Friday, 25 May, 2012

Hitting the road? What could be more enlightening than gawking at a cave, exploring a desert, or eyeballing the largest telescope in the world? Need proof that science is not just books and websites or equations and software? Get moving!

Space is probably infinite, but we can see only the part that contains stars or galaxies whose light has been able to reach us, says Francis Halzen, a professor of physics. The universe originated about 13.7 billion years ago with the Big Bang, so light cannot have been traveling for more than 13.7 billion years. [...]

Think you know the Milky Way, our home galaxy? Think again. There’s a large bar at the center, and it’s open for business. It might even be feeding a black hole… Meet the newest galactic doo-dad…

New technology in ground-based telescopes will give better picture of the universe and detect deadly asteroids.

Stray light interferes with the work of astronomers — and it’s a waste of energy. How to stop light pollution.

At the South Pole, giant telescope searches for elusive neutrinos, hoping to find evidence of huge explosions in the distant universe. In neutrino astronomy, ice is definitely nice!