Universe Today (Page 391)

The Intense Heat from the Sun Helps Ice Form on Mercury. Wait… What? While the scorching planet Mercury might not be the first place you’d think to look for ice, the MESSENGER mission confirmed in 2012 that the planet closest to the Sun does indeed hold water ice in the permanently-shadowed craters around the Mercury’s poles.  But now a new study regarding Mercury’s ice provides even more counter-intuitive … Continue reading “The Intense Heat from the Sun Helps Ice Form on Mercury. Wait… What?” The post The Intense Heat from the Sun Helps Ice Form on Mercury. Wait… What? appeared first on Universe Today. UniverseRead More →

Good News! The New Strategy of Using InSight’s Arm to Push the Mole Seems to be Making Progress. There’s at least one small bit of good news in these challenging Covid-19 times. And it’s playing out on the surface of Mars. In a brief Tweet, NASA says that using InSight’s robotic arm to push the Mole into the ground is working, somewhat. As the tweet makes clear, this is no quick fix. They’re … Continue reading “Good News! The New Strategy of Using InSight’s Arm to Push the Mole Seems to be Making Progress.” The post Good News! The New Strategy of Using InSight’s ArmRead More →

As Temperatures Increase, Forests are Having More Trouble Soaking up Carbon A new study by an international team from over 100 universities and organizations has shown that tropical rainforests will not slow global warming for much longer. The post As Temperatures Increase, Forests are Having More Trouble Soaking up Carbon appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Greenland and Antarctica are Losing Their Ice 6 Times Faster than in the 1990s Is anybody listening? Smart people tell us that when it comes to conveying the reality of climate change, and the threat it poses, people don’t respond to facts. We respond to stories and narratives. We’re a narrative-driven species. But at Universe Today we know that facts underlie every good story. And the facts regarding ice … Continue reading “Greenland and Antarctica are Losing Their Ice 6 Times Faster than in the 1990s” The post Greenland and Antarctica are Losing Their Ice 6 Times Faster than in the 1990s appeared first onRead More →

Five Space and Astronomy Activities to do at Home During the Coronavirus Outbreak We’re in uncharted territory as the world faces the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. While the medical community is on the front lines of dealing with this, as well as others who provide critical services in our communities, the best thing many of us can do is to stay home (and wash our hands). If you’re looking … Continue reading “Five Space and Astronomy Activities to do at Home During the Coronavirus Outbreak” The post Five Space and Astronomy Activities to do at Home During the Coronavirus Outbreak appeared first on Universe Today. UniverseRead More →

A Star Has Been Found That Pulsates, But Only on One Side An international team of astronomers have found the first-ever example of a pulsar that emits energy from only one side – the tear-dropped HD 74423 The post A Star Has Been Found That Pulsates, But Only on One Side appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Your Umbrella is Insufficient on a Planet Where it Rains Iron Imagine a planet where it rained iron. Sounds impossible. But on one distant exoplanet, which is tidally locked to its star, the nightside has to contend with a ferrous downpour. The planet is called WASP-76b and it’s about 390 light years away from us in the constellation Pisces. It was discovered in 2013, and it’s the … Continue reading “Your Umbrella is Insufficient on a Planet Where it Rains Iron” The post Your Umbrella is Insufficient on a Planet Where it Rains Iron appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Slime Mold Grows the Same as the Large Scale Structure of the Universe Matter in the Universe is not distributed equally. It’s dominated by super-clusters and the filaments of matter that string them together, surrounded by huge voids. Galaxy super-clusters are at the top of the hierarchy. Inside those is everything else: galaxy groups and clusters, individual galaxies, and solar systems. This hierarchical structure is called the “Cosmic … Continue reading “Slime Mold Grows the Same as the Large Scale Structure of the Universe” The post Slime Mold Grows the Same as the Large Scale Structure of the Universe appeared first on Universe Today. UniverseRead More →

Over a Hundred New Large Objects Found in the Kuiper Belt Hey Pluto, Sedna, Haumea, Makemake Et al.: You’ve got company! While searching for distant galaxies and supernovae, the Dark Energy Survey’s powerful 570-megapixel digital camera spotted a few other moving “dots” in its field of view. Turns out, the DES has found more than 100 previously unknown trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs), minor planets located in Kuiper … Continue reading “Over a Hundred New Large Objects Found in the Kuiper Belt” The post Over a Hundred New Large Objects Found in the Kuiper Belt appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Astronomers Spot Rare Brown Dwarf Pair Sometimes, the strangest stellar finds are right in our own cosmic neighborhood. Astronomers recently made an interesting discovery while putting a new set of telescopes through their paces: an eclipsing pair of sub-stellar brown dwarfs. The post Astronomers Spot Rare Brown Dwarf Pair appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Gas and Dust Stop Planets From Eating Their Moons A team of Japanese researchers have created a new model for moon formation that explains how planets like Saturn end up with one moon particularly large moon The post Gas and Dust Stop Planets From Eating Their Moons appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

India’s Chandrayaan 2 is Creating the Highest Resolution Map We Have of the Moon India’s space organization, ISRO, launched Chandrayaan 2 to the Moon last year in July. While its lander Vikram crashed on the lunar surface on September 7, the Chandrayaan 2 orbiter continues to orbit the Moon. The Chandrayaan 2 orbiter hosts an extensive set of instruments to map the Moon and now we get a peek … Continue reading “India’s Chandrayaan 2 is Creating the Highest Resolution Map We Have of the Moon” The post India’s Chandrayaan 2 is Creating the Highest Resolution Map We Have of the Moon appeared first onRead More →

70 Million Years Ago, Days Were 30 Minutes Shorter, According to this Ancient Clam Has humanity been doing it all wrong? We’re busy staring off into space with our futuristic, ultra-powerful telescopes, mesmerized by ethereal nebulae and other wondrous objects, and trying to tease out the Universe’s well-kept secrets. Turns out, humble, ancient clams have something to tell us, too. A new study published in the American Geophysical Union’s … Continue reading “70 Million Years Ago, Days Were 30 Minutes Shorter, According to this Ancient Clam” The post 70 Million Years Ago, Days Were 30 Minutes Shorter, According to this Ancient Clam appeared first onRead More →

Is the “D-star Hexaquark” the Dark Matter Particle? A new paper by researchers from the University of York proposed a new candidate for Dark Matter, known as the d-star hexaquark. The post Is the “D-star Hexaquark” the Dark Matter Particle? appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Neutron Star Measures Just 22 Kilometers Across How big is a neutron star? These extreme, ultra-dense collapsed stars are fairly small, as far as stellar objects are concerned. Even though they pack the mass of a full-sized star, their size is often compared to the width of a medium-to-large-sized city. For years, astronomers have pegged neutron stars at somewhere between 19-27 km … Continue reading “Neutron Star Measures Just 22 Kilometers Across” The post Neutron Star Measures Just 22 Kilometers Across appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Following the Inner Worlds: Mercury and Venus in 2020 Where have all the planets gone in early 2020? While all of the naked eye planets are hiding in the early dawn sky, one world dominates the evening: brilliant Venus. The post Following the Inner Worlds: Mercury and Venus in 2020 appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

It Looks Like Betelgeuse was Dimming Because it was Dusty After All It’s been said that dust built the Universe. And it turns out dust may be the culprit for building up what are likely false hopes of soon witnessing a massive supernova for the star Betelgeuse. Late last year, both amateur and professional astronomers noticed that the red supergiant star Betelgeuse dimming quickly and significantly, with … Continue reading “It Looks Like Betelgeuse was Dimming Because it was Dusty After All” The post It Looks Like Betelgeuse was Dimming Because it was Dusty After All appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go toRead More →

Seti@home is on Pause. Unfortunately, it’s not Because They’ve Discovered Aliens After 20 years in operation, SETI@home program recently announced that it is taking a hiatus to sort through the mountain of data they’ve accumulated. The post Seti@home is on Pause. Unfortunately, it’s not Because They’ve Discovered Aliens appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

These are the Boulders OSIRIS-REx is Going to Use to Navigate Down to the Surface of Bennu Meet OSIRIS-REx’s “Guide Boulders.” When the NASA spacecraft first arrived at asteroid Bennu over a year ago, the surface of the asteroid was much different than expected. Instead of a surface with large, smooth areas, nearly the entire surface is covered in boulders. That meant that NASA had to do a re-think of the sampling … Continue reading “These are the Boulders OSIRIS-REx is Going to Use to Navigate Down to the Surface of Bennu” The post These are the Boulders OSIRIS-REx is Going to Use to NavigateRead More →

Life Could be Common Across the Universe, Just Not in Our Region The building blocks of life can, and did, spontaneously assemble under the right conditions. That’s called spontaneous generation, or abiogenesis. Of course, many of the details remain hidden to us, and we just don’t know exactly how it all happened. Or how frequently it could happen. The world’s religions have different ideas of how life … Continue reading “Life Could be Common Across the Universe, Just Not in Our Region” The post Life Could be Common Across the Universe, Just Not in Our Region appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go toRead More →