September 10, 2016
“Mapping out the elements in a star is like reading its DNA. We’re using those DNA readings to decode the history of the Milky Way from the stars that we can observe today.” -Steven Majewski
Most of the stars in our Milky Way have long lives ahead of them, with dozens or even hundreds of orbits…
September 9, 2016
“When you see how fragile and delicate life can be, all else fades into the background.” –Jenna Morasca
The hot Big Bang — proposed seventy years ago — is a tremendous success story. Predicated on the assumption that the Universe was hotter, denser, more uniform and expanding faster in the past, it…
September 8, 2016
"We are what we are, and we're doing the best we can. It is not for you to set the standards by which we should be judged." -Captain Picard, Star Trek: The Next Generation
Fifty years ago, on September 8, 1966, the first episode of the original Star Trek premiered. It introduced a vision of…
September 7, 2016
"Now the world has gone to bed, Darkness won't engulf my head, I can see by infrared, How I hate the night." -Douglas Adams
The Hubble Space Telescope is an amazing piece of equipment, and has seen more distant stars and galaxies than any telescope before or since. Earlier this year, it broke its…
September 6, 2016
"I have lost tolerance for things without meaning. There is no time for them. Does that make sense?" -Sara Seager
The discovery of a potentially habitable planet around the nearest star to our own -- Proxima Centauri -- has brought up the tantalizing possibility that this might be closest Earth-…
September 5, 2016
“Never look down to test the ground before taking your next step; only he who keeps his eye fixed on the far horizon will find the right road.” -Dag Hammarskjold
A black hole is a region of space that’s got so much mass in such a small volume that the escape velocity within a specific region is…
September 4, 2016
"We meet aliens every day who have something to give us. They come in the form of people with different opinions." -William Shatner
It’s been another big week here at Starts With A Bang, with stories covering the Universe near and far. Although the biggest announcements seemed to shatter our…
September 3, 2016
"What, I sometimes wonder, would it be like if I lived in a country where winter is a matter of a few chilly days and a few weeks' rain; where the sun is never far away, and the flowers bloom all year long?" -Anna Neagle
At some point in the future, the Sun, the giver and sustainer of nearly life…
September 2, 2016
"All of the books in the world contain no more information than is broadcast as video in a single large American city in a single year. Not all bits have equal value." -Carl Sagan
For every action, there’s an equal and opposite reaction. While Newton may not be the final word in mechanics anymore…
September 1, 2016
"A careful analysis of the process of observation in atomic physics has shown that the subatomic particles have no meaning as isolated entities, but can only be understood as interconnections between the preparation of an experiment and the subsequent measurement." -Fritjof Capra
For most living…
August 31, 2016
"Otherwise we are trying to communicate with someone who doesn't exist with a system which doesn't work." -Philip K. Dick
When it comes to the now famous “Alien Megastructures” star, the observations didn’t add up. There were huge, irregular flux dips, but not a hint of infrared radiation that…
August 30, 2016
“These galaxies are among the most massive galaxies in the universe and are believed to have rapidly formed their stars a long time ago. However, how these galaxies formed and why have they stopped forming new stars remain mysteries.” -Tao Wang, lead author on this new study
There was once a time…
August 30, 2016
"How vast those Orbs must be, and how inconsiderable this Earth, the Theatre upon which all our mighty Designs, all our Navigations, and all our Wars are transacted, is when compared to them. A very fit consideration, and matter of Reflection, for those Kings and Princes who sacrifice the Lives of…
August 29, 2016
"Motions of the stars tell you how much matter there is. They don’t care what form the matter is, they just tell you that it’s there." -Pieter van Dokkum
Everything in the Universe was born with the same ratios of dark matter to normal matter: approximately 5-to-1. It shows up in everything from…
August 28, 2016
"Because practical applications are so remote, many people assume we should not be interested. But this quest to understand the world is what defines us as human beings." -Yuri Milner
It’s been another big week here at Starts With A Bang, with stories covering the Universe near and far. First off, …
August 27, 2016
"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." -H.P. Lovecraft
There’s a unique relationship between everything that exists in the Universe today -- the stars and galaxies, the large-scale structure, the leftover glow from…
August 26, 2016
“Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.” -Alexander Graham Bell
In 1859, the Sun surprisingly increased in brightness so significantly for just a brief while that it was noticeable from Earth during the day. Less than 24 hours later…
August 25, 2016
"Our existence in this place, this microscopic corner of the cosmos, is fleeting. With utter disregard for our wants and needs, nature plays out its grand acts on scales of space and time that are truly hard to grasp. Perhaps all we can look to for real solace is our endless capacity to ask…
August 24, 2016
"To consider the Earth as the only populated world in infinite space is as absurd as to assert that in an entire field sown with millet, only one grain will grow." -Metrodorus of Chios
Later tonight, the European Southern Observatory is expected to make an announcement, and the smart money is on…
August 23, 2016
“Astronomers are greatly disappointed when, having traveled halfway around the world to see an eclipse, clouds prevent a sight of it; and yet a sense of relief accompanies the disappointment.” -Simon Newcomb
Next year, on August 21st, 2017, millions of Americans will delight in the first total…
August 22, 2016
“You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it. From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag…
August 21, 2016
“Failure I can live with. Not trying is what I can’t handle!” -Sanya Richards-Ross
It’s been another big week here at Starts With A Bang, with stories covering the Universe near and far. I myself was on vacation, but thanks to our generous Patreon supporters, I was able to put in the resources to…
August 20, 2016
"I saw a star explode and send out the building blocks of the Universe. Other stars, other planets and eventually other life. A supernova! Creation itself! I was there. I wanted to see it and be part of the moment. And you know how I perceived one of the most glorious events in the universe? With…
August 19, 2016
"Old age is like a plane flying through a storm. Once you're aboard, there's nothing you can do." -Golda Meir
It’s been 13.8 billion years since the Big Bang for us, and when we look out at a distant object in the Universe, we’re seeing it as it was in the past. Its age — as it appears — is…
August 18, 2016
"And argon, krypton, neon, radon, xenon, zinc and rhodium,
And chlorine, cobalt, carbon, copper, tungsten, tin and sodium.
These are the only ones of which the news has come to Harvard,
And there may be many others, but they haven't been discarvard." -Tom Lehrer
Stars fuse hydrogen into helium,…
August 17, 2016
"Reality is what kicks back when you kick it. This is just what physicists do with their particle accelerators. We kick reality and feel it kick back. From the intensity and duration of thousands of those kicks over many years, we have formed a coherent theory of matter and forces, called the…
August 16, 2016
"For something to collapse, not all systems have to shut down. In most cases, just one system is enough." -Robert Kiyosaki
Do supermassive black holes form from the merger and growth of many smaller black holes, falling towards a cluster/galactic center where they find one another and grow into a…
August 15, 2016
"All the atoms of our bodies will be blown into space in the disintegration of the solar system, to live on forever as mass or energy." -Carolyn Porco
Launched in 1997, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has shed unprecedented views on our Solar System’s majestic, ringed world. From the discovery of new,…
August 14, 2016
“Failure I can live with. Not trying is what I can’t handle!” -Sanya Richards-Ross
It’s been a crazy week here at Starts With A Bang, including a pretty good meteor shower and some other rather remarkable stories. I just recorded a radio show with Dr. David Livingston of The Space Show this past…
August 13, 2016
"We now have the best picture of how galaxies like our own formed their stars." -Casey Papovich
The expanding Universe is counterintuitive in a lot of ways: on the largest scales, the distances between galaxies are increasing at an alarming rate, yet the distances between the stars in our own…
