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Andy Briggs

Andy Briggs

Andy Briggs has spent the past 30 years communicating astronomy, astrophysics and information technology to people. You can hear his weekly astronomy and space news update, on Mondays, on the global internet radio channel AstroRadio (http://www.astroradio.earth), where he also contributes to other programmes. He has been active in many astronomy societies in the UK and is a frequent contributor to Astronomy Ireland magazine. Andy also lectures regularly on astrophysics-related themes such as gravitational waves and black holes. He lives in Catalonia, Spain, with his daughter.

Blue-colored mass of swirling gas, with jets extending from the center.

What is a quasar?

Posted by in Astronomy Essentials | Space | 4 days ago
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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.

What is the Milky Way?

Posted by in Astronomy Essentials | Space | 2 weeks ago
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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!

What is a supernova?

Posted by in Astronomy Essentials | 4 months ago
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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.
A telescope view of a section of space, containing many galaxies.

What is a galaxy?

Posted by in Astronomy Essentials | 5 months ago
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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.
A ball of stars: globular cluster M13

What is a globular cluster?

Posted by in Astronomy Essentials | Space | 7 months ago
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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.

A horn-shaped graphic depicting the various epochs of the universe.

What is the Big Bang?

Posted by in Astronomy Essentials | Space | 9 months ago
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In the view of modern cosmologists, the Big Bang is the event that marked the birth of our universe.

What’s a constellation? What’s an asterism?

Posted by in Astronomy Essentials | 10 months ago
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Both constellations and asterisms are patterns of stars. What’s the difference?
A bright star next to a starry cloud.

A mystery solved? Fast Radio Burst detected within Milky Way

Posted by in Space | 10 months ago
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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!
A man in a white coat and mask, bending over a machine.

What are gravitational waves?

Posted by in Astronomy Essentials | Space | 10 months ago
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First postulated by Albert Einstein in 1916 but not observed directly until September 2015, gravitational waves are ripples in spacetime.

What are exoplanets?

Posted by in Astronomy Essentials | 10 months ago
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Exoplanets are worlds orbiting distant stars. The history of our knowledge of exoplanets, the various types of exoplanets, how astronomers find them, and more, here.