RSSfeeds (Page 449)

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 →

A Repeating Fast Radio Burst Has Been Found. It Flares for 4 Days and then Remains Silent for 12 Days Five hundred million light-years from Earth, there is a deeply unusual object. It is radio silent for 12 days, then erupts in bright radio bursts. We still aren’t sure what the object is. The post A Repeating Fast Radio Burst Has Been Found. It Flares for 4 Days and then Remains Silent for 12 Days appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Comet U6 Lemmon Brightens in July Comet U6 Lemmon promises to be a fine binocular object at dusk. The post Comet U6 Lemmon Brightens in July appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

If You Could See in X-rays, This is What the Universe Would Look Like X-ray astronomy helps scientists study neutron stars, binary star systems, and supernova remnants, and even helps detect black holes. But even if human eyes had the ability to see X-rays, we couldn’t just look up at the night sky and see these amazing objects since Earth’s atmosphere absorbs and blocks X-rays. So, thank goodness for … Continue reading “If You Could See in X-rays, This is What the Universe Would Look Like” The post If You Could See in X-rays, This is What the Universe Would Look Like appeared first onRead More →

Antares is a supergiant star that would fill the Solar System beyond Mars, but its atmosphere is 12 times bigger than that Antares, the angry red eye of the constellation Taurus the bull, is a red supergiant star near the end of its life. And astronomers with the VLA and ALMA have realized that it’s much, much bigger than we ever imagined. So when I say that Antares is a big star, I don’t think you really appreciate … Continue reading “Antares is a supergiant star that would fill the Solar System beyond Mars, but its atmosphere is 12 times bigger than that” The post AntaresRead More →

A New Search for Evidence of Technological Civilizations in the Milky Way Scientists from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and University of Rochester have come together (with NASA funding) to launch a new search for advanced alien life! The post A New Search for Evidence of Technological Civilizations in the Milky Way appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Quasars are the Biggest Particle Accelerators in the Universe We puny humans think we can accelerate particles? Look how proud we are of the Large Hadron Collider. But any particle accelerator we build will pale in comparison to Quasars, nature’s champion accelerators. Those things are beasts. The term quasar is a contraction—albeit a clumsy one—of “quasi-stellar radio source.” When they were first discovered in … Continue reading “Quasars are the Biggest Particle Accelerators in the Universe” The post Quasars are the Biggest Particle Accelerators in the Universe appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

There are Features on Titan That Really Look Like Volcanic Craters A new study supported by the Cassini mission shows how the northern polar region of Titan could still be experiencing volcanic activity. The post There are Features on Titan That Really Look Like Volcanic Craters appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Planets With Large Oceans are Probably Common in the Milky Way A new study by a team of NASA scientists indicates that “ocean worlds,” like those in our Solar System, could be very common in our Universe. The post Planets With Large Oceans are Probably Common in the Milky Way appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Astronomers Estimate There Are 6 Billion Earth-Like Planets in the Milky Way Six billion Earth-like planets in the Milky Way? If true, that’s astounding. But the number needs some context. The Milky Way has up 400 billion stars. So even if there are six billion Earth-like planets, they’re still spread far and wide throughout our vast galaxy. A new study came up with the six billion number. … Continue reading “Astronomers Estimate There Are 6 Billion Earth-Like Planets in the Milky Way” The post Astronomers Estimate There Are 6 Billion Earth-Like Planets in the Milky Way appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go toRead More →

NASA Thinks it’s Time to Return to Neptune With its Trident Mission Is it time to head back to Neptune and its moon Triton? It might be. After all, we have some unfinished business there. It’s been 30 years since NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft flew past the gas giant and its largest moon, and that flyby posed more questions than it answered. Maybe we’ll get some answers … Continue reading “NASA Thinks it’s Time to Return to Neptune With its Trident Mission” The post NASA Thinks it’s Time to Return to Neptune With its Trident Mission appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go toRead More →