- - 2983 - SPACE - news stories in the year 2020?
- 2984 - QUANTUM MECHANICS - make the best clocks? Precise optical clocks are but one application of the optical comb. Optical combs are transforming precision measurement in many areas, from finding planets around distant stars (precision doppler measurements), to potentially measuring the expansion of space itself (time dependence of redshift).
- 2985 - ASTRONOMY - how fast is universe expanding? In order to understand where our Universe came from and where it’s going, you need to measure how much it’s expanding. If everything is moving away from everything else, we can extrapolate in either direction to figure out both our past and our future.
- 2986 - GAMMA RAYS - magnetars and neutron stars. If the neutron star is spinning very fast it can create a rotating magnetic field that is a ‘pulsar’ or a ‘magnetar” depending on how strong the magnetic field is. Our newest telescopes and instruments are beginning to measure the characteristics of these extreme stars.
- 2987 - AVOGADRO’S - kilogram has how many moles? To measure the mass in kilograms we need to have a kilogram standard. Science would like to have a standard defined in some way tied to nature’s fundamental constants. Like the length of the meter is defined in terms of the constant speed of light.
- 2988 - REALITY - what is it really? What is Reality and How Do Astronomers Deal with It? Is the Universe 3 dimensional? How did space begin? Why is there matter filling space? How were galaxies born? What is Dark Matter? Is all the matter found in galaxies? What is Dark Energy? Will the Universe expand forever?
- 2989 - STRING THEORY - is this the new math? String Theory is the math astronomers use to delve into all these ideas. There has been some success working with multiple dimensions. But, nothing has been grounded in a physical reality that we can test and verify. It is still all theory after 30 years of trying. But, astronomers are not giving up. There is still a lot of explaining to do.
- 2990 - SPACETIME - at the micro-level? Space and time change at the macro-level to keep the velocity of communications a constant. Take some time to think about that statement. At the micro-level space and time become lumpy with uncertainties and seem to avoid this limitation all together. We live in the middle of these extremes and only recognize them at the frontiers of physics and astronomy.
- 2991 - GRAVITY WAVES - lensing and detection? - With the help of an automated supernova-hunting and a galaxy sitting 2 billion light years away from Earth that’s acting as a “magnifying glass,’’ astronomers have captured multiple images of a Type 1a supernova appearing in four different locations on the sky. So far this is the only Type 1a discovered that has exhibited this effect.
- 2992 - VELOCITIES - the Universe in motion? Everything in the Universe is in motion. It gets more complicated than you can imagine. Let’s start with our Milky Way and work our way around the Universe.
- 2993 - PULSARS - are used to find Dark Matter? - Pulsars can be used to measure tiny changes of acceleration within the Milky Way, scanning internally for Dark Matter and Dark Energy.
- 2994 - NEUTRON STAR - amazing math and physics? -Neutron Stars are amazing objects for astronomers to study. The Crab Nebula is powered by a neutron star. Ordinary Matter should be called Ordinary Space. The matter part is almost negligible. 99.999,999,999,999,9 % of solid matter is empty space. It is not solid at all. What makes it feel solid is the electromagnetic force.
- 2995 - - CRAB NEBULA - Neutron Star math? There are over 1000 “Pulsars” that astronomers have identified. Probably the most studied of these is the “Crab Nebula” which was a supernova that exploded in the year 1054 and today is a rotating pulsar.
- 2996 - NEBULAE - Jewel Bug, math - Hubble's Wide Field Camera observed the nebulae in 2019 and 2020 using its full, panchromatic capabilities. Astronomers have been using emission line images from near-ultraviolet to near-infrared light to learn more about their properties.
- 2997 - SUPERNOVA - gold forged in exploding stars? - Astronomers are winding back the clock on the expanding remains of a nearby, exploded star. By using our Hubble Space Telescope, they retraced the speedy shrapnel from the blast to calculate a more accurate estimate of the location and time of the exploding star.
- 2998 - GALAXIES - when galaxies collide? What happens to the central black holes growing at the cores of each? A new study using the Chandra X-ray Observatory and several other telescopes reveals new information about how many black holes remain after these galactic smash ups.
- 2999 - NEUTRON STARS - and magnetars? - Astronomers may have captured the first good look at giant flares from the strongest magnets in the universe. The likely cause of these giant flares that are Starquakes trillions of trillions of times stronger than any earthquakes.
- 3001 - GALAXIES - collide. The Milky Way is not a static object. Things are changing rapidly everywhere. To peer back to the galaxy’s earliest days, astronomers seek stars that were around back then. These stars were fashioned only from hydrogen and helium, the universe’s rawest materials. Fortunately, the smaller stars from this early stock are also slow to burn, so many are still shining after 13 billion years.
- 3002 - AXIONS - could they exist in stars? More than 400 light-years from Earth, there is a cluster of young neutron stars that are hot for their age. These stars, known as the "Magnificent Seven," emit a stream of ultra-high-energy X-rays that scientists haven't been able to explain. Could “axions” explain things?
- 3003 - VOYAGER - 43 year journey in space? - Both Voyager spacecraft are still going strong after 43 years in space, with each regularly sending back science to Earth from their remaining operating instruments. Voyager 2 flew incommunicado for several months in 2020 due to planned repairs and upgrades to its radio communications facility here on Earth but made contact again in November.
- 3004 - MAGNETARS - spinning neutron stars? When stars grow too big they collapse their atoms and blow up as a supernova. The collapsed center core left behind are the electrons crushed into the protons leaving only neutrons to form the neutron star. It is only 12 miles in diameter. Neutron stars can have some bizarre behaviors renaming them magnetars and pulsars.
- 3005 - SATURN - our Cassini visit? - NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, has been sending pictures for13 years. Cassini spacecraft was launched from Earth on October 15, 1997. Instead of taking the direct route, it made multiple flybys of Venus, a flyby of Earth and a flyby of Jupiter. Each one of these close encounters boosted Cassini’s velocity, allowing it to make the journey with less escape velocity from Earth.
- 3006 - NEUTRINOS - what have we learned? Neutrinos are the smallest atomic particles. If we could see neutrinos they would be exceptional probes into our environment. Neutrinos are produced in fusions reactions in the Sun and stars, and in radioactive decay in the earth's crust. The “ICECUBE neutrino detector” at the South Pole has over 5,000 light sensors to detect neutrinos interacting with atoms in the ice.
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