Tag Archives: supernovae

8 Things About Uranium

Posted on February 19, 2017 by

As is fairly obvious, the recently inaugurated President of the USA, Donald Trump, has no idea what uranium is. To quote him directly: “You know what uranium is, right? S’thing called nuclear weapons and other things and lots of… things are … Continue reading →

Posted in astronomy, chemistry | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Supernova! Supernova! Supernova!

Posted on January 23, 2014 by

I do love a good supernova, don’t you? This latest one has just recently burst into existence in the galaxy M82. Check out this flashy little gif animation, blinking between a usual picture of the galaxy and a recent one. … Continue reading →

Posted in astronomy | Tagged | 4 Comments

Keeping in the loop

Posted on November 24, 2012 by

I was rather gratified the other day, to learn that I’m not boring for being a fan of Orion. Apparently, several other people pick Orion as their favourite constellation, ever vigilant in the skies from almost anywhere on the planet. … Continue reading →

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Explosions in the dark…?

Posted on April 19, 2012 by

Picture the scene. You’re drifting in intergalactic space. There are no stars punctuating the darkness, like there are here on Earth. Instead of stars, the points of light you can see are fuzzier looking. Far fewer points of light than … Continue reading →

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The aftermath of supernovae… in Antarctica

Posted on July 18, 2009 by

It’s pretty amazing, all the things that get caught up in the Antarctic ice. It’s a prime hunting ground for meteorites, for one thing. The infamous ALH 84001 with its supposed martian microfossils was found in Antarctica. As was the … Continue reading →

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Tycho’s Supernova

Posted on April 3, 2009 by

I haven’t written about anything astronomical in over a month. That’s disgraceful! And I call myself an astronomy blogger? Time to remedy this, methinks… So in keeping with my favourite subject, this beautiful plasmatic puffball is the remnant of Tycho’s … Continue reading →

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Simeis 147

Posted on February 5, 2009 by

Roughly 3000 light years from us is this faint but dramatic supernova remnant. Simeis 147 is around 40,000 years old and is faint enough that it’s essentially invisible to the naked eye. Surprising then that these faint filaments of hydrogen, … Continue reading →

Posted in astronomy, Imported from Livejournal | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Carbonado!

Posted on February 2, 2009 by

Carbonado diamonds, sometimes known simply as “black diamonds” are enigmatic things. Given their origins, rare and expensive seems something of an understatement. Regular diamonds (allegedly a girl’s best friend) are created naturally inside planet Earth, through the high pressures found … Continue reading →

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Interstellar Deluge

Posted on November 12, 2008 by

Interestingly, about the time I first started writing about near Earth supernovae, this fascinating paper was already published. Though by some quirk of fate, I’ve only just been able to get a copy of it to read! So as I’ve … Continue reading →

Posted in Imported from Livejournal, physics | Tagged , ,

Supernova Condensate

Posted on November 2, 2008 by

So this blog’s called Supernova Condensate, but I realise I’ve never actually written about supernova condensate! Time to fix that, I think… Supernova condensate, often abbreviated to SuNoCon (which sounds like it should be a convention somewhere), is exactly that. … Continue reading →

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