If Planet 9 is a Primordial Black Hole, We Might Be Able to See Flares When it Consumes Comets A comet-eating black hole the size of a planet? It’s possible. And if there’s one out there in the distant Solar System, a pair of researchers think they know how to find it. If they do, we might finally put the Planet 9 issue to rest. The researchers are Dr. Avi Loeb, a Professor of … Continue reading “If Planet 9 is a Primordial Black Hole, We Might Be Able to See Flares When it Consumes Comets” The post If Planet 9 is a Primordial BlackRead More →

Why Lava Tubes Should be Our Top Exploration Priority on Other Worlds When magma comes out of the Earth onto the surface, it flows as lava. Those lava flows are fascinating to watch, and they leave behind some unique landforms and rocks. But a lot of what’s fascinating about these flows can be hidden underground, as lava tubes. These lava tubes are turning out to be a … Continue reading “Why Lava Tubes Should be Our Top Exploration Priority on Other Worlds” The post Why Lava Tubes Should be Our Top Exploration Priority on Other Worlds appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go toRead More →

Image: Hubble sees sculpted galaxy Captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, this image shows NGC 7513, a barred spiral galaxy. Located approximately 60 million light-years away, NGC 7513 lies within the Sculptor constellation in the Southern Hemisphere. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

Scientists propose plan to determine if Planet Nine is a primordial black hole Scientists at Harvard University and the Black Hole Initiative (BHI) have developed a new method to find black holes in the outer solar system, and along with it, determine once-and-for-all the true nature of the hypothesized Planet Nine. The paper, accepted to The Astrophysical Journal Letters, highlights the ability of the future Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) mission to observe accretion flares, the presence of which could prove or rule out Planet Nine as a black hole. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

New Zealand just got its first International Dark Sky Park As light pollution around the world increases, we are losing our access to the night sky. Thankfully, dark sky preserves and parks do exactly what their names suggest – preserve the night sky as our ancestors knew it. And recently, the Wai-iti Recreational Reserve and Tunnicliff Forest has been accredited, offering stargazers in New Zealand … Continue reading “New Zealand just got its first International Dark Sky Park” The post New Zealand just got its first International Dark Sky Park appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Finally! We’ve got a comet that’s visible to the unaided eye. Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE Look up! A rare naked-eye comet, C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE), is now visible to the unaided eye. But act fast – this celestial treat won’t last long. Astronomers first detected the comet C/2020 F3 (better known as NEOWISE) in late March with the Near-Earth Object Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE, hence the name of the comet) … Continue reading “Finally! We’ve got a comet that’s visible to the unaided eye. Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE” The post Finally! We’ve got a comet that’s visible to the unaided eye. Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISERead More →

A Giant Galaxy Seen Lighting Up the Universe Shortly After the Big Bang The discovery of a bright galaxy that existed 13 billion years ago is shedding light on a period known own as the “Cosmic Dark Ages.” The post A Giant Galaxy Seen Lighting Up the Universe Shortly After the Big Bang appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

That Strange Gel-Like Material Discovered by China’s Lunar Rover? It’s Just Rock In January 2019, China landed its Chang’e 4 mission on the Moon’s far side. The Yutu-2 rover got busy exploring its surroundings. It’s still going, even though the rover’s nominal operating mission was only three months. Among the mission’s findings was a strange material described as “gel-like.” Now an analysis of the material has revealed … Continue reading “That Strange Gel-Like Material Discovered by China’s Lunar Rover? It’s Just Rock” The post That Strange Gel-Like Material Discovered by China’s Lunar Rover? It’s Just Rock appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go toRead More →

Scientists Have Developed a Way to Make Human Skin More Protected from Space Radiation Earth is a radiation cocoon. Inside that cocoon, the atmosphere and the magnetosphere keep us mostly safe from the Sun’s radiaition. Some ultraviolet light gets through, and can damage us. But reasonable precautions like simply minimizing exposure can keep the Sun’s radiation at bay. But space is a different matter altogether. Among the many hazards … Continue reading “Scientists Have Developed a Way to Make Human Skin More Protected from Space Radiation” The post Scientists Have Developed a Way to Make Human Skin More Protected from Space Radiation appeared first onRead More →

The Euclid space telescope is coming together ESA’s Euclid mission has reached another milestone on its journey towards launch. Its two instruments are now built and fully tested. These have been delivered to Airbus Defence and Space in Toulouse, France, where they are now being integrated with the telescope to form the mission’s payload module. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

Supermassive binary black hole hunter: SKA pulsar timing array Recently, researchers from the National Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences quantified the potential of gravitational wave detection in the era of the Square Kilometer Array (SKA). The study was published in Physical Review D. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

Languages Will Change Significantly on Interstellar Flights A pair of linguists recently did a study, which appeared in an ESA-associated journal, that discusses how interstellar travel could lead to changes in our language. The post Languages Will Change Significantly on Interstellar Flights appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Although InSight’s Mole is Completely Buried, it Might be Stuck Again You’ve gotta hand it to NASA, and to the German Aerospace Center (DLR.) They’ve been struggling for over a year to get the InSight Lander’s Mole working. There’ve been setbacks, then progress, then more setbacks, as they try to get the Mole deep enough to do its job. Now the Mole is finally buried completely … Continue reading “Although InSight’s Mole is Completely Buried, it Might be Stuck Again” The post Although InSight’s Mole is Completely Buried, it Might be Stuck Again appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

What Telescope Will Be Needed to See the First Stars in the Universe? The Ultimately Large Telescope The oldest stars in the Universe are cloaked in darkness. Their redshift is so high, we can only wonder about them. The James Webb Space Telescope will be our most effective telescope for observing the very early Universe, and should observe out to z = 15. But even it has limitations. To observe the Universe’s … Continue reading “What Telescope Will Be Needed to See the First Stars in the Universe? The Ultimately Large Telescope” The post What Telescope Will Be Needed to See the First Stars inRead More →

Detecting the Neutrinos From a Supernova That’s About to Explode Neutrinos are puzzling things. They’re tiny particles, almost massless, with no electrical charge. They’re notoriously difficult to detect, too, and scientists have gone to great lengths to detect them. The IceCube Neutrino Observatory, for instance, tries to detect neutrinos with strings of detectors buried down to a depth of 2450 meters (8000 ft.) in the … Continue reading “Detecting the Neutrinos From a Supernova That’s About to Explode” The post Detecting the Neutrinos From a Supernova That’s About to Explode appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Finding NEMO: The future of gravitational-wave astronomy A new study released today makes a compelling case for the development of “NEMO”—a new observatory in Australia that could deliver on some of the most exciting gravitational-wave science next-generation detectors have to offer, but at a fraction of the cost. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →