Feb 23, 2017 There are no “super magnets” in space without powerful electric discharges. The standard model of stellar evolution proposes that pulsars are neutron stars rotating at incredible speed. In 2006, PSR J1748-2446ad was reported to spin at 43,000 RPM—the blades of a kitchen blender do not exceed…
Feb 22, 2017 Do galaxies bump into each other? High temperatures in galaxy clusters are an enigma. Because astronomers have only one force in their bags of tricks—gravity—whenever energetic events are found, like high temperatures in the galaxy cluster shown above, it “must be” caused by a gravity-driven collision in…
Feb 21, 2017 Space and time do not bend. “Gravitational lensing” theory is used to explain the arcs of glowing material surrounding some galaxies. They also use it in conjunction with other theories to help deal with puzzling observations. One of those puzzles involves the so-called expanding Universe. Combining data…
Feb 20, 2017 A curled torus is thought to exist in the center of the Milky Way. “Ring out the false, ring in the true.” — Alfred Lord Tennyson A previous Picture of the Day discussed the twisted ring of material surrounding the nucleus of Galaxy Centaurus A. NGC…
Feb 17, 2017 Is the Universe expanding? Modern astronomers believe that galaxies are receding from each other because they received “inflationary energy” imparted by the Big Bang. They estimate the recession to be about 71 kilometers per second for every 3.3 million light-years of spatial distance. This “dilation of…
Feb 16, 2017 The Sun’s activity drives Earth-based phenomena. Picture of the Day articles point out that there are linkages between galactic electric currents, solar electric currents, and terrestrial electric currents. Earth is connected to a circuit that flows through the cosmos, but that circuit is difficult to perceive. Charged…
Feb 15, 2017 Ionized hydrogen is a primordial source for many structures in the Universe. The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is around 200,000 light-years from Earth, as astronomers gauge distance. Its diffuse nature means that it is no more than a smudge of light in the southern sky. Its companion,…
Feb 13, 2017 Earth displays its celestial nature. Intense lightning in thunderstorms can interact with electricity (cosmic rays) coming from space. When the right conditions in Earth’s atmosphere occur, lightning causes giant particle accelerators to form above the clouds. Cosmic rays are high energy sub-atomic particles, mostly protons, that can…
Feb 10, 2017 Comets can influence solar behavior. If we can see the tails of comets fly off in the direction opposed to the Sun with an accelerated velocity, and if we believe these tails to be matter and not optical illusions or mere tracks of vibrating disturbance, then we…
Feb 9, 2017 Stars do not age according to modern ideas. “It is reasonable to hope that in the not too distant future we shall be competent to understand so simple a thing as a star.” — Arthur Eddington, Astrophysicist T Tauri stars take their name from the original…
