Claims of the non-existence of dark matter are a staple of astro-kookery, but Physics World today has a news story with the provocative title “Galaxy survey casts doubts on cold dark matter,” which makes it sound like people from reputable collaborations are questioning the existence of dark matter. So what’s the deal? Well, here’s the… Continue reading Dark Matter Doesn’t Exist?
Category: Astronomy
The Pope’s Astronomer, and Galileo’s Telescope
Some time back, I saw Brother Guy Consolmagno talk at Boskone, and said “You know, I should invite him to campus.” For those who don’t recognize the name, he’s an SF fan and an astronomer (well, planetary scientist) who also happens to be a Jesuit brother. He works at the Vatican Observatory, where he is… Continue reading The Pope’s Astronomer, and Galileo’s Telescope
Longitude by Dava Sobel
Jennifer Ouellette’s pop-science book project post and the discussionaround it reminded me that I’m really shockingly ill-read in this area. If I’m going to be writing pop-science books, I ought to have read more of them, so I’ve been trying to correct that. Hence, Longitude, which I actually read a few weeks ago at the… Continue reading Longitude by Dava Sobel
Pictures of Distant Worlds
Everybody’s all abuzz about this picture: This may be the first image of a planet around a sun-like star. May be, mind– it looks likely, but there are still a lot of caveats. If it is a planet, and not a dim background star, it’s got about eight times the mass of Jupiter, and is… Continue reading Pictures of Distant Worlds
Science Outreach Through Fiction
Over at Tor.com, David Levine describes a really cool event he went to just before Worldcon: a crash course in modern astronomy for SF writers: The idea behind Launch Pad is Gernsbackian: getting good science into popular fiction as a form of public education and outreach for NASA. SF writer and University of Wyoming astronomy… Continue reading Science Outreach Through Fiction
Blue Sky On Mars
Well, OK, that’s a stretch, but there is water, according to the latest Phoenix results: “We’ve now finally touched it and tasted it,” William V. Boynton, a professor at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona and the lead scientist for the instrument that detected the water, said at a news conference… Continue reading Blue Sky On Mars
Missed It by That Much
So, the Martians go and helpfully draw a box on the ground as a target for the Phoenix landing, and what do they do? They land next to it, not in it. Way to go, NASA. I bet if they hadn’t screwed up the unit conversions, they would’ve hit it…
We’re All Gonna Freeze!!!
When I was talking to my parents on the phone last night, my father told me about a guest op-ed in the Press and Sun-Bulletin that might be of interest to some ScienceBlogs readers and bloggers: As if there aren’t enough problems in the world, we are now on the verge of a phenomenon that… Continue reading We’re All Gonna Freeze!!!
SETI in My Inbox
One of the nice things about being a semi-pro blogger is that people send me tips about things that might be blogworthy. Most of these go into the daily links dump posts, but every now and then one hits at a time when I’m short of material, and looking for something to write about. Such… Continue reading SETI in My Inbox
There’s Methane in Them Thar Planets
The coolest-sounding science news of the moment is undoubtedly “Hubble Finds First Organic Molecule on an Exoplanet”“ NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has made the first detection ever of an organic molecule in the atmosphere of a Jupiter-sized planet orbiting another star. This breakthrough is an important step in eventually identifying signs of life on… Continue reading There’s Methane in Them Thar Planets