Island Universes

  Original Post March 13, 2014 Galactic magnetic fields were discovered more than 50 years ago. Astronomers continue to ask basic questions about galaxies: what generates their magnetic fields? What gives those fields their shape and their strength? Researchers using the latest computer simulations think they have found the answers….

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Blast of Gas

  Original Post February 27, 2014 The large ALMA radio telescope in Chile has discovered that “billowing columns” of “gas” are “fleeing” from gravitational forces that would snare them into new stars. The size of the Sculptor Galaxy depends on the outcome. Unless, of course, star formation is not so…

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Solar Supernova

  Original Post February 24, 2014 How do supernovae relate to the Sun? On June 7, 2011 the Sun erupted with the largest plasma event yet recorded by the Solar Dynamics Observatory. SDO was launched on February 11, 2010 into a geosynchronous orbit, with plans for a five-year mission. It…

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Ironstone Fulgurites

Ironstone fulgurite tubes. Blue Mountains, Australia

Original Post February 14, 2014 Strange formations within a sandstone matrix are found throughout the Blue Mountains. Exactly what are sandstone and ironstone? The classic explanation is that they are both sedimentary rock, which means they are deposited in layers. In the Blue Mountains near Sydney, the sandstone layer is…

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Gravitation as Frog

  Original Post January 30, 2014 A gravity-only Universe cannot explain certain discrepancies. Ilya Prigogine, from a young age, was concerned that accepted physical theory had a couple of glaring discrepancies from observation: determinism and time symmetry. Most observations are of contingency and irreversibility. No one has yet seen an…

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Good as Gold

  Original Post January 23, 2014 The proverbial ‘golden age’ is a classic case study in the difference between local and global themes in mythology. It was the German ethnologist Adolf Bastian (1826-1905) who first introduced a systematic distinction between universal ‘elementary ideas’ (Elementargedanke) and culture-specific ‘folk ideas’ (Volksgedanke) in…

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Adolescent Galaxy

  Original Post January 9, 2014 NGC 4666 is one of the younger additions to the Virgo cluster of galaxies. It has also apparently given birth to another generation. The galaxy lies eight degrees south of M49, the great-grandmother of the Virgo cluster. Whether NGC 4666 is the daughter of…

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