The Stellar Survey for August 10 - 16
The asteroid that killed the dinosaurs came from beyond Jupiter, new analysis finds. | Isn’t it WILD that we can figure this stuff out?
The next supermoon, which will appear on August 19, will be the first of four super moons in a row! | It will also be a Blue Moon. Blue Moon, you saw me standing alone, without a dream in my heaaaaart…
Check out these shots of Mars and Jupiter, up close and personal in a rare planetary alignment. | They won’t be this close again until 2033.
A new quantum sensor could revolutionize space exploration. | What exactly does this mean? I have no idea. But it sounds very cool.
Binary pairings of black holes can help scientists play “hide and seek” with massive black holes. | The Universe: it really is just one giant game, isn’t it.
Origami-inspired robots could help build habitats in space. | They can launch flat and then be assembled in space. Like IKEA furniture, but on the moon!
It wouldn’t be a dose of space news without a dose of dread. Here’s an article that looks at releasing nano particles to warm up Mars. | Revolutionary, maybe, but maybe…also bad?
On the links between astronomy and science fiction. | Huh! Maybe us writers who live in these faraway worlds of make-believe are actually onto something.
Another sprinkling of dread, mixed with a sprinkling of fascination: people anthropomorphize and then dehumanize robots when they hurt them. | So we have to make robots like us and then highlight how they aren’t like us in order to justify hurting them. The human brain is both terrible and fascinating. And that robot revolution is all but guaranteed.
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s…a shooting star! | Watch this Perseid fireball light up the skies in Macedonia.
Look at the Aurora, shining from the ISS! | Imagine taking photos from the vantage point of the ISS. Just imagine it.
A newly-discovered star that sits about 30,000 light-years away from us has a much higher concentration of lithium than our Sun does despite being roughly the same age, which means scientists might have to re-think all they know about stellar evolution. | They have theories. Do you?
AI is on its way to space. | Cue the robot revolution music. (Just kidding. But also…kind of not? WE’VE ALL SEEN THE MOVIES. WE KNOW HOW THIS GOES.)
A new paper claims to have solved the mystery of Hubble tension—that is, exactly how fast the universe is expanding. But according to Ethan Siegel over at Big Think, the data is flawed. | Ethan is one of my favourite science writers. Read on to find out why!
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Jupiter killed the dinosaurs!! You’re right, it’s just incredible that we know this much.