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Skywatching

Could the inhospitable atmosphere on Jupiter be creating diamonds?

Could the inhospitable atmosphere on Jupiter be creating diamonds?

Sep 13, 2024 / 4:00 am

Carbon comes in two forms. One is graphite, which is soft, black, greasy and hard to wash off clothes. It is widely used as a lubricant. Its presence is what...

Looking for a planet called Vulcan

Looking for a planet called Vulcan

Aug 29, 2024 / 2:42 pm

Our ancestors noticed that among the "fixed” stars, which remained in unchanging patterns, there were five "wandering” stars, or planets,...

Protecting Earth from the Suns coronal mass ejections

Protecting Earth from the Suns coronal mass ejections

Aug 23, 2024 / 4:00 am

Seeing the launch of a coronal mass ejection (CME) from the surface of the Sun is an awe-inspiring experience. The story starts with a huge loop, many times...

If there's water on Mars, could there also be microbial life?

If there's water on Mars, could there also be microbial life?

Aug 16, 2024 / 4:00 am

When our spacecraft sent back the first high quality images of the surface of Mars, they showed a red, frigid desert. However they also showed that the...

Finding bodies in space that have travelled from afar

Finding bodies in space that have travelled from afar

Aug 9, 2024 / 4:00 am

One of my favourite science fiction novels is Rendezvous with Rama, written by Arthur C. Clarke in 1973. In the story, our telescopes detect an object moving...

Double stars prove to be scientifically interesting

Double stars prove to be scientifically interesting

Aug 2, 2024 / 4:00 am

On a clear, dark night, you should be able to see that Mizar, the second star from the end of the handle on the Big Dipper has a companion, Alcor. A telescope...

Storing scientific information for later retrieval

Storing scientific information for later retrieval

Jul 26, 2024 / 4:00 am

Not many decades ago, computers occupied entire floors of buildings, and the main way data and software were stored was on large reels of magnetic tape. Quite...

Measuring the precise distance between the Earth and the Moon

Measuring the precise distance between the Earth and the Moon

Jul 19, 2024 / 4:00 am

Thanks to the Apollo space missions, we can now measure precisely how far away the Moon is from Earth. When the astronauts were on the lunar surface, they...

How radio astronomy came to be

How radio astronomy came to be

Jul 12, 2024 / 4:00 am

Radio astronomy is now a very important branch of astronomy. It is showing us things about the universe and its workings that would not be possible any other...

Search continues for finding the possibility of life on alien worlds

Search continues for finding the possibility of life on alien worlds

Jul 5, 2024 / 4:00 am

It was not that long ago that it was widely thought that the only way we would find if other stars had planets was to go there and look. From here on Earth, the...

Could there be carbon-based life forms in space?

Could there be carbon-based life forms in space?

Jun 28, 2024 / 4:00 am

In his 1930 book, The Mysterious Universe, James Jeans wrote, "Life exists in the universe only because the carbon atom possesses certain exceptional...

The connection between microwave ovens and astronomy

The connection between microwave ovens and astronomy

Jun 21, 2024 / 4:00 am

It is very likely that when you are heating up some food in a microwave oven, you never thought you were using a descendent of the instrument that led to the...

Little green men sending messages or just radio waves in space?

Little green men sending messages or just radio waves in space?

Jun 14, 2024 / 4:00 am

If you ever see a radio astronomer wearing headphones, he or she is probably listening to music while overseeing the computer controlling the observations, not...

Measuring the universe through distance and speed

Measuring the universe through distance and speed

Jun 7, 2024 / 4:00 am

At this point, we don't know how big the universe is. However, a question we can address is how big is the chunk of universe we can see. That is basically a...

The life and death of stars

The life and death of stars

May 31, 2024 / 4:00 am

In the year 1054, observers around the world noticed a new star in the sky. Over days, it brightened until it was visible during the day and then, during the...

The attraction of the magnetic universe

The attraction of the magnetic universe

May 24, 2024 / 4:00 am

Our observatory, along with several others around the world, is involved in a project called GMIMS (pronounced gee-mims). GMIMS stands for Global Magneto-Ionic...

The science behind solar storms and the Northern Lights

The science behind solar storms and the Northern Lights

May 17, 2024 / 4:00 am

From Penticton, the recent aurora looked like a hollow tower, made of finely combed fibres, with us looking up the middle. There were patches of green and one...

Different rules for different things in the universe making understand them difficult

Different rules for different things in the universe making understand them difficult

May 10, 2024 / 4:00 am

Imagine an Alice in Wonderland realm where things flicker into existence, then vanish again. Where it is hard to find out exactly where anything is and where...

Despite possible similarities in body chemistry, aliens may not look like us

Despite possible similarities in body chemistry, aliens may not look like us

May 3, 2024 / 4:00 am

In a universe that must contain an enormous number of planets, with a good fraction of them “Earthlike", it is almost certain we are not alone. That...

Voyager 1 is our loneliest space pioneer

Voyager 1 is our loneliest space pioneer

Apr 26, 2024 / 4:00 am

The most distant emissary we have sent into space is Voyager 1, now around 24.3 billion kilometres away. It is now well outside the Solar System, travelling in...

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