Géoglyphes - LE CHIEN DE NAZCA

Les géoglyphes de Nazca, encore appelés lignes de Nazca, sont de grandes figures tracées dans le désert de Nazca, dans le sud du Pérou. Réalisés pour la plupart entre -200 et 600 ap. J.-C., ils sont le fait de la civilisation Nazca, une culture pré-inca qui se développa entre 300 av. J.-C. et 800 de notre ère. On se perd en conjectures et spéculations parfois douteuses quant à la signification que ces figures avaient pour les Nazcas.

Le sol sur lequel se dessinent ces géoglyphes est couvert de cailloux que l'oxyde de fer colore en rouge. Et c'est en les ôtant, parfois sur des kilomètres, que les Nazcas ont révélé un sol gypseux grisâtre, faisant apparaître des figures réparties le long d'une ligne de 50 km reliant les villes de Nazca et de Palpa, dans la région d'Ica.

On voit ici le géoglyphe dit du chien (en fait un jaguar).

© Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Spain

Astronomy - VENUS AND JUPITER: CONJUNCTION FROM AVEBURY

 2026 June 12

Venus and Jupiter: Conjunction from Avebury
Image Credit & Copyright: Josh Dury

Explanation: To see Venus and Jupiter together this month, you won't need binoculars or even a telescope. Just look up after sunset and you'll find them emerging as the sky grows dark near the western horizon. In fact, on June 9 the two brightest planets were in close conjunction, separated on the sky by less than 2 degrees from our perspective. Since (brighter) inner planet Venus orbits the Sun faster than outer planet Jupiter, it catches up with and passes the outer planet along the ecliptic roughly every 13 months. But every three years or so their resulting conjunction can be viewed far enough from the Sun to be easily seen in Earth's twilight skies. On June 9, the two celestial beacon's close "cosmic kiss" was captured here next to two large standing stones, the remains of a cove near the center of a 4,000 year old stone circle at Avebury, UK. Larger than Stonehenge, the Avebury henge and stone circle complex is also recognized as one of the most significant neolithic ceremonial sites on planet Earth.

Astronomy - THE MARMAID NEBULA SUPERNOVA REMNANT

 2026 June 11

The Mermaid Nebula Supernova Remnant
Image Credit & Copyright: Data acquisition: Sy Ming Wong; Processing: Guangyan Gao
Text: Cecilia Chirenti (NASA GSFC, UMCP, CRESST II)

Explanation: Could the Little Mermaid turn into stardust instead of seafoam? It would seem so in this beautiful nebula. The featured image shows the Mermaid Nebula, also known as the Betta Fish Nebula, which is part of the G296.5+10.0 Supernova Remnant. The blue color visible here originates from doubly ionized oxygen (OIII), while the deep red is emitted by hydrogen gas. Estimated to be located a few thousand light-years away and about 10,000 years old, this nebula was formed when a massive star exploded as a supernova. It left behind a peculiar pulsar, a young radio-quiet neutron star that spins around about twice every second. The bright stars shown in the image are unassociated with the nebula. The pulsar can be detected in the X-rays but it does not have a confirmed detection in the optical (visible light) so far. As a result, the pulsar itself is not visible in this image.

Astronomy - THE EAGLE NEBULA AND FRIENDS

 2026 June 10

The Eagle Nebula and Friends
Image Credit & Copyright: Emmanuel Delgadillo
Text: Keighley Rockcliffe (NASA GSFC, UMBC CSST, CRESST II)

Explanation: What looks as if it is going to swallow the great Pillars of Creation? The Eagle Nebula (M16) is not a bird, a plane, or Superman. M16 is actually a combination of several celestial objects. NGC 6611 is the young star cluster that appears to peak out beneath the Eagle’s “wings”. The ultraviolet light from these stars ionizes the surrounding gas, creating the emission nebula IC 4703. The Stellar Spire is seen reaching towards the Pillars of Creation from the left. Both are structures of cold gas and dust that are optimal for star formation. Some astronomers previously thought the Pillars of Creation had been evaporated away by a supernova. Because M16 is 6,000 light years away, we would not be able to see the Pillars’ destruction for thousands more years. However, there is no conclusive evidence of the theorized supernova, so the Pillars of Creation will likely continue to create stars for millions of years.

Astronomy - THOR'S HELMET

 2026 June 9

Thor's Helmet
Image Credit & Copyright: Josep Drudis, Christian Sasse

Explanation: Thor not only has his own day (Thursday), but a helmet in the heavens. Popularly called Thor's Helmet, NGC 2359 is a hat-shaped cosmic cloud with wing-like appendages. Heroically sized even for a Norse god, Thor's Helmet is about 30 light-years across. In fact, the cosmic head-covering is more like an interstellar bubble, blown by a fast wind from the bright, massive star near the bubble's center. Known as a Wolf-Rayet star, the central star is an extremely hot giant thought to be in a brief, pre-supernova stage of evolution. NGC 2359 is located about 15,000 light-years away toward the constellation of the Great Overdog. This sharp image is a combination of deep images taken in light emitted by hydrogen (red) and oxygen (blue). The star in the center of Thor's Helmet is expected to explode in a spectacular supernova sometime within the next few thousand years.

Astronomy - COMET R3 PauSTARRS TROUGH TIME

 2026 June 8

Comet R3 PanSTARRS Through Time
Image Credit & Copyright: Jakub Kuřák & Martin Mašek (FZU of the Czech Academy of Sciences)

Explanation: What happens to a comet as it leaves our inner Solar System? Now, the arrival of a comet into the inner Solar System is typically heralded with great fanfare and high hopes that the comet will become bright and photogenic. But on the way out, the comet's nucleus is less warmed by the Sun, less gas and dust are expelled, the bright coma around the nucleus shrinks and fades, and the tail length drops off. Many comets will then return to the outer Solar System and only return in hundreds or thousands of years. In contrast, some comets -- like Comet C/2025 R3 (PanSTARRS) -- receive a gravitational kick from the planets and so will never return. Pictured, Comet R3 PanSTARRs was imaged deeply many nights in early to mid-May near Cerro Paranal in Chile. Later images appear closer to the top and clearly show the shrinking ion tail.

Vulcanologie - CHIVELOUTCH (RUSSIE)

Avec 2800 mètres d'altitude , c'est un des deux volcans les plus actifs au monde.

©Shutterstock

Santé/Médecine - CANCER : UN MEDICAMENT COURANT POURRAIT CONSTITUER UN ESPOIR

 

Un médicament contre l'hypertension artérielle couramment utilisé pourrait avoir une deuxième fonction inattendue : aider à lutter contre le cancer. Une nouvelle étude menée par Tyler J. Curiel, du Dartmouth College, a révélé que le telmisartan pouvait renforcer l'efficacité de l'olaparib, un traitement utilisé dans certains types de cancer. L'olaparib cible les tumeurs présentant des déficiences dans la réparation de l'ADN, en particulier celles comportant des mutations du gène BRCA. Cependant, de nombreux types de cancer répondent mal au traitement, et c'est là que le telmisartan pourrait intervenir. Lors d'études en laboratoire et sur des souris, l'association de ces médicaments s'est révélée efficace même sur des tumeurs généralement résistantes au traitement. Au lieu d'altérer la réparation de l'ADN, le telmisartan semblait activer le système d'« alerte » immunitaire de l'organisme, l'aidant ainsi à reconnaître et à attaquer le cancer. Les chercheurs ont découvert que cette association déclenchait des signaux immunitaires plus intenses et ralentissait la croissance tumorale. De plus, elle ne fonctionnait que lorsque le système immunitaire était actif, ce qui démontre que l'organisme joue un rôle clé. Le telmisartan est déjà approuvé par la FDA et largement utilisé, ce qui pourrait accélérer les essais futurs. Des essais sur l'homme restent nécessaires. Mais ces résultats suggèrent qu'un simple comprimé pourrait élargir les options thérapeutiques contre le cancer et renforcer considérablement l'efficacité des médicaments existants.

MSN

Astronomy - THE HYDRA CLUSTER OF GALAXIES

 2026 June 5

The Hydra Cluster of Galaxies
Image Credit & Copyright: Rafael Sampaio

Explanation: Within our own Milky Way galaxy, two bright, spiky stars stand like sentinels in the foreground of this cosmic snapshot. Far beyond them are the galaxies of the Hydra Cluster. In fact, while the spiky foreground stars are hundreds of light-years distant, the Hydra Cluster galaxies are well over 100 million light-years away. Three large galaxies near the cluster center, two yellow ellipticals (NGC 3311, NGC 3309) and one prominent blue spiral (NGC 3312), are the dominant galaxies, each about 150,000 light-years in diameter. An intriguing overlapping galaxy pair cataloged as NGC 3314 lies above and left of NGC 3312. Also known as Abell 1060, the Hydra galaxy cluster is one of three large galaxy clusters within 200 million light-years of the Milky Way. In the nearby universe, galaxies are gravitationally bound into clusters which themselves are loosely bound into superclusters. Superclusters in turn are seen to align over even larger scales.

Géoglyphes - L'ARAIGNEE DE NAZCA

Les géoglyphes de Nazca, encore appelés lignes de Nazca, sont de grandes figures tracées dans le désert de Nazca, dans le sud du Pérou. Réalisés pour la plupart entre -200 et 600 ap. J.-C., ils sont le fait de la civilisation Nazca, une culture pré-inca qui se développa entre 300 av. J.-C. et 800 de notre ère. On se perd en conjectures et spéculations parfois douteuses quant à la signification que ces figures avaient pour les Nazcas.

Le sol sur lequel se dessinent ces géoglyphes est couvert de cailloux que l'oxyde de fer colore en rouge. Et c'est en les ôtant, parfois sur des kilomètres, que les Nazcas ont révélé un sol gypseux grisâtre, faisant apparaître des figures réparties le long d'une ligne de 50 km reliant les villes de Nazca et de Palpa, dans la région d'Ica.

On voit ici le géoglyphes dit de l'araignée (47 mètres de long).

© Diego Delso, CC by-sa 2.5