What are exoplanets?

Exoplanets are worlds orbiting distant stars. The history of our knowledge of exoplanets, the various types of exoplanets, how astronomers find them, and more, here. Source: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/what-are-exoplanets…

We still don’t understand a basic fact about the universe

Our measurements of the Hubble constant can’t seem to come up with a consistent answer. What we learn next may alter our view of the cosmos, writes Chanda Prescod-Weinstein Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24532753-700-we-still-dont-understand-a-basic-fact-about-the-universe/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…

Cheery thoughts for a scary time

Some astronomy thoughts to distract you from quarantine life under the coronavirus plague, from Guy Ottewell. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/cheery-astronomy-thought-for-a-scary-time…

What Are the Best Free Streaming Services?

An anonymous reader shares some free streaming media options: There’s over 10,000 public domain audiobooks at LibriVox.org, created by volunteers reading public domain works. (If you’ve got time, why not record yourself reading your own favorite public domain poem or novel?) And there’s also a lot of free audiobooks (and ebooks) available through Hoopla, a free “digital media” service that’s partnering…

Ultrared, dusty star-forming galaxies in the early universe

Star formation takes place within natal clouds of dust and gas that absorb much of the emitted ultraviolet and optical radiation but which also block these regions from optical view. In recent decades, however, infrared space-based observatories like Herschel and Spitzer have revolutionized our understanding of obscured star formation in dusty galaxies because infrared light can penetrate the dust clouds to…

Moon and Venus close around February 27 and 28

These next few evenings – February 27 and 28, 2020 – watch for the crescent moon and the brilliant planet Venus to pair up on the sky’s dome. Source: https://earthsky.org/tonight/moon-venus-adorn-western-sky-after-sunset…

Stargazing with computers: What machine learning can teach us about the cosmos

Gazing up at the night sky in a rural area, you’ll probably see the shining moon surrounded by stars. If you’re lucky, you might spot the furthest thing visible with the naked eye—the Andromeda galaxy. It’s the nearest neighbor to our galaxy, the Milky Way. But that’s just the tiniest fraction of what’s out there. When the Department of Energy’s (DOE)…