Topics: Astronomy, Astrophysics, Dyson Sphere, SETI Although the so-called Dysonian SETI has been much in the air in recent times, its origins date back to the birth of SETI itself. It was in 1960 – the same year that Frank Drake used the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia to study EpsilonContinue reading “Dyson Sphere Feedback…”
Category Archives: Astronomy
Exomoon Two…
Topics: Astronomy, Astrophysics, Exomoon, Exoplanets And then there were two—maybe. Astronomers say they have found a second plausible candidate for a moon beyond our solar system, an exomoon, orbiting a world nearly 6,000 light-years from Earth. Called Kepler-1708 b-i, the moon appears to be a gas-dominated object, slightly smaller than Neptune, orbiting a Jupiter-sized planet around a sunlikeContinue reading “Exomoon Two…”
Moments and Metaphors…
Topics: Astronomy, Astrophysics, Comets, Philosophy, Science Fiction On a recent morning, in Lower Manhattan, 20 scientists, including me, gathered for a private screening of the new film Don’t Look Up, followed by lunch with the film’s director, Adam McKay. The film’s plot is simple. An astronomy graduate student, Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence), and her professor,Continue reading “Moments and Metaphors…”
From Redshift to Enlightenment…
Topics: Astrobiology, Astronomy, Astrophysics, Carl Sagan, James Webb Space Telescope, SETI The relief was as deep as the stakes were high. At 7:20 A.M. (ET), the rocket carrying the largest, most ambitious space telescope in history cleared the launchpad in French Guiana, and the members of mission control at the Space Telescope Science Institute inContinue reading “From Redshift to Enlightenment…”
Kilonovas and Gold…
Topics: Astronomy, Astrophysics, Chemistry, Materials Science, Neutron Stars The amounts of heavy elements such as gold created when black holes merge with neutron stars have been calculated and compared with the amounts expected when pairs of neutron stars merge. The calculations were done by Hsin-Yu Chen and Salvatore Vitale at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Francois Foucart at the UniversityContinue reading “Kilonovas and Gold…”
J0030…
Topics: Astronomy, Astrophysics, NASA, Neutron Stars, Pulsars NASA’s NICER instrument reveals that neutron stars are not as simple as we thought. Pulsars are the lighthouses of the universe. These tiny, compact objects are neutron stars — the remnants of once-massive stars — that spin rapidly, beaming radiation into space. Now, for the first time, astronomersContinue reading “J0030…”
Yonder Water Worlds…
Topics: Astrobiology, Astronomy, Astrophysics, Exoplanets, Space Exploration Hot, ocean-covered exoplanets with hydrogen-rich atmospheres could harbor life and may be more common than planets that are Earth-like in size, temperature, and atmospheric composition. According to astronomers at the University of Cambridge, UK, this newly defined class of exoplanets could boost the search for life elsewhere inContinue reading “Yonder Water Worlds…”
Ganymede…
Topics: Astronomy, Astrophysics, NASA, Planetary Science, Space Exploration Ganymede, get ready for your close-up. No probe has gotten a good view of Jupiter’s largest moon since 2000, when NASA’s Galileo spacecraft swung past the strange world, which is the largest moon in the whole solar system. But on Monday (June 7), at 1:35 p.m. EDT (1735 GMT),Continue reading “Ganymede…”
Sun Quake…
Topics: Astronomy, Astrophysics, ESA, Heliophysics, NASA For new Sun-watching spacecraft, the first solar eruption is always special. On February 12, 2021, a little more than a year from its launch, the European Space Agency and NASA’s Solar Orbiter caught sight of this coronal mass ejection, or CME. This view is from the mission’s SoloHI instrument —Continue reading “Sun Quake…”
Volume of Chaos…
Topics: Astronomy, Astrophysics, Cosmology Physicists have spent centuries grappling with an inconvenient truth about nature: Faced with three stars on a collision course, astronomers could measure their locations and velocities in nanometers and milliseconds and it wouldn’t be enough to predict the stars’ fates. But the cosmos frequently brings together trios of stars and black holes.Continue reading “Volume of Chaos…”
Physics and Nano 