Related papers: The Olbers Conjecture, Revisited
The common attribute of all Big Bang cosmologies is that they are based on the assumption that the universe is expanding. However examination of the evidence for this expansion clearly favours a static universe. The major topics considered…
While observational cosmology has shown tremendous growth over the last decade, deep mysteries continue to haunt our theoretical understanding of the ingredients of the concordance cosmological model, which are mainly `dark'. More than 95…
We propose a new approach to the model of an origin of the universe built by Oscar Klein and Hannes Alfv\'{e}n. Some modifications of assumptions underlying the model result in a possible scenario of the universe creation consistent with…
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the ultimate cosmic lighthouses, capable of illuminating the universe at its earliest epochs. Could such events probe the properties of the first stars at z $\sim$ 20, the end of the cosmic Dark Ages? Previous…
Gamma-ray bursts categorically produce broadband afterglow emission, but in some cases, emission in the optical band is dimmer than expected based on the contemporaneously observed X-ray flux. This phenomenon, aptly dubbed "optical…
We analyze photometric observations of stars, which experienced microlensing events at the considered time, in order to compare the efficiency of detecting exoplanets in observations performed at thirteen different telescopes and with…
We propose a method to distinguish between planetary and stellar companions to stars which present a periodic decrease in brightness, interpreted as a transit. Light curves from a total of 177 stars from the OGLE project were fitted by the…
Artificial light at night is a pollutant that is rising fast, as demonstrated by Kyba et al. (1) work by analyzing ten of thousands observations by citizen scientists in the last 12 years. The study found that the dimmest stars are…
The 1 - 5 micron diffuse sky emission from which local foreground emission from the solar system and the Galaxy have been subtracted exceeds the brightness that can be attributed to normal star forming galaxies. The nature of this excess…
Even when completely and consistently formulated, a fundamental theory of physics and cosmological boundary conditions may not give unambiguous and unique predictions for the universe we observe; indeed inflation, string/M theory, and…
Predicting signatures of string theory on cosmological observables is not sufficient. Often the observable effects string theory may impact upon the cosmological arena may equally be predicted by features of inflationary physics. The…
The color-magnitude diagrams of $\sim 1 \times 10^6$ stars obtained for 19 fields towards the Galactic bulge with the OGLE project reveal a well-defined population of bulge red clump stars. We found that the distributions of the…
Cosmic inflation is envisioned as the ``most likely'' start for the observed universe. To give substance to this claim, a framework is needed in which inflation can compete with other scenarios and the relative likelihood of all scenarios…
The observation by the BATSE instrument on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory that gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are distributed isotropically around the Earth but nonuniformly in distance has led to the widespread conclusion that GRBs are most…
The fields of occultation and microlensing are linked historically. Early this century, occultation of the Sun by the Moon allowed the apparent positions of background stars projected near the limb of the Sun to be measured and compared…
I review the major concordances and controversies of the meeting concerning observations. Cosmologists are nearing agreement on the global cosmological parameters of the Universe. A few parameters still have large error bars, notably…
Paczy\'nski (1986) suggested that ``dark" objects in the halo of our Galaxy could enhance the luminosity of foreground stars, acting as gravitational microlenses. Such events has been recently reported by different collaborations. We assume…
The diffuse extragalactic background light consists of the sum of the starlight emitted by galaxies through the history of the Universe, and it could also have an important contribution from the first stars, which may have formed before…
The first and most compelling evidence of the universe's expansion was, and continues to be, the observed redshift of spectra from distant objects. This paper plays "devil's advocate" by providing an alternative explanation with elementary…
Unfettered access to dark night skies is rapidly diminishing, due to light pollution and satellite mega-constellations tracks. Scientists should wake up and do more to stand up to Big Light and Big Space and preserve this natural resource.