Related papers: The Warped Science of Interstellar
While it may seem counterintuitive that X-ray astronomy should give any insights into low-temperature planetary systems, planets orbit stars whose magnetized surfaces divert a small fraction of the stellar energy into high energy products:…
When we are fortunate enough to view an exoplanetary system nearly edge-on, the star and planet periodically eclipse each other. Observations of eclipses (transits and occultations) provide a bonanza of information that cannot be obtained…
With its immensity and numerous mysteries waiting to be solved, the cosmos has always captivated humankind. A ground-breaking field that has given us a profound understanding of the mysteries of the cosmos is radio astronomy. This paper…
The nascent field of gravitational-wave astronomy offers many opportunities for effective and inspirational astronomy outreach. Gravitational waves, the "ripples in space-time" predicted by Einstein's theory of General Relativity, are…
A long-lived civilization will inevitably have to migrate towards a nearby star as its home star runs out of nuclear fuel. One way to achieve such a migration is by transforming its star into a stellar engine, and to control its motion in…
Numerous observations and studies suggest that the universe has some sort of overall rotation. We consider this matter and provide a new angle.
Matter collapsing to a singularity in a gravitational field is still an intriguing question. Similar situation arises when discussing the very early universe or a universe recollapsing to a singularity. It is suggested that inclusion of…
There is strong evidence that the mass in the Universe is dominated by dark matter, which exerts gravitational attraction but whose exact nature is unknown. In particular, all galaxies are believed to be embedded in massive haloes of dark…
The Cold Dark Matter theory of gravitationally-driven hierarchical structure formation has earned its status as a paradigm by explaining the distribution of matter over large spans of cosmic distance and time. However, its central tenet,…
The study of extrasolar planets and of the Solar System provides complementary pieces of the mosaic represented by the process of planetary formation. Exoplanets are essential to fully grasp the huge diversity of outcomes that planetary…
An emerging theme in modern astrophysics is the connection between astronomical observations and the underlying physical phenomena that drive our cosmos. Both the mechanisms responsible for the observed astrophysical phenomena and the tools…
The imaging of disks around young stars presents extreme challenges in high dynamic range, angular resolution, and sensitivity. Recent instrumental advances have met these challenges admirably, leading to a marked increase in imaging…
Counterrotating stars in disk galaxies are a puzzling dynamical feature whose origin has been ascribed to either satellite accretion events or to disk instabilities triggered by deviations from axisymmetry. We use a cosmological simulation…
The theoretical discription of a hot star interior is obtained. It explains the distribution of stars over their masses, mass-radius-temperature and mass-luminosity dependencies. The theory of the apsidal rotation of binary stars and the…
The alignments between galaxies, their underlying matter structures, and the cosmic web constitute vital ingredients for a comprehensive understanding of gravity, the nature of matter, and structure formation in the Universe. We provide an…
Almost 80 years have passed since Trumpler's analysis of the Galactic open cluster system laid one of the main foundations for understanding the nature and structure of the Milky Way. Since then, the open cluster system has been recognised…
In the last few decades, reading the literature, we realized that we Astronomers have a strong preference to undertake very ambitious projects, and search for answers to the most fundamental questions in the history of the entire Universe.…
I try to present a small view of the properties and issues related to astronomical interferometry observations. I recall a bit of history of the technique, give some basic assessments to the principle of interferometry, and finally,…
For centuries, humanity wondered if there were other worlds like ours in the Universe. For about a quarter of a century, we have known that planetary systems exist around other stars, and more than 3800 exoplanetary systems have been…
The space-time correlations of streams of photons can provide fundamentally new channels of information about the Universe. Today's astronomical observations essentially measure certain amplitude coherence functions produced by a source.…