Recent Issues

Pages of The Astrophysics Spectator are published twice a month, except for the months of June and December, when no new pages are published. The current issue of the journal is the home page for this site. The most recent 12 issues of the journal, starting with the permanent page for the current home page, is listed on this page. Other issues can be found by following the links in the table to the left.

• Issue 7.01, April 28, 2010.  The closest supernova observed in modern times occurred in the Large Magellanic cloud.  This event, SN 1987A, proved that the collapse of the core of a massive star is the source of many supernovae.  This event is described in a new page added to the web site with this issue.
• Issue 6.09, October 7, 2009.  Only one observation directly supports the theory for core-collapse supernovae, and that is the neutrinos detected from supernova 1987A.  In this issue, a page is added to the web site that describes the detection of these neutrinos and their agreement with theory.
• Issue 6.08, September 10, 2009.  After a summer hiatus in updates to the site, a page on the basic physics of core-collapse supernovae is added.
• Issue 6.07, June 3, 2009.  A page describing the processes that convert carbon and oxygen into nickel in a thermonuclear supernova is added to the web site.
• Issue 6.06, May 2, 2009.  With this issue, two pages that discuss thermonuclear supernovae are added to this web site.  The first page, which replaces an older page, describes the theories for thermonuclear supernovae.  The second page describes the energetics of these supernovae.
• Issue 6.05, March 25, 2009.  A new topic path, “Supernovae,” is added to the web site in this issue.  The first page in an introductory page about the two types of supernova and their role in the evolution of the Galaxy and the study of the universe.
• Issue 6.04, March 6, 2009.  The emission of neutrinos by neutron stars is discussed in a page added in this issue of the web site.
• Issue 6.03, February 13, 2009.  This issue adds a page on how degenerate (white) dwarf stars cool by emitting neutrinos.  By emitting neutrinos, a degenerate dwarf cools from the inside out, and much faster than it could by emitting light from its photosphere.
• Issue 6.02, January 30, 2009.  One more page is added to the “Degenerate Objects” topical path.  This new page explains why very large, compact objects, such as Sgr A* at the center of the Milky Way, must be black holes in our astrophysical theories.  With this issue, a commentary on how the “stimulus” spending bill that passed the U.S. House of Representatives is likely to harm astronomy and astrophysics over the long-term.
• Issue 6.01, January 19, 2009.  The first issue of 2009 adds a page discussing the radius of a degenerate object.  In particular, the page describes how the radii of the degenerate dwarf and the neutron star are related to the masses of the electron and the proton.
• Issue 5.18, November 19, 2008.  This issue, the last of 2008, adds the “Degenerate Objects” topical path to the web site.  This path is comprised of articles on brown dwarfs, white dwarfs, and neutron stars that were previously under the “Stars” topical path.
• Issue 5.17, October 29, 2008.  Objects as different as Saturn and the white dwarf Sirius B are fundamentally the same.  Two pages added in this issue describe the role of degeneracy pressure in supporting both Saturn and the white dwarfs against the force of gravity.  The first page describes what degeneracy pressure is, and the second page describes the limits on the mass of a degenerate object and their connection to several fundamental constants of nature.