Comments of the Week
esiegel | February 21, 2016"Here's an analogy. The Universe is expanding the way your mind is expanding. It's not expanding into anything; you're just getting less dense." -Katie Mack
Excitement about the Universe in general -- and gravitational waves in particular -- is still peaking here at Starts With A Bang. Did you catch everything we covered this past week? Here's what you may have missed:
What makes a theory a scientific one? (for Ask Ethan),
The most astounding picture of stars beyond our galaxy (for Mostly Mute Monday),
Could aliens see heat-based signs of life on Earth? (an Astroquizzical wonder by Jillian…
esiegel | February 14, 2016“Where there is an observatory and a telescope, we expect that any eyes will see new worlds at once.” -Henry David Thoreau
Oh, let's be real. While there was plenty to talk about here at Starts With A Bang, there was one thing that took over the news from everything else, the first ever discovery of gravitational waves! Sure, there were plenty of other remarkable stories, including:
Are we due for an extinction event on Earth? (for Ask Ethan),
Why do telescopes have holes in the middle? (for Mostly Mute Monday),
What will it mean if LIGO detects gravitational waves?,
The future of astronomy…
esiegel | February 7, 2016“Where there is an observatory and a telescope, we expect that any eyes will see new worlds at once.” -Henry David Thoreau
With more stories of the Universe having been told this past week at Starts With A Bang, it's always a thrill to look back, see what we've covered and see what thoughts and ideas they've inspired in you. In the unlikely event you missed any of them, here's what we talked about:
The Multiverse and the road less traveled (for Ask Ethan),
How to catch a speeding star (for Mostly Mute Monday),
Why does blowing on your hot drink cool it down?,
The science of Hillary Clinton's…
esiegel | January 30, 2016“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” -Zig Ziglar
What a week it's been here at Starts With A Bang, where we've been proud to bring a number of stories to light for you. This past week, in case you missed anything, we've tackled:
Is the Universe itself alive? (for Ask Ethan),
How does space become transparent? The Orion Nebula answers (for Mostly Mute Monday),
The tragedy of Apollo 1 and the lessons that brought us to the Moon,
The future of astronomy: NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (the start of a new series), and
Monstrous…
esiegel | January 23, 2016“What might we learn from lines of research that are off the beaten track? They check accepted ideas, always a Good Thing, and there is the chance Nature has prepared yet another surprise for us.” -Jim Peebles
It's been a huge week here at Starts With A Bang, and one of our busiest on record. If you thought that Pluto's demotion was the biggest news about the outer Solar System, just wait until you get to the highlight of this week:
How fast do gravitational waves travel? (for Ask Ethan),
Physicists must accept that some things are unknowable,
Have astronomers found alien megastructures…
esiegel | January 16, 2016“Observing quasars is like observing the exhaust fumes of a car from a great distance and then trying to figure out what is going on under the hood.” -Carole Mundell
Enjoying what we're putting out at Starts With A Bang? There was a whole lot that we saw this past week, including a few tour-de-force pieces on some breaking news, including:
How can we know if North Korea is testing nuclear bombs? (for Ask Ethan),
The early Universe's most massive galaxy cluster revealed (for Mostly Mute Monday),
Should you play Powerball? Science solves the mystery,
The Universe’s Dark Ages May Hold The…
esiegel | January 10, 2016"Observing quasars is like observing the exhaust fumes of a car from a great distance and then trying to figure out what is going on under the hood." -Carole Mundell
Have you been tunes in to Starts With A Bang during this past week? The first full week of January brings with it the annual American Astronomical Society's giant meeting, and some of the most important discoveries and developments of the year! If you missed anything, here's what we've covered:
Is interstellar travel possible? (for Ask Ethan),
A distant galaxy cluster reveals the power of Einstein's gravity (for Mostly Mute …
esiegel | January 2, 2016"The big secret in life is that there is no big secret. Whatever your goal, you can get there if you're willing to work." -Oprah
And 2016 is here! So begins another great year for Starts With A Bang, and I'm so pleased you're still here as well. Yes, I know there are some frustrations with Forbes' ad policies, but at least they appear to have stopped the "Welcome to Forbes" interstitial, which is something! (And if you missed it, Medium now knows that I'm over there, too.) In any case, here's what the last week has seen:
How big was the Universe when it was first born? (for Ask Ethan),…
esiegel | December 26, 2015“This whole Santa Claus thing just doesn't make sense. Why all the secrecy? Why all the mystery?
If the guy exists why doesn't he ever show himself and prove it?
And if he doesn't exist what's the meaning of all this?” -Calvin, via Bill Watterson
This is our last comments of the week for 2015, and Starts With A Bang can't wait for the new year! All the great things we've worked so hard for this year promise to bring about an even better one in 2016. But that said, there's still more science for this year! This past week saw the following:
When a photon gets redshifted, where does its energy…
esiegel | December 19, 2015"As far as extra dimensions are concerned, very tiny extra dimensions wouldn't be perceived in everyday life, just as atoms aren't: we see many atoms together but we don't see atoms individually." -Ed Witten
As we approach the end of the year, Starts With A Bang looks ahead to what's new and upcoming, rather than back on the year that was. This past week, here's what we tackled:
Why aren't spiral galaxies more wound up? (for Ask Ethan),
Coloring The Universe vs. The Hubble Cosmos (for Gift This, Not That),
How young stars appear in old clusters (for Mostly Mute Monday),
The astronaut hopeful'…
esiegel | December 12, 2015“"There is a fundamental difference between religion, which is based on authority, [and] science, which is based on observation and reason. Science will win, because it works."” -Stephen Hawking
Every week on Starts With A Bang brings with it a new set of considerations about the Universe we all inhabit. It was awfully busy here, with two guest contributions, including:
How do black holes really evaporate? (for Ask Ethan),
Your guide to the best meteor shower of the year: the Geminids,
Amazing final images of stars right before they die (for Mostly Mute Monday),
Could life exist in a star's…
esiegel | December 5, 2015“Pluto was part of their mental landscape, the one they had constructed to organize their thinking about the solar system and their own place within it. Pluto seemed like the edge of existence. Ripping Pluto out of that landscape caused what felt like an inconceivably empty hole.” -Mike Brown
We had an awfully busy week here on Starts With A Bang, with a number of fun and challenging posts:
Can two planets share the same orbit? (for Ask Ethan),
Year in Space vs. Space views from Hubble calendars,
Ceres' permanent shadows may house relics from the infant solar system (for Mostly Mute Monday),…
esiegel | November 28, 2015“At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.” -Albert Schweitzer
It was an action-packed week here at Starts With A Bang, where we took on all of the following:
How do black holes make such bright quasars? (for Ask Ethan),
No, ISS astronaut Scott Kelly did not take a picture of a UFO,
Dark matter's secrets revealed by colliding galaxy clusters (for Mostly Mute Monday),
Strange but true: dark matter grows hairs around stars and planets,
How Einstein's relativity…
esiegel | November 21, 2015“Science is the one human activity that is truly progressive. The body of positive knowledge is transmitted from generation to generation.” -Edwin Hubble
We really got into some wondrous stuff here at Starts With A Bang this past week, including:
Can we see our galaxy's supermassive black hole? (for Ask Ethan),
Averaging inanimate objects can produce human faces,
A tribute to the greatest French nebula in space (for Mostly Mute Monday),
Can we test dark energy using the Solar System?,
The moon's two sides look so different thanks to 4.5 billion year old physics,
and Happy birthday to the…
esiegel | November 14, 2015“You are all wave particles when I close my eyes. I am no more entranced by your entanglement than a butterfly is to a bee.” -Solange nicole
This past week at Starts With A Bang saw a flurry of activity, including a wonderful variety of new stories, like:
Would a scientist bet their life on a theory? (for Ask Ethan),
The EM Drive, NASA's 'impossible engine,' highlights our greatest failing,
Stunning visualizations of our galaxy's magnetic field (for Mostly Mute Monday),
Scientists redefine planet to include exoplanets, and it works beautifully,
Keeping Better Time With Atomic Clocks (a live-…
esiegel | November 7, 2015“It is better to have your head in the clouds, and know where you are... than to breathe the clearer atmosphere below them, and think that you are in paradise.” -Henry David Thoreau
Every week at Starts With A Bang is special, but we made an amazing move, over to Forbes, which is the new home of our blog! Starting on November 2nd, we made our move, and as the month unfolds, we'll be bringing all-new content over there, to be republished (ad-free) on Medium the next week. Here's the good stuff, just in case you missed anything:
The very, very end of the Universe (for Ask Ethan),
I'm going to…
esiegel | October 31, 2015"As I was going up the stair I met a man who wasn’t there. He wasn’t there again today. I wish, I wish he’d stay away." -Hughes Mearns
Although every week at Starts With A Bang is special, there's something extra special brewing here. Sure, we've got the "normal stuff" of the articles we've written:
Do galaxies die? (for Ask Ethan),
Spook-tacular science pumpkins (for our Weekend Diversion),
Lifting the cosmic veil (for Mostly Mute Monday),
Was Earth born with life on it?,
and How stable is matter? (for Throwback Thursday).
Including two bonus ones over at Forbes:
The Largest Cosmic…
esiegel | October 24, 2015“It says here that a bolt of lightning is going to strike the clock tower at precisely 10:04 p.m. next Saturday night! If... If we could somehow harness this lightning... channel it into the flux capacitor... it just might work. Next Saturday night, we're sending you back to the future! ” –Doc Brown, Back to the Future
What a week it's been here at Starts With A Bang, and little do you know it, but I've got something special cooked up for the end of the month! In the meantime, here's what we've covered this past, fun-filled week:
What did the sky look like when Earth first formed? (for Ask…
esiegel | October 17, 2015"The more people rationalize cheating, the more it becomes a culture of dishonesty. And that can become a vicious, downward cycle. Because suddenly, if everyone else is cheating, you feel a need to cheat, too." -Stephen Covey
It's been a really eventful week, with topics from the fundamental to the cosmic all under scrutiny here at Starts With A Bang, plus an extremely controversial (and response-producing) story on the topic of Geoff Marcy, harassment and his eventual resignation. In case you missed anything:
How do photons experience time? (for Ask Ethan),
The NFL story you don't hear (for…
esiegel | October 10, 2015“In the world of the very small, where particle and wave aspects of reality are equally significant, things do not behave in any way that we can understand from our experience of the everyday world...all pictures are false, and there is no physical analogy we can make to understand what goes on inside atoms. Atoms behave like atoms, nothing else.” -John Gribbin
No matter how much you've experienced in this world, there are some properties of the Universe that will still never be intuitive. Here at Starts With A Bang, we don't shy away from any of it; we embrace it all! This past week, here's…