Lunation 1263 Wanna know cubewano? Space & Astronomy News Fast radio bursts (FRBs) were first discovered in 2007 and have been puzzling astronomers ever since. And this new discovery adds a new wrinkle, finding an FRB in a new type of location.First fast radio burst traced to old, dead, elliptical galaxy The solar system has the Kuiper belt (the subject of this lunation's learn a little, in fact), and other stars have their own Kuiper belts! These exocomet belts can be seen using powerful...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Lunation 1262 Sweeping planets 🧹 Space & Astronomy News Is ΛCDM done for? It's withstood a lot of challenges, and the latest is a new statistically unfavorable comparison with the "timescape" model that argues what looked like accelerating expansion due to dark energy could be from gravity of the structure of the universe's matter. It will take more than one study to overturn an established theory, but it'll certainly be interesting to see how more observational evidence factors in!Supernovae...
3 months ago • 1 min read
Lunation 1261 The Sun burns, but it's not on fire Space & Astronomy News The Kepler-51 system is fascinating because of its three very low density planets, which are so large and inflated they are known as "super puffs" (and featured in my video on extreme exoplanets). And scientists just found a fourth planet in the system! It remains to be seen if this planet is just as puffy as the others.New planet in Kepler-51 system discovered using James Webb Space Telescope It's not exactly...
4 months ago • 1 min read
Lunation 1260 Breaking news from 1609: orbits aren't circles Space & Astronomy News Vega was one of the first starts known to have circumstellar material, but new observations show that material doesn't show any signs of containing exoplanets!NASA’s Hubble, Webb Probe Surprisingly Smooth Disk Around Vega No one knows exactly how a changing administration in the United States is going to affect the space community at home and abroad, but that doesn't mean we aren't all wondering about it....
5 months ago • 1 min read
Lunation 1259 Kicking things off Hello! This is the very first edition of The Gibbous Guide. I'm so happy that you are here! Space & Astronomy News The oceans beneath the icy surfaces of moons in the outer solar system are some of the best candidates for finding extraterrestrial life. The Europa Clipper mission is going to help us determine if Europa has conditions suitable to support life, and it launched successfully this month!Liftoff! NASA’s Europa Clipper Sails Toward Ocean Moon of...
6 months ago • 1 min read