Technologies

NASA’s Hubble Captures Breathtaking Image of Intergalactic Bridge

An ethereal connection between two distant galaxies looks like it belongs in an episode of Star Trek.

Between black holes devouring smallish stars and vacant space surrounding busy, bursting nebulas, caverns of darkness in our universe are often relieved by glimmers of light. Such poetic juxtaposition is starkly apparent in one of NASA’s latest Hubble Space Telescope images.

Last week, the agency released an ethereal view of galactic triplet Arp 248, also known as Wild’s Triplet for both the discoverer and the utterly extravagant nature of the spectacle itself. Behold.

In this impeccable photo, two of three galaxies can be seen in the foreground of space’s void, bleeding into each other like they’re made of over-hydrated watercolor paint and forming what I can only describe as an intergalactic bridge. A third, unconnected realm stands in the far ground, enshrouded by deceptively tiny sparkles that represent a cosmic lifetime of even more galaxies scattered across the universe.

What’s especially mind-numbing about this image is that from Hubble’s vantage point — in Earth’s orbit, some 200 million light-years away — the three galaxies are compact enough to fit on our computer screens.

In reality, these worlds are many (many) light-years wide, holding an incomprehensible amount of doppelgangers to our sun, exoplanets like our solar system’s eight, and moons akin to our glowing lunar companion.

They are miniature universes in themselves, existing on a scale simply unfathomable to the human mind yet available for us to download as desktop wallpapers.

It is, in fact, because of those hefty contents that the two massive spirals at the centerpiece of this image are linked by a luminous bridge in the first place. Both harness immensely strong gravitational forces and are therefore pulling on each other like they’re playing a gentle tug of war, accidentally creating what’s known as a tidal tail, or an elongated stream of stars and iridescent interstellar dust.

Tidal tails are usually the product of galaxies treading very close to one another while on a path toward merging into one huge galaxy. We’ve seen the breathtaking phenomena several times already — tidal tails are responsible for some adorable galaxy systems names, too.

«The Mice,» or NGC 4676, boasts merging galaxies about 300 million light-years away from Earth, and «The Tadpole,» or UGC 10214, contains a large galaxy in the process of shredding a smaller galaxy, another event type that resulted in an awesome tidal tail.

Even our Milky Way galaxy is currently on a collision course with Andromeda, meaning they may eventually generate some sort of intergalactic bridge too — but don’t worry.

The emptiness between stars and planets within galaxies is far greater than you might think.

When galaxies merge, it’s quite likely only a few actual collisions happen. Think about two large crowds entering a stadium, merging into one massive crowd. Most of the time, individuals wouldn’t literally bump into each other. They just settle near each other. Now imagine the same situation, except with about a light-year of space between every person.

Fasincatingly, the title «Arp» in Arp 248 comes from the surname of late astronomer Halton Arp, who, along with astronomer Barry Madore, created the Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies in 1966.

«Each collection contains a menagerie of spectacularly peculiar galaxies, including interacting galaxies such as Arp 248, as well as one- or three-armed spiral galaxies, galaxies with shell-like structures, and a variety of other space oddities,» NASA said of the atlas.

It’s a vast work filled with yet more examples of our wonderfully contrasted universe, an expanse built from the mind of a poet and condensed with the skill of a machine.

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for Aug. 20, #1523

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle No. 1,523 for Wednesday, Aug. 20.

Looking for the most recent Wordle answer? Click here for today’s Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Wordle puzzle is a fun word. Two letters repeat, so don’t forget once you find a correct letter, you can reuse it in another spot. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.

Today’s Wordle hints

Before we show you today’s Wordle answer, we’ll give you some hints. If you don’t want a spoiler, look away now.

Wordle hint No. 1: Repeats

Today’s Wordle answer has two separate repeated letters.

Wordle hint No. 2: Vowels

Today’s Wordle answer has one vowel, and it’s one of the repeated letters, so you’ll see it twice.

Wordle hint No. 3: Start letter.

Today’s Wordle answer begins with L.

Wordle hint No. 4: Animal kingdom

Today’s Wordle answer is an animal.

Wordle hint No. 5: Second meaning

Today’s Wordle answer is a domesticated pack animal of the camel family.

TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER

Today’s Wordle answer is LLAMA.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle answer, No. 1,522 for Aug. 19, was ROWDY.

Recent Wordle answers

Aug. 15, No. 1,518: LEVEL

Aug. 16 No. 1,519: MATTE

Aug. 17, No. 1,520: LOUSY

Aug. 18, No. 1,521: ISSUE

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for Aug. 20, #801

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle No. 801 for Wednesday, Aug. 20.

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle is a real headache. The NYT puzzle writers are really pulling some obscure connections out of the air, and I did not do well today at all. Need some help? Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times now has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group, to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Ebony and ivory.

Green group hint: They go together.

Blue group hint: Spinning.

Purple group hint: There’s a bend in these.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Black-and-white things.

Green group: Pairs of rods.

Blue group: Things that rotate about a vertical axis.

Purple group: Rods that curve at one end.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is black-and-white things. The four answers are domino, piano keys, yin-yang symbol and zebra.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is pairs of rods. The four answers are chopsticks, claves, knitting needles and ski poles.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is things that rotate about a vertical axis. The four answers are barber pole, carousel, ceiling fan and lazy Susan.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is rods that curve at one end. The four answers are candy cane, crochet hook, crook and crowbar.

Technologies

Made by Google Pixel 10 Event Watch Party: Watch the New Phone Reveals With Us Tomorrow

Our live show begins Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. ET (9:30 a.m. PT) and will lead right into the Made by Google event.

The Pixel 10 series will get its big reveal on Wednesday, and you can watch the Made by Google event right alongside CNET’s editors.

Starting at 12:30 p.m. ET (9:30 a.m. PT), the Pixel 10 watch party will kick off on CNET’s YouTube channel. Hosts Bridget Carey and Iyaz Akhtar will review and analyze details and rumors about the Pixel 10.

Preshow guests include CNET Managing Editor Patrick Holland, who will share what we already know about the Pixel 10 (Google’s been openly teasing the phone line for weeks). Minutes before the event begins, Senior Editor Mike Sorrentino will call in from the show floor.

Next comes the Made by Google event, which starts at 10 a.m. PT and will be broadcast on our livestream.

When the Made by Google event wraps, our post-show begins with CNET Senior Editor Abrar Al-Heeti and Mashable’s Timothy Beck Werth calling in to discuss all the reveals.

Want to join our show? You can leave questions or comments using the live chat on CNET’s YouTube page.

CNET is also running a Pixel 10 live blog throughout the event, and you can check out every Pixel 10 rumor we’ve heard so far.