Space

Fast Radio Bursts: Solving One Of The Universe's Mysteries

One of the most baffling puzzles of modern astrophysics is the nature of Fast Radio Bursts, which were discovered in 2007. These are seemingly rare, extremely bright flashes of light with radio wavelengths. They last only milliseconds; originate outside o ...

Article - The Conversation - Nov 29 2018 - 8:00am

HAT-P-11b: An Exoplanet Inflated Like A Helium Balloon

A distant planet has an abundance of helium in its atmosphere so great that it has swollen to resemble an inflated balloon. The helium of HAT-P-11b, 124 light years from Earth and in the Cygnus constellation, is blown away from the day side of the planet t ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 6 2018 - 4:16pm

No Need To Be Scared Of Asteroids- Far Less Scary Than Lightning

Short summary- the risk from larger asteroids of 1 km upwards, large enough to have some global effects is more or less retired as a result of astronomical searches for the last few decades. There is still a risk from smaller asteroids, but in most cases ...

Article - Robert Walker - Dec 11 2018 - 2:20am

The Astronomy Of Christmas

From the Neolithic to present times, the amount of sunlight we see in a day has had a profound impact on human culture. We are fast approaching the winter solstice for the Northern hemisphere, which takes place on December 21. This is the longest night of ...

Article - The Conversation - Dec 20 2018 - 12:55pm

China Probes Far Side Of The Moon, A Sputnik Moment?

C hina has a track record of slow gradual advancement in space flight technology which is unlikely to alarm the US of A into action in the way Sputnik did. The timeline of their advancement suggests no reason to panic about their space program. Their achi ...

Blog Post - Hontas Farmer - Jan 3 2019 - 11:37am

Can There Be A Planet Or Dwarf Planet With The Same Shape As Ultima Thule's Snowman?

For any of you who haven't seen it, here is a stereo image of Ultima Thule, alternating between two images which help if you don’t have 3D Anaglyph glasses. The interesting thing about it is that there is no sign that the two lobes are more than slig ...

Article - Robert Walker - Jan 4 2019 - 8:29pm

Why You Don’t Need To Worry About Asteroid 2002 NT7

It actually crossed our orbit already on the 8th. It is already moving upwards away from our orbit. Earth is catching up on it from behind and is closest on the 13th at 61 million kilometers. That's further away than Mars at its closest, and much fur ...

Article - Robert Walker - Jan 10 2019 - 4:25pm

Update On 2002 NT7- Flew Past At A Great Distance, 16.50 UTC Today 13th January- That's Further Away Than Mars At Its Closest

2002 NT7 is closest at 16.50 today, UTC time. It will be 61 million kilometers away and they know the distance exactly to within 127 kilometers, and the time of the flyby accurate to the nearest minute. It is no risk to Earth. It is already well above our ...

Article - Robert Walker - Jan 13 2019 - 11:32pm

Oumuamua, Maybe Not Aliens, But Alien.

O umuamua the object which passed through our solar system in October 2017 with a trajectory that indicates it was not of this solar system was never photographed.  We only saw a point of light that that changes in brightness as it rotates.   There could ...

Blog Post - Hontas Farmer - Jan 19 2019 - 2:47pm

It's Not Planet Nine, Planet X Or Planet 12, It's Just Gravity

After two percent of astronomers threw out one arbitrary definition of planet and replaced it with another arbitrary definition of planet, our solar system went from nine planets to eight. Pluto became instead a dwarf planet because the the International ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 22 2019 - 1:32pm