The Galactic Inquirer

Hosted by William Waller and Michael Deneen

Welcome to The Galactic Inquirer — an e-journal for those interested in galactic and extragalactic astronomy, the search for life beyond Earth, and prospects for interstellar communications. This journal is co-edited by Michael Deneen and William H. Waller — galactic astronomers, educators and writers. The Galactic Inquirer invites original articles, commentaries, papers, and presentations on...

    • Galactic and Extragalactic Astronomy
    • Cosmochemistry and Astrobiology
    • Interstellar Communications

Please contact us with your proposals.

Latest Articles

!!Astronomical Science Writing Contest!!

William H. Waller Ph.D. - 0
Co-hosted by The Galactic Inquirer, a free online journal on diverse astronomical topics, the American Astronomical Society, North America’s largest organization of astronomers, the International Astronomical Union’s Office...

Multi-Spectral Imagery of the Multi-phase ISM in M33

Tony D. Weinbeck and William H. Waller - 0
We investigate star formation in the Sc(s) II-III galaxy M33 by analyzing eight prominent HII regions using multi-wavelength data from the Spitzer Space Telescope and optical imagery. Results indicate that dust emission is a compact tracer of high-mass star formation, while PAH and H-alpha emissions decline more slowly with galactocentric radius.

Dispatches from the Cosmos — Winter 2025

William H. Waller Ph.D. - 0
Just like the dust that stubbornly besmirches your computer monitor, bookcase, and ancestral credenza, cosmic dust is now recognized to have a multiplicity of origins.  For decades, astronomers thought that aging red giant stars produced most of the dust responsible for obscuring and reddening our views of nebulae and more distant stars ...

Sticking Close to Home #3 — Forming Planets

William Stride - 0
To form a solar system, the literature says that in a simulation like this we can ignore the gravity of the Sun and just concentrate on the interaction of the objects in the protoplanetary disk.The gas, dust and other objects rotate around the forming Sun in Keplerian orbital motion...

We’re All Healthier Under a Starry Sky

Mario Motta MD - 0
Blue wavelengths of light are damaging to many forms of life, and glare from unshielded light compromises road safety and infiltrates bedrooms, suppressing melatonin production, undermining sleep quality and duration, and exacerbating susceptibility to many kinds of illness...

Sticking Close to Home #2 – Bode’s Law and Planetary Spacings

William Stride - 0
There are definite interrelations between the spacings of the planets – they are much more than giant rocks randomly flying through space.  There is order and a scheme, a cosmic dance of the planets as some romantics like to say.