Astronomers from Western University Discover the Birthplace of Cosmic “Buckyballs” Fifteen years after Western astronomers first discovered ‘buckyballs’ in space, they’re back with stunning images and rich data generated by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The results of their study have revealed the cosmic origin of these strange molecules. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Saturn’s Icy Rings Likely Formed from Lost Moon “Chrysalis” You’re a long-necked Titanosaurs grazing the plains and chomping away on tree leaves about 100 million years ago in the Early Cretaceous in what would eventually become a future Starbucks location. You look up at the night sky and notice a bright dot that seems slightly larger and brighter than usual since you’ve seen it a bunch. You grunt at your cousin (official dinosaur language) asking if he notices it, too. Your cousin grunts back that it does seem bigger and brighter and wonders what’s up. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
A Brief-ish History of SETI. Part II: Ozma and the Drake Equation By the mid-20th century, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence would emerge as an established field of scientific research. The era witnessed the first experiments, and many of the theoretical and philosophical underpinnings of SETI were proposed during this time. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Scientists trace latest interstellar comet’s home to a cold, isolated corner of the Milky Way The comet that rambled past us from another star last year likely originated in a cold, isolated corner of the galaxy that had yet to gel into its own solar system, astronomers reported Thursday. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Non-rotating early galaxy is a surprise to astronomers Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have made a surprising discovery about a galaxy long, long ago and far, far away: It isn’t rotating. That’s something only seen in the most massive, mature galaxies that are closer to us in space and time, said Ben Forrest, a research scientist in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Davis, and first author on the paper published May 4 in Nature Astronomy. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
When Mars Bites Back More than 300 million kilometres from the nearest mechanic, NASA’s Curiosity rover found itself in a situation that would make any engineer break into a cold sweat. A rock got stuck to its drill and wouldn’t let go. What followed was a week long, long distance rescue operation that says as much about the ingenuity of the people behind the machine as it does about the extraordinary challenges of exploring another world. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Black hole jets measured in real time, revealing 10,000-sun power For the first time, scientists have measured the instantaneous mind-blowing power of jets blasting from a black hole. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Lonely Jupiter-like planet 900 light years away tells us more about gas giants One night last fall, University of Cincinnati astrophysics graduate Paul Smith waited anxiously for data to start rolling across his computer screen from the James Webb Space Telescope a million miles from Earth. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Pluto-Like World’s Thin Atmosphere Poses a Mystery for Astronomers Astronomers are puzzling over another oddball on the edge of the solar system: This time, it’s an icy object less than a quarter of Pluto’s size with a thin atmosphere – a layer of gas that’s not typically found around objects so small. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Pentagon Releases UFO Files That Go Back to the Apollo Moon Missions The Department of Defense has released a fresh batch of images and transcripts relating to reports of unidentified anomalous phenomena, formerly known as UFOs, including pictures and descriptions from NASA’s Apollo missions to the moon. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Spiral galaxy’s brilliant heart shines bright in a new picture from NASA’s Webb telescope A spiral galaxy’s brilliant heart outshines everything within sight in a new picture from NASA’s Webb Space Telescope. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Black Holes Don’t Live Forever, But They Might Live Long Enough To Look Like White Holes Black holes evaporate through Hawking radiation, meaning their days are numbered. But a new study finds they could enter a metastable stage where they look similar to white holes. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
The Material Science Behind A Spacecraft’s Impact Armor Aerospace engineers have to consider numerous factors when designing a spacecraft, but one that comes up more and more often is the need to design against Micro-Meteoroids and Orbital Debris (MMOD). While most designers understand the threat, designing structural solutions capable of withstanding the hypervelocity impacts these undercontrolled pieces of material can cause can take a significant bite out of a mission’s mass budget. A new paper from Binkal Kumar Sharma of the University of Bremen and Harshitha Baskar, an independent researcher, provides a detailed review of cutting-edge options for defending against those deadly particles. Universe TodayRead More →
“Simplified Proteins” Reveal the Biochemical Dawn of Early Earth When researchers look up at the sky and wonder if we’re not alone, they also realize the origins of life here on Earth might hold the key to finding out. The chaotic chemical soup of our early world eventually led to the staggering complexity of modern life, but how exactly did it start? Proteins were one of the key ingredients in the early years, but we’re still only just discovering how these marvels of modern biology first managed to fold, function, and survive. A new review paper, The borderlands of foldability: lessons from simplified proteins, publishedRead More →
A Brief-ish History of SETI. Part I: “Where is Everybody?” The history of SETI is long and varied, with countless contributions made by some of the most brilliant minds humanity has ever produced. In this series, we will look into the milestones and principles that have led the field to where it is today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
The Asteroid Hunter Somewhere out there, hurtling through space in the darkness, is an asteroid with our name on it. We just don’t know which one yet. NASA’s answer to that uncomfortable truth is NEO Surveyor, a purpose built infrared space telescope currently taking shape in laboratories across America, and scheduled for launch in 2027. The stakes, quite literally, could not be higher. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Ultrahigh-energy cosmic messengers may carry ultraheavy secrets There may be an ultraheavy explanation for the mystery surrounding the origins of the highest-energy particles ever observed. Ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays are particles from space that strike Earth with energies far beyond those reachable by human-made particle accelerators. One of the most extreme events ever recorded is the “Amaterasu particle,” detected by the Telescope Array in Utah in 2021 and named after the sun goddess in Japanese mythology. Its reported energy places it among the highest-energy cosmic-ray events ever observed, comparable to the “Oh-My-God particle” detected in 1991, yet its origin—and even its identity—remain uncertain. phys.org Go toRead More →
How Massive Star Clusters Shape Galaxy Evolution A team of researchers used the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope together with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to observe almost 9,000 star clusters in four nearby galaxies. They studied younger clusters that were still embedded in their natal gas clouds, and older ones that had dissipated that gas. Their results show that more massive star clusters emerge more quickly from their birth, clearing away gas and filling the galaxy with ultraviolet light. The research presents a better understanding of star formation in galaxies, something lacking in scientific simulations, as well as how and where planets can form.Read More →
Ringing the GONG: New Details About the Sun’s Far-side Activities For years, when something happened on the far side of the Sun, we didn’t know much, if anything about it. Sunspots could form there, flares could lash out and the corona could send masses of material out to space. However, we didn’t know about any of this until those active regions rotated around to our view. In the late 1900s, scientists came up with a technique called helioseismology to analyze sound waves created by such activity as they echoed through the Sun. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
These monster black holes did not form the usual way—their history of violence is written into spacetime ripples The most massive black holes in the universe detected by the ripples they make in spacetime were not born directly from collapsing stars, according to a new study. These cosmic giants instead build up through a series of repeated and extremely violent collision events in very densely populated star clusters, an international team of researchers argue. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
