"A fact is a simple statement that everyone believes. It is innocent, unless found guilty. A hypothesis is a novel suggestion that no one wants to believe. It is guilty, until found effective." -Edward Teller
The idea of black holes has gone from a curious thought experiment to a theoretical likelihood to a near-certainty with thousands of known candidates in a very short time.
AAS #237: five things we learned
Here are the key take-outs from the 237th meeting of the American Astronomical Society.
The Hubble Space Telescope captured this image of the butterfly wing - shaped nebula, NGC 2346. The nebula is about 2,000 light-years away from Earth in the direction of the constellation Monoceros. Credit: NASA/STScI
Each January, the American Astronomical Society (AAS) conducts a meeting widely hailed as the “Superbowl of astronomy”, in which astronomers gather from around the world to share their latest results.
Last year it was in Honolulu. But this year, thanks to COVID-19, it was online something that AAS had already practised for smaller meetings as far back as June 2020. Not surprisingly, given the rehearsal, they did a smash-bang job of it. But they also had a remarkable amount to present… plus a lot of fun.