“Speed can make objects act as if they have more mass, but can you ever make an object appear to have less mass?”It’s true that speeding an object up to considerable fractions of the speed of light will make things behave like they are more massive than they do when they’re moving at slower, more human, speeds. But going the other direction is not…Read the full article on Forbes!Remember to vote for Astroquizzical, which has…

Continue reading

“When a particle moves through spacetime, how do we know it is the same particle and not some excitation that is passed from place to place?”We don’t! This is a really interesting feature of our universe, and it comes from the observation that all subatomic particles are described by a few key properties, but are otherwise completely and utterly…Read the full article on Forbes!Remember to vote for Astroquizzical, which has been nominated for Canada’s top…

Continue reading

“Can a star reverse its rotational direction during some time in their life, and if so, how would it affect any planets around it?”The stars in the night sky all have their preferred direction of rotation, which depends directly on the exact way that the cloud of gas and dust that the star formed out of collapsed. If there was slightly more …Read the full article on Forbes! Remember to vote for Astroquizzical, which has been…

Continue reading

Astroquizzical has been nominated for one of Canada’s top 12 favorite science blogs online! If you’ve enjoyed Astroquizzical’s take on all things space, send a vote my way!If Astroquizzical winds up in the top 3, there will be a snazzy new badge on the site, and Astroquizzical will be featured in full writeups on the Science Borealis blog and the Science Writers & Communicators of Canada site, who are co-sponsoring the vote!If you’re after some new…

Continue reading

“Why does Cassini have to crash into Saturn?”Cassini has served us well over the past twenty years, giving us incredible images of Saturn since 2004; thirteen years of imagery from its vantage in the outer solar system. With any lengthy mission, it is sad to see a spacecraft reach its end…Read the full article on Forbes!Have your own question? Feel free to ask! Or submit your questions via the sidebar, Facebook, or twitter.Sign up for the mailing list for…

Continue reading

“Why does the Moon look upside down from Australia?”Those of us who live in the Northern Hemisphere of our planet are used to a very specific view of the Moon, and, if you never travel outside…Read the full article on Forbes!Have your own question? Feel free to ask! Or submit your questions via the sidebar, Facebook, or twitter.Sign up for the mailing list for updates & news straight to your inbox!

Continue reading

“We know the speed of light is constant, but what about the speed at which the universe is expanding?”Ah yes. The speed at which the Universe is expanding is not a constant. This is a very interesting consequence of the presence of dark energy in our Universe, and gives us an interesting view into…Read the full article at Forbes!Have your own question? Feel free to ask! Or submit your questions via the sidebar, Facebook, or twitter.Sign up for the…

Continue reading

“Has anyone thought of building an observatory on the other side of the moon?”Many times! There is currently a small UV sensitive telescope on the Moon, which landed there in 2013 as part of the Chinese lander Chang’e 3, and it has taken some interesting images from the Moon to relay back to us, but it’s been placed on the near side of the moon…Read the full article on Forbes! Have your own question? Feel free to…

Continue reading

“If it has taken 13 or so billion light years for the light from the most distant observable stars to reach Earth, is it not probable that those stars no longer exist but have "gone nova”?“It’s not just probable; it’s a certainty! Most of the brightest stars have lifetimes that only keep them going for a few hundred million…Read the full article on Forbes!Have your own question? Feel free to ask! Or submit your questions via the…

Continue reading

The concept of photons running with stopped clocks is something that is pulled straight out of relativity; the faster you’re moving, the slower your onboard clocks are moving…Read the full article on Forbes!Have your own question? Feel free to ask! Or submit your questions via the sidebar, Facebook, or twitter.Sign up for the mailing list for updates & news straight to your inbox!

Continue reading