Author Archives: 2016spaceodyssey

Supermassive Black Holes

Posted on April 10, 2016 by 2016spaceodyssey

Astronomers have recently discovered a supermassive black hole in a region of space that is sparsely populated.  The black hole is 17 billion times bigger than the Sun (by mass), making it one of the larger black holes ever discovered.  The strange part is that scientists had only ever found supermassive black holes at the […] Continue reading →

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A Lonely Planet Wandering Through Space

Posted on April 10, 2016 by 2016spaceodyssey

Astronomers have recently announced the discovery of a planet without a sun.  Known as PSO J318.5-22, the planet is a gas giant six times the mass of Jupiter, nowhere near large enough to be a Brown Dwarf.  In the past rouge planets or “planetary-mass objects” have been discovered but their size was large enough that […] Continue reading →

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What the Heck is a Pulsar?!

Posted on March 15, 2016 by 2016spaceodyssey

Have you ever heard of something called a pulsar?  If not then you are missing out because they are one of the strangest and most fascinating objects in the universe.  A pulsar is a special kind of neutron star, that means that the star is pretty much entirely made up of only neutrons held together […] Continue reading →

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What the Heck is a Pulsar?!

Posted on March 15, 2016 by 2016spaceodyssey

Have you ever heard of something called a pulsar?  If not then you are missing out because they are one of the strangest and most fascinating objects in the universe.  A pulsar is a special kind of neutron star, that means that the star is pretty much entirely made up of only neutrons held together […] Continue reading →

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Why We Should All Love Earthquakes

Posted on March 15, 2016 by 2016spaceodyssey

Earthquakes are one of the most obvious consequences of Earth’s plate tectonics.  The crust slowly moves along the with the “current” of the mantle as the Earth surface constantly rearranges itself.  Without plate tectonics, it is very possible that life could not have taken a foothold on Earth.  On Mars, which does not have plate […] Continue reading →

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Gravity Waves and the Graviton

Posted on February 16, 2016 by 2016spaceodyssey

So physicists have recently announced the discovery of Gravitational Waves, but what does that mean for the Graviton?  Similar to how protons and electrons carry electrical charge, it is theorized that the Graviton carries, you guessed it, gravity.  Because it is a subatomic particle it is more of a focus for particle physicists than for […] Continue reading →

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The Consequences of the Interaction of Light and Gravity

Posted on February 16, 2016 by 2016spaceodyssey

It is astonishing the extent that gravity and light interact with one another.  This is of course very fortunate for us humans when trying to understand the basic force that is known as gravity.  After Isaac Newton proposed his Law of Universal Gravitation in 1687 is was generally thought that gravity was understood even though […] Continue reading →

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World Events During Kepler’s Lifetime

Posted on February 9, 2016 by 2016spaceodyssey

Johannes Kepler: December 27, 1571 – November 15, 1630 Historical Events Europeans Discover Australia: In 1606 Captain Willem Janszoon and his crew became the first recorded Europeans to sight and make landfall on Australia. This was a significant discovery for European explorers considering Australia is its very own continent. However no colonies were established in […] Continue reading →

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World Events During Kepler’s Lifetime

Posted on February 9, 2016 by 2016spaceodyssey

Johannes Kepler: December 27, 1571 – November 15, 1630 Historical Events Europeans Discover Australia: In 1606 Captain Willem Janszoon and his crew became the first recorded Europeans to sight and make landfall on Australia. This was a significant discovery for European explorers considering Australia is its very own continent. However no colonies were established in […] Continue reading →

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Human’s Fascination of the Solstices

Posted on January 26, 2016 by 2016spaceodyssey

If there was one thing that early humans revered most, it may have been the position of the Sun.  Ancient cultures around the world, before the first cities ever existed, built monuments to measure the Sun’s position (known as archaeoastronomy).  The most famous of which is Stonehenge in England, which has its entrances aligned to […] Continue reading →

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