January 31, 2014
Do black holes exist? The world’s most famous scientist vs. the actual science.
“My goal is simple. It is a complete understanding of the Universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all.” -Stephen Hawking
Here in our little corner of the Universe, the Earth is a pretty intense source of…
January 31, 2014
"There are three hundred and sixty-four days when you might get un-birthday presents, and only one for birthday presents, you know." -Lewis Carroll
It's the end of the week once again, and so it's time for yet another Ask Ethan column! This week, I was asked a wonderful math question by Keith H.,…
January 24, 2014
"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on." -Robert Frost
Well, here we are, at the end of the week, and you know what that means: another Ask Ethan column! This week, I've been asked about the same thing by many different people, so I'll credit it to Patrick E.…
January 18, 2014
"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea." -Antoine de Saint Exupéry
It's the end of the week here, so it's time for another Ask Ethan column! Today's question comes…
January 10, 2014
“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.” -Douglas Adams
Even though our main blog has…
January 3, 2014
"The world owes you nothing. It was here first." -Mark Twain
When you think about where all of this came from -- back to the beginning of the Universe -- there's a good chance it makes you a little uncomfortable. For this week's Ask Ethan, our one remaining column here on ScienceBlogs, our reader…
January 1, 2014
"Actually, I wasn't happy or sad. I was medium. And medium is the happiest that I'll ever be." -Axe Cop
It's been an amazing journey over the years, sharing the joys and wonders of the Universe with you. From the smallest subatomic particles, the most fundamental interactions and the shortest…
December 30, 2013
"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." -John Wayne
There's a lot to look forward to on the precipice of the new year, and many of us will be…
December 28, 2013
"I had seen birth and death but had thought they were different." -T. S. Eliot
Time passes, and things grow; that's the way of the world, so it seems. 2013 was no exception, and as Joshua Radin (featuring Patty Griffin) would sing,
You Got Growin Up To Do.
Well, the world grew again this year, in…
December 27, 2013
"Never waste your time trying to explain who you are to people who are committed to misunderstanding you." -Dream Hampton
Perhaps no word in the English language generates as much misunderstanding as the word theory. In scientific circles, this word has a very specific meaning that's different from…
December 24, 2013
"Bethany: Is your house on fire, Clark?
Clark: No, Aunt Bethany, those are the Christmas lights." -National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
Ahh, Christmas. It's easy to forget how much the invention of the light bulb in 1879 reduced the number of tree fires in people's homes. It was a mere three years…
December 23, 2013
"A sister is both your mirror - and your opposite." -Elizabeth Fishel
With 110 deep-sky wonders to choose from in the Messier catalogue, our long-running series on Messier Monday promises to keep us busy for some time to come! As we've finally passed the winter solstice here in the Northern…
December 22, 2013
"We especially need imagination in science. It is not all mathematics, nor all logic, but it is somewhat beauty and poetry." -Maria Montessori
The Universe has some wonderful sights to show you if you know how to look for them, and that's maybe most apparent when you look at some of the amazing…
December 20, 2013
"To be is to be the value of a variable." -Willard Van Orman Quine
It's the end of the week once again, and the very end of our Year In Space 2014 Wall Calendar giveaway! So for this week's Ask Ethan column, after dipping into our question/suggestion box, I'm very pleased to let Vera from Italy…
December 18, 2013
"In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer." -Albert Camus
As the year draws to a close, we approach a very special time of year, at least from an astronomical perspective. This Saturday, December 21st, will mark the Winter Solstice in the Northern…
December 16, 2013
"Do not look at stars as bright spots only. Try to take in the vastness of the universe." -Maria Mitchell
It's time again for Messier Monday, where we highlight the various wonderous deep-sky objects of the night, and show you how to find them against the expansive backdrop of stars. The (almost)…
December 15, 2013
"I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend." -Thomas Jefferson
We all have our own unique story in this world, of where we came from, who we are now, and how we've grown to become the person we are. We've all had some…
December 13, 2013
"It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life. Where you stumble, there lies your treasure." -Joseph Campbell
Ever since we created a question/suggestion box here, we've been deluged by far more excellent questions than one person could possibly answer, but that doesn't…
December 11, 2013
"Where you used to be, there is a hole in the world, which I find myself constantly walking around in the daytime, and falling in at night. I miss you like hell." -Edna St. Vincent Millay
It was just a little while ago that we were all speculating wildly -- and optimistically -- about Comet ISON,…
December 9, 2013
"The proverb warns that 'You should not bite the hand that feeds you.' But maybe you should, if it prevents you from feeding yourself." -Thomas Szasz
But on this Messier Monday, you're lucky enough that you're about to be introduced to one of the great northern galaxies of the Messier catalogue…
December 8, 2013
“Who is more humble? The scientist who looks at the universe with an open mind and accepts whatever the universe has to teach us, or somebody who says everything in this book must be considered the literal truth and never mind the fallibility of all the human beings involved?” -Carl Sagan
It's a…
December 6, 2013
"The results of my observation are best explained by the assumption that a radiation of very great penetrating power enters our atmosphere from above." -Victor Hess
You might think of the largest and most powerful particle accelerators in the world -- places like SLAC, Fermilab and the Large Hadron…
December 5, 2013
"Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice." -Robert Frost
Depending on where you are in the…
December 2, 2013
"Give me a man who says this one thing I do, and not those fifty things I dabble in." -Dwight L. Moody
While star clusters may dabble in a number of physically interesting things, there's one thing that they do above all others, and that is shine. For today's Messier Monday, where we spotlight one…
November 30, 2013
"Unfortunately, I'm not one of those people who take pictures, you know, carry a camera. Because if I did I'd have stacks and stacks and stacks of different acts." -Edwin Starr
You've been outside enough to know that the deepest photos of the Universe -- of the night sky -- aren't quite the same…
November 29, 2013
“If you see an antimatter version of yourself running towards you, think twice before embracing.” -J. Richard Gott III
It may not occur to you that it's a special thing that the Earth and everything found on it is made of matter; it seems intuitive that it couldn't be any other way. And yet, the…
November 27, 2013
“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…
November 25, 2013
"Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old." -Franz Kafka
The night sky is our window into the Universe beyond the Solar System, and in some cases, even beyond our own galaxy! Perhaps the oldest useful collection of deep-sky objects, the Messier catalogue showcases 110 of the most…
November 24, 2013
"Education is a continual process, it's like a bicycle... If you don't pedal you don't go forward." -George Weah
I don't know how many of you out there have an office day job, sitting hunched over at a desk for the better part of 8+ hours a day, but it's pretty well known that it's not only bad…
November 22, 2013
“Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it.” -Terry Pratchett
It’s the end of the week once again, and so let's have a go at another Ask Ethan! Perhaps inspired by a great…
