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“From a little spark may burst a flame.” -Dante Alighieri
It's hard to believe that less than two years ago, we hadn't even begun Messier Monday, and now there are fewer than 20 objects left! Today represents a great milestone, as we finally take on the last of fifteen galaxies that Messier catalogued as part of the Virgo Cluster!
Image credit: Mike Hankey, via http://www.mikesastrophotos.com/galaxies/m100/; annotation & magnification by me.
Even though Messier couldn't see the details that modest amateurs can see today, his (and Méchain's) discovery-and-cataloguing of this…
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“General Kenobi. Years ago you served my father in the Clone Wars. Now he begs you to help him in his struggle against the Empire. I regret that I am unable to convey my father’s request to you in person, but my ship has fallen under attack, and I’m afraid my mission to bring you to Alderaan has failed. I have placed information vital to the survival of the Rebellion into the memory systems of this R2 unit. My father will know how to retrieve it. You must see this droid safely delivered to him on Alderaan. This is our most desperate hour. Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope.” -…
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“As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.” -Albert Einstein
It's been a fabulous, fun-filled week over at the main Starts With A Bang blog, and we've taken on a variety of topics that range from the small and subtle to the large and... less subtle. In a span of only seven days, we've explored the following topics and questions (and go ahead and click if you missed anything):
What is a quantum observation? (for Ask Ethan),
But will it Bea Art(hur)? (for our Weekend Diversion),
The Most…
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“Ignorance is hardly unusual, Miss Davar. The longer I live, the more I come to realize that it is the natural state of the human mind. There are many who will strive to defend its sanctity and then expect you to be impressed with their efforts.” -Brandon Sanderson
At the risk of inflaming everyone who doesn't think exactly like I do -- which is quite likely to literally be everyone who reads this -- sometimes I get a submission for Ask Ethan that I think is far too important to not address. And this week's entry, from Jonathan Hasey, really resonated with me.
Image credit: Randall…
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“Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.” -Alexander Graham Bell
The Sun, contrary to what you might normally think about it, isn't a constant, uniform source of radiation. It has an active surface, replete with temperature variations, sunspots, and occasionally a large flare or mass ejection.
Image credit: NASA / GSFC / SDO.
But on very rare occasion, a flare like this makes it way through space and just happens to make its way towards Earth, where this hot, fast-moving ionized plasma collides with us. While the…
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“Since the beginning of physics, symmetry considerations have provided us with an extremely powerful and useful tool in our effort to understand nature. Gradually they have become the backbone of our theoretical formulation of physical laws.” -Tsung-Dao Lee
We normally think of the Universe as being symmetric, in the sense that no one direction, location or configuration is inherently preferred over another. But at some level, the laws of physics aren't completely symmetric, as we see from the decays of certain elementary particles.
Image credit: author durbarsquare of http://…
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“Art has a double face, of expression and illusion, just like science has a double face: the reality of error and the phantom of truth.” -Publilius Syrus
Out in the depths of space, objects range from the incredibly small and low mass to the huge and super-heavy, shrinking down again for the most ultra-massive objects in the Universe.
Image credit: The Antiope Doublet asteroid / ESO, via http://www.eso.org/public/images/eso0718b/.
But what would happen, on all scales, if you took two such identical objects and merged them together?
Image credit: NASA.
Find out what happens when the…
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“We sail within a vast sphere, ever drifting in uncertainty, driven from end to end.” -Blaise Pascal
By now, you've probably learned that Messier objects -- and galaxies in particular -- come in a huge, rich variety of types, structures and compositions. But sometimes, the simplest structure of all is the rarest.
Image credit: © 2006 — 2012 by Siegfried Kohlert, with M89 (left) and M90 (right) together, via http://www.astroimages.de/en/gallery/M89.html.
Think about it: most galaxies are classified as spirals, ellipticals or irregulars. But when was the last time you heard of a …
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"Which is more likely? That the universe was designed just for us, or that we see the universe as having been designed just for us?" -Michael Shermer
After the end of another fun-filled week, it's time again to take a look at (and respond to) what you've had to say! Over on the main Starts With A Bang blog, we've tackled the following topics:
How deep does the Multiverse go? (for Ask Ethan),
Planetary Beers (for our Weekend Diversion),
A cluster that stands out from the galaxy, M23 (for Messier Monday),
The Mystery of the Missing Mini-galaxies,
How the experiment that…
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“I’m not playing a role. I’m being myself, whatever the hell that is.” -Bea Arthur
It isn't often that someone becomes both a legend and an inspiration simply by being themselves, and it's even rarer in the world of entertainment if that person doesn't just happen to be stunningly beautiful-or-handsome as well. But a certain Golden Girl did exactly that during her life. Have a listen to Art in Manila's interesting indie song,
Golden Dawn,
while I share with you Mike Denison's art project, "Bea A Day."
Image credit: Mike Denison, via http://mikd33.tumblr.com/image/77592856619.
Each…
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“You can observe a lot by just watching.” -Yogi Berra
Sure, the quantum Universe is a little bit spooky. Things that we're used to being "determined" here in the macroscopic world, like where a particle will end up if you throw it, aren't so simple if we head on down to subatomic scales.
Image credit: user Ufonaut99 from network54's GSJ Physics Forum, original via http://universe-review.ca/.
While you might have often heard that things are only determined by observation, does that have anything to do with you, the observer? Or is that just an anthropomorphized way of talking about…
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“Geologists have a saying: rocks remember.” -Neil Armstrong
45 years ago, the Apollo 11 mission was on its way away from planet Earth and headed towards the Moon, where the first human beings would set foot on the surface just a few days later.
Image credit: NASA / Apollo 11, photo by Neil Armstrong.
Back in 2012, the very first man on the Moon, Neil Armstrong, left this world for good. But the impact he had, and what he left behind, are worth remembering, even for those of us who weren't yet alive to remember it firsthand.
Image credit: NASA. This is the official NASA / Apollo 11 mission…
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Today’s article comes courtesy of Sabine Hossenfelder. Sabine is an assistant professor for high energy physics at Nordita, Stockholm. She writes a blog called Backreaction and tweets as @skdh.
Dark matter is one of the most elusive and puzzling entities in our Universe today. We have plenty of indirect evidence for it, but one of the the "holy grail" questions in physics right now is to figure out exactly what its particle nature truly is.
Image credit: NASA, ESA, and T. Brown and J. Tumlinson (STScI).
It ought to exist in a halo around our galaxy, and if it interacts with normal matter…
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“Two qualities are indispensable: first, an intellect that, even in the darkest hour, retains some glimmerings of the inner light which leads to truth; and second, the courage to follow this faint light wherever it may lead.” -Carl von Clausewitz
You've been hanging around here long enough that you know all about dark matter's successes, from the CMB to large-scale-structure to gravitational lensing. On the largest scales in the Universe, there's no alternative that even comes close to working, unless you also include dark matter!
Image credit: Tony Tyson, Greg Kochanski and Ian…
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“[T]his all fades to black, and it’s gone. It’s dust. Choose carefully what you obsess about.” -Meshell Ndegeocello
It's been a long time since we've had a new open cluster to look at, since the plane of the Milky Way (and the region towards the galactic center) has been obscured by the Earth and the Sun over the past few months. But finally, the year has progressed to the point where it's becoming visible again, and it brings with it some spectacular views of our galaxy's rich, open clusters!
Image credit: Fernando Cabrerizo, via http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130712.html.
For this week's…
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“I’ve learned what ‘classical’ means. It means something that sings and dances through sheer joy of existence.” -Gustav Holst
There are some great, creative works out there that take their inspiration from the amazing natural phenomena of this Universe. While perhaps Gustav Holst's suite, The Planets, is best known for translating the celestial wonders into terrestrial ones, I'd like to share with you the less-well-known song of Ferraby Lionheart,
Small Planet,
while I take you through this weekend's wonder.
Image credit: author WP, via Wikimedia Commons uploader Kwamikagami under c.c…
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"Beauty is unbearable, drives us to despair, offering us for a minute the glimpse of an eternity that we should like to stretch out over the whole of time." -Albert Camus
After a week at Starts With A Bang filled with a huge variety of topics, from Ninja Warrior to the Moon to the far future of our Universe, you've responded with plenty of original thoughts that have been worth listening to. To recap, and for you to review if you missed anything, this past week saw us cover the following:
What came first, black holes or galaxies? (for Ask Ethan),
Imagine a hero (for our Weekend…
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“Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try!” -Dr. Seuss
For almost a year now, you've all been sending in your questions and suggestions to me, and I've been picking my favorite one of the week for Ask Ethan, our weekly Q&A series. This week, though, the question goes a little deeper than I'm used to taking on.
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons users Frédéric MICHEL and Azcolvin429, annotated by me.
Our observable Universe goes on for 46 billion light-years in all directions, but what's out there beyond what we can…
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“It is always wise to look ahead, but difficult to look further than you can see.” -Winston Churchill
There's plenty to learn about, to see and to discover when we look out at the Universe today. From the leftover glow from the Big Bang in the microwave to the hundreds of billions of galaxies and the tremendous variety of stars in our galaxy and others, there's no shortage of mysteries to solve and curiosities to uncover.
Image credit: NASA, ESA, the GOODS team and M. Giavalisco (STScI).
But what if we, instead, came about in this Universe 100 billion years from now? How would we…
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“Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.” -Golda Meir
If you've never seen the glorious, athletic spectacle that is Sasuke (Ninja Warrior), you are missing out on the obstacle course of a lifetime!
Image credit: © 2013 Etan Ginsberg, via his fan site at http://www.ninjawarrior.info/.
My favorite challenging stage 1 obstacle has got to be the warped wall, famous for wiping out even big, strong and seasoned competitors. But there's a trick…