Review: The Telescope by Geoff Anderson.

 
 
   Few inventions are as near and dear to our hearts as that of the telescope. Before its invention, astronomy was scarcely better than its pseudo-science companion of astrology in its knowledge of predicting the universe as it truly is. In this week’s review, we’ll look at The Telescope by Geoff Anderson out from Princeton Press [...]

15.05.10: A Speedy Binary.

 
  
  
   Think that new Ducati in your garage is fast? Let me introduce you to HM Cancri. An unassuming +21 magnitude binary in the constellation Cancer, HM Cancri is comprised of two white dwarfs locked in a tight embrace. In fact, this binary system has the shortest orbital period known, handily knocking down distant contender [...]

LIGO: A Quest for Gravity Waves.

LIGO, Livingston. (All Photos by Author).

  We had to go there… last month’s NASA Tweetup at the Johnson Spaceflight Center saw us undertake the great American road trip from Astroguyz HQ north of Tampa, Florida, to Houston on the other side of the Gulf of Mexico and back. Ever the opportunists, we scoured the route for [...]

02.02.10 In Search of Life, Gravity Waves, and Everything.

Astronomers have added a key tool to their arsenal in probing the very early universe. LIGO, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory, is a pair of “observatories” one in Hanford, Washington, and one in Livingston, Louisiana that monitor the universe for that most exotic of beasts; gravity waves. Each L-shaped detector is comprised of two [...]