Collaborate Disseminate
Strange signals known as fast radio bursts (FRBs) are one of the most intriguing mysteries of modern astronomy, so the more of them we can locate, the closer we get to figuring what causes them. Now we’re a step closer to solving the riddle, … Continue reading Astronomers close in on the fast radio burst mystery by tracing new signal to distant galaxy
Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are one of the most puzzling mysteries of the space age. These one-off, millisecond-long signals pour in from all corners of the cosmos, and so far nobody’s been able to figure out what causes them or where they’re ev… Continue reading Astronomers pinpoint location of mysterious radio signal across the universe
A new way of bending X-rays raises the prospect of smaller, more powerful X-ray space telescopes. Based on technology originally developed for medical imaging machines, Stacked Prism Lens are being developed by a team led by Mats Danielsson a… Continue reading Ditching mirrors for plastic prisms will make for much smaller, more powerful X-ray telescopes
So far almost 4,000 planets have been discovered orbiting stars other than the Sun, and that tally is constantly growing. Now another 18 exoplanets have been added to the haul, but the difference this time is that all of them are roughly Eart… Continue reading New algorithm digs up 18 Earth-like exoplanets from old Kepler data
Perched atop a dormant volcano far above the roiling tropical air of the Big Island of Hawai’i sit two of the largest optical telescopes in the world. Each 10-meter main mirror is but a single part of a magnificent machine weighing in at some 400 tons that needs to be …read more
Continue reading Reverse Engineering Keeps Keck Telescopes on Track
Astrophotography is an expensive hobby. When assembling even a basic setup consisting of a telescope, camera, guiding equipment and mount, you can easily end up with several thousand dollars worth of gear. To reduce the monetary sting a little, [td0g] has come up with an innovative homebrew mount and guiding solution that could be assembled by almost any dedicated amateur, with the parts cost estimated around $100. The accuracy required to obtain high-quality astrophotographs is quite demanding, so we’re impressed with what he’s been able to achieve on a limited budget.
The inspiration for this design comes from an incredibly …read more
Continue reading DIY Guided Telescope Mount Tracks Like a Barn Door
Like many other hobbies, astronomy can be pursued on many levels, with equipment costs ranging from the affordable to the – well, astronomical. Thankfully, there are lots of entry-level telescopes on the market, some that even come with mounts that automatically find and track heavenly bodies. Finding a feature is as easy as aligning to a few known stars and looking up the object in the database embedded in the remote.
Few of the affordable mounts are WiFi-accessible, though, which is a gap [Dane Gardner]’s Raspberry Pi interface for Celestron telescopes aims to fill. For the price of a $10 …read more
Continue reading Pi Zero Gives Amateur Astronomer Affordable Control Of Telescope
Nicknamed “Farout,” the world is 120 times farther from the Sun than Earth. Continue reading Astronomers Find the Most Distant Known Object in the Solar System
As you’re no doubt aware, humans are a rather noisy species. Not just audibly, like in the case of somebody talking loudly when you’re in a movie theater, but also electromagnetically. All of our wireless transmissions since Marconi made his first spark gap broadcast in 1895 have radiated out into space, and anyone who’s got a sensitive enough ear pointed into our little corner of the Milky Way should have no trouble hearing us. Even if these extraterrestrial eavesdroppers wouldn’t be able to understand the content of our transmissions, the sheer volume of them would be enough to indicate that …read more
Continue reading Flagging Down Aliens with World’s Biggest Laser Pointer
Rachel Smith studies the birth of stars to better understand the origins of life on Earth, and perhaps elsewhere in the universe. Continue reading What Baby Stars and Meteorites Can Tell Us About Our Solar System’s Past