Astronomer Amy Mainzer on Netflix's Don't Look Up
DJE: Tell me a little about the film. It looks like it’s going to be delightful. AM: It’s a comedy. It’s about a serious topic, but at the same time, it’s meant to make us think about how we deal with serious problems in society. I hope it’ll make people laugh and think and feel […]
Why modern astronomy needs photometry, not just more light
Astronomers have used this set of single-colour images, shown around the edge, to construct the colour picture (centre) of a ring of star clusters surrounding the core of the galaxy NGC 1512. By adding together a series of images taken with different photometric filters, a rich color image, with essential details about temperature, dust, and […]
Looking for bright black holes — 750,000 galaxies at a time
A weird problem astronomers have is finding monster black holes. It’s a common misconception that black holes are nature’s ultimate garbage compactors. Toss something in, and it’s gone. Bloop! But that’s not always the case. In space, stuff tends to come in at an angle, giving it some angular momentum. This means that instead of […]
Winter wonder worlds: an exploration of other planets’ seasons
Taken from the December 2021 issue of Physics World where it first appeared under the headline “Winter wonder worlds”. Members of the Institute of Physics can enjoy the full issue via the Physics World app. The winter holiday season comes but once a year – on Earth. Eleanor Spring takes a tour through some of […]
Best Image Ever Taken of Stars Buzzing Around the Milky Way’s Supermassive Black Hole
It all began with the discovery of Sagittarius A*, a persistent radio source located at the Galactic Center of the Milky Way that turned out to be a supermassive black hole (SMBH). This discovery was accompanied by the realization that SMBHs exist at the heart of most galaxies, which account for their energetic nature and […]
The Bottom of Valles Marineris Seems to Have Water Mixed in With the Regolith
For generations, humans have dreamed of the day when we might set foot on Mars. For many others, the dream has been one of settling on Mars and creating an outpost of human civilization there. Today, it looks as though both of these dreams are getting closer to becoming a reality, as space agencies and […]
A Holiday Check-in with New Horizons
The fact that we have three functioning spacecraft outside the orbit of Pluto fills me with holiday good spirits. Of the nearest of the three, I can say that since New Horizons’ January 1, 2019 encounter with the Kuiper Belt Object now known as Arrokoth, I have associated the spacecraft with holidays of one kind […]
Webb Telescope Officially Cleared for Launch on December 24
UPDATE: Shortly after publication of this article, Arianespace announced the launch for JWST has been delayed until December 25: “Due to adverse weather conditions at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, the flight #VA256 to launch the James Webb Space Telescope –initially scheduled for December 24– is being postponed,” Arianespace said via Twitter. “Tomorrow evening, local […]
Sample of asteroid Ryugu brought to Earth is a strange dark colour
Last year, Japan’s Hayabusa 2 asteroid explorer returned samples from the asteroid Ryugu, and now the first analysis of the rock shows it has a primitive composition and a curiously dark colour Space 20 December 2021 By Alex Wilkins Artist’s impression of Hayabusa 2 near Ryugu Akihiro Ikeshita The asteroid Ryugu contains some of the […]
What The James Webb Space Telescope Can Do For Exoplanet Science and What It Cannot Do
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