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Heavens above!

Breaking astronomical discoveries

Alan Duffy

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Displaying 11 - 18 of 18 articles
The THAICOM 8 launch by SpaceX’s Falcon 9, successfully taking the telecommunications satellite into orbit and then landing the first stage on a barge at sea. SpaceX

Here’s what happened in space this week

Alan Duffy, Swinburne University of Technology

From inflatable space stations to space sweeteners, it’s been an amazing week in space but none so visually astounding as the video from SpaceX of their 3rd successful landing at sea. Three perfect landings…
Image from NASA of an outburst from the Sun, these were more common when our star was younger. They may have both lead to a warmer Earth as well as the building blocks for life itself. NASA

Huge solar storms may be key to life on Earth

Alan Duffy, Swinburne University of Technology

The latest results from NASA’s Kepler satellite may have finally solved the mystery of how the conditions for life were created on our younger Earth - and surprisingly it seems titanic eruptions from the…
ESA’s Swarm constellation reveals new rapid changes of our magnetic field, tied directly to the heart of our planet’s molten iron core. ESA/ATG Medialab

Earth’s magnetic heartbeat, a thinner past and new alien worlds

Alan Duffy, Swinburne University of Technology

Space research never stops and it seems neither do the surprises. On ABC Breakfast News I covered some huge results from the last few weeks. Be still my beating (magnetic) heart Earth’s magnetic field…
A stunning morning Eta Aquarids meteor shower above Devil’s Tower. David Kingham / flickr

Thanks Super New Moon for a great meteor shower

Alan Duffy, Swinburne University of Technology

For those of you needing to escape the (Australian) budget this week, the cosmos has produced a perfect distraction with the regular and reliable meteor shower, the Eta Aquarids, to give you a reason to…
The impressive proposed laser propulsion system of Breakthrough Starshot. Breakthrough Initiatives

Interstellar travel, galactic cannibalism and Martian beer

Alan Duffy, Swinburne University of Technology

Every other Monday morning I get to chat on ABC Breakfast News TV and try to remember that not everyone at 7.30am is as excited about exploding stars or colliding galaxies as I am. This week though I had…
Except for a few blue foreground stars, the stars are part of the Milky Way’s nuclear star cluster, the most massive and densest star cluster in our galaxy. NASA, ESA, and Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA, Acknowledgment: T. Do, A.Ghez (UCLA), V. Bajaj (STScI)

Hidden stars, baby planets and blowup spaceships

Alan Duffy, Swinburne University of Technology

Each fortnight I get the amazing opportunity to speak about my top stories in space on ABC Breakfast News TV but for those of you who hate early mornings I wanted to make sure you got to hear of these…
The closest white dwarf to Earth just 8.6 light years away as seen by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and it’s not the obvious bright object in the centre (the Dog-Star Sirius) but rather orbiting it at bottom left is a tiny point of light. This is Sirius B, a companion white dwarf with nearly as much mass as our Sun but smaller in size than Earth. NASA, ESA, H. Bond (STScI) and M. Barstow (University of Leicester)

Something new under a (dead) sun

Alan Duffy, Swinburne University of Technology

For all their enormous size and furious energies, stars are remarkably simple. Knowing just their mass and the smattering of elements heavier than hydrogen we can predict their lives from cradles to grave…
Stellar science communicator. Red Maxwell/Flickr

Brian Greene yes but string theory no

Alan Duffy, Swinburne University of Technology

Saturday 19th March will see me standing on stage at Melbourne Park chatting to one of the most famous figures in physics and string theory, Professor Brian Greene, as part of his Think Inc tour of Australia…