#PulsarWeek: NICER Ask Me Anything! – Part 2
- By Barb Mattson
- August 16, 2017
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On August 7, 2017, as the grande finale to #PulsarWeek, members of the recently-launched Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) mission team sat down for an hour to answer questions about the mission, pulsars, space navigation, and even more off-the-wall topics in a Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) event. We’ve … Continue Reading →
RXTE’s Greatest Pulsar Hits
- By Barb Mattson
- August 3, 2017
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A pulsar is the crushed core of an exploded star, a rapidly spinning cinder that repeatedly swings a beam of light in our direction. Check out the post “Lighthouses in Space” for more about what pulsars are, how they work and why we study them. On the eve of the … Continue Reading →
NICER and Neutron Stars: 5 Questions with Dr. Tod Strohmayer
- By Barb Mattson
- June 1, 2017
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As we’re gearing up for the launch of NICER, we wanted to give our readers a behind-the-scenes look at the mission, its science, and the people who are making it happen. NICER is NASA’s first mission designed specifically for the study of neutron stars, so we are kicking things off … Continue Reading →
Testing General Relativity
- By Barb Mattson
- November 27, 2015
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Everyone seems to want to take shot at discrediting Einstein and his theories. I used to volunteer to answer questions for an Ask an Astrophysicist service, and nearly every week I would get a question or two that started with, “I have a new theory…” And at least half of … Continue Reading →
100 Years of General Relativity
- By Barb Mattson
- November 25, 2015
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This week is the 100th anniversary of Einstein’s theory of general relativity. On November 25, 1915, Einstein published the field equations of gravity which are the heart of the general relativity. Sure, you’ve heard of Einstein – he was a smart guy. And you’ve probably heard of general relativity, but … Continue Reading →
Back to School with GRB 101
- By Barb Mattson
- October 30, 2015
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Up until a few years ago, gamma-ray bursts (or GRBs, for short) were arguably the biggest mystery in high-energy astronomy. Basically, gamma-ray bursts are brief, extremely bright bursts of gamma-rays (as the name implies). They appeared at random across the sky. But what are they? What causes that burst? And … Continue Reading →
Try It At Home: Cosmic Times
- By Barb Mattson
- February 22, 2012
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Extra! Extra! Read All About the Universe! The Universe is expanding faster and faster and faster! But, how do we know that? Our current knowledge of the Universe is built upon a foundation of research done by previous generations of scientists. Sometimes it seems that science moves slowly, but when … Continue Reading →
Contest: NASA Bandz – check out our winners!
- By Barb Mattson
- February 23, 2011
- 3 Comments
Last week, we joined forces with some other NASA social media folks and gave our followers the opportunity to win some rare “NASA Bandz” that we just got our hands on. Apparently they were a hot giveaway item at the recent American Astronomical Society meeting – I guess you’re never … Continue Reading →
Contest: 5 days, 5 ways to win NASA Bandz!
- By Barb Mattson
- February 14, 2011
- 1 Comment
If you haven’t seen the shaped-rubber-band craze, then you either: 1) live in a cave, 2) don’t have kids, or 3) haven’t seen a kid in the past year. As it turns out, our Division has obtained some NASA Bandz to commemorate some of the missions within NASA’s Physics of … Continue Reading →
