超新星コンデンセート
Supernova Condensate is a blog about our place in the Universe. Of astronomy, chemistry and life in the big bad bubble of academia.-
Invader Xan is a molecular astrophysicist and part-time alien invader, who spends life looking at very small things on very large scales, and trying to better understand the chemistry of interstellar space.
DFTBA ♥
すべての我々は星で作られています。
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Monthly Archives: August 2008
Fermi Gamma Ray Map
It seems to be everywhere on the web at the moment… But it’s easy to see why! First light from Fermi. A postcard of the Universe seen in gamma rays. How cool is that?
Extrasolar Kuiper Belt
This interested me. Astronomers in Baltimore (led by Christine Chen) have managed to image what they believe to be a Kuiper Belt around another star. HD 181327 in the constellation of Pictor is a young Sun-like star 165 light years … Continue reading
Posted in astronomy, Imported from Livejournal
Tagged astronomical images, planets, stars
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Space Travel: Not for the likes of you?
“It’s always science fiction until someone goes out and does it” Depressingly, it seems a number of scientists and academics have largely written off the possibiity of interstellar travel. The gist of the conversation seems to be on prohibitive costs, … Continue reading
Posted in Imported from Livejournal
Tagged space exploration, spaceflight
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Snack Foods
Some days, the thing I like most about the University is how multicultural the place is… Other days, I just like the resulting interesting snack foods you can buy at the Student Union.
Posted in Imported from Livejournal
5 Comments
On the perils of being multidisciplinary…
I sometimes wonder if perhaps I’m stretching myself too thin. My reading list currently contains two books and enough papers to constitute at least one more book in their own right. Currently, it’s a jumbled mélange of mineralogy, organic chemistry, … Continue reading
Posted in Imported from Livejournal
Tagged student life
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Foodstuffs meme
So I’m breaking my usual “no memes” rule for this one. Because it’s interesting. — yoinked from dogs_n_rodents
Posted in Imported from Livejournal
7 Comments
Extraterrestrial Nucleobases?
This is interesting… An international group of researchers (UK, USA, Netherlands) have apparently confirmed the presence of two primitive nucleobases in meteorite samples. The Murcheson Meteorite crash landed in Australia nearly 50 years ago, and has been pored over by … Continue reading
Posted in astrobiology, Imported from Livejournal
Tagged meteorites
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Telluric Infuriation…
I keep staying up late to try and see the Perseid meteor shower, but the sky here has been full of clouds for days. The peak’s already gone, though there should be at least a week more until they slow … Continue reading
Posted in Imported from Livejournal
4 Comments
Purely because I haven’t posted this here yet… It’s old, but still pretty funny. Definitions of terms commonly used in academia It has long been known: I didn’t look up the original reference. A trend is evident: These data are … Continue reading
Dust to dust
This is a piece of genuine circumstellar dust. A tiny grain (just ten microns long) of silicates, glasses and carbon. Stars are dusty things. They form from gas and dust, and they spew out gas and dust throughout their lives … Continue reading
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