Tue, Oct 23, 2018
As of this release 'fast radio bursts' are one of the latest mysteries in cosmology. It is expected these high energy, millisecond long radio pulses are associated with events on compact, highly magnetized objects such as magentars or the MIlky Way's central black hole. Relatively few are know at present though archival searches are expanding the pool greatly.
Tue, Feb 12, 2019
Planetary polar storms are the norm rather than exception. Earth has one over Antarctica. Saturn has two but the storm at the north pole is strangely shaped like a regular hexagon. The best thinking is that it is a standing wave caused by differing wind speeds on either side of the hexagon. The gradient is perfect to create a hexagon. The same effect was created in the laboratory along with a number of other regular polygons depending on the size of the gradient.
Tue, May 12, 2020
Becky shares ten common questions asked of her and favorites of her own. They all turn out to have a very dark theme involving dark energy, dark matter, the big bang and, of course, Becky's favorite, black holes. Spoiler alert: the answer to all the questions is 'we don't know'. Not yet anyway.
Wed, Nov 25, 2020
Critics, and enthusiasts, have been pointing out Star Trek's foibles for six or is it seven generations. So why shouldn't an astrophysicist take a moment to comment. Dr. Becky spots some sound and interesting physics that she explains, some errors that are better understood in the thirty years since the series aired, and a couple really odd things with no basis in reality.
Wed, Feb 24, 2021
The Hubble constant is the rate of expansion of the universe. Unfortunatly, the value measured using red shifts and the theoretical value from the best cosmological model don't agree. Not even close. That is the crisis in cosmology. Fortunately a method of measuring the constant using gravity wave detectors has emerged on the scene. Once enough neutron star mergers have been observed cosmologists hope to know which Hubble constant is correct.
Wed, May 5, 2021
Becky's commentary on The Expanse is overall positive. She sees accurate attention to detail in ways most people wouldn't think of. There are even a couple technologies that stumped her until she did a web search for an explanation. There is also a human physiology concept backed up by real data.
Wed, May 26, 2021
Becky is excited, really, about the James Webb Telescope. It is an infrared telescope with a huge 6.5 meter mirror that will be ideal for looking at the composition of exoplanet atmospheres and newly formed stars within dust clouds. Ironically, due to the red-shift of distant galaxies, The telescope will be able to produce optical images of galaxies the Hubble telescope couldn't see.
Wed, Oct 27, 2021
The LIGO uses interferometry to detect gravitation waves that stretch space and hence the arms of the detector by different amounts. The 4 km length of the detector arms give the observatory that ability to detect fairly short gravitational waves whereas collisions of super massive black holes generate much longer waves.
Mon, Jul 11, 2022
Dr. Becky expresses the awe experienced by all astrophysicists at seeing the incredible detail of the first images and spectra from the James Web Space Telescope. Images include: SMACS 0723 galaxy cluster with substantial gravitational lensing, the atmospheric spectra of planet Wasp 96b, Southern Ring 'planetary' Nebula and its central binary star, Stephan's Quintet interacting galaxy group and the star form region of the Carina Nebula .
Wed, Jun 21, 2023
The Euclid Space Telescope is a survey telescope that will survey the sky that is not obscured by dust, roughly one third of the sky. It will also take a long look at a small patch. The goal is to better understand galaxy evolution, the distribution of dark matter and the expansion rate of the universe.
Wed, Jul 26, 2023
A 2023 paper resurrects Fritz Zwicky's hypothesis known as "Tiered Light" and combines it with the lambda cold dark matter model to explain the super massive black holes and large galaxies detected in the early universe by the James Webb Space Telescope. This work calculates an age of the universe that is double the currently accepted value.