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It's been an exceptional week for skywatchers, marked by mysterious sky spirals, the northern lights and, of course, this morning's long-anticipated sunrise solar eclipse.
On Monday (March 24), a giant vortex of light was seen floating across the night sky in Europe. But while many speculated that it was the work of aliens, the ethereal light show was actually caused by a dying SpaceX rocket, which was preparing to crash back to Earth after delivering "secret cargo" into orbit around our planet.
Auroras also lit up the skies across several northern U.S. states this week after a large hole in the sun's atmosphere sent streams of charged particles toward Earth, creating a moderate geomagnetic storm.
But the main event this week has been today's (March 29) partial solar eclipse. Between 4:50 a.m. and 8:43 a.m. EDT, the moon will roll in front of the sun, partially obscuring it as if a large bite had been taken out of our nearest star. The exact timings vary by location, and the eclipse will be visible in only 13 U.S. states, mostly in the Northeast.
NASA has released a map showing where and when to view the eclipse, and if you can't see it from your location, you can watch the event online. If the eclipse is visible from where you live, it is important to wear appropriate safety glasses when you observe it, as looking directly at a partial solar eclipse can damage your eyes.
This depiction of a face is from one of the wooden coffins at Tombos.
(Image credit: Photo courtesy of the Tombos Archaeological Project)
Archaeologists long believed that the ancient pyramids of Egypt and Sudan were reserved for the highest echelons of society. But new research from a site called Tombos, which the Egyptians established in what is now Sudan after their conquest of Nubia, has led some archaeologists to question this theory.
Wealthy individuals were buried at Tombos, in tombs with small pyramids built above them. However, an analysis of the bones of 110 skeletons found at these burial sites suggests that many of the people buried in these pyramids performed significant amounts of heavy labor — an unlikely activity for high-status individuals at the time. As a result, the researchers concluded that lower-class laborers may have been buried alongside the elite in these famous ancient structures.
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We know animals have their own complex communication systems. But can they understand what we're saying?
(Image credit: debibishop via Getty Images)
Many pet owners claim that their furry friends can understand at least some human language. We are increasingly learning about the similarities between the communication styles of animals and humans — but can they really learn to speak our language?
The organism, named Prototaxites, lived around 420 million to 375 million years ago and resembled branchless, cylindrical tree trunks. They are considered by many to be the first giant organisms to grow on land, reaching up to 26 feet (8 meters) in height and 3 feet (1 m) in diameter.
Previous chemical analysis showed that these organisms likely fed off of dead and decaying organisms, just like many fungi do today. However, new research revealed that the organism's internal structure is very different from anything we see in modern fungi today.
What's more, its cells do not appear to contain chitin, a fundamental building block of fungal cell walls and a hallmark of the fungal kingdom. Instead, they contain chemicals similar to the woody lignin found in the bark and stems of plants. Thus, the researchers concluded that these strange organisms may belong to a previously unrecognized branch of the tree of life.
A color image of the newly discovered black hole light echo candidate, which may be one of the biggest ever found.
(Image credit: Julian Shapiro, Chilescope T1)
Between taking classes and considering college admissions, high-school junior Julian Shapiro is an independent astronomer with a keen interest in supernova remnants and planetary nebulas. However, in his quest to find debris from exploding stars, Shapiro came across something even more spectacular: the ghostly echo of a long-lost black hole almost twice the width of the Milky Way.
Long after black holes sputter out of existence, the gas clouds that surround them glow with leftover radiation, like wisps of smoke rising from an extinguished flame. These cosmic ghosts are known as "light echoes," and it is one such echo that Shapiro spotted while sifting through data from the Dark Energy Camera at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile.
According to Shapiro's calculations, the light echo measures about 150,000 to 250,000 light-years in diameter — between 1.5 and two times the width of our entire galaxy. If his estimates hold up, the discovery could mark the largest such light echo ever discovered.
"It was a real surprise to stumble upon this," Shapiro told Live Science.
Something for the weekend
If you're looking for something a little longer to read over the weekend, here are some of the best long reads, book excerpts and interviews published this week.
The outflow, situated about 625 light-years from Earth in the constellation Chamaeleon, is known as a Herbig-Haro object. These objects occur when jets of ionized gas are ejected from newborn stars and collide with the surrounding interstellar material.
This particular Herbig-Haro object was discovered in 2006 but has never been seen in such great detail.
Pandora is the trending news editor at Live Science. She is also a science presenter and previously worked as Senior Science and Health Reporter at Newsweek. Pandora holds a Biological Sciences degree from the University of Oxford, where she specialised in biochemistry and molecular biology.
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