Topic: Pamela Gay
Between Fire and Ice is Slush

Between Fire and Ice is Slush

by | Dec 1, 2024 |

Snowball Earth. Credit: NASA Our planet has been driven to environmental extremes at many times in its history, and many plants and animals - including humans - have demonstrated they can survive less than ideal conditions. The last major ice age hit its peak 20 to 26 thousand years ago, and allowed humans to cross icy bridges between continents. That ice age, however, didn’t encompass the entire planet. Our world hasn’t been a complete snowball since before the ages of reptiles and dinosaurs. Infact, the last global ice age took place 635 million to 650 million years ago. And when a planet...

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JWST Echoes the Hubble Tension

JWST Echoes the Hubble Tension

by | Apr 10, 2024 |

Comparison of Hubble and Webb views of a Cepheid variable star. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, A. Riess (JHU/STScI) Understanding our universe isn’t a straightforward process. For every theory that appears to be beautifully proven out by data, there is another theory...

Gaia Watches the Universe Form

Gaia Watches the Universe Form

by | Apr 10, 2024 |

Credit: ESA/Gaia/DPAC; Lucy Reading-Ikkanda/Simons Foundation; K. Storey-Fisher et al. 2024 In trying to understand our universe, theorists can build models that describe how the universe formed as a mostly, but not completely, smooth distribution of matter and energy...

Galactic Death may not be Permanent

Galactic Death may not be Permanent

by | Mar 27, 2024 |

False-colour JWST image of a small fraction of the GOODS South field, with JADES-GS-z7-01-QU highlighted. Credit: JADES Collaboration In a paper in Nature, with Tobias Looser as the first author, researchers discuss a galaxy cataloged as JADES-GS-z7-01-QU. This...

Galaxies are Born Bright

Galaxies are Born Bright

by | Mar 27, 2024 |

This image from Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) instrument shows a portion of the GOODS-North field of galaxies. At the lower right, a pullout highlights the galaxy GN-z11, which is seen at a time just 430 million years after the Big Bang. One prominent...

Can Radar Protect Us From the Earth-Killer?

Can Radar Protect Us From the Earth-Killer?

by | Mar 20, 2024 |

Deep Space Station 13 at NASA’s Goldstone complex in California – part of the agency’s Deep Space Network – is an experimental antenna that has been retrofitted with an optical terminal. In a first, this proof of concept received both radio frequency and laser signals...

Using Radar to Watch Asteroid Rotation

Using Radar to Watch Asteroid Rotation

by | Mar 20, 2024 |

The day before asteroid 2008 OS7 made its close approach with Earth on Feb. 2, this series of images was captured by the powerful 230-foot (70-meter) Goldstone Solar System Radar antenna near Barstow, California. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech One of the most...

Closer Look: We are Space Stuff

Closer Look: We are Space Stuff

by | Feb 28, 2024 |

Courtesy TeePublic It is possible to buy stickers, sweatshirts, mugs, and all manner of other stuff and things emblazoned with the simple phrase, “We are star stuff”. Carl Sagan popularized this phrase, and it serves as a gentle reminder that all the complex atoms -...