Ethan Siegel
A theoretical astrophysicist and science writer, host of popular podcast "Starts with a Bang!"
Ethan Siegel is a Ph.D. astrophysicist and author of "Starts with a Bang!" He is a science communicator, who professes physics and astronomy at various colleges. He has won numerous awards for science writing since 2008 for his blog, including the award for best science blog by the Institute of Physics. His two books "Treknology: The Science of Star Trek from Tricorders to Warp Drive" and "Beyond the Galaxy: How humanity looked beyond our Milky Way and discovered the entire Universe" are available for purchase at Amazon. Follow him on Twitter @startswithabang.
The Astro Alphabet
Image credit: Galaxy Zoo’s writing tool, via http://writing.galaxyzoo.org/. Every letter holds a special story for those who marvel at the Universe. “When I was having that alphabet soup, I never […]
Messier Monday: A Star-Forming Spiral, M61
Image credit: Ruben Kier, via http://www.stardoctor.org/m61.html. Washed out by the full Moon on any other night, the lunar eclipse makes this one visible tonight! “All is well, provided the light returns […]
Weekend Diversion: The greatest album covers as seen from behind
Image credit: flickr user Harvezt, via the album at https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/. From the Beatles to Nirvana, this artist’s imaginings make the originals even better! “I feel very adventurous. There are so many […]
Ask Ethan #32: Are our students doomed to an inferior education?
Image credit: David Dees, via http://www.deesillustration.com/. As teachers begin using new and questionable methods, will students suffer and get left behind? “Quite frankly, teachers are the only profession that teach our […]
Throwback Thursday: The Lives and Deaths of Sun-Like Stars
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Harvard-Smithsonian CfA/ESA/STScI, Spitzer Space Telescope, of the “Mountains of Creation.” From how they’re born to how they live to the end of their life cycle, this story is […]
Incredibly rare “back-to-back” maximum eclipses are coming!
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons user Kevin Baird. This April 15th, Earth experiences a total lunar eclipse, followed by an annular solar eclipse just 14 days later. “And everything under the sun […]
The secret of the galaxy’s most famous nebula
Image credit: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration, via http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic0702a/. Summer is coming, and with it, the most famous nebula in the night sky. “The self-same atoms which, […]
Messier Monday: The farthest Messier object (for now), M58
Image credit: © 2006 — 2012 by Siegfried Kohlert, via http://www.astroimages.de/en/gallery/M58.html. A big, bright, dust-rich barred spiral galaxy that won’t stay this way for long! “When we are sure that we are on […]
Weekend Diversion: Trompe-l’œil Art
Image credit: Pier Luigi Capucci, c.c.-by-2.5, via http://plc.noemalab.eu/plc/?q=node/287. Deceive your eyes with this amazing art technique that makes 2-D drawings come alive! “The contemporaries and rivals of Zeuxis were Timanthes, Androcydes, […]
Ask Ethan #31: Why are we made of matter?
Image credit: Fermilab. If the Universe began with equal amount of matter and antimatter, why does matter dominate today’s cosmos? “You may not feel outstandingly robust, but if you are an […]
Throwback Thursday: Global Warming for Beginners
Image credit: ISS Expedition 7 Crew, EOL, NASA, via http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110412.html. If you had never heard of global warming before, how would you figure out whether it’s happening? “There is no […]
The Multiverse is not the answer
Image credit: Moonrunner Design, via http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/03/140318-multiverse-inflation-big-bang-science-space/. Inflation tells us that it’s likely real, but can it be the answer to any of our scientific questions? Probably not. “Physical reality does not […]
Why are there (at most) eight planets in the Solar System?
Image credit: The New Solar System, via Windows to the Universe at http://www.windows2universe.org/uranus/atmosphere/evolution/U_evolution_3.html at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR). We all feel bad for Pluto, but it had […]
Messier Monday: The Biggest One of them All, M87
Of all the galaxies in our local supercluster, one outweighs them all. “I recognize my limits, but when I look around I realise I am not living, exactly, in a world […]
Weekend Diversion: The Amazing Life of Coral Reefs
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons user Toby Hudson, of Flynn Reef in the Great Barrier Reef. The way they form is amazing enough, but then the time-lapse video left me speechless. […]
Ask Ethan #30: Long-term timekeeping
Image credit: created by author WP, C.C.-by-3.0, via Wikimedia Commons user Kwamikagami. The physics of accurately knowing just how much time has passed. “While friendship itself has an air of eternity […]
Throwback Thursday: Have we found our last fundamental particle?
Image credit: ATLAS Collaboration / CERN, via http://wwwhep.physik.uni-freiburg.de/graduiertenkolleg/home.html. Now that the Higgs has been discovered, the Standard Model is complete. But are there any other new particles? “The particle and […]
What is the Multiverse, and why do we think it exists?
Image credit: BellaCielo of deviantART, via http://bellacielo.deviantart.com/art/Multiverse-143191929. An extraordinarily simple explanation of the most mind-boggling concept of modern science. “In the confusion we stay with each other, happy to be together, […]
Should you get your PhD?
Image credit: Barbara Di Eugenio of UIC, via http://www.cs.uic.edu/~bdieugen/mypic.html. You’ll be investing 5-to-7 years of your life. What will you get back? “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” –Benjamin […]
Messier Monday: A Perfectly Calm Spiral In A Gravitational Storm, M88
Image credit: Jim Quinn / Adam Block / NOAO / AURA / NSF, via http://www.noao.edu/outreach/aop/observers/m88.html. A beautifully undisturbed, large spiral can be found right at the heart of the Virgo Cluster. […]
Weekend Diversion: An Optical Illusion For Your Ears
Image credit: © copyright Pathways to Reading, Inc. · all rights reserved, via http://www.pathwaystoreading.com/store/items/. The sounds you hear are affected by what you see. Experience it for yourself! “It is […]
Ask Ethan #29: The Most Famous Failed Science Experiment
Image credit: Case Western Reserve Archive. In 1887, two scientists set out to measure how the speed of light changed with the Earth’s motion. What they *didn’t* find wound up […]
Throwback Thursday: The Cosmic Speed Limit
Image credit: Sven Geier, retrieved from http://www.wallpapersonweb.com/image-20504.html. The speed of light in a vacuum is the limit for massless particles, but massive ones are limited even further! “All our sweetest hours […]
All About Cosmic Inflation
Image credit: © Sergio Eguivar of Buenos Aires Skies, via http://www.baskies.com.ar/PHOTOS/NGC%203293%20LHaRGB.jpg. What everyone should know about where our matter-and-radiation-filled Universe came from. “I don’t think at this point we have any […]
Messier Monday: The Wrong-Way Globular Cluster, M68
Image credit: Sid Leach, of http://www.sidleach.com/m68.htm. A surprising globular cluster found directly opposite to the galactic center! “A friend who is far away is sometimes much nearer than one who is […]
Evidence of the Universe From Before the Big Bang?
Image credit:the BICEP2 collaboration, via http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2014-05. How an observational signature from Cosmic Inflation could herald the scientific revolution of the century “Despite its name, the big bang theory is not really […]
Weekend Diversion: Anti-Piracy Entertainment
Image credit: RuPaul’s ‘Born Naked’ Album, via http://www.billboard.com/. “You Done Stole My Album! Uh Uh, No You Better Don’t, Hooker!“ “[M]y goal is to always come from a place of love… […]
Ask Ethan #28: Feeding the Monster
Image credit: European Research Media Center; ESO/MPE/M. Schartmann/L. Calçada. Is the largest object in our galaxy — our central black hole — poised to devour a massive gas cloud? “What makes us love… is when […]
Throwback Thursday: Fun Facts for Pi Day
Image credit: public domain image modified by me, original source unknown. This March 14th, stump your friends with these amazing facts about the world’s favorite transcendental number! “So here we […]
The 3 most surprising elements
Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech; Chandra / Spitzer / Hubble composite of the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant. Every element found on Earth was made in either the Big Bang or […]