The Hubble Ultra-deep field
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Alfredo Carpineti
AstroNews
Probing the furthest Universe to understand how spiral galaxies formed.
A new paper accepted for publication this month has highlighted how spiral galaxies came to form in the early Universe. By using the power of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), a team lead by Roberto Maiolino has individuated the mechanism through which galaxies gather stell...
Astronomy
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin: the woman who discovered what the Universe is made of.
In this vlog, I talk about Prof. Payne-Gaposchkin, one the most important astronomers of the 20th Century. Thanks to her we know that stars are not made by the same elements as the Earth, and that Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the Universe.
Exoplanet
The first terrestrial exoplanet around a star visible to the naked eye
In the almost 20 years since the discovery of the first exoplanet orbiting a main-sequence star, we have gone from thinking that planets are a cosmic curiosity to a common feature of the Universe. The race is on to find a true Earth twin, to measure an exoplanet atmosphere or, when the James Webb...
AstroNews
The Very Hungry Supermassive Black Hole
We all get the munchies, but when you’re a supermassive black hole (SMBH) your hunger might have dire consequences. And just like that an SMBH has outgrown its galaxy and jumped to the top of the heavyweight objects in the universe.
AstroNews
Lord of the Rings distance pinpointed
As I mentioned in a previous post, there are a few ways to measure the distance of a star in our galaxy. Unfortunately when the Luminosity is unknown and it is too far away to use parallaxes method, we are stumped for ways to estimate the distance.
AstroNews
Everything you need to know about Pluto before the New Horizon fly-by
Pluto, not to be confused with Micky Mouse’s dog, is going to be in the news a lot soon, as we are finally going to take a closer look to the elusive dwarf planet. Pluto Stats: Discovered by Clyde Tombaugh on the 18th of February 1930, it is smaller than our Moon with a 1184 […]
Luminosity
How do we know how massive stars are?
As we discussed in the previous vlog our understanding of stars is still incomplete, but there are areas which we are very confident on what we know.
Astronomy
I’m the Universe, hear me roar.
The cosmos has plenty of terrifying Lovecraftian features, but one of my favourites is the Space Roar.
Astronomy
Some facts on Betelgeuse going supernova
Every few months, I see articles about Betelgeuse, the right shoulder in the constellation of Orion, ready to go supernova. The articles vary from the sensational to the apocalyptic and I can understand why it is a fascinating subject. A supernova in our galactic backyard.
AstroNews
The taming of the screw
I have a mathematician friend who believes that anything that it is mathematically possible exists somewhere in the multiverse. She believes that there are some features that are so beautiful, that it would be a crime if they were simply quirks of the Universal language.
Exoplanet
Shopping for rings
I have a space question. I know about the Roche limit but is there an upper limit to how big a ring can get compared to its planet?