Tag: Supernovae

Interesting Astronomy & Astrophysics news from the week of 3/21/2021

Next week’s night sky: At the end of March we receive another opportunity to view the Zodiacal Light – if you live in a location where the sky is free of light pollution. After the evening twilight has disappeared, you’ll have about half an hour to check the western sky for a broad wedge of faint light extending upwards from the horizon and centered on the ecliptic (i.e., below Mars). The viewing period will end with the new moon on April 11. A new picture of a […]

Read more

Interesting Astronomy & Astrophysics news from the week of 10/11/2020

Next week’s night sky: On Wednesday, the Orionids Meteor Shower peaks! The remnants of Halley’s comet created this shower. The best time to watch these meteors is between midnight and dawn. Then, shower will reach rates of 10-20 meteors per hour. To find the shower, look to the southwest. Friday is the first quarter moon. This is the best time to see the lunar terrain, as the low-angled sunlight dramatically lights the lunar surface.. Betelgeuse may not be so far away New research suggests the red supergiant […]

Read more

Top Astronomy & Astrophysics research from the week of 8/23/2020

Next week’s night sky The moon reaches its full stage, halfway through its rotation around Earth, on Tuesday. This is a great time to look more closely at the moon! With a good set of binoculars, you should be able to make out the detail of the craters and planes of the lunar surface. On Saturday, the moon and Jupiter will be only around 1 degree apart. Just wait about half an hour after sunset, and then look for a reddish brown-object shining right near the moon. […]

Read more

Top Astronomy & Astrophysics research from the week of 8/16/2020

Next week’s night sky Tuesday this week is the first quarter moon. It will be in the sky all evening, making for some great casual observing. If you have a camera attached to a high powered telescope, you may be able to catch a time-lapse of the terminator (the line dividing day and night) sweeping across the surface of the moon! On Friday about 45 minutes after sunset, Jupiter is just a few degrees away from the moon. If you look around the moon for a big […]

Read more

The top ten coolest things in space

This is a list of what I consider to be the top ten coolest things in space! 1. Thorne-Zytkow object First is a Thorne-Zytkow object. These objects form when a pulsar worms its way into the body of a different star. Although these objects would appear to be almost normal, they would house all sorts of strange elements that would never appear in a regular star. The only one that we know of in the entire universe is called HV 2112. 2. The Fermi Bubbles Second, the […]

Read more

All about nebulae and supernovae

You might have heard about supernovae as the largest explosions in the galaxy, or seen beautiful pictures of nebulae, but what really are they? What is a nebula? In one sentence, a nebula is the remnants of an old star that provides a birthplace for new stars. A supernova is a gigantic explosion that happens when the largest stars in the universe explode. How are nebulae formed? Stars are constantly in the middle of a tug of war, with the internal forces of the star trying to […]

Read more