Scientists investigate dwarf planet’s ring Discovered in 2004, Haumea is a dwarf planet located beyond Pluto’s orbit in a region of the solar system called the Kuiper Belt. Pluto was demoted from the category of fully fledged planets in 2006 because of the discovery of Haumea and other dwarf planets. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Habitability of Planets Will Depend on Their Interiors A lot of the headlines and discussion around the habitability of exoplanets is focused on their proximity to their star and on the presence of water. It makes sense, because those are severely limiting factors. But those planetary characteristics are really just a starting point for the habitable/not habitable discussion. What happens in a planet’s … Continue reading “Habitability of Planets Will Depend on Their Interiors” The post Habitability of Planets Will Depend on Their Interiors appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Some of Earth’s Gold Came From Two Neutron Stars That Collided Billions of Years Ago A new study has shown that a good deal of Earth’s heaviest elements may have come from a nearby neutron star collision billions of years ago. The post Some of Earth’s Gold Came From Two Neutron Stars That Collided Billions of Years Ago appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Could this rare supernova resolve a longstanding origin debate? Detection of a supernova with an unusual chemical signature by a team of astronomers led by Carnegie’s Juna Kollmeier—and including Carnegie’s Nidia Morrell, Anthony Piro, Mark Phillips, and Josh Simon—may hold the key to solving the longstanding mystery that is the source of these violent explosions. Observations taken by the Magellan telescopes at Carnegie’s Las Campanas Observatory in Chile were crucial to detecting the emission of hydrogen that makes this supernova, called ASASSN-18tb, so distinctive. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Astronauts Could Rely on Algae as the Perfect Life Support Partner Researchers from Germany are testing a new hybrid life support system aboard the ISS, which uses algae to clean the air and water supply and even provide a food source. The post Astronauts Could Rely on Algae as the Perfect Life Support Partner appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Telescopes in space for even sharper images of black holes Astronomers have just managed to take the first image of a black hole, and now the next challenge facing them is how to take even sharper images, so that Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity can be tested. Radboud University astronomers, along with the European Space Agency (ESA) and others, are putting forward a concept for achieving this by launching radio telescopes into space. They publish their plans in the scientific journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Hayabusa1’s Samples of Itokawa Turned up Water That’s Very Similar to Earth’s Oceans A recent study of samples from the asteroid Itokawa has revealed that “dry” asteroids may have delivered up to half of Earth’s water billions of years ago. The post Hayabusa1’s Samples of Itokawa Turned up Water That’s Very Similar to Earth’s Oceans appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Carnival of Space #610 This week’s Carnival of Space is hosted by Brian Wang at his Next Big Future blog. Click here to read Carnival of Space #610 And if you’re interested in looking back, here’s an archive to all the past Carnivals of Space. If you’ve got a space-related blog, you should really join the carnival. Just email an entry … Continue reading “Carnival of Space #610” The post Carnival of Space #610 appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Climate Change Q & A with Bear Grylls Bear Grylls isn’t a climate scientist, but in his travels around the world as an adventurer, survivalist and host of numerous nature shows, he has witnessed firsthand our planet’s changing climate. This is especially true in a new series Grylls hosts and narrates on the National Geographic channel called “Hostile Planet.” While the show does … Continue reading “Climate Change Q & A with Bear Grylls” The post Climate Change Q & A with Bear Grylls appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Secrets of the ‘blue supergiant’ revealed Blue supergiants are the rock-and-roll stars of the universe. They are massive stars that live fast and die young which makes them rare and difficult to study, even with modern telescopes. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Image: Storm in the Teacup quasar This image shows a quasar nicknamed the Teacup due to its shape. A quasar is an active galaxy that is powered by material falling into its central supermassive black hole. They are extremely luminous objects located at great distances from Earth. The Teacup is 1.1 billion light years away and was thought to be a dying quasar until recent X-ray observations shed new light on it. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Two studies cast doubt on existence of exomoon Two teams working independently have looked at the possibility of an exomoon circling the exoplanet Kepler-1625b, which orbits the star Kepler-1625. They report little to no evidence supporting its existence. One team, led by Laura Kreidberg, has written a paper describing their work, which is posted on the arXiv preprint server. Another team led by René Heller published a paper in the journal Astronomy Astrophysics. The team that announced possible evidence of the exomoon last year, led by Alex Teachey, has written another paper in response to the findings by the new researchers that is available onRead More →
Astronomers investigate star-forming processes in the young stellar object G29.862–0.044 Astronomers have conducted a multiwavelength study of a young stellar object (YSO) known as G29.862–0.044, which provides more hints into star-forming processes. Results of the study, presented in a paper published April 24 on arXiv.org, could be important for improving our general knowledge about how stars form and evolve. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Starlink’s Satellites Will be Orbiting at a Much Lower Altitude, Reducing the Risks of Space Junk SpaceX recently got FCC approval and is moving ahead with the deployment of its proposed internet satellite constellation. The post Starlink’s Satellites Will be Orbiting at a Much Lower Altitude, Reducing the Risks of Space Junk appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
16 Years of Hubble Images Come Together in this one Picture Containing 265,000 Galaxies The Hubble Legacy Field, the result of 16 years of observations and the most detailed image of our Universe, has been released! The post 16 Years of Hubble Images Come Together in this one Picture Containing 265,000 Galaxies appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
The Global Dust Storm that Ended Opportunity Helped Teach us how Mars Lost its Water The enduring, and maybe endearing, mystery around Mars is what happened to its water? We can say with near-certainty now, thanks to the squad of Mars rovers and orbiters, that Mars was once much wetter. In fact that planet may have had an ocean that covered a third of the surface. But what happened to … Continue reading “The Global Dust Storm that Ended Opportunity Helped Teach us how Mars Lost its Water” The post The Global Dust Storm that Ended Opportunity Helped Teach us how Mars Lost its WaterRead More →
Hubble spots a stunning spiral galaxy Few of the universe’s residents are as iconic as the spiral galaxy. These limelight-hogging celestial objects combine whirling, pinwheeling arms with scatterings of sparkling stars, glowing bursts of gas, and dark, weaving lanes of cosmic dust, creating truly awesome scenes—especially when viewed through a telescope such as the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. In fact, this image from Hubble frames a perfect spiral specimen: the stunning NGC 2903. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Globular cluster system of Messier 106—a relic of cosmic high noon? An international scientific team led by a Mexican researcher discovered globular clusters rotating at the same speed as the gas in the disk of the spiral galaxy Messier 106 (also known as M106 or NGC 4258) to which they belong. Because of their disk-like arrangement and speed, these distant objects could be relics of cosmic high noon. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Blue Origin’s New Shepard Flies Again, a Week Before Their Mysterious Announcement Today’s breed of billionaire space entrepreneurs likes to keep us guessing, don’t they? Mr. Elon Musk is famous for announcing partial plans on Twitter, then leaving us to cajole the details out of him. Now, Jim Bezos, Amazon founder and Blue Origin visionary, is making us guess what an upcoming mysterious announcement might mean, all … Continue reading “Blue Origin’s New Shepard Flies Again, a Week Before Their Mysterious Announcement” The post Blue Origin’s New Shepard Flies Again, a Week Before Their Mysterious Announcement appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go toRead More →
When the Impact that Created the Moon Happened, the early Earth was still a ball of magma A new study has illustrated how the impact between a proto-Earth and a Mars-sized object could have led the Moon to be composed primarily of the same material as Earth. The post When the Impact that Created the Moon Happened, the early Earth was still a ball of magma appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
