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Nobel Prize nominee coming to Boise to discuss his work in astronomy
Boise State University is hosting Dr. Alex Filippenko for a discussion at 7:30 p.m. Friday. There is also an opportunity for stargazing, weather permitting. BOISE, Idaho — If you’ve ever looked up at the night sky and thought “there’s got to be more out there,” it turns out there’s some truth to that. Dr. Alex…
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Filaments explaining blazar jet radio variability
High-resolution observations using a network of ground-based radio dishes and one telescope in space have revealed filamentary structures in the source 3C279. These filaments may explain the origin of radio variability in blazar jets. With the excellent resolving power and sensitivity of their observations, Fuentes et al. could resolve a complex fine structure along and…
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Beyond UFOs: the Future of Unexplained Anomalous Phenomena
How would someone report a sighting? It’s a great question. The panel spent a lot of time investigating how things were reported, and the truth is, there isn’t really a functioning reporting mechanism within U.S. government agencies. One of our leading recommendations was to fix this and to have better inter-agency communication. The difficult thing…
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MU physics researchers gain new insight into universe’s ‘building blocks’
MU researchers are studying particles that are considered the building blocks of the universe, which will help scientists using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope in future research. The researchers wrote about their study of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon particles — which are a class of chemicals that occur naturally in substances, such as coal and wood,…
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New Forecast Resets Solar Cycle Expectations
A loop of plasma dances up from the Sun’s visible surface, the result of magnetic field activity. The current solar cycle of magnetically driven activity is now expected to peak early next year.Gabriel Almonte / S&T Online Photo Gallery Scientists’ new forecast suggests that the current solar cycle will peak sooner and at a higher…
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A Molecule, a Telescope, and Everything: A History of ALMA and Millimeter Astronomy
Carbon monoxide (CO) is a simple molecule, just one carbon atom closely bound to one oxygen. Neither of these elements is anywhere near as abundant as those of hydrogen or helium in the Universe, but they are the next two most abundant elements, comprising a bit less than one percent of the atoms in the…
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Sky This Month: November 2023
Jupiter and its Galilean moons are on full display as the gas giant reaches opposition this month. Here, the mighty planet poses with its largest moons. Credit: Paul Stewart Saturn is already visible after dark while Jupiter is rising in the eastern sky, beckoning for attention all night. Uranus is at its best for the…
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Watch the universe evolve in the deepest simulation ever
If the universe could be viewed as a whole, its galaxies and matter would appear organized into a filamentary web, as seen in this slice of the FLAMINGO simulation. Credit: Figure from Schaye et al. (2023). Image credit Josh Borrow, the FLAMINGO team and the Virgo Consortium. The dynamical dance of physics can entrance —…
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Dr. Jennifer Lotz Appointed Space Telescope Science Institute Director
Dr. Jennifer Lotz, new Space Telescope Science Institute Director. Credit: NOIRLab The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Jennifer Lotz as the Director of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI). Dr. Lotz will begin her five-year appointment as STScI Director starting February 12, 2024. Previously,…
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What we’ve learned in 60 years of studying quasars
This artist’s impression shows how ULAS J1120+0641, a very distant quasar powered by a black hole with a mass two billion times that of the Sun, may have looked. This quasar is the most distant yet found and is seen as it was just 770 million years after the Big Bang. This object is by…