16.05.10- Gliese 710: A Future Stellar Threat?

Gliese 710 inbound…(Credit: The Sloan Digital Sky Survey).
   Our quiet corner of the local galaxy may be in for a future interloper. A possible solar system side-swipe comes in the form of Gliese 710, an unassuming +10 magnitude orange dwarf star currently 63 light years distant in the constellation Serpens. As we swirl around the [...]

29.04.10-Name a Minor Planet!

An object awaits naming!
   Break out those mythological encyclopedias; the Committee for Small Body Nomenclature and the International Astronomical Union wants YOU, the school age public, to name a minor planet. Tomorrow, April 30th will have been one year since the passing of Venetia Burney Phair. At age 11, Miss Burney had the opportunity to [...]

18.04.10- Zeroing in on Nearby Exoplanets.

 
A scale comparison of a possible Super-Earth.
It’s hard to believe that a little less than two decades ago, no extra-solar planets were known. Now, the count climbs daily, and platforms like the Kepler Space Telescope threaten to launch the tally into the thousands. Recently, an international team of astronomers made six new discoveries in two nearby star [...]

Review: Gardens of the Sun by Paul McAuley.

Out in March from Pyr Books!

    It was with great anticipation and excitement that we finally got to dig into our advanced reading copy of Gardens of the Sun  by Paul McAuley, out March 23, 2010 courtesy of Pyr Books. Gardens picks up where last years’ first opus, The Quiet War, left off, and fans of [...]

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 [...]

Astro-Challenge: Groombridge 34; a Nearby Red Dwarf Pair!

Sure, everyone’s heard of Alpha Centauri, but have you ever heard of… Groombridge 34? We came across this little known binary red dwarf pair while perusing Burnham’s Celestial Handbook last month during our write up for M31. Also in the constellation Andromeda, Groombridge 34 is a unique system; a pair of red dwarf flare stars [...]

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