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A group of people looking up at the night sky.
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The Death of Stars

Profile picture for user Jesse Rogerson
Nov 15, 2017
Question: Are the stars that I look at in the night sky already dead? Answer: That’s a great question! I get this question often, and what I love about it is the person asking can feel the immensity of the Universe. The question is rooted in the feeling that the stars are at such incredible distances that in the time it takes the light to get to our eyes, the star could have already died. A question like that packs in curiosity for, and awe of, the natural world. The answer, well, it depends on
An image of the Boomerang Nebula.
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The Coldest Place in the Universe

Profile picture for user Jesse Rogerson
Jul 25, 2017
The Boomerang Nebula is the coldest location in the known universe: it measures at roughly 2 degrees colder than empty space! This nebula is the result of the death of a red giant star, and the extreme temperature is caused by the rapid expansion of the nebula. According to thermodynamics, if you expand a gas you, cool a gas (just try using one of those compressed air cans for cleaning electronics). However, according to astronomers, a single star's death could not account for a strong enough
An artists impression of Proxima Centauri b, the closest exoplanet to Earth.
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What Else is Lurking at Proxima Centauri?

Profile picture for user Jesse Rogerson
Jul 7, 2017
What's the closest star to Earth? Answer: Proxima Centauri, one of three stars in the Alpha Centauri star system. Proxima Centauri is a small M-dwarf star, meaning it is red in colour, and has a relatively cool stellar temperature of about 3000°K. While small, weighing in at 12% the mass of the Sun, M-dwarf stars are the most common star type in the Universe. In 2016, an international group of researchers discovered a planet orbiting Proxima Centauri that is about 1.5x larger than Earth: the