Most of these other civilizations that still exist in the galaxy today are likely young, due to the probability that intelligent life is fairly likely to eradicate itself over long timescales. Even if the galaxy reached its civilizational peak more than 5 billion years ago, most of the civilizations that were around then have likely self-annihilated, the researchers found. This last bit is the most uncertain variable in the paper; how often do civilizations kill themselves? But it's also the most important in determining how widespread civilization is, the researchers found. Even an extraordinarily low chance of a given civilization wiping itself out in any given century — say, via nuclear holocaust or runaway climate change — would mean that the overwhelming majority of peak Milky Way civilizations are already gone

As of this writing, “6 on the International Space Station and 6 aboard Space Shuttle Discovery.”

Count down to Christmas with amazing photos that will remind you just how scary-big this place is.

"The Chandra X-ray Observatory, which was launched and deployed by Space Shuttle Columbia on July 23, 1999, is the most sophisticated X-ray observatory built to date. The mirrors on Chandra are the largest, most precisely shaped and aligned, and smoothest mirrors ever constructed. Chandra is helping scientists better understand the hot, turbulent regions of space and answer fundamental questions about origin, evolution, and destiny of the Universe. The images Chandra makes are twenty-five times sharper than the best previous X-ray telescope."

"What you see when you die." (Yeah, so I had a list of YTMNDs on my computer and I decided to put them all in Delicious, but every single one except this one was Captain Jean-Luc Picard singing about cake and drunken ping-pong with Ronald McDonald.)

"I’ve seen many images of the Earth and Moon together as taken by distant spacecraft, but this, seeing them in motion, really brings home just where we are: a planetary system, an astronomical body, a blue orb hanging in space orbited by a desolate moon

"HR753 is 23.5 light years away and only 5 months from the outer surface of your light cone — your ever-growing sphere of potential causality — which began its expansion from Earth on April 14 1985."

The best of the space telescope's shots.

Using Mathematica to write a program that generates the Big Bang sound. "The simulation lasts 100 seconds representing the first 760 thousand years of evolution of the universe, and varies the sound intensity to match the cosmic microwave..."

"The lowest-hanging full moon in 18 years" will appear enormous in the sky this week.

"Finding water on different regions on Mars has implications for understanding its complex geologic history, the possible existence of past life and the sustenance of potential future astronauts."

"Fittingly, the asteroid carried the provisional designation 2001 DA42, thus commemorating the year of his untimely death, containing his initials, and incorporating the famous answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything."

"Saturn is scheduled to release its probe named Huygens that will actually attempt to land on the shrouded moon [Titan] in early January." "Will the truth be stranger than we imagined?"

The famous "Eye of God" composite photo. Stunning.

"Sliding through Earth's shadow, the Moon turned haunting shades of red and orange during the eclipse's total phase. The reddish hues are caused by sunlight scattered and refracted by the atmosphere into the Earth's otherwise dark central shadow region."

"'Today we have made history. Today we go to the stars,' said Peter Diamandis, co-founder of the X Prize Foundation."

"After nearly 30 years of arguing that a black hole destroys everything that falls into it, Stephen Hawking is saying he was wrong."