In this series we are exploring the weird and wonderful world of astronomy jargon! There’s a lot to see with today’s topic: electromagnetism!
Continue reading “Astronomy Jargon 101: Electromagnetism”Our Complete Guide to November’s ‘Almost Total’ Lunar Eclipse
Friday morning’s partial lunar eclipse will flirt with with totality, as the longest for more than a century.
If you’re like us, we never miss a chance to catch a lunar eclipse, be it penumbral, partial or total. Lunar eclipses are a great time to catch the surety of the clockwork Universe at its best, as the Moon slides into and then exits the Earth’s shadow.
First the bad news: Friday morning’s eclipse in the early hours of November 19th isn’t completely total. However, the good news is that at its maximum around 9:04 Universal Time (UT)/4:04 AM Eastern Time (EST) the eclipse narrowly misses totality, at 97.5% partial.
Continue reading “Our Complete Guide to November’s ‘Almost Total’ Lunar Eclipse”A Black Hole has been Found Lurking Just Outside the Milky Way
Astronomers have found a smaller, stellar-mass black hole lurking in a nearby satellite galaxy of our own Milky Way. The black hole has been hiding in a star cluster named NGC 1850, which is one of the brightest star clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The black hole is 160,000 light-years away from Earth, and is estimated to be about 11 times the mass of our Sun.
Continue reading “A Black Hole has been Found Lurking Just Outside the Milky Way”Astronomy Jargon 101: Weak Force
In this series we are exploring the weird and wonderful world of astronomy jargon! You’ll be surprised by the power of today’s topic: the weak force!
Continue reading “Astronomy Jargon 101: Weak Force”Astronomy Jargon 101: Strong Nuclear Force
In this series we are exploring the weird and wonderful world of astronomy jargon! Feel the power of today’s topic: the strong force!
Continue reading “Astronomy Jargon 101: Strong Nuclear Force”Astronomy Jargon 101: Baryon Acoustic Oscillations
In this series we are exploring the weird and wonderful world of astronomy jargon! Listen carefully for today’s topic: baryon acoustic oscillations!
Continue reading “Astronomy Jargon 101: Baryon Acoustic Oscillations”Not Saying it was Aliens, but ‘Oumuamua Probably Wasn’t a Nitrogen Iceberg…
On October 19th, 2017, astronomers made the first-ever detection of an interstellar object (ISO) passing through our Solar System. Designated 1I/2017 U1′ Oumuamua, this object confounded astronomers who could not determine if it was an interstellar comet or an asteroid. After four years and many theories (including the controversial “ET solar sail” hypothesis), the astronomical community appeared to land on an explanation that satisfied all the observations.
The “nitrogen iceberg” theory stated that ‘Oumuamua was likely debris from a Pluto-like planet in another solar system. In their latest study, titled “The Mass Budget Necessary to Explain ‘Oumuamua as a Nitrogen Iceberg,” Amir Siraj and Prof. Avi Loeb (who proposed the ET solar sail hypothesis) offered an official counter-argument to this theory. According to their new paper, there is an extreme shortage of exo-Plutos in the galaxy to explain the detection of a nitrogen iceberg.
Continue reading “Not Saying it was Aliens, but ‘Oumuamua Probably Wasn’t a Nitrogen Iceberg…”Astronomy Jargon 101: Cosmic Microwave Background
In this series we are exploring the weird and wonderful world of astronomy jargon! Get a good look at today’s topic: the cosmic microwave background!
Continue reading “Astronomy Jargon 101: Cosmic Microwave Background”Astronomy Jargon 101: Wormholes
In this series we are exploring the weird and wonderful world of astronomy jargon! Take a strange trip through today’s topic: wormholes!
Continue reading “Astronomy Jargon 101: Wormholes”Understanding the Early Universe Depends on Estimating the Lifespan of Neutrons
When we look into the night sky, we see the universe as it once was. We know that in the past the universe was once warmer and denser than it is now. When we look deep enough into the sky, we see the microwave remnant of the big bang known as the cosmic microwave background. That marks the limit of what we can see. It marks the extent of the observable universe from our vantage point.
Continue reading “Understanding the Early Universe Depends on Estimating the Lifespan of Neutrons”