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March 28 – Not With A Wimper
Today’s factismal: The term “Big Bang” for the start of the Universe was used for the first time 67 years ago today. It is no secret that scientists like to argue with each other. Just look at Newton’s...
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April 5 – By Jove
Today’s factismal: The radio emissions of Jupiter were reported to the public 61 years ago today. One of the most amazing accidents in science was the discovery of radio waves from Jupiter by Franklin...
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April 12 – He’s Not Dead Yet
Today’s factismal: When a French newspaper mistakenly ran Alfred Nobel’s obituary, he was so mortified that he established the Nobel Prize to clear his name. Mining in the 1800s was a nerve-wracking...
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April 19 – Up, Up, And A Milky Way!
Today’s factismal: There are about 5,000 galaxies (including the Milky Way) in the Virgo Supercluster, and over 100,000,000,000 galaxies in the Universe! There is a poem by Jonathan Swift that goes...
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July 15 – LGM1
Today’s factismal: The Nobel prize for pulsars didn’t go to their discoverer; instead, it went to her adviser. Jocelyn Burnell (née Bell) was born 73 years ago. She showed an early interest in...
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August 11 – Pretty But Deadly
Today’s factismal: Meteor showers are named after the constellation that they appear to come from. If you go outside tonight or tomorrow night, you’ll be treated to not one but two astronomical...
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August 23 – Far Sighted
Today’s factismal: Galileo demonstrated the telescope to the public for the first time 407 years ago today. It isn’t often that someone invents one device that literally changes the way we see the...
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October 5 – Sweet Nothings
Today’s factismal: In 1988, Takaaki Kajita and Arthur McDonald discovered that the Sun wasn’t going to explode. If you look at the Sun (which you shouldn’t do because it can cause serious damage to...
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November 16 – Home Phone E.T.
Today’s factismal: The first interstellar message was sent on November 16, 1974. It will arrive in 25,000 years. Quick! What’s big enough to hold 10,000 gallons of guacamole, deep enough to put a...
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December 21 – Running, Jumping, Standing Still
Today’s factismal: Today is the first day of winter – but only if you are an astronomer. Today is one of the more interesting days in the year. It is the day in which the Sun stops its apparent...
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January 16 – Blowin’ In The (Cosmic) Wind
Today’s Factismal: The Stardust mission returned samples from a comet ten years ago today but the science continues! There are a lot of things we don’t know in science. But there are a lot of things...
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January 25 – Hot Topic, Cool Science
Factismal: IRAS was launched on January 25, 1983. Astronomy entered a new age in 1983, with the launch of the Infrared Astronomy Satellite, or IRAS for short. IRAS wasn’t the first telescope into...
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February 6 – The Sky’s A Rockin’!
Today’s factismal: Nearly 42,000 meteorites hit the Earth every year. Odds are, you’ve seen the really cool dashboard video of the meteor that light up the sky in Illinois and Wisconsin last night....
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February 8 – Big Smalls
Today’s factismal: Most stars aren’t visible because they are too small and too cool. If you go out at night and look up in the sky, you will probably see lots of stars out there. Though a couple of...
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