The Galactic Inquirer

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Contest Prize Winner: The Sky Beneath

Moneth Claire Corpuz -- Deer Valley High School, Antioch, CA, USA “The sky is fake.” Meina recalled the words of a delusional passerby near the Academy....

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

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.

We’re All Healthier Under a Starry Sky

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: Observing our Local Solar System

An astronomical year for me ….When I was in the third grade I suddenly became very interested in everything astronomical – especially the planets of our local solar system.  That same year we studied the Solar System in public school, and that only added to my excitement over the topic.  I began badgering my parents to buy me a telescope...

Statistical Properties of Fast Radio Bursts from the CHIME/FRB Catalog 1: The Case for Magnetar Wind Nebulae as Likely Sources

Fast Radio Bursts are flashes of radio emission lasting for several milliseconds. The time of arrival of signals depends on the radio frequency, called the dispersion measure (DM), which depends on the environment through which the signals travel, specifically the number of free electrons in their path. Very few FRBs have matches with sources observed at other wavelengths (Wikipedia - Fast Radio Burst).

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Exploring Galactic Ecosystems (II) – New Insights from Radio Surveys

Galactic ecosystems encompass the varied complexes of inter-relating stellar, nebular, and other matter that are actively forming new stars.  These include molecular clouds, cloud cores, protostellar and protoplanetary systems, HII regions and starbursts.

Exploring Galactic Ecosystems (I) – An Introduction to the Nebular Birth Sites of Stars, Planets, and Life 

It is not hyperbole to state that galactic ecosystems have spawned pretty much everything that we hold dear – including ourselves.  These nebular nurseries have incubated all the stars, planetary systems, and many of the complex molecules known to humanity.

Strange Features on the Far Side of the Moon: A Closer Look at Paracelsus C

More than fifty years ago, Apollo 15 photographed something unusual on the far side of the Moon. In a panoramic photograph taken from lunar orbit, two bright, sharply defined objects stood out from the otherwise subdued landscape on the floor of a crater called Paracelsus C. Today we can take a much closer look.

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Sticking Close to Home #3 — Forming Planets

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...

Book Review: Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

In Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, popular science author Neil DeGrasse Tyson summarizes the most frequently-asked questions about the universe and how we fit into the overall cosmos. Tyson is an American astrophysicist and science communicator who was born on October 5, 1958 in Manhattan, New York.

Advancing Astronomical Literacy via Student Writing Contests

It is tempting to say that any well-educated person should know what it takes to be scientifically literate.  But what does scientific literacy really involve?  Given that scientific literacy is a key goal of most science education standards and frameworks, considerable ink has been dedicated to utilizing the term in pedagogical papers.