Review: The Big Bang Theory.

  
   In astronomical circles we’ve all met the guy who has memorized Pi to the nth degree, or can recite the periodic table backwards or knows every star in the Big Dipper by obscure Arabic name. Or perhaps you are that guy, with your atomic Green Lantern watch synchronized to both Universal and Local time and [...]

04.02.10: Pluto Re-imaged.

The most controversial planet (or do you say dwarf planet, or plutoid?) got a new look today. In a press conference, NASA researchers revealed the new “face” of Pluto; a series of images spanning 270 degrees of rotation. To complete these, astronomers scoured 384 images for 4 years using no less than 20 computers. These [...]

08.11.09:Does Cometary Mass Extinction Need to be Rewritten?

The disconnection event of comet 73P Schwassmann-Wachmann-3 as seen from the Hubble Space Telescope. (Credit: NASA/ESA/H. Weaver STScl.)

Comets are cause all mass extinctions in Earth’s history, right? Maybe not, if new research is correct. Simulations run by the scientists at the University of Washington now suggest that the giant planets of Jupiter and Saturn [...]