Association Of Catholic Bloggers

We've known about “black hole jet systems” for some time, but never one as big as Porphyrion: a 23,000,000 light-year giant. I'll be talking about that today, along with how astronomers have been studying it, a plausible explanation for its extraordinary length, and a quick overview of how we've been thinking about this universe. Cosmology: From the Cosmic Ocean to the Cosmic Web Mesopotamian Musings William Herschel, “Our Sidereal System”, and Finding Galaxies Galaxies, Clusters, Superclusters, and the Cosmic Web Porphyrion and Cosmic Scale Backgrounder: Black Holes, Accretion Disks, and Relativistic Jets Radio Galaxies and Porphyrion's Position Black Hole Jets and the Scale of the Cosmic Web Radio Telescopes: LOFAR and — — GMRT — and DESI ?! Fanaroff-Riley Classification That's Odd: Porphyrion's Size, and an Explanation "...The Heavens ... Like a Tent to Dwell In" More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (A huge black hole

I take commercial puffery with a grain of salt, but that 2,492 carat diamond from the Karowe mine does seem "epic". It's also what I'll be talking about this week: along with the Karowe mine, Botswana, what diamonds are and where they come from, and why I see Botswana's recent history as a success story. Of sorts. One-Pound Diamond: and a Quick Look at Botswana Comparing and Contrasting: Botswana and the United States Wealth, Fertility Rates, Statistics — — "Democracy", and Dan Backslide Diamonds Graphite and Diamond: Same Element, Different Crystal Form Formed in the Depths, Rushed to the Surface On the Shores of Arkansas To Be Continued Congo Chaos and Lebensraum for Mountain Gorillas Blood Diamonds, Mountain Gorillas: and Working With What We've Got More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Diamonds and how they are formed, comparing and contrasting Botswana and the United States. Blood diamonds, gorillas, and working w

A paper published this month doesn't so much tell us what's inside a neutron star, as show what's not inside. Considering how little we know about these immensely-dense stellar objects, that's a significant step toward understanding the things. I'll take a look at that, but mostly I'll be talking about what we've been learning, and why I think paying attention to this wonder-packed universe is a good idea. Even if — maybe because — this Haldane quote, written a few years before we knew about neutron stars, still reflects how God's universe has been surprising us. "Now, my own suspicion is that the universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose…." (" Possible Worlds and Other Essays ", p. 286, J. B. S. Haldane (1927) via Wikiquote) Squishy (?) Stars, Strange States of Matter Supernova! Neutron Stars: Gravity, Math, and Weirdness "...Astronomers Still Don't Know...." New Vi

It's been 30 years since a Mexican theoretical physicist said that a warp drive was possible: hypothetically. And published math that backed up his claim. Last month, a team of scientists showed how we could build a warp drive: again, with math backing up their claim. This year's variation on the Alcubierre drive couldn't travel faster than light. But it can, they say, be built with materials we have today. This is a very big deal. And it's what I'm talking about this week. Along with whatever else comes to mind. Speed of Light, Math, and Approaching Infinity New "Warp Drive" Approach: This One is Testable Gravity, Newton's Law, Einstein's Math, and — Negative Mass? Math, My Father, and Me: A Digression "Exotic Solutions" Offering a "Novel Means of Transportation" A Testable Warp Solution: Exciting! The Day "Warp Field Mechanics 101" Disappeared History — — And Being Human More at A Catholic Citize

UPDATE/FIX — The links in this post now take you to "Kamoʻoalewa: Breakaway Asteroid and Quasi-Moon" on A Catholic Citizen in America. I goofed when posting this preview - - - sorry about that: and have a good day/evening/weekend/afternoon.... :) The asteroid 469219 Kamoʻoalewa isn't exactly Earth's second moon. But it's been circling our world for centuries: and near Earth's orbit for much longer. Now scientists say they've traced the asteroid back to Giordano Bruno crater on the Moon. I'll be taking a look at what I could find of their research, Earth's moons, and asteroids whose orbits keep them near Earth. Then I'll talk about one of the more colorful personalities of the Renaissance. Asteroid Kamoʻoalewa, Giordano Bruno Crater: Origins & Orbits Dust, Asteroids, Astrodynamics, Temporary Moons, and Lagrange points When Circling Isn't Orbiting: Quasi-Satellites In This Week's News: 469219 Kamoʻoalewa and a Lunar Crater

That's more than just a pretty picture. Well, part of a pretty picture. It's our latest look at the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant. Webb's high-resolution cameras are showing details that scientists have never seen before.... ...That's what I started talking about this week. But the Cassiopeia A supernova's underwhelming appearance, or maybe non-appearance, reminded me of famines, coffeehouses, and other malign menaces. So here's what I had, Friday afternoon: Spotting an Invisible Supernova, Coffeehouses, — [disconnecting] [reconnecting] — Flamsteed's Star, and Another Supernova Four Ways Stars Explode: a NASA/JPL (very) Short Video Cassiopeia A: Might have been a FELT Transposing the Invisible: Infrared Astronomy Cosmic Scale and a 15-inch Telescope "...To Follow Knowledge like a Sinking Star...." "On to God!" — "Truth Cannot Contradict Truth" More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Latest NIRCam image from

Every time we develop new tech for studying this universe, we find something new. New to us, that is. This week, I'll be talking about unexpected Jupiter-size objects in the Orion Nebula, and why scientists at CERN dropped a few hundred antihydrogen atoms. Baffling Binaries, Planetary Problem: JuMBOs in Orion Low Expectations, a Pleasant Surprise A Planet by Any Other Name JuMBOs and Questions Antimatter, Gravity, the Universe: and an Experiment at CERN A Quick Look at Antimatter, From Hicks to Dirac, and Weirdness (Most) Antihydrogen Atoms Fell Down Mystery of the Missing Antimatter 'Where's the Antimatter?' — Broadening the Search Ptolemy, C. S. Lewis, the Universe, and Assumptions "...Its Inhabitants Like Grasshoppers...." More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Unexpected Jupiter-size binaries in the Trapezium Cluster, antimatter and gravity experiment at CERN. New data, new puzzles.)

There may have been times when one generation's world was much like another's. This is not one of those times. Science textbooks of my youth included speculation that Earth's mountains exist because our planet has been cooling and shrinking. One of my geology professors didn't "believe in" continental drift, and that's another topic. Back then, we knew that planets orbit our star, but weren't sure how the star we call the Sun and the Solar System formed. We still don't, for that matter. Not for sure. But the nebular hypothesis, or something very much like it, is a pretty good fit with observations. I'll get back to that, and some of what we've been learning about planetary systems: including TRAPPIST-1 and its seven worlds. More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (New planetary system pattern discovered. TRAPPIST-1 worlds. Solar System formation and evolution ideas, from Descartes to pulsar planets. Psalms 115:3.)

The TRAPPIST-1 planetary system is news again, this time because we've taken the innermost planet's temperature. That, by itself, isn’t newsworthy. We've been using infrared observations to learn how hot exoplanets are at least since 2006. 1 What makes the latest observations special is that they’re the first time scientists have measured a comparatively small, cool exoplanet's temperature.That's what I'll be talking about this week, along with whatever else comes to mind. Top Three Multiplanetary Systems Solar System Kepler-90 Planetary System, Upsilon Andromedae d and back to TRAPPIST-1 Taking TRAPPIST-1 b's Temperature With Webb’s MIRI Blackbody Radiation, Red Stars and Astronomical Art Thermal Radiation and the Ultraviolet Catastrophe! Star Light, Star Not-So-Bright Coming Next Week: Possible Interiors of TRAPPIST-1's Planets More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (JWST takes temperature of TRAPPIST-1 b: the first detection of

(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.

One way or another, energy is in the headlines nearly every day. But I won't be talking about the latest energy crisis, shortage or agreement. Instead, I'll be looking at developments in fusion power from a few months — and a few days — ago. 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 .

Another gravitational wave observation gave scientists the best evidence yet about one aspect of merging stars. On August 17, 2017, folks with the LIGO/Virgo collaboration observed three clusters of gravitational waves. This time astronomers found an infrared, visible, and X-ray event near where the gravitational wave source. The August gravitational wave observation, GW170817, is the first one where astronomers found electromagnetic waves coming from the same spot. It's a very big deal. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Einstein's theories gave scientists good reasons for thinking gravitational waves exist. A century later, instruments detected the elusive radiation. Three American scientists won this year's Nobel Prize in Physics for work that led to the discovery. Observatories in America and Italy have detected three more gravitational wave signals. What they learned wasn't quite what they expected.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

A Solar eclipse sweeping from coast to coast dominated Monday's news in America. I saw headlines describing the event, weather in different states, how folks had prepared and how they reacted, and some of the science involved. It was nice while it lasted.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

These are exciting, or disquieting, times. Which it is depends partly on how much a person likes living in a world where scientific knowledge is rapidly changing. I like it, a lot.... ...Since this is a "religious" blog, I'll be discussing — briefly, for me — how my faith relates to experiments using CERN's Large Hadron Collider and science in general.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Scientists found PCBs and PBDEs in deep-sea critters, armyworms are on the march in Africa, and Mexico City's air isn't as clean as we'd hoped. Rational concern seems reasonable.... ...Last week I talked about blaming our tools for our mistakes. ( February 10, 2017 ) This week I'll revisit Lovecraft's "placid island of ignorance,"sort of.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

We may be within a generation of sending probes on flyby missions to other stars, high-energy jets from several distant galaxies all point in the same direction, and we're learning more about hot super-earths. That sort of thing fascinates me, your experience may vary. Meanwhile, SETI researchers will be checking out red dwarfs: which may be more promising places to look for neighbors than we thought. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .