Is the Universe Connected By a Cosmic Web?
Some people think that the universe is just a hodge-podge of various celestial objects, such as planets, stars and galaxies. But over the years, scientists have found more evidence that the universe may be anything but random, and is actually more organized and interconnected—like an enormous spider web. Our place in the web Let’s start […]
Ants Goof Off Too; Milky Way Steals Stars; Astronomers Spot Exocomets
Ants Balance Work and Rest to Maintain Colony Ants have a reputation of being dedicated and hardworking creatures. But did you know that like humans, ants also seek to maintain a healthy balance of work and rest? While an ant colony appears to be filled with busy workers, according to new research, there are also […]
Powerful Punch of Gamma Rays Found in Mysterious Fast Radio Bursts
Astronomers at the Pennsylvania State University say they have discovered that the mysterious and elusive astronomical phenomenon called fast radio bursts, or FRB’s, can also pack a powerful punch of gamma rays along with their mighty but brief pulse of radio waves. This discovery of the FRB’s gamma rays was made after researchers studied observational […]
Dark Matter Galaxy; Making Bland Tasty; Ouchless Insulin
Galaxy Made-Up of Mostly Dark Matter Discovered A team of astronomers, using two of the world’s most powerful ground based telescopes, have discovered an enormous galaxy that’s only .01 percent visible. The remaining 99.9 percent, according to the astronomers, is made up of dark matter. The faint galaxy is called Dragonfly 44. It’s located within […]
July 2016 Science Images
They’re Sure It Exists, But Scientists Still Unable to Detect Dark Matter
Back in 1933, Caltech astronomer and astrophysicist Fritz Zwicky was observing the Coma cluster, a large group of galaxies located some 321 million light years away in the Coma Berenices constellation. He noticed the speed of the galaxies rotating within the cluster was much faster than the quantity of its mass he had calculated. According to […]
X Marks the Spot; New Radiation Monitor on ISS; 3D Astronomical Map
X Marks the Center of the Milky Way When we hear “X marks the spot,” many of us might think of old pirate maps and where treasure is supposedly buried. But “X marks the spot” could also have more of a cosmic meaning, thanks to a new study published in the Astronomical Journal. The study’s […]
Space Snow Spotted; Frankenstein Galaxy; Fewer Allergies for Thumb Suckers
Astronomers Spot Snow Circling New Star For the first time, astronomers have been able to get a glimpse of a water “snowline” in a protoplanetary disk, which is the material surrounding a new star that may later form into planets. This water “snowline” marks the point within these left overs of star formation where the temperature […]
June 2016 Science Images
One Third of the World’s Population Unable to See Milky Way
Among my fondest memories of being a kid back in the 1960’s was taking a week or so of summer vacation to visit relatives at my grandfather’s farm in Herman, PA (about 65 km northeast of Pittsburgh). During my stay I would spend evenings lying on the freshly cut grass of my grandpa’s back yard, just looking up into […]