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Posts by
Andy Briggs
Why does a variable star brighten and dim?
A variable star is one that brightens and dim in a cycle that might last hours, or weeks, or months, or longer. What makes a star change its brightness?
June 6, 2021
What is a quasar?
A quasar is an extremely bright and distant point-like source visible to radio telescopes. The source is a so-called Active Galactic Nucleus, fueled by a supermassive black hole.
February 28, 2021
What is the Milky Way?
When someone says "Milky Way," do you think of the starry pathway across our sky, or of the great pinwheel-shaped galaxy in space? Both are correct!
February 16, 2021
What is a supernova?
A supernova is a star's colossal explosion at the end of its life, potentially outshining its entire galaxy. Read about the causes and types of supernovae here.
November 12, 2020
What is a galaxy?
We live in a galaxy called the Milky Way. But there is so much more to know about these grand and glorious star islands in space! Click in here, and prepare to have your mind expanded.
September 25, 2020
What is a globular cluster?
Unlike the open star clusters - containing sibling stars, scattered through the disk of our galaxy and presumably other galaxies - globular clusters are big, symmetrical and old, like an earthly city's oldest and most staid citizens.
August 9, 2020
What is the Big Bang?
In the view of modern cosmologists, the Big Bang is the event that marked the birth of our universe.
June 11, 2020
What’s a constellation? What’s an asterism?
Both constellations and asterisms are patterns of stars. What's the difference?
May 5, 2020
A mystery solved? Fast Radio Burst detected within Milky Way
Fast Radio Bursts are very mysterious bursts of radio waves - perhaps just a thousandth of a second long - coming from all over the sky. This new discovery of one in our own galaxy is a stunner!
May 4, 2020
What are gravitational waves?
First postulated by Albert Einstein in 1916 but not observed directly until September 2015, gravitational waves are ripples in spacetime.
April 26, 2020
