Month: November 2012
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MESSENGER: Mercury’s craters have ice and organic molecules
The MESSENGER (MErcury Surface Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) spacecraft has found strong evidence both for water ice and organic molecules in shadowed craters near Mercury’s poles. Unlike Earth, Mercury has no seasons: its axis stands perpendicular to its plane of orbit, so deep craters near the north and south pole will have bottoms in…
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A big black hole in a small galaxy
Most galaxies we know of have a supermassive black hole at their cores. These black holes may be millions or billions of times the mass of the Sun, but they are generally proportionate to the size of their host galaxies—or more properly, the central bulge of those galaxies. Up until recently, I wouldn’t have said…
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Tracking dark energy using galaxy clusters
I write articles and posts on a lot of different topics, both for my own blog and at Ars Technica. Many of those subjects drift pretty far from my putative area of expertise, but occasionally I get to write about something I know pretty well. To wit: last week, a group of researchers using the…
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Makemake has no atmosphere, possibly a partly frosted surface
The dwarf planet Makemake (pronounced MAHkayMAHkay) is about 2/3 the diameter of Pluto, and farther from the Sun. That makes it hard to observe. Astronomers using a set of telescopes in South America tracked it during an occultation: a brief interval when it passed in front of a faint star. By measuring the light curve—the…
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Camus imagine it? Sisyphus cooling brings molecules to millikelvin temperatures
Successful techniques exist for bringing atoms down to really cold temperatures, into the regimes where the most exotic collective quantum phenomena appear. However, those same techniques don’t work for polyatomic molecules—those consisting of three or more atoms. This is a bit frustrating for physicists, since molecules have the potential to exhibit some truly wild quantum…
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On single-parent planethood and those hot, hot Jupiters
Many star systems seem to resemble our own Solar System: the planets orbit their host star in the same direction that the star spins. Admittedly, the data is still sparse: it’s not always possible to get that measurement. The brief version: you need the planet to transit or briefly eclipse its host star, and you…
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Black holes don’t suck
Yesterday (November 10, 2012) I spoke about black holes at the Richmond Public Library. For those who couldn’t make it, or who were there but want more information, here’s the essence of the talk, along with the relevant images that formed my slides. Please leave any questions you have in the comments, and thanks to…
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Black holes in the library!!!
Today—November 10, 2012—I will be speaking about black holes at the Richmond Public Library. The talk is free and for all ages (though I think older children may appreciate the topic more). No prior knowledge is assumed, so bring your questions and curiosity! The details: Title and synopsis: Black Holes Don’t Suck Date/time: November 10,…
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Happy birthday, Carl Sagan!
Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known. – Carl Sagan, born November 9, 1934 Like many science writers, I count Carl Sagan as one of my inspirations and influences. However, I think there’s a tendency to mourn his absence (he died relatively young) in the wrong way: by negatively contrasting current science communicators with…