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Articles on Astrophysics

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Stars come into existence because of a powerful force of nature called gravity. ESA/Hubble & NASA, Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt

Curious Kids: how are stars made?

Stars begin their life inside very large, fluffy clouds of space dust and gas called nebulae.
A composite image showing the distribution of dark matter, galaxies and hot gas in a merging galaxy cluster taken with NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and with the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope in Hawaii. NASA

Canada’s grand plan to explore the mysteries of the cosmos

The Canadian Long Range Plan 2020 for astronomy and astrophysics builds on Canadian research’s previous success to extend Canada’s role.
Another reason you don’t want to get too close to a black hole is because of something we call ‘spaghettification’. If this happened to Earth it would be… unpleasant. Shutterstock

Curious Kids: can Earth be affected by a black hole in the future?

If you got too close to a black hole, it would suck you in and you’d never be able to escape, even if you were travelling at the speed of light. This point of no return is called the event horizon.
Today, we’re asking two astrophysicists and a planetary scientist: what’s the likelihood we’ll be living on Mars or the Moon in future? Pixabay/WikiImages

What’s the next ‘giant leap’ for humankind in space? We asked 3 space experts

What’s the next ‘giant leap’ for humankind in space? We asked 3 space experts The Conversation, CC BY27.3 MB (download)
What's the next thing that will blow us away or bring us together the way the Moon landing did in 1969? Moon mining? Alien contact? Retirement on Mars? Three space experts share their predictions.
People do live outside Earth – on the International Space Station! But humans have had to find a way to make the conditions there more like what we’re used to at home. Flickr/NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center

Curious Kids: can people live in space?

The short answer is yes, but it’s really, really difficult.
A nuclear reaction is under way inside the Sun. Emily Nunell/The Conversation CC-NY-BD

Curious Kids: how is the Sun burning?

It’s true that here on Earth, if you want to burn something you need oxygen. But the Sun is different. It is not burning with the same kind of flame you would have on Earth if you burned a candle.
Feel like traveling to another dimension? Better choose your black hole wisely. Vadim Sadovski/Shutterstock.com

Rotating black holes may serve as gentle portals for hyperspace travel

Feel like visiting another star system or dimension? You can do this by traveling through a spacetime portal of a black hole. But you better choose carefully. All black holes are not created equal.
The South Pole Telescope and BICEP telescopes (pictured above) may discover clues that could teach us if there was something else ‘before’ the Big Bang. Dr. Keith Vanderlinde/NSF

Curious Kids: What existed before the Big Bang? Did something have to be there to go boom?

Long ago in the distant past, our entire Universe was microscopic – just like an atom – and obeyed completely different rules of cause and effect.
The good thing about space is that – even though it has lots of dangerous stuff floating in it, and lots of exploding stars – it’s so big and empty that it almost doesn’t matter. NASA/CXC/U.Texas

Curious Kids: If a star explodes, will it destroy Earth?

Are there stars other than the Sun that might explode soon close to us? Yes, there are! As long as by ‘soon’ we mean within a million years.
The Sun is a star – but it’s not the only one. NASA/GSFC/Solar Dynamics Observatory

Curious Kids: Is there anything hotter than the Sun?

There are lots of places where it’s much, much hotter than the Sun. And the amazing thing is that this heat also makes new atoms - tiny particles that have made their way long ago from stars to us.
Galaxy history revealed by the Hubble Space Telescope. NASA

What is nothing? Martin Rees Q&A

From a mysterious energy of empty space to parallel universes, cosmology’s view of ‘nothing’ is anything but boring.

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