ASTRONOMY



Click on a Subcategory

OUR SOLAR SYSTEM THE UNIVERSE
The Earth and Moon Stars
The Sun The Milky Way
The Planets And Moons The Universe
Comets and Asteroids Exploration of Space


The Earth and Moon


5/20/19

Why is the far side of the moon (the side that always faces away from Earth)
so different from the near side that we are familiar with?

Simulations indicate that the moon was struck by a dwarf planet early in its history


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


9/26/17

Does the Earth orbit the Sun?

Better think carefully before answering that one

Is there nothing sacred anymore?

Here's a short video (3:19) that explains how the barycenter ...

makes defining "moons" difficult


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


6/13/16

How the Earth's movement affects timekeeping.

(video - 21:36)


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


12/19/14

All aboard the International Space Station
for a 41-second flight at night
down the coast of Italy and over to the Nile River in Egypt.




permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


2/11/12

History of the moon (24:25)




permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)

The Sun


7/19/18

Rare alignment of planets on one side of the Sun
means that the barycenter of our Solar System
is the farthest it can be from the Sun's surface.
Unfortunately, this guy didn't seem to be aware of it (3:14):




Explanation


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


9/5/17

The majority of the Sun's energy
does NOT come from the direct fusion of hydrogen into helium ...

but from several other indirect methods


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


6/25/14

How far out does the sun's atmosphere extend?

would you believe ... 5 million miles?


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


7/15/13

Solar flares and coronal mass ejections
are powered by Magnetic reconnections (1:42)




permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


7/1/08

Death of the Sun (3:58)




permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)

The Planets And Their Moons


6/19/23

Saturn's moon Enceladus has been found to have the sixth, and final element ...

necessary for life


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


3/13/20

MERCURY

Here is the explanation for why Mercury (800 degrees) can have polar ice caps ...

It has no atmosphere to transfer heat to the poles


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


3/7/19

MERCURY

Mercury is the closest planet to the Earth ... most of the time.

It also happens to be the closest planet ... to every other planet as well (6:40)


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


9/10/16

MERCURY

Here is an explanation that gives one of the reasons
why ancient astronomers believed that the Earth was the center of the Universe



So maybe we should cut those ancient guys some slack?


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


11/29/12

MERCURY

Temperatures on Mercury can exceed 800 degrees (over 400 C).
Guess what scientists found?

Powerful evidence of water ice (4:51)


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


7/15/19

MARS

Silica aerogel could warm the Martian surface similar to the way

that greenhouse gasses keep Earth warm


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


7/7/17

MARS

The chances of finding life on Mars ...

just took a big hit


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


4/7/15

MARS



They found water IN Mars: there are thousands of glaciers located underground

I contacted researcher Nanna Karlsson to find out how deep the glaciers were.
She replied "The glaciers are covered by dust that is less than 10 meters thick.
So they are not very far underground."


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


9/26/13

MARS

Scientists find plenty of easily accessible water on Mars

One obstacle down ... thousands to go
(but that one was huge)


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


8/5/12

MARS

The Rover attempts landing on Mars (5:08)




permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


2/28/11

MARS

How we got to Mars (6:33)




permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


2/6/23

JUPITER

Jupiter recaptures the title of ...

"the planet with the most moons" at 92


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


3/12/15

JUPITER



The largest moon in our solar system (Ganymede - which orbits Jupiter)
has a gigantic subsurface ocean

Even the top of that ocean is under 95 miles of ice.
The pressure must be enormous.
If there is any life in that ocean - it must be pretty bad-ass.


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)

Comets and Asteroids


10/23/23

Near-Earth orbiting asteroid may have originated ...

from the moon


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


9/27/22

The Vredefort crater on the border of Finland and Russia
is the world's largest impact crater.

It dwarfs the asteroid that killed off the dinosaurs


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


12/13/21

Scientists discover the culprit behind ...

meteorite-caused mass extinctions


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


4/27/20

An asteroid visiting Earth during the pandemic appears to be wearing ...

a mask




permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


5/21/18

2015 BZ509 is the first permanent body in our solar system ...

that came from another solar system


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


12/10/14

It appears as though the theory
that comets brought water to the early Earth

is unlikely to be true


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


10/19/14

Tomorrow night a half-mile wide Comet will miss Mars by about 40 minutes

This rock is coming in at about 126,000 mph (5:07)


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


1/10/13

Asteroid Apophis impact in 2036 has now been ruled out

sigh of relief


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)

Stars


2/16/15

Evidence has been found for the closest encounter ever
between a star and our own solar system.

It occurred about 70,000 years ago


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


1/5/15

Astronomers develop powerful method ...

for determining the age of stars


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


8/3/13

The theory explaining the origin of short gamma ray bursts ...

gets powerful supporting evidence from Hubble

Summary: long gamma ray bursts originate from collapsing stars
and short gamma ray bursts originate from the merger of two super dense objects.
(now we finally know what that bright flash was,
at the wedding of Jim Carrey and Jenny McCarthy)


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)

The Milky Way


5/6/20

The closest black hole to Earth has been discovered about ...

1,000 light years away


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


11/28/16



Our solar system is around 20 years old ...

in galactic years

(calm down "Young Earth Creationists" - that did not help your case)

When we calculate the Earth's age,
we do so by counting the Earth's trips around the Sun.
To be consistent, the age of our solar system
should be calculated in the same manner
(how many times our solar system has orbited the galactic center);
not by how many times one planet has circled its star
during our solar system's existence.
However, that second calculation is far more useful to us
and better helps us to understand our universe.


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


4/8/15



Organic molecules have been discovered in a nascent solar system
indicating that the elements of life may be universal.

We are NOT alone ... probably


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


3/9/15



The picture we all had of the Milky Way Galaxy has been refined.
It is now defined, not as a smooth disk, but as "corrugated."

That also means that the Milky Way is 50% more massive than previously thought


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


9/3/14

Astronomers map the Milky Way's place in the cosmos
with greater precision than ever before (4:10)




permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


10/30/13



Before Andromeda gets here in 2-3 billion years,
our Milky Way galaxy is due for a collision in about 30 million years.

(However, I think we're gonna win this one)


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)

The Universe


1/9/24

Huge debate over the Big Bang Theory
after discoveries made by the James Webb telescope:

Here's my two-cents

Good riddance


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


11/7/23

Astronomers discover the oldest black hole ever ...

13.3 billion light years old

(note: there is an error in the article -
they used the outdated age of the universe
of 13.7 billion years in their calculation)


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


4/6/23

Intriguing new discovery, the likes of which, have never been seen before ...

a black hole skyrocketing through space, leaving a trail of new stars


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


5/19/22



There is a discrepancy in measurements of the Hubble Constant

73 (+ or - 1) = 72-74 Vs. 67.5 (+ or - 0.5) = 67-68
So the discrepancy ranges from as little as 4 (72-68)
to as much as 7 (74-67).


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


8/14/21

Hossenfelder clarifies the concept of vacuum energy and its effect on ...

the expansion of the universe (11:24)


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


11/20/20

Collision of 2 neutron stars result in ...

a powerful Magnetar


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


8/1/19

Albert Einstein



The Cosmological Constant

Einstein's "greatest blunder" was not because he included it in his equation
(because it turned out to be real after all)
but in not recognizing ...

what it meant (6:03)

He assumed a static universe, and that bias denied him his greatest triumph.
He would have been granted the status of a God
had he predicted the expanding universe that Hubble discovered ...
less than a decade later.


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


1/14/19



The dust cloud surrounding a binary star system orbits them ... perpendicularly

The stars orbit each other in one plane,
while the dust cloud surrounding them
moves perpendicular to their dance,
rather than everything moving in the same direction in the same plane ...

as is normally the case


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


6/20/18

The missing third of ordinary matter has been found ...

million-degree filaments of oxygen between galaxies

Now we just need to find that dark matter.


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


9/21/17

Scientists are still hunting for the source of cosmic rays

But they are pretty sure they come from outside our Milky Way galaxy


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


3/23/17



A rare discovery in outer space: A black hole racing away from

the center of its galaxy


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


2017

Try to think "big."
I mean "really" big.
No, I mean "really, really" big.
Now, multiply that times a trillion.

The Dipole Repeller (4:23)

We are being pulled towards The Great Attractor, which itself,
is being pulled towards The Shapley Supercluster.


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


4/26/16

Some scientists and many people claim that space is "empty."
The following links should clear up that misconception ...

A "perfect" vacuum has never been found to exist ... anywhere

The CMB fills every cubic centimeter of the observable universe
with approximately 400 microwave photons

The Casimir Effect (10:39)

"Empty" space (4:45)

So as far as scientists can tell
the "vacuum" of space is just teeming with activity.


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


2/11/16



How big can black holes get?

This big


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


8/10/15



In our universe, energy is being converted into light and heat
which dissipate as the universe expands.

Many scientists believe that this will result in the "heat death" of the universe

I sent an email to the researchers asking them this question:

"According to the law of conservation of energy,
since energy can be neither created nor destroyed ...
where is all the energy going? "

I received replies from Luke Davies and Simon Driver,
researchers at the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research
at the University of Western Australia ...

The heat death of the Universe


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


4/21/15

Scientists discover the largest structure ever found in the universe ...

A "void" 1.3 billion light years across


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


4/10/15

The expansion of the Universe may have to be recalculated.
It may not be as fast as previously thought.
That also means that the amount of Dark Energy in the Universe ...

might also be less than previously thought

UPDATE

18 months later, and now more astronomers are challenging ...

the Dark Energy theory

And in related research:
It may no longer be necessary to hypothesize dark matter ...

to explain the rotation of galaxies

Modified Newtonian Dynamics ... now why didn't I think of that?

UPDATE 12/16/20

the MOND theory gets a huge boost over the Dark Matter theory

UPDATE 11/11/21

the MOND theory appears to be on the ropes (18:27)

UPDATE - 12/21/21

And there is yet another challenger to the Dark Matter theory ...

primordial black holes (first proposed by Stephen Hawking)

This reminds me of the back-and-forth battle
currently going on between sponges and jellyfish
as to which was the first "animal" to inhabit the Earth.

But like the host said near the end ... it's okay to admit we don't know.
Let's wait for the experts to battle it out, and then once it is decided ...
we can reap the benefits of all their hard work.

UPDATE - 10/26/22

MOND scores again - explaining star cluster densities

UPDATE - 11/9/23

It appears as though MOND has finally been defeated (18:06)


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


7/3/14

So ... there's no sound in space?

You might want to read these first before passing around misinformation ...

Astronomers can determine a star's age from the sound waves it produces

Listen to the "sound" of a comet (5:22)



NASA recorded "whistler waves," "plasma waves," and "plasmaspheric hiss."

Listen to electrons travelling through the Earth's Magnetic Field



How about sound in interstellar space?

Here is a recording of Tsunami waves in interstellar space by Voyager 1 (1:02)


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


10/24/13



Where is the coldest place in the Universe?

The Boomerang Nebula (only 5,000 light years away) checks in at ... 1 degree K!


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


10/21/13



Light's journey:
from the most distant objects in our universe ...
to striking our telescopes.

It didn't take the shortest path


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


3/21/13



The Planck space telescope has fine-tuned previous scientific measurements.

The age of our visible universe has been changed from 13.7 to 13.8 billion years


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


2/24/13

Brian Cox explains the Universe (51:29)

Fantastic video, but with one tiny little slip:
5 minutes before the end he says that the light from the Recombination
(the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation)
has been traveling for 13.7 billion years.
Then he thought he had made a mistake and said that he meant
that the light had been traveling 13.4 billion years.
He was actually correct the first time
because 300,000 years from 13.7 billion is 13.7 billion
not 13.4 billion (he obviously subtracted .3 billion instead of .3 million).
Given the superb quality of his lecture though ...
I think we can cut him some slack on that one.

(Note: recently scientists have refined the age of the universe to 13.8 billion years)


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


5/20/12

The center of the Universe (5:18)



Another view: Where is the center of the Universe? (4:08)




permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


2/1/12

Scale of the Universe (3:23)

I think I was somewhere in the middle.


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


8/2/09

Hubble Ultra Deep Field 3D (4:16)




permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


2/6/08

How scientists measure the distance to faraway galaxies (8:46)



RELATED 2/3/24

In case you are ever challenged by Young Earth Creationists
who ask you "Why don't we feel Earth spinning?"

This is how you can explain it to them
(not that they will understand)


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)

Exploration of Space


11/11/21

Big Oil lobbyists aren't going to be pleased about this ...

SpinLaunch

In case you missed the video in the article above ...

here's a link to it (3:09)

Reasons why this cool idea may never get off the ground


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


10/12/21

Researchers search for answers
as to why extended space trips cause ...

brain damage


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


8/26/21

Due to 2 deadly types of radiation (solar and galactic),
trips to Mars should be limited to less than ...

4 years


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


4/28/21

The first spacecraft to ever enter the Sun's corona (over one million degrees) won't melt ... why not?

The answer lies in understanding the difference between temperature and heat


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


11/24/15

Look at what those crazy little apes are up to now ...



UPDATE

The next video shows the next launch.
Not only was the test of the escape pod successful,
but the booster returned to Earth and landed ... upright.

The video is 1 hour and 1 minute long.
For those of you with ADHD (like me),
the countdown begins at 51 minutes.




permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


4/29/15

Due to the vast distances between stars
(it would take 75,000 years just to get to the nearest star)
I had pretty much resigned myself to the belief that,
though we might send spacecraft to other solar systems,
humans would likely be confined to living in just our solar system.

However, thanks to recent advances in technology
(like EM drive - if  it proves to be feasible)
the trip might be reduced to about 100 years. So ...

It looks like we may be going to the stars after all


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


10/11/14

Click "full screen," then sit back and relax for 3:50
while Carl Sagan takes your mind on a fantastic journey




permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)


12/3/12



Voyager 1 has reached "The Magnetic Highway."
Sometime within the next few years ...

it is expected to break out into interstellar space


permanent link
(click here first, then copy from address bar above)