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Celebrating GALEX

We recently said a fond farewell to the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) mission, which was decommissioned in June. GALEX had a single instrument onboard that was both an imager and a spectrometer at UV wavelengths. It was launched in April of 2003, and spent 10 years studying hundreds of millions … Continue Reading →

Los Fundamentos del Universo a Través de Filosofía y la Política : Primera Parte (The Basics of the Universe through Philosophy and Politics : Part 1)

  • By Elvia Ramirez-Vidal
  • July 31, 2013
  • Comments Off on Los Fundamentos del Universo a Través de Filosofía y la Política : Primera Parte (The Basics of the Universe through Philosophy and Politics : Part 1)

[Sara’s note: We are once again thrilled to have a bilingual blog from Elvia – this is the first part in a short series about the historical intersection of astronomy, philosophy, and politics. A translation to English follows the Spanish text.] Si hay un área en el estudio del universo … Continue Reading →

Next Stop: Voids

If I were going to pull an epic heist on a diamond planet, wouldn’t hiding out in a universally massive void that is larger than galaxies (and has less going on than Kadykchan, Russia) be an excellent choice? Perhaps there we could start the first universal free trade black market. … Continue Reading →

Next Stop: Diamond Planets

So here we are, two souls bound by the gravity of our hearts, orbiting each other’s thoughts as the universe sets on the cosmic ocean. The universe seems to slow as we drift around the quasar, and millennia seem to pass. Stars shoot across the void, and our eyes connect. … Continue Reading →

Politóloga en la NASA (A Political Scientist at NASA)

[Sara’s note: We are incredibly excited to introduce a new guest blogger, Elvia Ramirez-Vidal. She’ll be contributing a few bilingual blog posts to Blueshift while she’s here for the summer. This is Blueshift’s first foray into another language… but hopefully not our last! A translation to English follows the Spanish … Continue Reading →

Next Stop: Shooting Stars

Last time, we set ourselves up with a nice place to cool off and had a drink or two. And as the evening rolls up, we can lay back with our drinks, dipping our feet in the distant APM 08279+5255 quasar, and watch the universe set. Maybe we can catch a shooting star or … Continue Reading →

Finding Herschel

We have an extra-special guest blog today! Nick Howes of the Faulkes Telescope Project wrote a blog for us about about his recent mission to find and image a legendary European Telescope. There are only a few years to go before the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, which … Continue Reading →

A New Kind of Stargazing

As both a scientist and a science communicator, I am always looking for opportunities to share the world of astronomy with audiences that might not spend their days thinking about how the universe works. When a friend of mine who is a dancer and choreographer mentioned to me that she … Continue Reading →

Light Echoes around a Mysterious Nova

  • By Koji Mukai
  • June 24, 2013
  • Comments Off on Light Echoes around a Mysterious Nova

“In 1890 T Pyxidis had appeared, brightened, and disappeared. When I first came to Harvard they were still telling how it was found again during a routine survey of plates taken in 1919, and how Miss Leavitt exclaimed: ‘That star hasn’t been seen for almost thirty years!’ – the first … Continue Reading →

Next Stop: the Universe

The universe is big. Of course it’s big, it’s the universe. Maybe big isn’t a good term, but that’s besides the point. In the vastness that is, what is out there for me? What can I do (hypothetically, of course) in this unfathomably vast menagerie of exotic cosmic objects? Let’s … Continue Reading →

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