There has been a great observational study done recently by Hernandez et al. (see: http://arxiv.org/abs/1105.1873). They have looked at wide binary stars and found that when they are separated by 7000AU or more, so that their accelerations decrease below 2*10^-10 m/s^2, then their behaviour becomes non-Newtonian, in that their orbital speeds are so large that…
When we look at images or video or think of outer space scenery most of us imagine and sense of feeling of total void, of darkness, and most of all, of silence. But is this really the case? Celestial Music Although space is a virtual vacuum, this does not mean there is no…
Finally, the astrophysics community is officially looking for a large mass! We published our first paper and book over ten years ago suggesting there had to be something very big out there exerting a gravitational influence on our solar system. Considered a fringe idea at the time, we saw the sheer edge of the…
Academic research is a driving force behind innovation in science, technology, and culture. The studies being conducted at the top universities today have the potential to yield new knowledge that could influence the day to day lives of millions or billions of people. While doctoral and post-doctoral studies can be a long, difficult path, the…
Bibliographic information: Nefs SV et al. 2012. Four ultra-short period eclipsing M-dwarf binaries in the WFCAM Transit Survey. Accepted for publication in Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc.; arXiv:1206.1200v1 Astronomers working with the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope on Hawaii have discovered four pairs of stars that orbit each other in less than 4 hours. …
Long term predictions of changes in the earth’s orientation to VLBI sources have been historically unreliable. The IAU has found that current methods are “not consistent with dynamical theory”. Part of the problem appears to be that measurements of the precession observable are made to points outside the moving frame of the solar system yet…
– From Dave McComas, IBEX Principal Investigator Back in October 2009, we announced IBEX’s first major science results, including the observation of what has become known as the “IBEX Ribbon.” Since that time, IBEX has been detecting energetic neutral atoms coming from the boundary of our Solar System and from regions of our Earth’s magnetosphere,…
Several posters on the Bad Astronomy and Universe Today Forum (BAUT) have expressed doubts about the non-conventional “binary model” of precession. The main critic is a poster that goes by the name of “Celestial Mechanic” (CM) who has called the binary model “rubbish, pure and simple”. While this is not the most constructive way to…
Ever since the Voyager 2 data confirmed the nonsymmetrical shape of the solar system scientists have pondered its cause (i). In summary, the edge of the heliosphere (the place where the solar wind slows to sub sonic speeds) appears to be 1.2 billion kilometers shorter on the south side of the solar system (and in…
Mysteriously, four spacecraft that flew past the Earth have each displayed unexpected anomalies in their motions. These newfound enigmas join the so-called “Pioneer anomaly” as hints that unexplained forces may appear to act on spacecraft. A decade ago, after rigorous analyses, anomalies were seen with the identical Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft as they hurtled…
