Our love of the one-time ninth planet holds the key to our drive for venturing out into the Universe. “I have announced this star as a comet, but since it […]
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Originating out beyond Neptune, thousands of world originate. Who’s the largest? It’s not who you expect, Pluto-lovers! “It is not when truth is dirty, but when it is shallow, that […]
“What was scattered, gathers.What was gathered, blows away.” –Heraclitus When you think of our Solar System, you think of planets (and other object) orbiting our central star, with moons (or […]
Another world orbits the Sun once a year at the same distance as our planet. “The moon was like this awesome, romantic, mysterious thing, hanging up there in the sky […]
Remember the “Pillars of Creation,” the star-forming nursery in the heart of the Eagle Nebula? You’ve never seen it like this. “The whole difference between construction and creation is exactly […]
The New Horizons spacecraft, which launched in 2006, will be the first man-made object to pass by and collect information on Pluto when it arrives at the dwarf planet on July 14, 2015.
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope is on the hunt for an icy world just beyond Pluto. The speedy New Horizons spacecraft will be visiting Pluto next year, and NASA scientists are […]
How Worlds Thought in the 1960s to be Circling Barnard’s Star Turned out to be Illusions. Image via: http://www.wingmakers.co.nz/universe/extrasolar/Barnards.html. In this golden age of exoplanet discovery, it is hard to […]
We know to be wary of demagoguery, but “plutogoguery” also has perils. Especially if it promotes elite psychological patterns that history warns against: 1. Demagogues are leaders (agogos = “lead”) […]
New software applications that aim to organize your inbox, which can at times grow like a malignant tumor, take different approaches to simplifying how you send and receive mail.
It’s the faintest and hardest object to see in the entire catalogue, but the rewards — and knowledge you gain — are priceless! “If there is nothing new under the sun, at least the […]
As any Bible reader, numerologist or Iron Maiden fan worth their salt knows, 666 is the Number of the Beast. It says so in Revelation 13:17-18, in wording enigmatic enough […]
Supermoons are both super and common, but they’re only a tiny slice of our nearest neighbor’s magnificent journey. Image credit: ESA / NASA and the International Space Station. “O, swear […]
If you thought “planets move about the sun in ellipses,” wait until you read this. “I much prefer the sharpest criticism of a single intelligent man to the thoughtless approval of […]
What shape does the Sun trace out at the same time of day throughout the year? “Life is tragic simply because the earth turns and the sun inexorably rises and sets, […]
We all feel bad for Pluto, but it had its demotion coming. “I have announced this star as a comet, but since it is not accompanied by any nebulosity and, further, […]
If you’ve ever seen a beautiful picture of the Universe, thank this pioneer you’ve probably never heard of. “What you do is, you have your drawing board and a pencil in […]
It’s a huge surprise, and shows up in the most unlikely of places! “You cannot, in human experience, rush into the light. You have to go through the twilight into the […]
Is the largest object in our galaxy — our central black hole — poised to devour a massive gas cloud? “What makes us love… is when we learn all these fantastic stories. Feeding the imagination […]
How one of the most interesting molecules on Earth behaves in the zero-gravity, zero-pressure environment of outer space. “Day after day, day after day,We stuck, nor breath nor motion;As idle as […]
Given all the stars, galaxies and what we know about the laws governing reality, how many planets are there in our observable Universe? “Stuff your eyes with wonder, live as […]
For the first time, and only until February 25, the public is invited to submit and vote on names for the objects currently known as P4 and P5.
The dwarf planet, one of five that exist at the outer edges of the solar system, recently passed in front of a star, allowing astronomers their first shot at getting some really good data.
Your task, Neil de Grasse Tyson says, is to find opportunities that allow you to express your unique talents in ways that society will value and reward.
A huge research project about DNA (ENCODE) has provoked more scientific controversy over just what proportion of that huge molecule plays an active role in making us us. When […]
As I’m writing this post, NASA’s latest Mars mission – the Mars Science Laboratory, also known as Curiosity – is just hours away from its destination. By the time you […]
Van Jones told The New York Times that Glenn Beck pushed him out of a job and his advocacy organization pushed Beck out of one. “Now we’re both irrelevant!” he […]
What’s the Big Idea? Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson believes in the power of science — so much so that he gets hate mail for it. From children. As director of […]
Animation from astrophysicists at the University of Colorado at Boulder demonstrates what travelling through a rift in space-time would look like as you free fall into a black hole.
The disquieting truth is that the president seems unable to deal quickly and decisively with breaking global events. Obama’s biggest burden seems to be the presidency itself.