Patricia Daukantas, Science Writer/Editor

09/16/2025

It's Pythagorean Triple Square Day! Link in the comments.

09/16/2025

Come enjoy cooler temperatures & even cooler telescopes at Kitt Peak 🤗

Our staff member Reynese Maldonado is excited to welcome visitors to cool off on the mountain into September.

Kids 13 & under get in FREE on daytime tours all month 👉 https://ow.ly/1SQI50WWICc

08/19/2025

Happy Birthday, Cerro Tololo!

🎂 60 years and still looking up!
Since 1965, Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) has been exploring the Universe from its mountaintop home near the Andes. In this photo, the telescopes glow under the Milky Way - like candles on a birthday cake - with Venus, Mars, and Saturn joining the party. 🌌✨

Here’s to many more years of discovery from our corner of Chile. ❤️🔭

From left to right:
🔭 US Naval Observatory Deep South Telescope
🌟 DIMM1 Seeing Monitor
🔭 UBC Southern Observatory
🛡️ Planetary Defense 1.0-meter Telescope
📷 Curtis Schmidt Telescope
🌌 Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope
🔭 SMARTS-GSU 1.5-meter Telescope

📷: CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/P. Horálek

08/19/2025

Born in 1646 was John Flamsteed FRS, the first Astronomer Royal. His achievements included the first comprehensive telescopic star catalogue, the Atlas Coelestis, the establishment of the Royal Observatory and the first observations of Uranus (though he thought it was a star).

08/19/2025

The ability to move electron-hole pairs—called excitons—in desired directions is important for generating electricity and creating fuels. This happens naturally in photosynthesis, making it a source of inspiration to researchers innovating optoelectronic devices. Strong coupling between light and excitons generates bosonic quasiparticles called polaritons, that express unique properties that positively affect device performance.

Researchers observed steady-state hyperbolic exciton polaritons (HEPs)—exotic kinds of exciton polaritons with attractive properties—in the van der Waals magnet, chromium sulfide bromide (CrSBr). Learn more about their observations, detailed in Nature Communications, and how the study shows promising new pathways to manipulate excitons and light, which can improve optoelectronic device operation: https://bit.ly/4n1yXCz

06/23/2025

And ... my feature article on the observatory, which has the world's largest digital camera (requiring some superb optics, of course). I'll put the link in the comments.

But, really, go and check out the "first look" if you haven't already!

06/23/2025

This fantastic event will be starting in less than half an hour! Grab your coffee or tea and settle down in front of the computer for an awesome view of outer space!

I'm particularly interested in this first look because I wrote a feature article on the Vera C. Rubin Observatory for OPN. I will make a separate post about that article on this page.

04/28/2025

Dang, this visual image of the Rosette Nebula is just gorgeous!

Star formation is not truly a beginning, but is instead a phase in an ongoing recycling process in which gravity shapes new stars from the gas and dust expelled by old stars.

Forming stars are hidden inside thick cocoons of dust, emitting light in several wavelengths that pass through the dust clouds and can be detected by different telescopes.

Slide through the different wavelengths to see stars forming in the Rosette Nebula: https://viewspace.org/interactives/unveiling_invisible_universe/star_formation/rosette_nebula

04/28/2025

02/13/2025

My latest for Optics & Photonics News.

Research News Lasers Aid the Search for Dark Matter Patricia Daukantas New work brings researchers closer to understanding dark matter. [Image: Witthaya Prasongsin/ Getty Images] For half a century or more, astronomers have searched the universe for clues to the nature of dark matter: a hypothetical...

02/12/2025

By the way, I apologize for not updating this page more frequently. My longtime partner passed away unexpectedly on Christmas Day. Obviously, his death has had quite an impact on my day-to-day life.

02/12/2025