Alex R. Howe
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My blog of science, science fiction, and more.
The header image is a rendering of a possible future skyhook-space station. Search Blog
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Category Archives: Space
NASA Discovers the First “Earth-Like” Planet for the Third Time
There’s been buzz in the news about the latest planet discovered by NASA’s Kepler space telescope, Kepler-452b. It’s being hailed as a major discovery. It’s the first ever Earth-sized planet found in the habitable zone of a…boy, this sounds familiar, … Continue reading
Posted in Current events, Planets, Space
Tagged earth-like planets, exoplanets, kepler, kepler-452b, nasa
Comments Off on NASA Discovers the First “Earth-Like” Planet for the Third Time
Breaking News: Pluto is the Largest Dwarf Planet!
At this writing, the New Horizons spacecraft is only hours away from its closest approach to Pluto. Except in the unlikely event that it crashes into something (*knocks on wood*) or the more likely event that its computer crashes (*knocks … Continue reading
Posted in Current events, Space, Space exploration
Tagged dwarf planet, eris, new horizons, planet, pluto
1 Comment
What If? Rejects #4.2: In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream
Previous post in this series: Volcanoes. Next post in this series: Balancing Act. Q: A friend of mine is convinced that there is sound in space. There isn’t, right? Randall’s response: A guy floating in space speaks, but the speech … Continue reading
Posted in Space, What If? Rejects
Tagged interstellar medium, no one can hear you scream, sound in space
2 Comments
The Sun’s big brother found
The Sun was born 4.57 billion years ago from a giant molecular cloud, as one of probably hundreds or even thousands of members of a freshly-minted open star cluster. So where are all these brothers and sisters of the Sun? … Continue reading
Posted in Science, Space, Sun
Tagged giant molecular cloud, MacDonald Observatory, open star cluster, solar sibling, stars
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Dwarf planets and the problem of the IAU
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
2012 VP113: a weird new “dwarf planet”
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 2012 vp113, biden, definition of planet, dwarf planet, kuiper belt, pluto, sedna
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How to take a picture of the universe
Astronomers take pictures of stuff in the universe all the time, but it’s not every day that we get to take a picture of the universe. Today was one of those days, and this is the picture. This is a … Continue reading
2012 DA14 will pass us by, but what is the risk from elsewhere?
You may have heard that an asteroid called 2012 DA14 will pass close by Earth this Friday, dipping below our ring of communications satellites at just 28,000 km (17,000 miles). At 50 meters wide (half the size of a football … Continue reading
Posted in Current events, Meteors, Space
Tagged 2012 da14, apophis, asteroid impact, near miss
Comments Off on 2012 DA14 will pass us by, but what is the risk from elsewhere?