Tag Archives: astronomy

A Star by Any Other Name, and a Galilean Interlude

I started writing about stars, names, designations and how we got to a point where Sirius is also known as BD-16°1591, ADS 5423 and GJ 244. That started me thinking about telescopes, Galileo, Aristotle and Dante. One Star, Many Names: … Continue reading

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HD 63935: Two Sub-Neptunes and Maybe More

Designations like HD 63935 b and c don’t exactly roll of the tongue. Although with a little work I might pronounce them “trippingly on the tongue,” as Hamlet put it. Maybe saying “sixty five ninety three five bee and cee” … Continue reading

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TESS, Three Stars and a Planet’s Odd Orbit

Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), a robotic observatory, began watching 200,000 nearby stars on August 7, 2018. So far, scientists have found more than 2,200 TESS Objects of Interest (TOI). Of these, again so far, 154 have turned out to … Continue reading

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Supernova Requiem: Reruns From a Gravity Lens

Nothing in this universe lasts forever, including stars. Massive stars live fast and die young: exploding as supernovae. One of these, AT2016jka, nicknamed “Requiem,” was first spotted in 2016. It showed up again in 2019. Scientists figure they’ll get another … Continue reading

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Exploring Mars, Looking for Life: and Still Learning

Mars is and will be in the news this month. The UAE Hope spacecraft settled into orbit around Mars Tuesday, February 9. Then, a day later, China’s Tianwen-1 arrived. “China Mars mission: Tianwen-1 spacecraft enters into orbit” Jonathan Amos, BBC … Continue reading

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