Strange Universe

Bob Berman

There are some things that humans never seem capable of understanding – like consciousness, and the scoring of Ice Skating competitions. But we all want to understand the universe. Toward that end, educators and journalists create analogies. But -- how good are these?

Einstein & The Cosmos

Bob Berman

This week marks the anniversary of the total solar eclipse in which Einstein correctly predicted stars in the Pleaides cluster would shift position thanks to the curving of space. When it happened, he gained instant worldwide fame. But there remain many contradictory ideas about that great man.

View of planet Venus from space. Space, nebula and planet Venus. This image elements furnished by NASA.

Venus Maximus

Bob Berman

If a celestial object is the largest, smallest, brightest, or most-distant, it defines one of the edges of the cosmic envelope. Only a single entity can be “most this” or “greatest that.” Venus owns at least seven superlatives, all by itself.

THE SUN SETS OVER THE HIGH DESERT IN WILDFIRE SMOKE, SANTA FE, NM, USA

The Facts Of Nature

Bob Berman

What are the most basic facts of nature? They’re fascinating, yet these most fundamental realities remain strangely unknown to most people. And this has always been true.

Scientists are getting their first look with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s powerful resolution at how the formation of young stars influences the evolution of nearby galaxies. The spiral arms of NGC 7496, one of a total of 19 galaxies targeted for study by the Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby Galaxies (PHANGS) collaboration, are filled with cavernous bubbles and shells overlapping one another in this image from Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). These filaments and hollow cavities are evidence of young stars releasing energy and, in some cases, blowing out the gas and dust of the interstellar medium surrounding them. Until Webb’s high resolution at infrared wavelengths came along, stars at the earliest point of the lifecycle in nearby galaxies like NGC 7496 remained obscured by gas and dust. Webb’s specific wavelength coverage allows for the detection of complex organic molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which play a critical role in the formation of stars and planets. In Webb’s MIRI image, these are mostly found within the main dust lanes in the spiral arms. In their analysis of the new data from Webb, scientists were able to identify nearly 60 new, embedded cluster candidates in NGC 7496. These newly identified clusters could be among the youngest stars in the entire galaxy. At the center of NGC 7496, a barred spiral galaxy, is an active galactic nucleus (AGN). AGN is another way to refer to an active supermassive black hole that is emitting jets and winds. This glows quite brightly at the center of the Webb image. Additionally, Webb’s extreme sensitivity also picks up various background galaxies, which appear green or red in some instances. NGC 7496 lies over 24 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Grus.

Strange Universal Labels

Bob Berman

When it comes to labeling the universe we’ve got a strange system. It includes classical, ancient star names and some with odd lineages: Betelgeuse and Deneb mean Sheep's Armpit and Chicken's Tail respectively, not exactly glamorous

Strange Universe With Bob Berman

A new galaxy (far, far away).

Bob Berman

Researchers recently found the farthest-ever galaxy, a smudge at a distance of 13 billion light years.But when light travels a long time through an expanding universe, bizarre things happen.

This image was captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), a highly efficient wide-field camera covering the optical and near-infrared parts of the spectrum. While this lovely image contains hundreds of distant stars and galaxies, one vital thing is missing — the object Hubble was actually studying at the time! This is not because the target has disappeared. The ACS actually uses two detectors: the first captures the object being studied — in this case an open star cluster known as NGC 299 — while the other detector images the patch of space just ‘beneath’ it. This is what can be seen here. Technically, this picture is merely a sidekick of the actual object of interest — but space is bursting with activity, and this field of bright celestial bodies offers plenty of interest on its own. It may initially seem to show just stars, but a closer look reveals many of these tiny objects to be galaxies. The spiral galaxies have arms curving out from a bright centre. The fuzzier, less clearly shaped galaxies might be ellipticals. Some of these galaxies contain millions and millions of stars, but are so distant that all of their starry residents are contained within just a small pinprick of light that appears to be the same size as a single star! The bright blue dots are very hot stars, sometimes distorted into crosses by the struts supporting Hubble’s secondary mirror. The redder dots are cooler stars, possibly in the red giant phase when a dying star cools and expands.

Numbers & Stars

Bob Berman

April 15th is this week. That’s when taxpayers and accountants join astronomers as being obsessed with endless numbers. Although, can anyone really grasp galaxies being millions of lightyears away?

The Gaia Hypothesis

Bob Berman

It’s now a half century since James Lovelock originated the Gaia Hypothesis – which says that our planet’s biosphere is an intelligent entity that self-regulates conditions for the mutual benefit of all. Though many mainstream biologists hated it and still do, maybe Gaia doesn’t even go far enough. Why not the entire cosmos?

A Meteoric Anniversary

Bob Berman

This week marks the anniversary of the biggest exploding meteor of our lives – and the only one to cause multiple injuries. That daylight explosion was the largest extraterrestrial body impacting the Earth since the Tunguska event in 1908.

Groundhog Day

Bob Berman

Bob Berman speaks on the science of Groundhog Day.Bob Berman speaks on the science of Groundhog Day.