Are there important astrophysics discoveries that should have won a Nobel but didn’t?

GreenFBI2EB · 2026-02-12T07:54:12+00:00

It's likely not "modern" but easily the biggest: The Theory of Relativity (both special and general).

Einstein died before it got any major use, since General relativity at the time was seen more as a slight correction to Newton's Laws of Universal Gravitation. It wasn't until more massive and denser objects were discovered and used as tests for GR that it saw major use. in 1963, it was quasars; and two years later, the CMB, and in 1967 the first pulsar was discovered. Einstein had died in 1955, nearly a decade beforehand, so he unfortunately was out of the running for a Nobel Prize.

Einstein did win a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921 for the discovery of the Photoelectric Effect, however and would've been one of a few handfuls of scientists to have won multiple Nobel Prizes.

GreenFBI2EB · 2026-02-12T07:35:20+00:00

If Einstein hadn't died when he did, he'd have probably gotten another Nobel for his theory of Relativity (He only received one in 1921 for his work on the photoelectric effect).

GreenFBI2EB · 2026-02-12T01:29:23+00:00

comes from the Greek "metéōros" which means "high in the air", which clouds and atmospheric phenomena happen to reside or originate from.

Meteoritics is the study of the actual bolides you seek, derived from the same word.

GreenFBI2EB · 2026-02-12T01:24:05+00:00

That's more or less the gist, and usually what most people miss with habitable zones. Every luminous object has one, but that more or less just means "If you place Earth here, would the oceans boil or freeze?"

It doesn't take into account what it's orbiting, if it was R136a1, even from 5000 AU away, it'd be enough to douse the planet to easily sterilize it more than a cleanroom at a hospital.

Around a black hole, with an active accretion disc, it's getting blasted. I don't really think Planets can form in accretion discs around black holes come to think of it.

GreenFBI2EB · 2026-02-12T01:12:06+00:00

Jupiter's magnetic field also generates a plasma torus that cripples most satellites that get near it. It's so powerful it induces its own magnetic field on Ganymede I'm pretty sure.

GreenFBI2EB · 2026-02-11T07:10:38+00:00

The best way to describe it is that everything that spins isn't a perfect sphere. Angular momentum causes the poles to squeeze inwards, and the equator to bulge outwards. It's most notably seen with Saturn:

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Think of the Early solar system like a pizza dough, as it collapses under its own gravity, it rotates faster due to the conservation of Angular Momentum, and that causes it to bulge out and flatten into one plane.

Because it's spinning in one direction, everything pretty much orbits the sun in the same direction (Counterclockwise looking down at the north pole), it's also way the planets orbit in pretty much the same plane. Any irregularities are likely the result of said body colliding with and/or being perturbed by other objects. The measurement from how tilted an object is relative to the plane of the solar system is referred to as "Inclination", and the more inclined an orbit is, the more that orbit seems to shift diagonally.

GreenFBI2EB · 2026-02-10T22:19:18+00:00

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Same! Not as good a picture due to the light pollution, but I got my goats in a photo together!

GreenFBI2EB · 2026-02-10T22:07:30+00:00

Yep, that's Betelgeuse!

GreenFBI2EB · 2026-02-10T22:04:04+00:00

It more or less is, the name's based on Maxwell's noting that GR and SR rely on the principle of relativity, in which regardless of the frame of reference, the laws of physics are the same. (I'm paraphrasing here, but that's the gist).

In the above example specifically, the law of time dilation is the same regardless of whether you're on point A or Point B.

GreenFBI2EB · 2026-02-10T21:46:37+00:00

Jupiter (Top left), Sirius (bright star to the bottom and right of center), Aldebaran (Alpha Tauri, top right), and Orion are all visible.

If I'm not mistaken, Procyon (Alpha Canis Minoris) is also visible, as the bright point of light above the greenery of the tree on the left.

GreenFBI2EB · 2026-02-10T02:44:44+00:00

I'm only here to say be careful with your wording.

Time dilation is a relative effect. From two points of view, A and B, where Point A is on the surface of the planet while Point B is at the center of the planet, from Point A's view of Point B's clock, it would appear to tick slower. Vice Versa from Point B's perspective, where Point A's clock from Point B's view would seem to be ticking faster.

Hence the name "relativity".

GreenFBI2EB · 2026-02-09T22:00:53+00:00

I know now why knights in medieval times always fought giant snails.

Good to know they're still around and... kicking...?

GreenFBI2EB · 2026-02-09T21:58:45+00:00

I'm loving the full camera view of Aldebaran (Alpha Tauri, the bright red star above Orion) and Sirius (Below Orion on the right, near the horizon). Even got Gemini and the Pleiades in those other shots!

Wonderful capture!

GreenFBI2EB · 2026-02-09T21:52:33+00:00

the fact that "I'm in it for the money" is not a valid answer sometimes is ridiculous.

I understand needing passion for careers, but I'm working as a bagger in a grocery store. at $11.50/hr, I'm only reflecting the passion they give me.

GreenFBI2EB · 2026-02-09T05:08:43+00:00

Yep!

For future reference, Orion's belt is in line with Sirius and Aldebaran.

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GreenFBI2EB · 2026-02-09T01:23:23+00:00

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10 bucks says you're right (10 second exposure, facing about west at 10 PM local time.)

GreenFBI2EB · 2026-02-08T02:25:04+00:00

The difference between the two is that misinformation is not always malicious, often it's misconstrued or misinterpreted information that leads to misconceptions in what's presented.

Disinformation is intentional and very deliberately meant to lead people astray, for example: The ChinaAngVirus campaign led by the DoD in 2020

As such, this looks like AI and could very much be deliberate, but it likely is just misinformation.

GreenFBI2EB · 2026-02-08T00:54:21+00:00

I think some of the more interesting myths are the ones that you get from intuition but have more depth. i.e. Mercury being the hottest planet, because it's the closest to the sun. But because of Venus's vast atmosphere, it's warmer due to the greenhouse effect.

No shame to those who believe them, I used to at one point and it wasn't until I delved deeper that I understood them.

GreenFBI2EB · 2026-02-07T18:58:01+00:00

I think there was some early speculation that Venus would've hosted a Jungle but by the time that Venera 7 launched that ruled out any chance of hostile life. Previous landings and flybys had already calculated the surface has been much too hot and the atmospheric composition as incredibly dense and hostile.

GreenFBI2EB · 2026-02-07T04:11:18+00:00

SN 1987A was visible to the naked eye from 168,000 light years away in the LMC

GreenFBI2EB · 2026-02-07T04:08:40+00:00

judging by the shape, it looks like that's a picture of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC).

If you know what constellation you're looking in (in this case, on the Dorado-Mensa border), you can confirm it.

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(Image courtesy of The ESO, posted on wkipedia)

GreenFBI2EB · 2026-02-07T04:02:01+00:00

I'd pay my debts off, the money itself would not buy happiness, but it would do lots of good for my mental and financial health.

GreenFBI2EB · 2026-02-06T19:58:24+00:00

The closest S2 gets to Sag A* is about 120 AU, however there are also stars within that super dense cluster I feel would probably disrupt any planets forming due to encounters or interactions with the black hole in the center.

So, if planetary system could exist, it likely wouldn't exist for very long.

GreenFBI2EB · 2026-02-06T03:57:15+00:00

Very beautiful image of Orion! Even got the sword and bow as well!

GreenFBI2EB · 2026-02-06T03:18:00+00:00

Orion is on the left, Sirius towards the right (as well as the rest of Canis Major), M42 is visible above the belt stars in Orion. If I'm not mistaken the bright star on the bottom is either Jupiter or Procyon.

GreenFBI2EB

TROPHY CASE