The End of the Lone Astronomer

At least according to this book. I'm not too sure of this, but it is an interesting argument.

How strong is Gravity?

As explained here, we don't know the answer to this question as much as we would like.

Ouch! The Light!

Please don't shine it at my telescope, it hurts. Go here to read about the latest problem regarding light pollution.

Elliptical Crater

Huh? Go here to see a stunningly weird picture from Mars.

How to make a supermassive black hole

Apparently, the recipe is:
Step 1 - Crash two galaxies together
Step 2 - Wait for the two smaller black holes at the center of these galaxies to merge together, during which time lots of gas falls into them.
Step 3 - Go to Step 1.

Figuring this out was not as simple as it looks. Go here,
here, and here, and here to learn more.

A WISE picture

Well, at least a picture taken by the WISE satellite. Go here to see the very pretty picture. Enjoy!

Poor Jupiter

Hit by another asteroid. Well, I guess that is the downside of being the most massive planet in the Solar System. Go here to read about it and see the damage.

Pulsars and the Solar System

Pulsars are the most common type of neutron stars, objects more massive than the Sun but about the size of your favorite major city. The Solar System is well, our Solar System. How can you use one to study the other? Gravity. Go here to read how.

Asteroids giving birth

To a baby asteroid, of course. Mainly by budding - i.e. spinning so rapidly some rocks shoot off and orbit the parent. So cute! Go here and here and here to learn more.

SOFIA

Well, I posted a link to an editorial essentially blasting NASA's SOFIA project. Here is an article describing all the pretty impressive science it will hopefully accomplish. Enjoy!

The Sun and You

Not surprisingly, activity of the Sun has a large impact on the properties of the Earth. The most prominent example are solar flares, which cause aurorae and can significantly damage satellites. A less prominent, but just as important example, is the uppermost atmosphere, which is ionized by UV radiation from the Sun. Not surprisingly, as UV radiation from the Sun drops, so does the thickness of this layer. To learn more, go here. Enjoy!

Double trouble

Kepler recently discovered not one but two transiting planets orbiting the same star. Now, this isn't that surprising - many stars with multiple planets have long been identified (e.g. our Sun and Solar System), and since transiting planets are a result of favorable geometry (the planets happen to pass between us and their central star) and most planets orbit a star in the plane on the sky (one important reason why Pluto is no longer considering a planet by most astronomers). one would even expect this to happen. It is cool, never the less. Read more about it here and
here and here and here and here, with an audio report (courtesy of NASA) here.

The Sun is really just another star

Now, while that is far from a provocative statement, it is always nice to get confirmation that other stars are truly like the Sun. Go here to read about how this is the case.

U2 and NASA make a video

Go here to look at the final results. Let me know what you think. Enjoy!

7 Little Planets orbitting one star

How like the Solar System you are! (Sort of.) Go here and here to learn more.

How is a black hole like a Volcano?

Go here to find out.

Another possible site...

.. where life could have possibly maybe might have existed on Mars way back when. Go here for more information.

The moon is shrinking!

Well it is. Very slowly. Because it is still cooling from its formation. Go here and here to read why astronomers think this is the case.

Ancient star formation

Go here to read how galaxies in some of the earliest known galaxy clusters in the universe are producing stars at a much higher rate than now. Interesting...

Dawn on an asteroid

Literally. NASA's Dawn satellite will hopefully land on the asteroid Vesta soon. Go here to read more, or listen to it here. Enjoy!

The nature of dark energy

Astronomers have used many different methods to try and figure out the nature of dark energy: the mysterious substance comprising roughly 70% of the total energy in the universe and responsible for accelerating its expansion. These including measuring the distance to Type Ia supernovae, measuring the mass of galaxy clusters, the clumping of galaxies, and not strong lensing of more distant galaxies by nearby galaxy clusters. Read more about it here and here and here. Hopefully all these methods keep on agreeing.

The highest energy cosmic rays...

...might be atomic nuclei, not protons as previously thought, meaning they originate inside the Milky Way as opposed to the other, nearby galaxies. Go here to learn more.

Measuring the mass of a neutron star

Go here to read about a unique opportunity to measure the mass of a neutron star, and hopefully learn most about the state of matter in these incredible dense balls. For more information on this topic, listen to this interview with Tod Strohmayer of NASA, who works on RXTE - the satellite that discovered this system.

Cosmic Waves

When massive stars forms, they generate powerful winds which stream through their surroundings. Just like winds on Earth generate waves as they flow over water, these stellar waves apparently form waves in the surrounding gas which were recently observed. You can read more about it here, watch a video showing it here, and in its full scientific glory here.

How much mass do you need....

... for a star to form a black hole? Well, apparently more than previously thought.
When massive stars run out of fuel, their Iron core collapses under its own gravity and turns into a neutron star. If the energy released in this collapse is enough to expel the outer layers of the star, you are left with a neutron star. If too much more material falls onto the neutron star before the released energy blows away the rest of the star, you have a black hole. Stars with an initial mass more that 40 times that of the Sun were expected to be well above the threshold where you make a black hole. However, nature appears to have other ideas, as you can read about here and here and here. Maybe such stars lose enough mass before they explode that the initial collapse is sufficient. Hopefully we'll find out soon.

Colliding Planets!

Imagine you have two stars in a close orbit around each other. Now, imagine each star has some planets orbiting them. What happens next? Planet fight! A planet's orbit in such a configuration is highly unlikely to be stable, so these planets are likely to collide with each other. When they do, this collision will form a lot of dust, which emits infrared light - similar to what was observed from a double star binary system. Go here and here to read more about it, and here to look at some nice artist renditions. Isn't the universe grand?

The origins of the Earth

Read more about it here. Interesting.

The edge of the Solar System

is a very mysterious place, as further revealed by the IBEX mission. Read more about the latest mysteries here.

New Arrival on Venus

The Japanese satellite Akatsuki will arrive in Venus shortly to study this cloud enshrouded planet. Go here or listen to this NASA report to learn more about it.

One of these galaxies is not like the other...

An elliptical galaxy, which typically have no dust, with a prominent dust lane. Who order that? Read more about it here and here.