galactic cannibalism, and the gravitational lens that is taunting us about the lack of women being awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics (also in article).
I also had to throw in this dark spooky web of dark matter featured on today’s Astronomy Picture of the Day. It’s a still taken from the Dark Universe film now playing at the Hayden Planetarium and created by the folks at the American Museum of Natural History. Oh btw, it’s also Dark Matter Day so this counts as a twofer.
Shameless plug: you can check out all of my columns for @syfy Fangrrls to date here.