Universe Today (Page 448)

New Research Reveals How Galaxies Stay Hot and Bothered It’s relatively easy for galaxies to make stars. Start out with a bunch of random blobs of gas and dust. Typically those blobs will be pretty warm. To turn them into stars, you have to cool them off. By dumping all their heat in the form of radiation, they can compress. Dump more heat, compress … Continue reading “New Research Reveals How Galaxies Stay Hot and Bothered” The post New Research Reveals How Galaxies Stay Hot and Bothered appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

InSight Just Placed its Seismometer onto the Surface of Mars to Listen for Marsquakes NASA’s InSight lander has deployed its first instrument on the surface of Mars. On December 19th, the stationary lander used its robotic arm to deploy the SEIS (Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure), marking the first time a seismometer has been placed on the surface of another planet. This is a milestone for the mission, and … Continue reading “InSight Just Placed its Seismometer onto the Surface of Mars to Listen for Marsquakes” The post InSight Just Placed its Seismometer onto the Surface of Mars to Listen for Marsquakes appeared first onRead More →

Remember the Discovery of Methane in the Martian Atmosphere? Now Scientists Can’t Find any Evidence of it, at all According to recently-reported results from the ESA’s Trace Gas Orbiter, it appears that there may not be any methane in Mars’ atmosphere. The post Remember the Discovery of Methane in the Martian Atmosphere? Now Scientists Can’t Find any Evidence of it, at all appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Even if Exoplanets Have Atmospheres With Oxygen, it Doesn’t Mean There’s Life There In their efforts to find evidence of life beyond our Solar System, scientists are forced to take what is known as the “low-hanging fruit” approach. Basically, this comes down to determining if planets could be “potentially habitable” based on whether or not they would be warm enough to have liquid water on their surfaces and … Continue reading “Even if Exoplanets Have Atmospheres With Oxygen, it Doesn’t Mean There’s Life There” The post Even if Exoplanets Have Atmospheres With Oxygen, it Doesn’t Mean There’s Life There appeared first on Universe Today. UniverseRead More →

The Saturn Nebula Kind of Looks Like the Planet in a Small Telescope, But in One of the Most Powerful Telescopes on Earth, it Looks Like This Saturn is an icon. There’s nothing else like it in the Solar System, and it’s something even children recognize. But there’s a distant object that astronomers call the Saturn nebula, because from a distance it resembles the planet, with its pronounced ringed shape. The Saturn nebula bears no relation to the planet, except in shape. … Continue reading “The Saturn Nebula Kind of Looks Like the Planet in a Small Telescope, But in One of the Most PowerfulRead More →

Saturn is Losing its Rings, Fast. They Could be Gone Within 100 Million Years According to new research based on data obtained by the Cassini probe, Saturn’s rings could be gone within 100 million years. The post Saturn is Losing its Rings, Fast. They Could be Gone Within 100 Million Years appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

A Nuclear-Powered Tunneling Robot that Could Search for Life on Europa The search for life has led astronomers to the icy moons in our Solar System. Among those moons, Europa has attracted a lot of attention. Europa is Jupiter’s fourth-largest moon—and the sixth-largest in the Solar System—at 3,100 kilometres (1,900 mi) in diameter. Scientists think that its oceans could contain two or three times as much … Continue reading “A Nuclear-Powered Tunneling Robot that Could Search for Life on Europa” The post A Nuclear-Powered Tunneling Robot that Could Search for Life on Europa appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Carnival of Space #591 This week’s Carnival of Space is hosted by Brian Wang at his Next Big Future blog. Click here to read Carnival of Space #591 And if you’re interested in looking back, here’s an archive to all the past Carnivals of Space. If you’ve got a space-related blog, you should really join the carnival. Just email an entry … Continue reading “Carnival of Space #591” The post Carnival of Space #591 appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Weekly Space Hangout: Dec 19, 2018: News Roundup Hosts: Fraser Cain (universetoday.com / @fcain) Dr. Paul M. Sutter (pmsutter.com / @PaulMattSutter) Dr. Kimberly Cartier (KimberlyCartier.org / @AstroKimCartier ) Dr. Morgan Rehnberg (MorganRehnberg.com / @MorganRehnberg & ChartYourWorld.org) Announcements: Want to support CosmoQuest? Here are specific ways you can help: * Donate! (Streamlabs link) https://streamlabs.com/cosmoquestx * Donate and challenge your friends to donate too! (Tiltify … Continue reading “Weekly Space Hangout: Dec 19, 2018: News Roundup” The post Weekly Space Hangout: Dec 19, 2018: News Roundup appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Did You Know that the Earth Loses Several Hundred Tons of Atmosphere to Space Every Day? Scientists have known for some time that Earth’s atmosphere loses several hundred tons of oxygen each day. They understand how this oxygen loss happens on Earth’s night side, but they’re not sure how it happens on the day side. They do know one thing though; they happen during auroras. According to a press release from … Continue reading “Did You Know that the Earth Loses Several Hundred Tons of Atmosphere to Space Every Day?” The post Did You Know that the Earth Loses Several Hundred Tons of Atmosphere toRead More →

Messier 74 – the NGC 628 Spiral Galaxy Located in the Pisces constellation, roughly 30 million light years from Earth, is the spiral galaxy known as Messier 74 (aka. the “Phantom Galaxy”). The post Messier 74 – the NGC 628 Spiral Galaxy appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Just discovered! “Farout”, the Farthest Object Ever Seen in the Solar System Astronomers have discovered a distant body that’s more than 100 times farther from the Sun than Earth is. Its provisional designation is 2018 VG18, but they’ve nicknamed the planet “Farout.” Farout is the most distant body ever observed in our Solar System, at 120 astronomical units (AU) away. The International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center … Continue reading “Just discovered! “Farout”, the Farthest Object Ever Seen in the Solar System” The post Just discovered! “Farout”, the Farthest Object Ever Seen in the Solar System appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go toRead More →

Here are 20 Protoplanetary Disks, With Newly Forming Planets Carving Out Gaps in the Gas and Dust A new survey by an ALMA collaboration has resulted in stunning images of 20 nearby protoplanetary disks, which shows the process of planet formation as it happens. The post Here are 20 Protoplanetary Disks, With Newly Forming Planets Carving Out Gaps in the Gas and Dust appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Here’s the First Image of the Sun from the Parker Solar Probe It’s been 124 days since the Parker Solar Probe was launched, and several weeks since it made the closest approach any spacecraft has ever made to a star. Now, scientists are getting their hands on the data from the close approach. Four researchers at the recent meeting of the American Geophysical Union in Washington, D.C. … Continue reading “Here’s the First Image of the Sun from the Parker Solar Probe” The post Here’s the First Image of the Sun from the Parker Solar Probe appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go toRead More →

Rosetta Flew Through the Bow Shock of Comet 67P Several Times During its Mission According to a new analysis of Rosetta data, the orbiter passed through the bow shock of Comet 67/P several times during its mission. The post Rosetta Flew Through the Bow Shock of Comet 67P Several Times During its Mission appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

Of Course You’ll Want to See InSight’s First Selfie. InSight has been on the Martian surface for almost three weeks, prepping itself for all the science it’s going to do. But in the meantime, it’s doing what any self-respecting, modern robotic lander does: Taking pictures of itself. And now NASA has released InSight’s first selfie for all the lander’s adoring fans and Instagram followers. … Continue reading “Of Course You’ll Want to See InSight’s First Selfie.” The post Of Course You’ll Want to See InSight’s First Selfie. appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

You’re Looking at an Actual Image of a White Dwarf Feeding on Material from a Larger Red Giant, 650 Light Years from Earth. The SPHERE planet-hunting instrument on the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope captured this image of a white dwarf feeding on its companion star, a type of Red Giant called a Mira variable. Most stars exist in binary systems, and they spend an eternity serenely orbiting their common center of gravity. But something almost sinister … Continue reading “You’re Looking at an Actual Image of a White Dwarf Feeding on Material from a Larger Red Giant, 650 Light Years from Earth.” TheRead More →

Exactly How We Would Send our First Laser-Powered Probe to Alpha Centauri In a recent study, an international team of scientists present their concept for a lightsail and spacecraft that could make the journey to the nearest star in about 100 years. The post Exactly How We Would Send our First Laser-Powered Probe to Alpha Centauri appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →

There’s a Surprising Amount of Life Deep Inside the Earth. Hundreds of Times More Mass than All of Humanity Scientists with the Deep Carbon Observatory (DCO) are transforming our understanding of life deep inside the Earth, and maybe on other worlds. Their discoveries suggest that abundant life could exist in the sub-surface of other planets and moons, even where temperatures are extreme, and energy and nutrients are scarce. They’ve also discovered that all of … Continue reading “There’s a Surprising Amount of Life Deep Inside the Earth. Hundreds of Times More Mass than All of Humanity” The post There’s a Surprising Amount of Life DeepRead More →

Every Few Hours There’s a Flash of Light Coming From the Moon. Another Impact. The ESA’s NELIOTA project is busy monitoring the dark side of the Moon for impact flashes, which could tell us more about the risk of asteroids hitting Earth. The post Every Few Hours There’s a Flash of Light Coming From the Moon. Another Impact. appeared first on Universe Today. Universe Today Go to SourceRead More →