Posts tagged ian o'neill
Seeds of Super Massive Black Holes Found
We’ve found small black holes and we’ve found really, really big black holes. But what about the “inbetweener” black holes?
The very existence of this class of black hole is disputed, but a Japanese group of astronomers have found the potential locations of three intermediate black hole (IMBH) candidates inside previously unknown star clusters near the center of the Milky Way.
But what are IMBHs and why are they so important?
Image: Artist’s impression of one of the star clusters containing an IMBH. Credit: Keio University
This incredible slideshow by Space Editor Ian O’Neill.
Violent Beauty of Our Evolving Universe
Image: The first stars in the Universe doused the cosmos in ionizing radiation, beginning the “reionization era.” Credits: SLAC/KIPAC, John Wise and Tom Abel (simulation), Ralf Kaehler (visualization).
G+ Space Hangout: Asteroid Mining to Hungry Black Holes: Video
From DiscoveryNews’ Ian O’Neill:
In possibly one of the most entertaining Weekly Space Hangouts I’ve participated in, Fraser Cain was joined by Alan Boyle, Emily Lakdawalla, Amy Shira Teitel, Sawyer Rosenstein, Jason Major, Nicole Gugliucci and myself. We chatted about mining asteroids, ravenous black holes, awesome brown dwarfs, commercial spaceflight and tons more.
We’ll be back, same time, same place next week to chat about more space awesomeness! Remember to tune in every Thursday at 10 a.m. PST (1 p.m. EST) on Google+.
Watch the G+ Space Hangout for a BIG Discovery News Hug
TODAY at 1 pm EST (10am PT), there will be an EXTRA special Google+ Space Hangout. It will feature Universe Today’s Fraser Cain, Astronomy Cast’s Pamela Gay, MSNBC’s Alan Boyle and the Planetary Society’s Emily Lakdawalla plus an unprecedented collection of Discovery News contributors!
Discovery News space bloggers Nicole Gugliucci, Jason Major, Amy Shira Teitel and space producer Ian O’Neill will be there to make this Hangout even more cozy. So whether you are excited for an uber-roundup of awesome space news or just want to see us geek out LIVE on the Internet, you need to tune in.
You can watch the Google+ Hangout live and fire questions at us — just be sure to follow Fraser Cain’s G+ account and keep an eye on his feed so you know when we’re live. Or you can watch the feed via the Cosmoquest website. For news and information, keep an eye on the Cosmoquest Twitter feed.
See you at 10 a.m. PST (1 p.m. EST)!
Mining Asteroids: Not Mankind’s Silver Bullet
DiscoveryNews’ Ian O’Neill has some strong opinions on today’s news about Google and James Cameron et al’s ideas about asteroid mining.
read here
Top 100 Scientists on Twitter
DiscoveryNews’ Ian O’Neill (@astroengine) makes a strong appearance here at number 2!
The Google+ Space Hangout Returns!
Week 2 of the Google+ Space Hangout was a great success, discussing everything from dark matter to exoplanets.
Vast Web of Dark Matter Mapped
Astronomers have created a vast cosmic map revealing an intricate web of dark matter and galaxies spanning a distance of one billion light-years.
An IM Chat between DiscoveryNews Editor-in-Chief Lori Cuthbert and Space Editor Ian O'Neill
- Lori Cuthbert: hi. quick question
- Ian: fire away!
- Lori Cuthbert: is evvery star system on the same plane as us ie: edge-on?
- Ian: no
- Lori Cuthbert: or is it the orientation of the telescope?
- Ian: just a few
- Basically, they are generally randomly oriented to us. Some are side on, some are end on
- Lori Cuthbert: do they maneuver the telescopes around to look at the different star systems from different angles til they get lucky?
- Ian: With Kepler, they look at a wide patch of sky, waiting to see if one of the stars in the field of view dims.
- Lori Cuthbert: so they're just looking at ones that are oriented that right way
- Ian: when that happens, they know there's a system of planets edge-on
- yes
- Lori Cuthbert: so there could be bazillions more that aren't observable by us
- Ian: Totally
- BUT
- Thats when another exoplanet detection method comes in. If they're not edge-on, and IF the planets are massive enough, they might "tug" on their star as they orbit
- Lori Cuthbert: oh that's right
- Ian: Some telescopes are set up to look for the "wobble" of stars
- Lori Cuthbert: they distort their stars' gravitational fields?
- Ian: But Kepler is the only 'scope capable of finding glow mass, tiny planets that are Earth sized
- Lori Cuthbert: i see.
