Sometimes the easiest way to understand the physics of a phenomenon is to make a physical model of it. But how do you make a model of a system as large as, say, a protoplanetary disc? One technique, suggested in a recent paper in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Letters by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics and the University of Griefswald, would be familiar to any grade schooler who took a science class - spin water around in a circle really fast.
Pulp Fiction
Monday, August 4, 2025
Sunday, August 3, 2025
China's Meteoric Rise Into Space
If you have any doubts about the objectives of the program, just check out their logo: a stylized crescent moon with two footprints in the middle.
The Story of Astrophysics in Five Revolutions
In the northern hemisphere, we're getting on to enjoying summer time which traditionally includes vacationing. Typically, vacations are a time to pause from work and remember life's possibilities beyond work. Now, perhaps you, the vacationer, want to rekindle a brief fling you had with science or maybe begin a new science tryst. Ersilia Vaudo's book "The Story of Astrophysics in Five Revolutions" could be just the impetus necessary for such a diversion.
Saturday, August 2, 2025
Is Earth Orbit Doomed to be a Billionaire’s Playground?
If you want to get to the moon, you need to spend an enormous amount of resources developing, creating, testing, and deploying a variety of spacecraft and technologies.
Friday, August 1, 2025
The Moon Is Useless, So Let's Preserve It
I don’t think space or lunar tourism is going to be the big draw that transforms the moon into something unrecognizable.
Wednesday, July 30, 2025
Why Land Detection Is Critical for Confirming Exoplanetary Life
How can identifying land on exoplanets help scientists better understand whether an exoplanet could harbor life? This is what a recently submitted study hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated how identifying land on exoplanets could help dispel waterworld false positives, which occur when the data indicates an exoplanet contains deep oceans (approximately 50 Earth oceans), hence the name “waterworld”. This study has the potential to help scientists develop more efficient methods for classifying exoplanets and their compositions, specifically regarding whether they contain life as we know it, or even as we don’t know it.
How Satellites Are Silencing the Universe
Imagine if every time you turned on your phone, it accidentally jammed radio telescopes trying to detect alien signals. That's essentially what's happening as thousands of internet satellites flood Earth's orbit, creating electronic noise that's drowning out the whispers from black holes, distant galaxies, and the Big Bang itself. A massive new study reveals that our quest to connect every region of the planet is accidentally sabotaging our ability to answer the biggest questions in science and the problem is getting worse with every satellite launch.