Tag: expansion

Kilonovae: Ambushing the standard candle in its own nest

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most luminous and explosive transient phenomena in the universe after the Big Bang. A powerful tool for characterizing and classifying GRBs to allow them to be used as tracers of the expansion history of the universe and to understand their mysterious and debated physical mechanisms has been recently presented by an international team of researchers led…

The universe is expanding too fast, and that could rewrite cosmology

Different measurements of the Hubble constant, the rate of space-time expansion, refuse to agree – meaning we may have to look beyond Einstein’s theories to explain the universe Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24833100-800-the-universe-is-expanding-too-fast-and-that-could-rewrite-cosmology/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…

Comcast To Enforce 1.2TB Data Cap In Entire 39-State Territory In Early 2021

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Comcast’s 1.2TB monthly data cap is coming to 12 more states and the District of Columbia starting January 2021. The unpopular policy was already enforced in most of Comcast’s 39-state US territory over the past few years, and the upcoming expansion will for the first time bring the cap to every market…

US Postal Service Announces a Nationwide Digital ‘Operation Santa’

For 108 years Americans have helped their postal service perform “Operation Santa.” But this year’s program will be fully digital and nationwide, reports CNN: The program allows children and families to write letters to Santa, which will then be processed and shared online beginning on December 4 at USPSOperationSanta.com. Once the letters are live, anyone in the U.S. can go online…

GTA Online Is Getting A Big New Heist You Can Play Solo If You Want

Rockstar Games announced that Grand Theft Auto Online’s biggest update ever will be released on December 15, adding a brand new island, new radio stations, a new armed submarine, and a huge heist that can be completed with friends or solo. From a report: Yesterday, Rockstar teased this new update, The Cayo Perico Heist, with a short video showing off the…

Understanding the ‘dark’ universe and primordial galaxy formation

Visible matter constitutes only 16% of the universe’s total mass. Little is known about the nature of the rest of that mass, which referred to as dark matter. Even more surprising is the fact that the universe’s total mass accounts for only 30% of its energy. The rest is dark energy, which is totally unknown but is responsible for the universe’s…

Gravitational lenses could hold the key to better estimates of the expansion of the universe

The universe is expanding but astrophysicists aren’t sure exactly how fast that expansion is happening—not because there aren’t answers, but rather because the answers they could give don’t agree. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-11-gravitational-lenses-key-expansion-universe.html…

What is a supernova?

A supernova is a star’s colossal explosion at the end of its life, potentially outshining its entire galaxy. Read about the causes and types of supernovae here. Source: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/definition-what-is-a-supernova…