Space

The Science Of The Star Of Bethlehem

During winter it can sometimes feel that the whole day passes in the blink of an eye and that evening darkness comes far too quickly. While more daylight would be a lovely thing, the early darkness has one big advantage: the stars. On a clear evening you ...

Article - The Conversation - Dec 24 2015 - 7:30am

Top Solar System Discoveries In 2015

It has been a busy year for Solar System exploration – and particularly our galactic neighborhoods small icy bodies. Comets, asteroids, Kuiper Belt Objects and planetary satellites have all been in the news – from stunning images of comet 67P Churyumov-Ge ...

Article - The Conversation - Dec 28 2015 - 10:02am

Asteroseismology Shows Strong Magnetic Fields In Majority Of Stars

Strong magnetic fields discovered have been discovered in a majority of stars. An international group of astronomers led by the University of Sydney has discovered strong magnetic fields are common in stars, not rare as previously thought, using data from ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 4 2016 - 2:12pm

Why Cosmology Is In Crisis

Science is advancing rapidly. We are eradicating diseases, venturing further into space and discovering a growing zoo of subatomic particles. But cosmology – which is trying to understand the evolution of the entire universe using theories that work well ...

Article - The Conversation - Jan 10 2016 - 9:00am

Beautiful Edible Orange Zinnia- First Zinnia But Not First Flower In Space- And Astronaut Choices

Actually though most of the stories say it is the first flower to bloom in space, and Scott Kelly tweeted it as such, it turns out that there have been several flowers grown in space before, most recently in 2012, but the first such was way back in 1982. ...

Article - Robert Walker - Jan 19 2016 - 12:26pm

Planet Nine: Not Pluto, A New Planet Discovered In Our Solar System

Caltech researchers have found evidence of a giant planet tracing a bizarre, highly elongated orbit in the outer solar system. The object, which the researchers have nicknamed Planet Nine, has a mass about 10 times that of Earth and orbits about 20 times ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 20 2016 - 2:42pm

Why This New "Planet X" Is No Threat To Earth:).

Just a short post, since I do articles here from time to time to reassure those who worry about collisions with Earth for every new discovery. This new planet X is not even proved to exist yet. But if it is- it orbits way beyond Neptune. It is no more of ...

Article - Robert Walker - Jul 12 2016 - 6:08am

Skyscraper Tall Telescope For Hawaii Mountain- Should Astronomers Build It?

As someone who is keen on astronomy, I am of course keen on the Thirty Meter telescope myself. And I've heard those arguments of the astronomers, about how it is an ideal site for astronomy, about the value of the astronomy that can be done with this ...

Article - Robert Walker - Jan 30 2016 - 9:58am

Would New Planet X Clear Its Orbit?- And Any Better Name Than "Planet Nine"?

Everyone has started to call this new proposed planet X: "Planet nine" as in the original announcement. Even Wikipedia has titled its article on it "Planet Nine". But it's a poor name for a planet if you think about it. Why not ju ...

Article - Robert Walker - Mar 16 2017 - 9:49am

It's Not Dark Matter

The undefined blanket term "dark matter", what must exist in the universe to account for missing mass, is invoked for just about everything, and so a lot of claims are made affirming they have evidence for it. But one claim, that bursts of gamma ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 3 2016 - 11:12am