Author Archive for Fraser Cain
I’m using Twitter?
I signed up for Twitter a couple of years ago, but I never got around to actually using it. Some part of my brain thinks it would be a great way to do… something. But I have no idea what that would be. I'll need you to teach me, and help me understand what you'd [...]
Why Can’t We Launch Garbage Into Space?
Question: Why Can't We Launch our Trash Into Space?
Answer: Now wouldn't that be a tidy solution to a big problem? Gather together all the garbage, bundle it up and fire it off into space. Maybe just dump it into the Sun. We could live in a world without trash.
There are just two problems: humans produce [...]
Europe Launches the Most Accurate Clock in Space
Where you want to go depends on where you are. And if you've got a GPS system in your hands, and the most accurate clock ever sent into space overhead, you'll always know exactly where you are. ESA's GIOVE-B satellite blasted into space on Sunday, taking the next step for the deployment of a European [...]
Globular Clusters Are Less Evolved than Astronomers Thought
Some of the oldest structures in the Milky Way are the globular clusters. Ancient collections of millions of stars, that have held together by mutual gravity over billions of years. But new data collected by NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory casts doubt on their "ancient nature". They might be surprisingly less mature than astronomers previously believed.
(…)Read [...]
Podcast: The End of the Universe Part 1: The End of the Solar System
This is a show we wanted to do since we started Astronomy Cast but we always thought it was too early. We wanted you to know that we're positive, happy people with enthusiasm for astronomy and the future. It's time for some sadness. It's time for a grim look to see what the future holds [...]
The Earth’s Cities at Night
You only have to walk outside at night, look up and not see the Milky Way to know that light pollution is a problem. And seen from space at night, the Earth's surface glows with the light of millions of homes, buildings, cars and streetlights. Seen at night, our impact on the Earth is immediate [...]
