Featured Posts
Sky and Telescope
13 Jan 2021, 13:00 UTC
China is making its Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) available to international scientists in the wake of the collapse of the Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico late last year.
China Opens World's Largest Radio Telescope to International Scientists
13 Jan 2021, 13:00 UTC
China is making its Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) available to international scientists in the wake of the collapse of the Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico late last year.
New Scientist
11 Jan 2021, 23:16 UTC
Our galaxy may have slightly less dark matter than researchers previously estimated. Measurements of how pulsars – rapidly spinning stars that emit beams of light – move as they orbit the centre of the Milky Way have demonstrated that the dark matter density in the plane of the galaxy’s disc is lower than expected.
The Milky Way may have less dark matter than astronomers thought
11 Jan 2021, 23:16 UTC
Our galaxy may have slightly less dark matter than researchers previously estimated. Measurements of how pulsars – rapidly spinning stars that emit beams of light – move as they orbit the centre of the Milky Way have demonstrated that the dark matter density in the plane of the galaxy’s disc is lower than expected.
Sky and Telescope
11 Jan 2021, 14:00 UTC
In a first, an amateur astronomer has found four of five "lost" Jovian moons using images from a publicly available archive. The feat allows a recalculation of their orbits, leaving only one of Jupiter's 79 known satellites still missing.
Amateur Astronomer Finds “Lost” Moons of Jupiter
11 Jan 2021, 14:00 UTC
In a first, an amateur astronomer has found four of five "lost" Jovian moons using images from a publicly available archive. The feat allows a recalculation of their orbits, leaving only one of Jupiter's 79 known satellites still missing.
New Scientist
8 Jan 2021, 16:38 UTC
Black holes could be a cosmological engine. When their magnetic fields disconnect and reconnect, they can accelerate plasma particles near the event horizon – the point beyond which nothing can escape a black hole’s gravitational pull. The finding could allow astronomers to better estimate the mass and spin of black holes.
Black holes leak energy when they eat plasma near the event horizon
8 Jan 2021, 16:38 UTC
Black holes could be a cosmological engine. When their magnetic fields disconnect and reconnect, they can accelerate plasma particles near the event horizon – the point beyond which nothing can escape a black hole’s gravitational pull. The finding could allow astronomers to better estimate the mass and spin of black holes.
Discover
8 Jan 2021, 04:00 UTC
When the 60-year-old Arecibo Observatory collapsed in 2020, the crash didn’t just take down one of the world's preeminent radio telescopes, it also dealt a massive blow to the future of radio astronomy. Arecibo may have been old, but it also had unique capabilities that made it ideal for studying things like gravitational waves, as well as mapping the surfaces of asteroids as they slip by Earth.
Arecibo is Dead. Should We Build Its Replacement on the Moon?
8 Jan 2021, 04:00 UTC
When the 60-year-old Arecibo Observatory collapsed in 2020, the crash didn’t just take down one of the world's preeminent radio telescopes, it also dealt a massive blow to the future of radio astronomy. Arecibo may have been old, but it also had unique capabilities that made it ideal for studying things like gravitational waves, as well as mapping the surfaces of asteroids as they slip by Earth.
SPACE.com
7 Jan 2021, 16:20 UTC
It's nearly 10 times as long as the Grand Canyon, and three times as deep. But how did it form on Mars? Known as Valles Marineris, this system of deep, vast canyons runs more than 2,500 miles (4,000 km) along the Martian equator, spanning nearly a quarter of the planet's circumference.
Largest canyon in the solar system revealed in stunning new images
7 Jan 2021, 16:20 UTC
It's nearly 10 times as long as the Grand Canyon, and three times as deep. But how did it form on Mars? Known as Valles Marineris, this system of deep, vast canyons runs more than 2,500 miles (4,000 km) along the Martian equator, spanning nearly a quarter of the planet's circumference.
Starts With a Bang!
6 Jan 2021, 15:01 UTC
Right now, there are only three things limiting how far our spacecrafts can take us in the Universe: the resources we devote to it, the constraints of our existing technology, and the laws of physics. If we were willing to devote more resources to it as a society, we have the technological know-how right now to take human beings to any of the known planets or moons within the Solar System, but not to any objects in the Oort cloud or beyond. Crewed space travel to another star system, at least with the technology we have today, is still a dream for future generations.
How Far Could A Spaceship Go If We Never Ran Out Of Thrust?
6 Jan 2021, 15:01 UTC
Right now, there are only three things limiting how far our spacecrafts can take us in the Universe: the resources we devote to it, the constraints of our existing technology, and the laws of physics. If we were willing to devote more resources to it as a society, we have the technological know-how right now to take human beings to any of the known planets or moons within the Solar System, but not to any objects in the Oort cloud or beyond. Crewed space travel to another star system, at least with the technology we have today, is still a dream for future generations.
Physics World Blog
5 Jan 2021, 12:58 UTC
The cosmic microwave background (CMB) is a rich source of information about the early universe, and now physicists in Switzerland and Germany reckon it could also serve as a detector of high-frequency gravitational waves, which are ripples in space–time. Indeed, the researchers have used pre-existing radio observations of the CMB to calculate new upper limits on the size of high-frequency primordial gravitational waves.
