Oct 13, 2011 Did an atomic explosion decimate Mars long ago? According to a recent press release, a new theory claims to explain how the planet Mars acquired its red color and its tortured, barren, and desiccated landscape. According to the release, “About 180 million years ago, a planet-shattering yet…
Oct 12, 2011 Black hole theory contradicts itself. Most astrophysicists try to explain narrow jets erupting from various sources by using words like “nozzle” or “high pressure,” contradicting the known behavior of gases in a vacuum. For example, according to a recent press release, “flares” have been discovered jetting…
“Science today is about getting some results, framing those results in an attention-grabbing media release and basking in the glory.” —Kerry Cue, Canberra Times, 5 October 2011 On October 4, 2011 the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to three astrophysicists for “THE ACCELERATING UNIVERSE.” Prof. Perlmutter of the University of California,…
Oct 11, 2011 Consensus astronomy proposes that thunder causes lightning. Infrared images of the “clouds” around the Cocoon Nebula reveal “networks of tangled gaseous filaments.” The filaments tend to have constant width and extend for many light-years. They appear to be stellar counterparts of the “stringy things” found in…
Oct 10, 2011 The length of Neptune’s day has been determined. The planet Neptune is the eighth and farthest planet from the Sun. Neptune’s mean diameter is approximately 49,250 kilometers, with a mean orbital radius of 4,503,443,661 kilometers, and a year of 164.79 Earth years. Neptune is a massive…
Oct 07, 2011 Lunar colonization awaits a benefit that exceeds that cost. A recent Picture of the Day article discussed the new GRAIL mission to the Moon. Two satellites will orbit the Moon together, with a range-finding system that will detect gravity variations on the lunar surface. On September…
by David Talbott The comet Elenin, a subject of intense Internet discussion for several months, seems to have disappointed everyone. I speak here not just of the doomsayers, who were awaiting a frightful specter in recent weeks. You might think these folks would be happy that the celebrated intruder faded…
Oct 06, 2011 Converging radial filaments indicate an interstellar Birkeland current “pinching down” into an hourglass shape. According to a recent press release, the longest lasting gamma-ray source ever recorded has been found by the Swift satellite’s Burst Alert Telescope. “Swift” is so named because it can quickly identify…
Oct 5, 2011 The Milky Way is connected to the rest of the Universe. According to a recent press release, astronomers have found “…evidence for the cosmic thread that connects us to the vast expanse of the Universe.” By examining the positions of dwarf galaxies and globular clusters around…
Oct 04, 2011 What drives star formation in various nebulae? Australian astronomer Colin Stanley Gum compiled an extensive catalog of nebulae before his death in 1960. A Study of Diffuse Southern H-alpha Nebulae comprises 85 images that reveal intense activity within a variety of objects and structures embedded in…
