One of the greatest challenges in fundamental physics is to reconcile quantum mechanics and general relativity in a full theory of "quantum gravity”. It is a challenge that has by turns excited and frustrated physicists, for nearly a century.
Read MoreKenneth Coles, co-author of, The Atlas of Mars 2019, describes features on the Martian surface. Will you be able to spot the "Mountains of Mitchell" or the seasonal polar retreat this summer?
Read MoreInterview with ‘Cosmic Revolutionary’ Geraint Lewis from CUP Academic on Vimeo. TRANSCRIPT: Geraint Lewis: I’m Geraint Lewis and I’m a professor of astrophysics at the University of Sydney and I am the author with Luke Barnes of A Cosmic Revolutionaries Handbook (or: How to Overthrow the Big Bang) What reader did you have […]
Read MoreOn November 11, 2019, observers will be able to see a rare sight: a transit of Mercury across the face of the Sun. Mercury transits are visible only about 13 times per century. Todd Timberlake, co-author of Finding our Place in the Solar System discusses the history of this rare sight.
Read MoreIn this memorable photograph (courtesy of NASA), we see astronaut Buzz Aldrin holding in his right hand a sophisticated mirror: the Laser Ranging Retro-Reflector (LR3). This mirror has now been standing on the Moon for 50 years. By sending a laser beam from the Earth to the mirror, and measuring the time it takes […]
Read MoreIn this post Todd Timberlake author of Finding our Place in the Solar System, 2019 examines two different 'false positives' in the history of astronomy, discussing why they occurred, and how these false observations were eventually discarded.
Read MoreThe first image from the Event Horizon Telescope, centered on the nucleus of the giant elliptical galaxy M87, does not show the shadow of the black hole’s event horizon per se. What it does show is a region somewhat larger than the horizon, where spacetime is so distorted that photons can go into orbit around […]
Read MoreFor most of us, a month is a page on a calendar, a set of 30, 31, 28, or, in rare cases, 29 days. But for an astronomer a month is a period of time associated with a cycle of the moon. It turns out that the moon has many cycles, and thus there are […]
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