Physical Science

Cosmic rays are high-energy particles which originate outside the earth’s atmosphere. Almost 90 percent of all cosmic rays consist of single protons (ionised hydrogen atoms), 9 percent consist of helium nuclei (alpha rays), and the remaining one percent consist entirely…
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Now that the International Astronomical Union has redefined a planet specifically as a body which is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity (but not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion) and which has also cleared its neighbouring…
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A lightyear (abbreviated ly) is a unit of distance, defined as the distance light can travel in one year. At the maximum* speed of light, approximately 300,000 kilometres per second (186,000 miles per second), this translates to approximately 9.461 trillion…
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Some of Skywatcher’s best telescopes are their big Dobsonians. The Skyliner flextube is not only big -with a primary mirror of 12 inches- but it’s portable to. Making the Flextube not only ideal for back garden observation but also for…
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When shopping around for eyepieces it’s easy to become overwhelmed by the staggering choices available. Naturally one can gravitate towards the more expensive eyepieces dismissing the cheaper ones as being inferior quality. In the case of the super Plossl from…
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Ragbir Bhathal, an astrophysicist at the University of Western Sydney claims the light pulses he detected in December 2008 is from the region of space where the extrasolar planet Gliese 581g orbits a red dwarf star. Recently, Gliese 581g was…
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What exactly is a sundog? You may have heard the term, and may have even witnessed the phenomenon without knowing what you were seeing. You also may have heard them referred to as “halos,” and in some circles are even…
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Decades ago, people didn’t talk about seeing a UFO or the possibility of extraterrestrial beings visiting Earth, for fear or ridicule.  Yet now, one of the greatest scientific minds of our time, Professor Stephen Hawking, has admitted the possibility of…
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“Twinkle, twinkle, little star. How I wonder what you are? Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky.” Many children have been lulled to sleep by the simple lyrics of this song about the beauty of…
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A new discovery in the depths of our solar system raised questions about what makes a planet a planet, so it might be true that we do have a tenth planet, but then again, maybe it isn’t. Ever since the…
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