Author Archives: Alex R. Howe

Unknown's avatar

About Alex R. Howe

I'm a full-time astrophysicist and a part-time science fiction writer.

NASA finds an ice-cold planet right next door

Posted on April 27, 2014 by Alex R. Howe

You may have heard about the recent discovery of an ice cold “brown dwarf” or “star” right next door in our Solar Neighborhood. The object, which goes by the telephone number* WISE J085510.83-071442.5, is only 7.2 light-years from our Solar … Continue reading →

Posted in Current events, Planets | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Success for Kepler: an Earth-sized planet in the habitable (?) zone

Posted on April 17, 2014 by Alex R. Howe

The Kepler Spacecraft’s primary planet hunting mission has ended, but the data it generated will keep astronomers busy for years to come.  Today, NASA announced that it has found in that mountain of data, Kepler’s first truly Earth-sized planet in … Continue reading →

Posted in Current events, Planets | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Success for Kepler: an Earth-sized planet in the habitable (?) zone

The subtle theology of Noah

Posted on April 9, 2014 by Alex R. Howe

In my review of the movie Noah, I said that I felt that the film was much deeper and richer in the theology of the Biblical text than it gets credit for. I wanted to take the time to show … Continue reading →

Posted in Movie Reviews, Religion | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Movie review: Noah

Posted on April 7, 2014 by Alex R. Howe

The new Biblical epic, Noah, has generated a lot of controversy for its loose interpretation of the famous Bible story. (If you’re not familiar with it, you can go read Genesis 6-9 right here.) While the film has gotten good … Continue reading →

Posted in Movie Reviews, Religion | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Book review: The Age Atomic by Adam Christopher

Posted on April 5, 2014 by Alex R. Howe

Dipping again into the world of the sci-fi/superhero/noir mash-up, Adam Christopher follows up his debut novel, Empire State, with The Age Atomic. A year after the dystopic parallel universe version of Manhattan, the Empire State, was saved by Rad Bradley … Continue reading →

Posted in Book reviews | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Book review: The Age Atomic by Adam Christopher

Cosmos side by side

Posted on April 3, 2014 by Alex R. Howe

Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey aired its fourth episode this week. The long-awaited follow-up to Carl Sagan’s Cosmos: A Personal Voyage may only be enjoying modest ratings in our modern 500-channels-with-DVR-and-Internet media, but it continues to keep pace … Continue reading →

Posted in Current events, Science, TV Reviews | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Cosmos side by side

Dwarf planets and the problem of the IAU

Posted on March 31, 2014 by Alex R. Howe

What is a dwarf planet? Under the definition accepted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a dwarf planet is any object orbiting the Sun that is large enough to become round under its own gravity, but is not large enough … Continue reading →

Posted in Planets, Space | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

2012 VP113: a weird new “dwarf planet”

Posted on March 28, 2014 by Alex R. Howe

Astronomers Chad Trujillo and Scott Sheppard announced this week the discovery of a new icy world in the outer Solar System, named 2012 VP113. Trujillo is a colleague of Mike Brown, who discovered the dwarf planet Eris, which is larger … Continue reading →

Posted in Current events, Science, Space | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on 2012 VP113: a weird new “dwarf planet”

Math is hard

Posted on March 22, 2014 by Alex R. Howe

Math is hard. That may sound strange coming from an astrophysicist with a degree in math, but in some ways, it’s very true. Yes, it gets easier with practice, but only up to a point. I can attest from experience … Continue reading →

Posted in Current events, Science | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Math is hard

On Giordano Bruno

Posted on March 16, 2014 by Alex R. Howe

The new Cosmos TV series has drawn criticism for its depiction of Giordano Bruno, a Dominican Monk and philosopher who was burned at the stake for heresy in 1600. A lot has been said about this, including criticism of the … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Religion, Science | Tagged , , | 1 Comment