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A Bunch of New Names for Pluto’s Surface Features Were Just Approved Pluto is getting some new names. In the past, prior to the New Horizons mission, there wasn’t much to name. But now that that spacecraft has flew past Pluto and observed it up close, there’s some features that need naming. Now the IAU (International Astronomical Union) has approved a new set of names for 14 … Continue reading “A Bunch of New Names for Pluto’s Surface Features Were Just Approved” The post A Bunch of New Names for Pluto’s Surface Features Were Just Approved appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go toRead More →

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Traces of One of the Oldest Stars in the Universe Found Inside Another Star Despite all we know about the formation and evolution of the Universe, the very early days are still kind of mysterious. With our knowledge of physics we can shed some light on the nature of the earliest stars, even though they’re almost certainly long gone. Now a new discovery is confirming what scientists think they … Continue reading “Traces of One of the Oldest Stars in the Universe Found Inside Another Star” The post Traces of One of the Oldest Stars in the Universe Found Inside Another Star appeared first onRead More →

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One Year, Almost 1,000 Planetary Candidates. An Update On TESS NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Telescope launched back in April, 2018. After a few months of testing, it was ready to begin mapping the southern sky, searching for planets orbiting stars relatively nearby. We’re just over a year into the mission now, and on July 18th, TESS has shifted its attention to the Northern Hemisphere, continuing … Continue reading “One Year, Almost 1,000 Planetary Candidates. An Update On TESS” The post One Year, Almost 1,000 Planetary Candidates. An Update On TESS appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

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Dead Planets Around White Dwarfs Could Emit Radio Waves We Can Detect, Sending Out Signals for Billions of Years A new study by a pair of astronomers has shown that planets orbiting white dwarfs will still be emitting radio waves for up to a billion years. The post Dead Planets Around White Dwarfs Could Emit Radio Waves We Can Detect, Sending Out Signals for Billions of Years appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

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The Story of the Apollo Guidance Computer, Part 3 During the development of the Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) by the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory (see Part 1 and Part 2 for the complete backstory), an inauspicious event occurred sometime during 1965-1966, while the Gemini missions were going on. The Gemini program helped NASA get ready for the Apollo Moon landings missions by testing out rendezvous … Continue reading “The Story of the Apollo Guidance Computer, Part 3” The post The Story of the Apollo Guidance Computer, Part 3 appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

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Evidence found for cloaked black hole in early universe A group of astronomers, including Penn State scientists, has announced the likely discovery of a highly obscured black hole existing only 850 million years after the Big Bang, using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. This is the first evidence for a cloaked black hole at such an early time. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

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The end of the world: A history of how a silent cosmos led humans to fear the worst It is 1950 and a group of scientists are walking to lunch against the majestic backdrop of the Rocky Mountains. They are about to have a conversation that will become scientific legend. The scientists are at the Los Alamos Ranch School, the site for the Manhattan Project, where each of the group has lately played their part in ushering in the atomic age. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

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Two planets orbiting Teegarden’s star described as most earthlike found yet A pair of researchers, one with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the other Tel Aviv University, has found evidence that suggests two of Teegarden’s star planets are the most Earth-like found yet. In their paper published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Amri Wandel and Lev Tal-Or describe their study of the two exoplanets and what they found. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

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In search of signals from the early universe ,On a hot morning in early July, a seven-foot wide, 8,000-pound metallic structure made its way from Boston to Penn’s David Rittenhouse Laboratory. The large aperture telescope receiver (LATR) was carefully loaded onto a forklift and carried through narrow alleyways and parking lots before being placed in the High Bay lab, while students and researchers watched in eager anticipation. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

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Astronomers investigate AGN jet in the Messier 87 galaxy Astronomers have taken a closer look at the relatively nearby Messier 87 (or M87) galaxy to investigate the jet of its active galactic nucleus (AGN). The new research, described in a paper published July 31 on arXiv.org, delivers important insights into the parameters of the jet, which could improve the understanding of AGNs in general. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

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Dark matter may be older than the big bang, study suggests Dark matter, which researchers believe make up about 80% of the universe’s mass, is one of the most elusive mysteries in modern physics. What exactly it is and how it came to be is a mystery, but a new Johns Hopkins University study now suggests that dark matter may have existed before the Big Bang. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

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The Story of the Apollo Guidance Computer, Part 2 In the late 1950’s, before NASA had any intentions of going to the Moon – or needing a computer to get there — the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory had designed and built a small prototype probe they hoped would one day fly to Mars (read the background in part 1 of this story here).  This little … Continue reading “The Story of the Apollo Guidance Computer, Part 2” The post The Story of the Apollo Guidance Computer, Part 2 appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

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Astronomers discover vast ancient galaxies, which could shed light on dark matter Astronomers have used the combined power of multiple astronomical observatories around the world and in space to discover a treasure trove of previously unknown ancient massive galaxies. This is the first multiple discovery of its kind, and such an abundance of this type of galaxy defies current models of the universe. These galaxies are also intimately connected with supermassive black holes and the distribution of dark matter. phys.org Go to SourceRead More →

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Anatomy of a Cosmic Seagull Colourful and wispy, this intriguing collection of objects is known as the Seagull Nebula, named for its resemblance to a gull in flight. Made up of dust, hydrogen, helium and traces of heavier elements, this region is the hot and energetic birthplace of new stars. The remarkable detail captured here by ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope (VST) reveals the individual astronomical objects that make up the celestial bird, as well as the finer features within them. The VST is one of the largest survey telescopes in the world observing the sky in visible light. ESO News Feed Go to SourceRead More →