Space Fact of the Day The moon is in a synchronous orbit around Earth: it rotates on its axis at the same rate that it orbits the planet. This is why we always see the same ("near") side of the moon from Earth - from SPACE.com's popular Space Facts collection.

Lighting Up the Small Magellanic Cloud A colorful new image produced by melding data from optical, radio and X-ray telescopes shows the high-powered shock waves that linger in the aftermath of supernova explosions -- the dramatic death throes of massive stars. The image, which was made possible by new pictures from the Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Hubble Space Telescope, and ground-based telescopes, shows a relatively young remnant as it appeared just 1,000 years after it's parent star annihilated itself in a tremendous explosion.