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Venus: Could it really harbour life? New study springs a surprise Earth’s sister planet, Venus, has not been regarded as a high priority in the search for life. Its surface temperature of around 450°C is thought to be hostile to even the hardiest of micro-organisms, and its thick, sulfurous and acidic atmosphere has kept the surface almost completely free from visiting spacecraft. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

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Radio relic discovered in a nearby galaxy cluster Using the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa, an international team of astronomers has detected a radio relic in a nearby, low-mass, merging galaxy cluster designated A2384. The finding is reported in a research paper published September 6 on the arXiv pre-print repository. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

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Scientists propose possible mechanisms to explain coronal mini-jets in activated tornado-like prominence Solar jets are a common phenomenon in the solar atmosphere. They mainly appear as transient collimated plasma ejections. Some studies have shown that jets may play an important role in heating the corona and initiating solar winds.   phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

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#99 – September 2020 Part 2 The Discussion: No time for discussions, we’ve important news to discuss! The News: Rounding up the space exploration news we have: Rocket Lab lowering the cost of small launches SpaceX accelerating development of super heavy lift Vera Rubin Telescope takes a step closer Main news story: A new detection raises the distinct possibility of life in Venus’ upper atmosphere. The Interview: Jeni talks to Dr Emily Drabek Maunder, a co-author on the paper that demonstrates phosphine in concentrations that we can only currently attribute to microbial life in the atmosphere of Venus. Awesome Astronomy Go to SourceRead More →

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A beautiful picture of Saturn’s heavily-cratered moon Mimas, processed by @kevinmgill The Cassini mission to Saturn took many images of Mimas, one of the smallest moons in the solar system. And now you can view it in all its icy, cratered glory, thanks to the work of Kevin Gill. Mimas is perhaps best known as the “Death Star” moon, because a giant impact crater on one … Continue reading “A beautiful picture of Saturn’s heavily-cratered moon Mimas, processed by @kevinmgill” The post A beautiful picture of Saturn’s heavily-cratered moon Mimas, processed by @kevinmgill appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

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The SpaceX Starship Could be Making its Biggest Hop Yet (and a Belly-Flop) Next Month! Elon Musk and SpaceX appear to be gearing up for a high-altitude hop test with the SN8 before the end of October! The post The SpaceX Starship Could be Making its Biggest Hop Yet (and a Belly-Flop) Next Month! appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

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Did Scientists Just Find Signs of Life on Venus? A team of scientists has just published a paper announcing their discovery of a peculiar chemical in the cloudtops of Venus. As far as scientists can tell, this chemical, called phosphine, could only be produced by living processes on a planet like Venus. So the whole internet is jumping on this story. But did they … Continue reading “Did Scientists Just Find Signs of Life on Venus?” The post Did Scientists Just Find Signs of Life on Venus? appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

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Small Amounts of Dark Matter are Creating Much Stronger Gravitational Distortions than Anyone Expected to See Dark matter is much more clumpy than we thought, which means some dark matter might be very cold. The post Small Amounts of Dark Matter are Creating Much Stronger Gravitational Distortions than Anyone Expected to See appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

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A warm Jupiter orbiting a cool star A planet observed crossing in front of, or transiting, a low-mass star has been determined to be about the size of Jupiter. While hundreds of Jupiter-sized planets have been discovered orbiting larger sun-like stars, it is rare to see these planets orbiting low-mass host stars and the discovery could help astronomers to better understand how these giant planets form. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

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Australian Telescope Just Scanned 10 million Stars For Any Sign of Extraterrestrial Signals. No sign. One of the most important results of science is the negative result.  If something doesn’t work or a hypothesis is disproven, often it’s not widely reported or disseminated.  That is a shame.  However, science is getting better at incorporating negative results into its reporting system, which has resulted in publications like the Journal of Negative … Continue reading “Australian Telescope Just Scanned 10 million Stars For Any Sign of Extraterrestrial Signals. No sign.” The post Australian Telescope Just Scanned 10 million Stars For Any Sign of Extraterrestrial Signals. No sign.Read More →

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Possible Marker of Life Spotted on Venus An international team of astronomers today announced the discovery of a rare molecule — phosphine — in the clouds of Venus. On Earth, this gas is only made industrially or by microbes that thrive in oxygen-free environments. Astronomers have speculated for decades that high clouds on Venus could offer a home for microbes — floating free of the scorching surface but needing to tolerate very high acidity. The detection of phosphine could point to such extra-terrestrial “aerial” life. ESO News Feed Go to SourceRead More →

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Uranian moons in new light More than 230 years ago astronomer William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus and two of its moons. Using the Herschel Space Observatory, a group of astronomers led by Örs H. Detre of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy now has succeeded in determining physical properties of the five main moons of Uranus. The measured infrared radiation, which is generated by the Sun heating their surfaces, suggests that these moons resemble dwarf planets like Pluto. The team developed a new analysis technique that extracted the faint signals from the moons next to Uranus, which is more than a thousand times brighter.Read More →

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Millihertz quasi-periodic oscillations detected in an X-ray binary Astronomers from Australia and Taiwan report the discovery of millihertz quasi-periodic oscillations in a neutron-star low-mass X-ray binary known as 1RXS J180408.9−342058. The discovery, detailed in a paper published September 3 on the arXiv preprint server, could help astronomers better understand the nature and behavior of X-ray binary sources. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

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Beyond “Fermi’s Paradox” IX: What is the Brief Window Hypothesis? In this latest installment in our Fermi series, we take a look at the possibility that advanced civilizations only have a brief window within which to communicate. The post Beyond “Fermi’s Paradox” IX: What is the Brief Window Hypothesis? appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →