Find out how to spot Sirius, the brightest star as seen from Earth. Learn the mythology behind this dazzling light and how it earned the nickname of the Dog Star. Source: https://earthsky.org/brightest-stars/sirius-the-brightest-star…
Tag: starlight
What do redshifts tell astronomers?
A redshift reveals how an object is moving in space and enables astronomers to discover otherwise-invisible planets and the movements of galaxies, and to uncover the beginnings of our universe. Source: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/what-is-a-redshift…
What’s the birthstone for December?
If you were born December, you’ve got 2 birthstones, turquoise and zircon. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/december-birthstone-zircon-turquoise…
AI and photonics join forces to make it easier to find ‘new Earths’
Australian scientists have developed a new type of sensor to measure and correct the distortion of starlight caused by viewing through the Earth’s atmosphere, which should make it easier to study the possibility of life on distant planets. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-10-ai-photonics-easier-earths.html…
Metal-poor globular cluster forces astronomers to rethink theories
The discovery of the most metal-poor globular cluster recorded to date has forced scientists to rethink how both galaxies and globular clusters form. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/metal-poor-globular-cluster-ext8-found-in-andromeda-galaxy…
NASA’s Planet Patrol wants you to join the search for exoplanets
Do you want to be a planet-hunter? NASA has launched a new citizen science website called Planet Patrol where volunteers can help search for exoplanets in data from the TESS space telescope. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/exoplanets-nasas-planet-patrol-citizen-science…
DY Centauri: Stellar evolution while you watch
In 1930, Dorrit Hoffleit reported that star number #4749 in the Harvard List of variables had faded four times between 1897 and 1929, and identified it as an R Coronae Borealis (RCB) variable. RCB stars are luminous low-mass stars (red giants) with surfaces around 5,000—7,000 K—not much hotter than the sun. They are remarkable for having little or no hydrogen on…
Milky Way could be catapulting stars into its outer halo
Scientists used computer simulations to learn that our Milky Way galaxy may sometimes launch newly forming stars into the space around itself – that is, into the halo of our galaxy – via outflows triggered by supernova explosions. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/milky-way-catapulting-stars-into-its-outer-halo…
How WFIRST will use warped spacetime to find exoplanets
NASA’s WFIRST mission – an infrared space observatory planned for launch around 2025 – will use the fact that the gravity of distant objects warps spacetime, bending and focusing light, thereby revealing new worlds. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/wfirst-exoplanets-microlensing-space-time-milky-way…
Could Radioactivity Make Otherwise Frozen Planets Habitable?
sciencehabit writes: Not too close, but not too far. That’s long been the rule describing how distant a planet should be from its star in order to sustain life. But a new study challenges that adage: A planet can maintain water and other liquids on its surface if it’s heated, not by starlight, but by radioactive decay, researchers calculate. That opens…