Astrophysics

Gravitational Waves Continue to Astound

Nautilus: When Galileo Galilei first pointed a small telescope at the heavens in 1609, he began a revolution in astronomy. Today huge telescopes and radio dishes tell us about the universe. But they cannot directly probe those invisible sharply curved…

NASA Hubble Finds First Free-Floating Black Hole

Forbes: For the first time ever, astronomers using NASA’s Hubble telescope has reported the observation of a free-floating black hole wholly independent of a stellar mass companion. Heretofore, black holes have only been identified as supermassive objects at the centers…

It’s Official: The Northern Lights Really Do ‘Speak’ Say Scientists

Forbes: Can the aurora “talk?” If you stand outside under a clear sky while a geomagnetic storm rages above you the sounds you’re most likely to hear are happy…

How Physicists Are Using Quantum Computers to Hunt for Quantum Gravity

Discover Magazine: One of science’s great challenges is to reconcile the two theories that form the foundation of modern physics. These are quantum field theory, which governs the universe on the smallest scale, and general relativity, which governs the universe on…