Tag: astrophysics
Indian Space Agency: Moon-Domes
By Tess The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is reportedly exploring the possibility of creating 3D printed lunar habitats on the moon. The space agency joins NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and Russia in the race to settle on the Earth’s only permanent natural satellite. Long has the idea of settling on the moon appealed to humans, but […]
Read More Indian Space Agency: Moon-DomesSun’s Magnetic Cage Stopped Solar Eruption
A dramatic magnetic power struggle at the Sun’s surface lies at the heart of solar eruptions, new research using NASA data shows. The work highlights the role of the Sun’s magnetic landscape, or topology, in the development of solar eruptions that can trigger space weather events around Earth. The scientists, led by Tahar Amari, an […]
Read More Sun’s Magnetic Cage Stopped Solar EruptionFour New Elements Added to Periodic Table
By Alexandra Ossola Elements with atomic numbers 113, 115, 117, and 118 have been added to the periodic table. The new elements were added after the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) reviewed scientific studies published by teams of researchers in the United States, Japan, and Russia. The committee deemed that the researchers had “met […]
Read More Four New Elements Added to Periodic TableBook Review: The Super Hugos, Presented by Isaac Asimov
The Super Hugos by Isaac Asimov My rating: 5 of 5 stars This collection was an outstanding tour of some of the very best science fiction of all time. If you can lay your hands on this book, if you’re a science fiction fan, you really must read it. I have reviewed most of the […]
Read More Book Review: The Super Hugos, Presented by Isaac AsimovFifty Years Ago, a Grad Student’s Discovery Changed the Course of Astrophysics
By identifying the first pulsars, Jocelyn Bell Burnell set the stage for discoveries in black holes and gravitational waves By Lorraine Boissoneault The dipole array telescope—a mass of wires and poles stretched across an area the size of 57 tennis courts—took Cambridge University students more than two years to build. But after the telescope was finished […]
Read More Fifty Years Ago, a Grad Student’s Discovery Changed the Course of AstrophysicsGeneration Ships
When it comes to crossing the vast gulfs between the solar system and other stellar systems, SF writers turn to two main solutions: small and fast1 or big and slow. Perhaps the best known example of “big and slow” is the generation ship, large enough to qualify as a large town or even a small nation, […]
Read More Generation ShipsNuclear Fusion on Brink of Being Realised, say MIT scientists
By Hannah Devlin The dream of nuclear fusion is on the brink of being realised, according to a major new US initiative that says it will put fusion power on the grid within 15 years. The project, a collaboration between scientists at MIT and a private company, will take a radically different approach to other […]
Read More Nuclear Fusion on Brink of Being Realised, say MIT scientistsStory Review: The Star by Arthur C. Clarke
The Star by Arthur C. Clarke My rating: 4 of 5 stars Read for the 12 in 12 Challenge. This story won the 1956 Hugo for Best Short Story. This, along with A Case of Conscience by James Blish, is a story from a similar period in which the author confronts the apparent opposition of […]
Read More Story Review: The Star by Arthur C. ClarkeWe Can Navigate Using Pulsars: Where to Now?
By Robbie Gonzales HALF A CENTURY ago, astronomers observed their first pulsar: a dead, distant, ludicrously dense star that emitted pulses of radiation with remarkable regularity. So consistent was the object’s signal that astronomers jokingly nicknamed it LGM-1, short for “little green men.” It wasn’t long before scientists detected more signals like LGM-1. That decreased the […]
Read More We Can Navigate Using Pulsars: Where to Now?
Diane Morrison 