Tag Archives: astrophysics

Carnival of Space 262

Posted on August 12, 2012 by

Ladies and gentlemen and variations thereupon, I bid you welcome to this week’s edition of Carnival of Space. With Curiosity’s daredevil landing on Mars this week, there’s a distinctly martian flavour about this carnival! Whether this is your first time … Continue reading →

Posted in chemistry, space | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Carnival of Space 260!

Posted on July 30, 2012 by

Welcome, one and all, to the 260th edition of Carnival of Space! After being a contributor on and off for a few years, I’m proud to finally host the Carnival here on Supernova Condensate. For anyone unaware, a blog carnival … Continue reading →

Posted in astronomy, space | Tagged | 5 Comments

Galactic orbits

Posted on July 22, 2012 by

A galaxy is a chaotic place. Sure, they may look silent and motionless, suspended in space, but a galaxy is in constant motion. Hundreds of billions of stars, swirling around at hundreds of metres per second, gravitationally fixed in place … Continue reading →

Posted in astronomy | Tagged , | 9 Comments

Black hole nucleosynthesis

Posted on July 17, 2012 by

If I had to pick a handful of favourite things in all of physics, black holes and nuclear fusion would be among them. Hands down. This interesting little paper which I stumbled across earlier (via a link to the APS … Continue reading →

Posted in physics | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Three suns?

Posted on June 11, 2012 by

I love sci fi. Really. While countless people whine about the lack of accuracy in sci fi generally, I’ve come to realise that suspending my disbelief is usually more fun★. Anyway, if we’re honest, deconstructing science in movies is like … Continue reading →

Posted in Sci Fi, space | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments

Stellar Swirl

Posted on May 6, 2012 by

I love stars. I’ve heard galactic astronomers say in the past, how stars are boring, and once you’ve seen one star you’ve seen them all. Personally, I couldn’t possibly disagree more. I could list a hundred reasons why stars are … Continue reading →

Posted in Imported from Livejournal | Tagged , , ,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Posted on April 30, 2012 by

If you were to be able to travel forward in time by about 7 billion years and take a look at our parent star, what might you see? What would the Sun, by then weary with old age, look like? … Continue reading →

Posted in Imported from Livejournal | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

α α α!

Posted on January 16, 2012 by

This Universe is full of carbon. Well… Not full really. I mean, technically it’s mostly full of absolutely nothing, closely followed by dark energy and dark matter… and if we’re talking about things we can see, then it’s mostly full … Continue reading →

Posted in Imported from Livejournal, physics | Tagged , | 8 Comments

Cosmic Rays and Chemicals

Posted on September 30, 2010 by

Did you know that, seen in high energy gamma rays, the Moon is actually brighter than the Sun? Remarkably, the photons that make up this image carried over 20 million electron volts of energy each. That already sounds like a … Continue reading →

Posted in Imported from Livejournal, physics | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments

Massive!

Posted on September 11, 2010 by

A friend of mine pointed this story out to me a couple of weeks ago… I’ve been pondering it, but I haven’t had a chance to write anything about it yet. The biggest reason for this is the fact that … Continue reading →

Posted in Imported from Livejournal | Tagged ,