pipuis science

Have you ever seen the polka dot wasp moth (Syntomeida epilais)? This insect inhabits neotropical regions in parts of South America, Central America, and North America. It can grow up to 2 in (5.2 cm) long. Males and females both sport striking blue colors, with white spots and red-tipped abdomens. While these insects don’t sting like true wasps, they are toxic to predators. 

Today’s Exhibit of the Day? It’s one of the largest amethyst geodes in the world! At about 13 ft (4 m) tall and 9,000 lbs (4,082 kg), this giant weighs about as much as three compact cars. It was "born" when molten magma poured from the Earth’s crust some 135 million years ago. While its dazzling purple crystals might catch your eye, this geode would have originally been composed of colorless quartz—its distinctive amethyst color deriving from millenia of natural radiation, heat, and trace contaminants. 

You can spot this geode, and other sparkly specimens, in the Museum’s Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals! Plan your visit.

2026 May 29

Messier 104

Image Credit: CTIO, NOIRLab, DOE, NSF, AURA;

Image Processing: T. A. Rector (U. Alaska Anchorage), D. de Martin (NSF’s NOIRLab) & M. Zamani (NSF, NOIRLab)

Explanation: A gorgeous spiral galaxy, Messier 104 is famous for its nearly edge-on profile featuring a broad ring of obscuring dust lanes. Seen in silhouette against an extensive central bulge of stars, the swath of cosmic dust lends a broad brimmed hat-like appearance to the galaxy suggesting a more popular moniker, the Sombrero Galaxy. Also known as NGC 4594, the Sombrero galaxy can be seen across the spectrum and is host to a central supermassive black hole. About 50,000 light-years across and 28 million light-years away, M104 is one of the largest galaxies at the southern edge of the Virgo Galaxy Cluster. Still, the spiky foreground stars in this field of view lie well within our own Milky Way. This broad view of the well-known galaxy was processed to reveal M104's extended halo, as well as a faint tidal stellar stream. It was captured by the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the Blanco 4-meter telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory.

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)

NASA Official: Amber Straughn

A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,

NASA Science Activation

The Firework Nebula - July 4th, 1998.

Natural Quartz and rutile from the Himalayas of India