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).
This edition combines fun and science as only Dr. Waller can do, as we take a colorful look at what's going on in supposedly empty space between the stars in the Milky Way galaxy.
This January, the American Astronomical Society held its big annual meeting completely online. The Covid-19 pandemic ruled out the society’s planned gathering in Scottsdale, AZ but the AAS pivoted by opening-up digital access to thousands of astronomers across the United States and around the world. More than 3,000 registrants were listed in the online portal, thus demonstrating that the vital communication of astronomical research, education, and public outreach could carry on in this alternative format.
If the Big Bang theory is correct, how fast is the universe expanding? Astronomers are facing a troubling disconnect between different methods used to measure the expansion rate, known as the Hubble constant. The two methods are giving similar but slightly different rates. Either one method is providing inaccurate results, or there is some kind of unknown physics operating in the universe.
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.
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 ...
...What we have come to appreciate is the seminal role played by clustered star formation in driving the physical and chemical evolution of the galaxies that host these stellar nurseries. Such concentrated sites of newborn stars along with their nebular environs constitute what are known as galactic ecosystems. These energized realms represent vital “crucibles” for growing the chemical complexity that is necessary for biotic processes.
Astronomy encompasses the fields of Planetary Science (including Earth as a planet), Heliophysics, Astrophysics, Astrochemistry, Astrobiology, Cosmology, and Cosmogony – the study of cosmic origins. Astronomy, in turn, is informed by the core sciences of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology. It both depends upon and helps to advance technological innovation...
Africa’s astronomical debut has come at an opportune time, as a multitude of facilities and projects have taken root across the continent in the service of astronomical questing.
