Tag Archives: astronomy

No More Sunspots?

Sunspots come and go in an 11-year cycle. Our sun has acted that way for centuries. With a few exceptions. The sunspot cycle changed about 23 years back. I think we’ll learn a great deal by studying what’s happening, but … Continue reading

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Still Seeking Earth 2.0

We’ve known about 55 Cancri e since 2004. It may have lakes and rivers of lava. But that’s probably not what keeps its night side hot enough to melt copper. Ross 128 b, discovered this year, is a bit more … Continue reading

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Visitor from the Stars

Scientists thought ‘Oumuamua was a comet when they spotted it last month. Follow-up observations showed it was more like an asteroid: and going too fast to be from the solar system. ‘Oumuamua is from interstellar space. It’s the first object … Continue reading

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Science, Faith, and Me

This universe is bigger and older than some folks thought, a few centuries back. I don’t mind, at all. Besides, it’s hardly new information. We’ve known that we live in a big world for a long time. “Indeed, before you … Continue reading

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LIGO/Virgo: Another First

Another gravitational wave observation gave scientists the best evidence yet about one aspect of merging stars. On August 17, 2017, folks with the LIGO/Virgo collaboration observed three clusters of gravitational waves. This time astronomers found an infrared, visible, and X-ray … Continue reading

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