Mars Odyssey Reveals Phobos Using THEMIS NASA’s aging 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter recently snapped some unique views of the twin moons Phobos and Deimos, in an effort to better understand their texture and surface composition. The post Mars Odyssey Reveals Phobos Using THEMIS appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Stellar waltz with dramatic ending Astronomers at the University of Bonn and their colleagues from Moscow have identified an unusual celestial object. It is most likely the product of the fusion of two stars that died a long time ago. After billions of years circling around each other these so-called white dwarfs merged and rose from the dead. In the near future, their lives could finally end—with a huge bang. The researchers are now presenting their findings in the journal Nature. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Brown dwarfs are formed in the same way as sun-like stars Astronomers have discovered a so-called proto-disc around the proto-brown dwarf Mayrit. With this discovery, they were able to confirm for the first time that this celestial body was formed in the same way as sun-like stars. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Messier 86 – the NGC 4406 Elliptical Galaxy Located in the constellation Virgo, about 54 million light years from Earth, is the elliptical galaxy known as Messier 86. The post Messier 86 – the NGC 4406 Elliptical Galaxy appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Most of the Solar System Should be a Protected Wilderness. One-Eighth Left for Mining and Resource Exploitation A new study by an astrophysicist and a professor of ethics takes a look at the future of humanity in space, and recommends we set aside most of the Solar System aside as protected wilderness. The post Most of the Solar System Should be a Protected Wilderness. One-Eighth Left for Mining and Resource Exploitation appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Carnival of Space #612 Welcome to the 612th Carnival of Space! The Carnival is a community of space science and astronomy writers and bloggers, who submit their best work each week for your benefit. We have a fantastic roundup today so now, on to this week’s worth of stories! Universe Today: A Supercomputer has been Designed to run the … Continue reading “Carnival of Space #612” The post Carnival of Space #612 appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Juno finds changes in Jupiter’s magnetic field NASA’s Juno mission to Jupiter made the first definitive detection beyond our world of an internal magnetic field that changes over time, a phenomenon called secular variation. Juno determined the gas giant’s secular variation is most likely driven by the planet’s deep atmospheric winds. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Can You Spot a Planetary Nebula from a Few Blurry Pixels? Astronomers Can – Here’s How A planetary nebula is one of the most beautiful objects in the universe. Formed from the decaying remnants of a mid-sized star like a sun, no two are alike. Cosmically ephemeral, they last for only about 10,000 years – a blink of a cosmic eye. And yet they are vitally important, as their processed elements … Continue reading “Can You Spot a Planetary Nebula from a Few Blurry Pixels? Astronomers Can – Here’s How” The post Can You Spot a Planetary Nebula from a Few Blurry Pixels? Astronomers CanRead More →
Advanced civilizations could be communicating with neutrino beams In 1960, famed theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson made a radical proposal. In a paper titled “Search for Artificial Stellar Sources of Infrared Radiation,” he suggested that advanced extra-terrestrial intelligences (ETIs) could be found by looking for signs of artificial structures so large that they encompass entire star systems (also known as megastructures). Since then, many scientists have come up with their own ideas for possible megastructures. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Advanced Civilizations Could be Communicating with Neutrino Beams. Transmitted by Clouds of Satellites Around Neutron Stars or Black Holes In the ongoing search for intelligent life, a new study recommends that we look for signs of an advanced civilization harnessing the power of neutrinos to create a beacon. The post Advanced Civilizations Could be Communicating with Neutrino Beams. Transmitted by Clouds of Satellites Around Neutron Stars or Black Holes appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Small, Tough Planets can Survive the Death of Their Star Sad fact of the Universe is that all stars will die, eventually. And when they do, what happens to their babies? Usually, the prognosis for the planets around a dying star is not good, but a new study says some might in fact survive. A group of astronomers have taken a closer look at what … Continue reading “Small, Tough Planets can Survive the Death of Their Star” The post Small, Tough Planets can Survive the Death of Their Star appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Is Dark Matter Made of Axions? Black Holes May Reveal the Answer What is dark matter made of? It’s one of the most perplexing questions of modern astronomy. We know that dark matter is out there, since we can see its obvious gravitational influence on everything from galaxies to the evolution of the entire universe, but we don’t know what it is. Our best guess is that … Continue reading “Is Dark Matter Made of Axions? Black Holes May Reveal the Answer” The post Is Dark Matter Made of Axions? Black Holes May Reveal the Answer appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go toRead More →
Planet-hunter CubeSat images Los Angeles A small satellite designed to hunt for new planets beyond the solar system recently looked down at Earth to capture an image of California’s “City of Stars.” phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
CosmoGAN: Training a neural network to study dark matter As cosmologists and astrophysicists delve deeper into the darkest recesses of the universe, their need for increasingly powerful observational and computational tools has expanded exponentially. From facilities such as the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument to supercomputers like Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Cori system at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing (NERSC) facility, they are on a quest to collect, simulate, and analyze increasing amounts of data that can help explain the nature of things we can’t see, as well as those we can. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Here’s Where Beresheet Crashed into the Moon The Beresheet lander came oh-so-close to touching down on the surface of the Moon, but something went wrong and it didn’t make it. Now, thanks to the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, the exact point of impact can be seen. The images were captured 11 days after Beresheet crashed into the Moon. Beresheet would’ve been the first … Continue reading “Here’s Where Beresheet Crashed into the Moon” The post Here’s Where Beresheet Crashed into the Moon appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Imaging black hole like listening to broken piano, says scientist US computer scientist Katie Bouman, who became a global sensation over her role in generating the world’s first image of a black hole, has described the painstaking process as akin to listening to a piano with broken keys. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Today is the Highest Concentration of Atmospheric CO2 in Human History. 415 Parts Per Million. Last Time it Was This High, There Were Trees at the South Pole Think about this for a minute: We humans and our emissions are helping turn back the climatological clock by 2 or 3 million years, possibly more. Not since that time, called the Pliocene Epoch, has the CO2 ppm risen above 400. Way back then, the CO2 helped keep the Earth’s temperature 2 to 3 degrees … Continue reading “Today is the Highest Concentration of Atmospheric CO2 in Human History. 415 Parts Per Million. Last Time it WasRead More →
NASA’s 2024 Moon Mission is called Artemis, and Will Need an Additional $1.6 Billion in Funding The Moon’s going to have more human visitors in the year 2024. NASA has announced that their mission to the Moon, which is named Artemis after the Greek goddess of hunting, has been advanced by four years, from 2028 to 2024. But there’s a catch: they need more dough to do it. $1.6 billion more. … Continue reading “NASA’s 2024 Moon Mission is called Artemis, and Will Need an Additional $1.6 Billion in Funding” The post NASA’s 2024 Moon Mission is called Artemis, and Will Need an Additional $1.6Read More →
Galaxy blazes with new stars born from close encounter The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken a new look at the spectacular irregular galaxy NGC 4485, which has been warped and wound by its larger galactic neighbour. The gravity of the second galaxy has disrupted the ordered collection of stars, gas and dust, giving rise to an erratic region of newborn, hot, blue stars and chaotic clumps and streams of dust and gas. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Hubble astronomers assemble wide view of the evolving universe Astronomers have put together the largest and most comprehensive “history book” of galaxies into one single image, using 16 years’ worth of observations from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
