How About That? - Page 2

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Black holes are incredibly fascinating. They represent the unknown, the dangerous, the terrifyingly majestic. They are the modern version of the void, the abyss, the bottomless pit. Most sci-fi gets black holes right, but poetic license ignores the facts at times, and takes over to accommodate the needs of the story.

According to the World Health Organization, 360 million people worldwide have disabling hearing loss. For the remaining 95% of the population, sound is a cardinal part of our sensory experience. It allows us to communicate easily, and to better experience the natural world. So how terrifying is it for our ableist mind to have one […]

We explain what dark energy is in only 60 seconds.

We explain what dark matter is in only 60 seconds.

If the known universe was spherical would it be possible to move outside of it the same way a rocket can leave the Earth? Justin, New Zealand Oh that’s an interesting question. Could it be possible to leave our Universe? Probably not, but you don’t ask exactly that. You picked a specific universe.

Space images can often be breathtaking and the night sky has often inspired artists to produce incredible masterpieces. Sometimes even the way astronomers represent data can be both scientifically and artistically stunning. Case in point is the polarization map released by the Planck Collaboration, which shows unique views of the universe, and reminds me of […]

If you wonder where we came from and how we got here, there’s a step we are quite confident on. About 5 billions of years ago, before the Sun shone a single ray all the atoms you are made of were part of a large gas cloud like the one in the picture. The object […]

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope photograph is one of my favourite images of interacting galaxies, but it’s actually a bit of a cheat. The galaxies are not interacting at all. The galaxies are simply in a chance alignment from our vantage point, and that’s how Hubble was able to produce such a breathtaking image. The […]

There has been a surprising affinity between astronomy and music. Both needed the inspiration of the muses to be performed in Ancient Greece, and expressions like the Music of the Spheres just shows the profound link between these two realms of human genius. In space, nobody can hear you scream, but it didn’t stop Coltrane […]

Is the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way going to eat the Earth? Ross, UK No, the Earth is not in any danger from the supermassive black hole (SMBH) at the centre of the Milky Way. The SMBH, known as Sagittarius A*, is not going to suck us in.

In a previous post, we discussed the groundbreaking discovery of gravitational waves and it’s importance for science as a whole. Now LIGO has observed another detection, and it has the incredible feature of being the first direct observation of a spinning black hole. The merging objects are also smaller (8 and 14 solar masses) but […]

Spacesuits are a fundamental tool for keeping astronauts safe in space, but the protection they supply is often mistaken, exaggerated or romanticised in science fiction.   Spacesuits are garments worn by astronauts to survive the harsh conditions of outer space.  They should be thought of as a single-person spaceship. They are built to protect astronauts […]