April 18, 2014
“Don’t get involved in partial problems, but always take flight to where there is a free view over the whole single great problem, even if this view is still not a clear one.” -Ludwig Wittgenstein
You know how bad light pollution is for astronomy, and how hard we try to escape it. We search for the…
April 17, 2014
“Other than the laws of physics, rules have never really worked out for me.” -Craig Ferguson
When you think about the Standard Model of particle physics, you very likely think about all the matter, energy, particles, antiparticles, forces and interactions of the Universe. And you might legitimately…
April 16, 2014
“Mr. Burns: Smithers, hand me that ice-cream scoop.
Smithers: Ice-cream scoop?
Mr. Burns: Damn it, Smithers! This isn’t rocket science, it’s brain surgery!” -The Simpsons
I bet you're one of those people who hears a term like "nuclear physics" and thinks that's hard stuff, way over your head. But…
April 15, 2014
“When I was having that alphabet soup, I never thought that it would pay off.” -Vanna White
A couple of years ago, I had the idea to make a special entry showcasing 26 different astronomical phenomena, one for each letter of the alphabet. Today, that idea's been built upon and improved, and I'm…
April 14, 2014
“All is well, provided the light returns and the eclipse does not become endless night. Dawn and resurrection are synonymous. The reappearance of the light is the same as the survival of the soul.” -Victor Hugo
During all other full Moons, I wouldn't dare show you a galaxy for Messier Monday. But…
April 13, 2014
“I feel very adventurous. There are so many doors to be opened, and I’m not afraid to look behind them.” -Elizabeth Taylor
You know how important music is to me, and for many of you it holds a similarly prominent place in your lives and in your hearts. A big part of that experience, going back to…
April 12, 2014
"It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong." -Voltaire
It's been another great week over on the main Starts With A Bang blog, where we got to touch on a number of remarkable topics, including:
Why are we made of matter? (For Ask Ethan #31)
Trompe-l’œil…
April 11, 2014
“Quite frankly, teachers are the only profession that teach our children.” -Dan Quayle
It wasn't that long ago that I myself was a student, and of course over the past decade-and-a-half I've been very heavily involved in education -- both formally and informally -- at a huge variety of levels. And…
April 10, 2014
“Man alone is born crying, lives complaining, and dies disappointed.” -Samuel Johnson
You might look up at our Sun in the sky, delighted at its brilliance and life-giving brightness, thankful for all it's brought to our world. But we're all just a little bit dismayed at the crushing realization…
April 9, 2014
“And everything under the sun is in tune
But the sun is eclipsed by the moon.” -Pink Floyd
We normally think of eclipses as rare phenomena, something that happens only occasionally. While it's true than any particular location only experiences eclipses -- particularly solar eclipses -- infrequently…
April 8, 2014
“The self-same atoms which, chaotically dispersed, made the nebula, now, jammed and temporarily caught in peculiar positions, form our brains; and the ‘evolution’ of brains, if understood, would be simply the account of how the atoms came to be so caught and jammed.” -William James
Summer is coming…
April 7, 2014
“When we are sure that we are on the right road there is no need to plan our journey too far ahead. No need to burden ourselves with doubts and fears as to the obstacles that may bar our progress. We cannot take more than one step at a time.” -Orison Swett Marden
Every Messier Monday, we've taken a…
April 6, 2014
“The contemporaries and rivals of Zeuxis were Timanthes, Androcydes, Eupompus, and Parrhasius. This last, it is said, entered into a pictorial contest with Zeuxis, who represented some grapes, painted so naturally that the birds flew towards the spot where the picture was exhibited. Parrhasius, on…
April 5, 2014
"For in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's futures. And we are all mortal." -John F. Kennedy
After a great week over on the new Starts With A Bang blog, where we covered a whole slew of…
April 5, 2014
“You may not feel outstandingly robust, but if you are an average-sized adult you will contain within your modest frame no less than 7 × 10^18 joules of potential energy—enough to explode with the force of thirty very large hydrogen bombs, assuming you knew how to liberate it and really wished to…
April 3, 2014
“There is no question that climate change is happening; the only arguable point is what part humans are playing in it.” -David Attenborough
If you had never heard of global warming before, how would you figure out whether it was happening, whether humans played a role, and what the magnitude of it…
April 2, 2014
“Physical reality does not require that we be pleased with its mechanism; we must see the implications of a theory for what they are and not for what we would like them to be.” -Kevin Michel
If you've been following along for a while -- particularly in light of the recent BICEP2 results -- you're…
April 1, 2014
“I have announced this star as a comet, but since it is not accompanied by any nebulosity and, further, since its movement is so slow and rather uniform, it has occurred to me several times that it might be something better than a comet. But I have been careful not to advance this supposition to…
March 31, 2014
“I recognize my limits, but when I look around I realise I am not living, exactly, in a world of giants.” -Giulio Andreotti
There are a huge number of deep-sky objects visible from Earth, and every Monday -- with the Messier Monday series -- I've made it my goal to tell you about one of them in…
March 30, 2014
“Ten percent of the big fish still remain. There are still some blue whales. There are still some krill in Antarctica. There are a few oysters in Chesapeake Bay. Half the coral reefs are still in pretty good shape, a jeweled belt around the middle of the planet. There’s still time, but not a lot,…
March 29, 2014
"A scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it." -Max Planck
It’s been a great week for learning a little more about our Universe, from fundamental…
March 28, 2014
“While friendship itself has an air of eternity about it, seeming to transcend all natural limits, there is hardly any emotion so utterly at the mercy of time.” -Robert Hugh Benson
If you were headed out into the Universe -- spaceship and sci-fi technology and all -- it simply wouldn't make sense…
March 27, 2014
“The particle and the planet are subject to the same laws and what is learned of one will be known of the other.” -James Smithson
Now that the Higgs has been discovered, the Standard Model is complete. But are there any other new particles?
Image retrieved from Fermilab, modified by me.
If…
March 26, 2014
“In the confusion we stay with each other, happy to be together, speaking without uttering a single word.” -Walt Whitman
With the new result out from BICEP2, and even more firm evidence for cosmic inflation in place, many of you must be wondering what this means for the Multiverse.
Image credit:…
March 25, 2014
“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” -Benjamin Franklin
It's graduate school acceptance season, and many people out there have big decisions coming up. Some of you will have questions about where to go to graduate school, while some will have questions about whether to go to…
March 24, 2014
“We’ll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no one’s been.” -Tool
A beautifully undisturbed, large spiral can be found right at the heart of the Virgo Cluster. Sure, looking at the heart of the Virgo Cluster on its own, you might totally overlook today's Messier object.
Image credit:…
March 22, 2014
"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." -T.S. Eliot
It's been a remarkably exciting week for science, and you've had a lot to say about our new articles at the main Starts With A Bang blog.…
March 22, 2014
“It is the function of art to renew our perception. What we are familiar with we cease to see. The writer shakes up the familiar scene, and, as if by magic, we see a new meaning in it.” -Anais Nin
You know the expression that you should believe half of what you see and none of what you hear, don't…
March 21, 2014
“The conclusions, the bizarre conclusions, emerge as though with the greatest of ease: the reasoning is unbreakable. It looks as though he had reached the conclusions by pure thought, unaided, without listening to the opinions of others. To a surprisingly large extent, that is precisely what he had…
March 20, 2014
“All our sweetest hours fly the fastest.” -Virgil
The speed of light in a vacuum is the limit for massless particles, but massive ones are limited even further! Have you ever wondered about that?
Image credit: ICEPP via https://www.icepp.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/history/lep-e.html (L); LEP / CERN, via http…
