Researchers using sophisticated computer models suggest a giant exo-solar planet may be quite the swinger:
Category Archive: cosmology
Dec 01 2011
Grandma got run over by a gamma ray burst
On July 2, 1967 two top secret US survelliance satellites, Velas 3 and 4, spied an alarming phenomenon. The Vela sats were designed to detect the telltale radiation of nuclear tests by the USSR. But on that day these two picked up a flash of gamma rays from the other direction, not here on earth, but …
Dec 01 2011
The most magical time of the year
Believe me, if you grew up in Texas, where summer heat tops the century mark for weeks on end and even the morning lows offer little relief, you’d feel December was pretty damn magical. This month dawn and dusk stretch out, as the sun marches steadily to the Winter Solstice. The solstice was a magical time for …
Nov 29 2011
Amateur astronomer wows professionals with photo of exosolar disk
An amateur astronomer using a homemade 25 cm (10 inch) telescope has recorded an exquisite image of a nearby star and surrounding planetary disk. Beta Pictoris is 63 light-years away and resembles a slightly more massive, hotter version of our sun and primeval solar system in the early stages of planetary formation. The New Zealand star-gazer, named Rolf …
Nov 26 2011
Cosmology is the new mythology … really?
As someone who has picked a lousy title on many occasions, I sympathize with the author of this piece at IFPpress. Nevertheless, I can think of a great many differences between the most profound mysteries in cosmology and supernatural cosmogonies the world over. The first mythology-cosmology item given in the article looks somewhat defensible: String theory, …
Nov 16 2011
The meaning of life and then some
Great topic brought up by Ed Brayton at Dispatches, who writes in part: The entire span of a person’s existence on earth is not even a blip on the radar in the context of the physical and temporal existence of the universe. But just because our lives have no grand, universal meaning doesn’t mean they …
Nov 13 2011
Simulation shows a crowded early solar system
Hot Jupiter’s, possible water worlds or gas dwarfs, even one planet that could have a mantle of diamond, exo-solar planets remind us that the universe can still harbor secrets. In the last decade or two, as the number of strange exo-planetary denizens grew, it became clear that some must have migrated. Moved closer, or shot away, …
Nov 11 2011
OMG, it’s full of stars
The mighty eye of Hubble has been turned toward the genesis of galaxies and stars and found great big things start out in smaller, dynamic packages. Today the baryonic universe is dominated by elegant spirals like our own Milky Way and massive elliptical galaxies buzzing like a swarm of angry bees in ultra slow-motion. Each …
Nov 07 2011
White House to alien conspiracy theorists: there are no hidden aliens
Foolish humans! Responding a petition from UFO nuts, the White House as issued a statement that there are no aliens, as far as they know, in Area 51 or anywhere else: In addition, there is no credible information to suggest that any evidence is being hidden from the public’s eye. However, that doesn’t mean the …
Nov 04 2011
Video of raging hot pulsar on pulsar action
If you’re a wonder junkie like me, and not reading Ethan Siegal’s blog, Starts with a Bang!, you’re missing out. This post on why cosmologists think our universe is part of a multiverse is one of the best I’ve ever read. And it was from another of his superb pieces that I swiped the video below …
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