W. Ogloza

A spinning top launched into weightlessness doesn't just rotate around its axis: it also wobbles, like a drunken sailor. That's exactly how the asteroid Apophis behaves: it doesn't spin neatly but tumbles through space. On April 13, 2029, this celestial wanderer will whiz past at about 38,000 kilometers from Earth — closer than communications satellites.

In the cosmic forge, stars do not melt iron but atomic nuclei. An ordinary furnace can do that, but sometimes the heat becomes so intense that the furnace blows itself apart. That seems to be exactly what happened with supernova SN 2024afyu. Its spectrum shows sulfur and silicon lines that leave no doubt: several solar masses of these elements were forged inside.