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Astronomers discover ‘monster’ quasar from early universe Astronomers have discovered the most massive quasar known in the early universe, containing a monster black hole with a mass equivalent to 1.5 billion suns. Formally designated as J1007+2115, the newly discovered quasar is one of only two known from the same cosmological period. Quasars are the most energetic objects in the universe, and since their discovery, astronomers have been keen to determine when they first appeared in our cosmic history. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

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Last Year’s Total Solar Eclipse on Earth, Seen From the Moon On July 2, 2019, the Moon cast its shadow on the surface of the Earth. This time, the shadow’s path travelled across the South Pacific Ocean. It also passed over some of Argentina and Chile. For surface dwellers in the path, the Moon briefly blocked the Sun, turning night into day. But for one “eye” … Continue reading “Last Year’s Total Solar Eclipse on Earth, Seen From the Moon” The post Last Year’s Total Solar Eclipse on Earth, Seen From the Moon appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

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Drones help calibrate radio telescope at Brookhaven Lab Cosmologists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory are experimenting with a prototype radio telescope, called the Baryon Mapping Experiment (BMX). Built at the Lab in 2017, the prototype serves as a testbed for managing radio interference and developing calibration techniques. Lessons learned from the prototype could pave the way for Brookhaven to develop a much larger radio telescope in collaboration with other national Labs, universities, and international partners. Such a telescope would map neutral hydrogen over large swaths of the universe, enabling researchers to gain a better understanding of its accelerated expansion, asRead More →

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First detector array ready for GUSTO mission The first detector array for NASA’s GUSTO mission has passed its pre-shipment review and is now shipping to the University of Arizona for integration into the balloon observatory. SRON together with TU Delft develops GUSTO’s three 8-pixel-arrays, for the frequencies 4.7, 1.9 and 1.4 terahertz. They have now finished the array for the 4.7 terahertz channel—the most challenging part. GUSTO is a balloon mission that will measure emissions from cosmic material between stars. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

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ESOcast 224: First Interstellar Visitors to the Solar System In this ESOcast, we explore some of the many questions interstellar visitors 1I/’Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov have raised including: what are they made of? How did they form? Are they like the comets or asteroids in our Solar System? And finally, what can they reveal about other planetary systems? ESO Video Casts Go to SourceRead More →

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Curiosity Sees Earth and Venus in the Night Skies on Mars Normally the images from NASA’s Curiosity rover, currently sitting near “Bloodstone Hill” on Mars, are of alien vistas and rock outcroppings that conspiracy theorists constantly try to anthropomorphize into UFOs.  However, the rover is also excellently positioned to capture a unique perspective of an alien sky.  And that is exactly what it did recently when … Continue reading “Curiosity Sees Earth and Venus in the Night Skies on Mars” The post Curiosity Sees Earth and Venus in the Night Skies on Mars appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

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Calculate the Number of Alien Civilizations in the Milky Way for Yourself. A new online tool created by a team of physicists allows users to calculate how many alien civilization could be out there for themselves! The post Calculate the Number of Alien Civilizations in the Milky Way for Yourself. appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

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Amazing View of How Dust Storms Grow on Mars In 2018, Mars experienced one of its global dust storms, a phenomenon seen nowhere else. As science would have it, there were no fewer than six spacecraft in orbit around Mars at the time, and two surface rovers. This was an unprecedented opportunity to watch and study the storm. Martian Global Dust Storms (GDS) occur … Continue reading “Amazing View of How Dust Storms Grow on Mars” The post Amazing View of How Dust Storms Grow on Mars appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

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New Hubble Photos of Planetary Nebulae Planetary nebulae are astronomy’s gateway drug. Their eye-catching forms make us wonder what process created them, and what else is going on up there in the night sky. They’re some of the most beautiful, ephemeral looking objects in all of nature. The Hubble Space Telescope is responsible for many of our most gorgeous images of … Continue reading “New Hubble Photos of Planetary Nebulae” The post New Hubble Photos of Planetary Nebulae appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

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Beneath the surface of our galaxy’s water worlds Out beyond our solar system, visible only as the smallest dot in space with even the most powerful telescopes, other worlds exist. Many of these worlds, astronomers have discovered, may be much larger than Earth and completely covered in water—basically ocean planets with no protruding land masses. What kind of life could develop on such a world? Could a habitat like this even support life? phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

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Astronomers Just Detected Either the Least Massive Black Hole, or a Strange and Massive Neutron Star Somewhere around 2.5 solar masses is the line between black holes and neutron stars. Now we’ve found an object right on the edge. The post Astronomers Just Detected Either the Least Massive Black Hole, or a Strange and Massive Neutron Star appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

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Rogue’s gallery of dusty star systems reveals exoplanet nurseries Astronomers this month released the largest collection of sharp, detailed images of debris disks around young stars, showcasing the great variety of shapes and sizes of stellar systems during their prime planet-forming years. Surprisingly, nearly all showed evidence of planets. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

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Neptune-sized planet discovered orbiting young, nearby star For more than a decade, astronomers have searched for planets orbiting AU Microscopii, a nearby star still surrounded by a disk of debris left over from its formation. Now scientists using data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and retired Spitzer Space Telescope report the discovery of a planet about as large as Neptune that circles the young star in just over a week. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

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Physicist discusses eRosita mission It may well mark a revolution in X-ray astronomy: The eRosita space telescope, which was launched last July, has completed its first complete survey of the sky. Over a million objects are visible on the map it has produced. Astronomers are excited about the results from the observatory. It was developed under the leadership of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics and is intended to survey the entire sky with a previously unattained spectral and spatial resolution. We spoke with Peter Predehl, the scientific Director of eRosita, about the mission. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

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New remnant radio galaxy detected Using the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT), astronomers from South Africa and India have discovered a new remnant radio galaxy. The newly detected object, designated J1615+5452 has a size exceeding 300,000 light years and showcases a diffuse amorphous radio emission. The finding is detailed in a paper published June 17 on arXiv.org. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

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Pluto and Other Kuiper Belt Objects Started Out With Water Oceans, and Have Been Slowly Freezing Solid for Billions of Years It seems unlikely that an ocean could persist on a world that never gets closer than 30 astronomical units from the Sun. But that’s the case with Pluto. Evidence shows that it has a sub-surface ocean between 100 to 180 km thick, at the boundary between the core and the mantle. Other Kuiper Belt Objects … Continue reading “Pluto and Other Kuiper Belt Objects Started Out With Water Oceans, and Have Been Slowly Freezing Solid for Billions of Years” The post Pluto and OtherRead More →

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Another Starship Test Ends in an Explosion At their Boca Chica test facility, SpaceX tested another Starship prototype (SN7) to the point of failure, which resulted in another explosive release of cryogenic liquid nitrogen. The post Another Starship Test Ends in an Explosion appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

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There’s no evidence that dark matter interacts with any other force but gravity Most of the universe is made of one of two kinds of mysterious substances, called dark matter and dark energy. From all the evidence, these two cosmic components only interact with “normal” matter through the gravitational force. And a recent nuclear experiment reveals no presence of any dark contamination in the bonds between atomic nuclei … Continue reading “There’s no evidence that dark matter interacts with any other force but gravity” The post There’s no evidence that dark matter interacts with any other force but gravity appeared first on Universe Today. UniverseRead More →

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Planets Form in Just a Few Hundred Thousand Years Astronomers like to observe young planets forming in circumstellar debris disks, the rotating rings of material around young stars. But when they measure the amount of material in those disks, they don’t contain enough material to form large planets. That discrepancy has puzzled astronomers. The answer might come down to timing. A new study suggests … Continue reading “Planets Form in Just a Few Hundred Thousand Years” The post Planets Form in Just a Few Hundred Thousand Years appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →