17 May, 2019

Judging by Hollywood's always-ludicrous treatment of black holes, scientific knowledge about them is sadly scarce. Probably most know that a black hole is a system in space where so much mass is packed into such a small region that its tremendous gravity can shred and pull in a star that wanders too close; also, that nothing can escape once inside. That may be most of the information many have about block holes. But with the April 10 release of the first photograph of one, now is a good time to

07 May, 2019

Spring is the best season for astronomy, as far as I’m concerned, because this is when some amazing and reasonably close galaxies are abundant, as seen from Earth’s night-side. Galaxies are my favorite targets out there in deep space. And New Moon is the best time for viewing them because at other phases the glare from our orbiting spotlight can overwhelm their details. The most prominent group of galaxies in springtime is the Virgo Cluster, approximately 2,000 galaxies averaging 65 million

27 Apr, 2019

What sort of solar system object hasn't undergone close inspection by spacecraft or humans? The sun? Monitored continuously. Planets? All visited by by probes, including Pluto, which I sentimentally insist remains a planet. Rocky moons? Never forget July 20, 1969. Icy moons? Numerous loops around Jovian and Saturnian examples. Asteroids? OSIRIS-REx orbits asteroid Bennu with instructions to bring back a sample in 2023, while earlier this month the Japanese probe Hayabusa 2 dropped an explosive

17 Apr, 2019

April 10, 2019, should be recorded in the annals of science as one of the most significant dates. It's when the first photo of a black hole was released. Phenomena of such extreme conditions that their existence was questioned a few decades ago, black holes are among the strangest products of nature. They are gravity wells that nothing can escape, that may have no material substance but exert crushing gravity; they are cosmic beasts so powerful that they distort space and time. Anything