Association Of Catholic Bloggers

(From NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; used w/o permission.) (The Cartwheel galaxy group, 500,000 light-years out, in the constellation Scorpius. (James Webb Space Telescope image released by NASA (August 2, 2022)) I'll be looking at some of the first pictures sent back from the James Webb Space Telescope, starting with the Cartwheel Galaxy. More at A Catholic Citizen in America . New views of the Cartwheel Galaxy, Carina Nebula and the first compact galaxy group discovered. Infrared images and the value of color astrophotography.

(From STR/AFP/Getty Images, via NPR, used w/o permission.) (China's FAST radio telescope, another eye on the universe since 2016.) Scientists in China's Guizhou province have been receiving radio signals from interstellar space since 2016. Three of these signals may have been from folks who aren't human, but use radio waves the way we do. Then again, maybe they weren't.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America . Narrow-band signals from interstellar space. Tesla, pulsars, the Wow! signal and Tabby’s Star. Still looking for alien civilizations.

Science stories and topics have been piling up in my 'to do' list for more than a year. This week, I'm catching up on what we're learning about life here on Earth; and developments in the ongoing search for extraterrestrial life..... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Scientists in Sweden, taking part in 2019's BEAST program that used SPHERE on the VLT discovered an 'it might be an exoplanet.' In 2021, they got confirmation. They'd spotted an exoplanet. And SPHERE on the VLT 1 has an picture of the newly-discovered world. I'd planned on talking about BEAST, SPHERE, VLT; comparing ground-based and space observatories; and whatever else came to mind. Then, on Tuesday, I started running a fever. It was of the 'nothing serious' variety, but quite enough to slow me down. After that, the household got a brief visit from number-two daughter, son-in law and granddaughter: a happy occasion. Which also didn't help me do what I'd planned. So I trimmed my plans back to what was possible, and this is the result. b Centauri(AB)b, AKA HD 129116 b: Big Bright Stars and a Big Mystery Planet (From ESO, used w/o permission.) (Binary star HD 129116 and HD 129116 b, its huge exoplanet.)... More at A Catholic Citizen in

I started writing about stars, names, designations and how we got to a point where Sirius is also known as BD-16°1591, ADS 5423 and GJ 244. That started me thinking about telescopes, Galileo, Aristotle and Dante.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Designations like HD 63935 b and c don't exactly roll of the tongue. Although with a little work I might pronounce them "trippingly on the tongue," as Hamlet put it. Maybe saying "sixty five ninety three five bee and cee" would do the trick. Then again, maybe not. I thought, briefly, of calling HD 63935, HD 63935 b and HD 63935 c "Sam, Fred and Chuck;" but thought better of it. At any rate, I'd been catching up on 'exoplanet' notes from the last year or so when I read about the HD 63935 planetary system. HD 63935's known planets there, sub-Neptunes, should help scientists learn more about how planets form. Or, rather, observing them and analyzing those observations should.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), a robotic observatory, began 200,000 nearby stars on August 7, 2018. So far, scientists have found more than 2,200 TESS Objects of Interest (TOI). Of these, again so far, 154 have turned out to be exoplanets. They include a few probably-rocky planets around Earth's size, but none are 'Earth 2.0.' And some are like nothing in our Solar System. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Nothing in this universe lasts forever, including stars. Massive stars live fast and die young: exploding as supernovae. One of these, AT2016jka, nicknamed "Requiem," was first spotted in 2016. It showed up again in 2019. Scientists figure they'll get another look in 2037, give or take a few years But the supernova only exploded once. We're getting reruns of the event, thanks to gravitational lensing. I'll be taking about stars, including supernovae, gravitational lensing, and whatever else comes to mind. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Mars is and will be in the news this month. The UAE Hope spacecraft settled into orbit around Mars Tuesday, February 9. Then, a day later, China's Tianwen-1 arrived.... ...The UAE's successful orbiter is historically significant. And China's Tianwen-1 may collect useful data. But I'll be focusing on the NASA mission. And Mars.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

I only wrote 18 words for my current "Dr Faustus" post yesterday. Partly because the screen went black around mid-afternoon. On the bright side, my computer did reboot. Eventually. My plan for today is to get this journal entry finished, do more writing and maybe pick up prescriptions at the local Walmart. Not necessarily in that order.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

I'm seeing "The Best of," "Top 10" and "2020 Top" headlines in my news feed: as usual for late December. Instead of waiting for someone else to highlight this year's science news stories, I'm making my own 'top 10' list. Each item is something that caught my attention, seemed important, or has been lurking in my 'to do' folders. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Part of the Arecibo radio telescope collapsed this summer. A supporting cable had snapped. Another cable gave way this month.... ...I'll be taking a quick look at the Arecibo observatory's origin and achievements. Make that achievements of scientists using the radio reflector. What? No Space Alien Conspiracies? Sic Transit Gloria Arecibo A Professor, Sputnik and an Act of Congress World's Biggest: 1963-2016 An Unexpected Spin-Orbit Resonance Pulsars, Planets and Prudence Science, Safety and Greater Admiration More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

"A journey of a thousand li starts with a single step." (Tao Te Ching," Laozi) "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind." (Neil Armstrong) I figure the journey to Earth's moon began when someone looked up and wondered what this world's "lesser light" might be. Uncounted ages, most likely, before folks like Laozi and Thales of Miletus added their thoughts to humanity's storehouse of knowledge. Thales of Miletus gets credit for figuring out that Earth's moon is roughly spherical. So does Anaximander, depending on who's talking. Those two lived about two and a half millennia back. A century later, Anaxagoras said Earth's moon was earthy, made of the same sort of stuff we stand on. He was right about that. Other details in his cosmology, not so much.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

It's been a month for space exploration 'firsts,' and a 'farthest.' Ultima Thule became the most distant object visited by a probe on January 1, with the New Horizons flyby. A few days later, China's Chang'e-4 mission landed in the von Kármán crater, part of the moon that's not visible from Earth. It's the first lunar farside landing, and the first time plants sprouted on the moon...." (More on A Catholic Citizen in America .)

We haven't found extraterrestrial life. But we're still finding planets circling other stars. Thousands of them. Some of those planets couldn't possibly support life as we know it. But some might. Atomic oxygen may be a good biosignature: evidence of life. That's what some scientists said in a recent paper. If they're right, we may be a step closer to finding life in this universe. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

It may not be an 'official' end-of-year custom, but many folks make lists as New Year approaches. BBC News made a list of eight "amazing science stories" of 2017. I can see how the stories are "amazing," from their viewpoint, and not surprised that they saw a world politics item as scientific. On the other hand, they included one of the 'gravitational wave' stories, so I won't complain. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Sunspots come and go in an 11-year cycle. Our sun has acted that way for centuries. With a few exceptions. The sunspot cycle changed about 23 years back. I think we'll learn a great deal by studying what's happening, but at this point scientists aren't quite sure what to make of the new 'normal.' More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

We've known about 55 Cancri e since 2004. It may have lakes and rivers of lava. But that's probably not what keeps its night side hot enough to melt copper. Ross 128 b, discovered this year, is a bit more massive than Earth, warm enough for liquid water, and too hot. It's not quite 'Earth 2.0,' but it may support life.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

" Scientists thought ‘Oumuamua was a comet when they spotted it last month. "Follow-up observations showed it was more like an asteroid: and going too fast to be from the solar system. "‘Oumuamua is from interstellar space. It's the first object of its kind we've seen. "What scientists are learning about ‘Oumuamua tells us a bit about other planetary systems, and raises intriguing new questions...." More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

This universe is bigger and older than some folks thought, a few centuries back. I don't mind, at all. Besides, it's hardly new information. We've known that we live in a big world for a long time. " 4 Indeed, before you the whole universe is as a grain from a balance, or a drop of morning dew come down upon the earth." ( Wisdom 11:22 ) If that bit from Wisdom doesn't sound familiar, I'm not surprised. It's not in the Bibles many Americans have. The one I read and study frequently is the unexpurgated version.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .