The Galactic Inquirer

Galactic and Extragalactic Astronomy

Another Giant Leap for Mankind

This year, our eyes were once again redirected to our own Solar System for a just a few fleeting minutes -- from the myriad wonders of our “seeable” Universe to a small space probe called New Horizons that at 7:49 AM (EST) on July 14 th 2015 passed within 7,750 miles of little Pluto at a record-breaking speed of 30,800 miles per hour (49,600 kilometers per hour).

When it’s Just You and the Universe

We’ve all shown Saturn to someone, or perhaps have shared a clear view of a bright globular, say, M13, with someone who hasn’t seen such a thing before. In these and similar cases, the sheer beauty of the thing is the whole point; any impressive facts are secondary.

Musical Explorations of the Messier Catalogue of Star Clusters and Nebulae

“It does not do harm to the mystery to know a little about it. For far more marvelous is the truth than any artists of the past imagined it. Why do the poets of the present not speak of it?” -- Richard Feynman (1918 – 1988)

Our Elusive Milky Way

For most of human history, the night sky demanded our attention. The shape-shifting Moon, wandering planets, pointillist stars, and occasional comet enchanted our sensibilities...

Naked-eye Exoplanet Host Stars

Spot naked-eye exoplanet host stars! Want to see something new in the night sky? To date, more than 700 exoplanetary systems have been identified in...

Galactic and Extragalactic Astronomy: an Introduction

Introduction: If you look skyward on a clear moonless night, you can immediately see that you and all of your fellow Earthlings live in a...

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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.

Dispatches from the Cosmos — Winter 2025

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 ...

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Earth & Space Report #12: Exploring our Cosmic Origins

Carl Sagan wrote that "If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.” We wish to know our home, so back we go, to the Big Bang, and step by step to today.

Dispatches from the Cosmonet

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.

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.