Tag Archives: atomic clocks

A laser worthy of a nuclear clock

The nucleus of the thorium-229 isotope has a special property: it has an excited state that’s incredibly close in energy to its ground state. The existence of such an isomer is remarkable because when nuclei normally get excited, they need … Continue reading

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A tribute to rubidium

And to Paul Feyerabend Continue reading

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The clocks that used atoms and black holes to stay in sync

You’re familiar with clocks. There’s probably one if you look up just a little, at the upper corner of your laptop or smartphone screen, showing you what time of day it is, allowing you to quickly grasp the number of … Continue reading

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What is VLBI?

On June 25, scientists announced the discovery of a trio of supermassive black holes at the center of a galaxy 4.2 billion light years away. The find was credited to the European VLBI Network. A Space.com report stated that this … Continue reading

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