astrophysics
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Amateur Astronomer Spots Supernova Right As It Begins
Amateur astronomer Victor Buso was testing his camera-telescope setup in Argentina back in September 2016, pointing his Newtonian telescope at a spiral galaxy called NGC613. He collected light from the galaxy for the next hour and a half, taking short exposures to keep out the Santa Fe city lights. When he looked at his images,…
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NASA Has Officially Listed Musk’s Tesla Roadster As A Celestial Object
You may remember that, as a publicity stunt, SpaceX propelled a red Tesla, driven by a dummy in a spacesuit named Starman with the words “DON’T PANIC” written on the control panel, into space using its Falcon Heavy rocket. That car is now a permanent advertisement on the NASA HORIZONS directory of solar system bodies.
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Scientists Spot One Of The Oldest Stars In The Milky Way
Meet J0815+4729. If it were a Pokémon, it would be kind of like the Milky Way’s level-three Rattata.
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We Might Need To Redefine ‘Planet’ Again
You may think you know what a planet is, but celestial bodies often refuse to fully comply with our artificial human labels. We all thought tiny Pluto was a planet, until the 2006 vote in which the International Astronomical Union (IAU) redefinition stripped it of its title. But when is something officially too big to…