Welcome back to our series on interstellar travel! In our first installment, we examined attempts to realize nuclear propulsion and how the technology could be used to reach the nearest star. In our second, we examined how ...
Astronomy
Aug 20, 2026
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Remember the "Wow!" signal? That high-energy radio signature occurred in 1977, when Earth was much "quieter" in the radio band. If it happened today, it probably wouldn't even move the needle on the background noise of human ...
Astronomy
Aug 19, 2026
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The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope recently imaged NGC 2392 (also known as the Lion Nebula), named for its distinctive appearance, which resembles a lion's face seen head-on.
Astronomy
Aug 18, 2026
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Readers of a certain age will remember a golden era of asteroid films, capped by two with very different endings. "Deep Impact" drove home the devastating consequences of letting a large piece of rock hit our planet, whereas ...
Astronomy
Aug 18, 2026
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A new paper has put hard numbers on a plan that's been rattling around the astronomy community for a while now—a California company called Reflect Orbital wants to put giant mirrors in orbit and beam sunlight down to Earth ...
Astronomy
Aug 17, 2026
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You may have heard the phrase "we are made of star-stuff." This statement by the astronomer Carl Sagan refers to the fact that elements heavier than hydrogen and helium were forged in the centers of the first stars. But how ...
Astronomy
Aug 16, 2026
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What do you do when the observation you need comes around once a year? Well, preparation is key, but this is the awkward truth about finding another Earth. When a planet crosses the face of its star, a sliver of starlight ...
Astronomy
Aug 13, 2026
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There is a question that often comes up at every public talk I do, and I have never had a good answer to it—well, not an entirely confident one. What's inside a black hole? The textbook reply is a singularity. Cross the event ...
Astronomy
Aug 12, 2026
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I'll admit to using AI for things it was probably never designed for. When my van threw a fault I couldn't immediately figure out—one that seems notorious for trips back and forth to a repair shop—I ended up in a long (but ...
Astronomy
Aug 11, 2026
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Since it became operational in 2022, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has released some truly breathtaking views of the cosmos. These images highlight how advancements since the days of the venerable Hubble Space Telescope ...
Astronomy
Aug 10, 2026
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