A Broken Cable Smashed Part of the Arecibo Observatory The iconic Arecibo Observatory recently suffered some damage when a support cable broke and created a large gash in the reflecting dish The post A Broken Cable Smashed Part of the Arecibo Observatory appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
#98 – August 2020 Part 2 The Discussion: Jen on the radio discussing the Perseids Starlink satellites flaring over our heads TV shows From the Earth to the Moon and For All Mankind Jeni talking Pluto on the BBC Sputnik V Jeni’s latest paper is submitted for journal review The News: Rounding up the space exploration news we have: Protecting other worlds from our germs and bugs Space Force’s Star Trek-esque logo The Curiosity rover celebrates its 8th year on Mars New Zealand’s Rocketlab pursue reusability Skyrora begin rocket testing in Iceland SpaceX’s Starship prototyping and testing continues Main news story: America gets back toRead More →
Did Snowball Earth Happen Because of a Sudden Drop in Sunlight? Hundreds of millions of years ago, Earth went through two episodes of severe glaciation. These two episodes—the Sturtian and the Marinoan glaciations—occured during the Earth’s Cryogenian Period. The Cryogenian lasted from about 720 million to 635 million years ago. The phenomenon is called “Snowball Earth” and both instances of it happened in pretty quick succession. … Continue reading “Did Snowball Earth Happen Because of a Sudden Drop in Sunlight?” The post Did Snowball Earth Happen Because of a Sudden Drop in Sunlight? appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Art Installation that Demonstrates How Dark Matter Bends Light with Gravity A new art installation at the Science Gallery Dublin, called “Dark Distortions,” helps viewers to see the influence dark matter has on light in our Universe. The post Art Installation that Demonstrates How Dark Matter Bends Light with Gravity appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Hubble finds that Betelgeuse’s mysterious dimming is due to a traumatic outburst Recent observations of Betelgeuse have revealed that the star’s unexpected and significant dimming periods in late 2019 and early 2020 were most likely caused by the ejection and cooling of dense hot gases, and that the star may be going through another dimming period more than a year early. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Fastest Star Ever Seen is Moving at 8% the Speed of Light A star orbiting the black hole in the center of our galaxy is moving so fast it can only be described relativistically. The post Fastest Star Ever Seen is Moving at 8% the Speed of Light appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Physicists calculate when the last supernova ever will happen The end of the universe as we know it will not come with a bang. Most stars will slowly fizzle as their temperatures fade to zero. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Virgin Galactic Wants to Build a Supersonic Jetliner That’ll go Even Faster Than the Concorde Virgin Galactic has announced a partnership with engine-maker Rolls Royce to develop a supersonic jetliner that will be even faster than the Concorde The post Virgin Galactic Wants to Build a Supersonic Jetliner That’ll go Even Faster Than the Concorde appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
A Huge Ring-Like Structure on Ganymede Might be the Result of an Enormous Impact Ganymede’s surface is a bit of a puzzle for planetary scientists. About two-thirds of its surface is covered in lighter terrain, while the remainder is darker. Both types of terrain are ancient, with the lighter portion being slightly younger. The two types of terrain are spread around the moon, and the darker terrain contains concurrent … Continue reading “A Huge Ring-Like Structure on Ganymede Might be the Result of an Enormous Impact” The post A Huge Ring-Like Structure on Ganymede Might be the Result of an Enormous Impact appeared first onRead More →
It’s Starting to Look Like Ceres is an Ocean World, Too A new and thorough analysis of high-resolution images and data from NASA’s Dawn mission have now provided fresh insights into the dwarf planet Ceres, with intriguing evidence that Ceres has a global subsurface salty ocean, and has been geologically active in the recent past. “Evidence that Ceres has long-lived deep brine reservoirs is an exciting … Continue reading “It’s Starting to Look Like Ceres is an Ocean World, Too” The post It’s Starting to Look Like Ceres is an Ocean World, Too appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
SpaceX is Hiring People to Help Build a Resort at the Boca Chica Launch Facility SpaceX recently announced that they are looking for a Resort Development Manager to help them turn Boca Chica into a bona fide spaceport The post SpaceX is Hiring People to Help Build a Resort at the Boca Chica Launch Facility appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
ALMA sees most distant Milky Way look-alike Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which the European Southern Observatory (ESO) is a partner, have revealed an extremely distant and therefore very young galaxy that looks surprisingly like our Milky Way. The galaxy is so far away its light has taken more than 12 billion years to reach us: we see it as it was when the Universe was just 1.4 billion years old. It is also surprisingly unchaotic, contradicting theories that all galaxies in the early Universe were turbulent and unstable. This unexpected discovery challenges our understanding of how galaxies form, giving newRead More →
SPT0418-47: lensed view to reconstructed view ESO Video Casts Go to SourceRead More →
Gravitational lensing of the distant SPT0418-47 galaxy (schematic) ESO Video Casts Go to SourceRead More →
ESOcast 228 Light: ALMA Sees Most Distant Milky Way Look-alike Astronomers using ALMA, in which the ESO is a partner, have revealed an extremely distant galaxy that looks surprisingly like our Milky Way. This video summarises their findings. ESO Video Casts Go to SourceRead More →
Hubble Examines Earth’s Reflection as an ‘Exoplanet’ During a Lunar Eclipse What would we look for in a distant exoplanet in the hunt for Earth-like worlds, and perhaps life? A recent observation carried out by the Hubble Space Telescope found tell-tale signatures from our home planet by looking at a familiar source under extraordinary circumstances: Earth’s Moon, during a total lunar eclipse. The experiment was carried … Continue reading “Hubble Examines Earth’s Reflection as an ‘Exoplanet’ During a Lunar Eclipse” The post Hubble Examines Earth’s Reflection as an ‘Exoplanet’ During a Lunar Eclipse appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Seeing baby stars at every stage of their formation Stars form from the collapse of dense clouds of gas and dust, which makes it very hard for astronomers to watch the process unfold. Recently the ALMA telescope has revealed a treasure trove of embryonic stars in the Taurus Molecular Cloud, illuminating how baby stars are born. The Atacama Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in the Atacama … Continue reading “Seeing baby stars at every stage of their formation” The post Seeing baby stars at every stage of their formation appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
Lava Tubes on the Moon and Mars are Really, Really Big. Big Enough to Fit an Entire Planetary Base Could lava tubes on the Moon and Mars play a role in establishing a human presence on those worlds? Possibly, according to a team of researchers. Their new study shows that lunar and Martian lava tubes might be enormous, and easily large enough to accommodate a base. Both the Moon and Mars were volcanically active … Continue reading “Lava Tubes on the Moon and Mars are Really, Really Big. Big Enough to Fit an Entire Planetary Base” The post Lava Tubes on the Moon and MarsRead More →
Broken cable damages giant radio telescope in Puerto Rico A broken cable caused severe damage at Puerto Rico’s Arecibo Observatory, causing a suspension of operations for one of the world’s largest single-dish radio telescopes, officials said Tuesday. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →
Astronomers Think They’ve Found the Neutron Star Remnant From Supernova 1987a Recent observations and theortetical work have brought us one step closer to resolving the mystery of what lies at the center of the supernova SN 1987A The post Astronomers Think They’ve Found the Neutron Star Remnant From Supernova 1987a appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →
