Multiple images of a background image created by gravitational lensing can be seen in the system HS 0810+2554. Credit: Hubble Space Telescope / NASA / ESA Topics: Astronomy, Astrophysics, Dark Matter, Einstein, General Relativity Physicists believe most of the matter in the universe is made up of an invisible substance that we only know aboutContinue reading “Einstein Rings…”
Category Archives: Einstein
Heart of Darkness…
Topics: Astrophysics, Black Holes, Cosmology, Einstein, General Relativity In a triumph of observation and data processing, astronomers at the Event Horizon Telescope have captured the first-ever picture of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. The black hole is named Sagittarius A* (pronounced “A-star”), and the reveal of its image received anContinue reading “Heart of Darkness…”
Shadow of Infinity…
Topics: Black Holes, Cosmology, Einstein, General Relativity When galaxies collide, the central supermassive black holes that they contain begin to orbit each other. This supermassive black hole binary attracts gas, which flows through the system to form two disk-shaped structures, one around each of the supermassive black holes. The gas in these “minidisks” heats asContinue reading “Shadow of Infinity…”
Rogue Singularity…
Topics: Astrophysics, Black Holes, Cosmology, Einstein, General Relativity Each second, a brand new baby black hole is born somewhere in the cosmos as a massive star collapses under its own weight. But black holes themselves are invisible. Historically, astronomers have only been able to detect these stellar-mass black holes when they are acting on aContinue reading “Rogue Singularity…”
Cosmic Existentialism…
Topics: Astronomy, Astrophysics, Black Holes, Cosmology, Einstein, General Relativity “Small” black holes are estimated to make up 1% of the universe’s matter. Scientists have estimated the number of “small” black holes in the universe. And no surprise: It’s a lot. This number might seem impossible to calculate; after all, spotting black holes is not exactly the simplestContinue reading “Cosmic Existentialism…”
E=mc^2…
Topics: Applied Physics, Einstein, General Relativity, Special Relativity According to Einstein’s theory of special relativity, first published in 1905, light can be converted into matter when two light particles collide with intense force. But, try as they might, scientists have never been able to do this. No one could create the conditions needed to transformContinue reading “E=mc^2…”
Five Stages…
Topics: Astrophysics, Cosmology, Einstein, General Relativity, Star Trek Note: One of the things you find out about sophomore, or junior year in physics is faster-than-light travel violates causality: the arrow of time points forward, not in “loop-de-loop.” Thus, we can suspend belief as every version of Trek did time travel episodes, because superluminal speeds wouldContinue reading “Five Stages…”
Black Hole Storm…
Topics: Astrophysics, Black Holes, Cosmology, Einstein, General Relativity Note: From comments on a previous post, maybe science writers need to work on their chosen list of metaphors? In the far reaches of the Universe, a supermassive black hole is throwing a tantrum. It’s blowing a tremendous wind into intergalactic space, and we’re seeing the stormContinue reading “Black Hole Storm…”
Einsteinium Chemistry…
Topics: Chemistry, Einstein, Materials Science, Research To date, researchers have created more than two dozen synthetic chemical elements that don’t exist naturally on Earth. Neptunium (atomic number Z = 93) and plutonium (Z = 94), the first two artificial elements after naturally occurring uranium, are produced in nuclear reactors by the thousands of kilograms. But the accessibility ofContinue reading “Einsteinium Chemistry…”
No Strings Attached…
Topics: Einstein, General Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, String Theory For decades, most physicists have agreed that string theory is the missing link between Einstein’s theory of general relativity, describing the laws of nature at the largest scale, and quantum mechanics, describing them at the smallest scale. However, an international collaboration headed by Radboud physicists has nowContinue reading “No Strings Attached…”
Physics and Nano 