Universe Today

January 6, 2025January 6, 2025 by Matt Williams

This Superbacteria can Withstand Enough Radiation to Kill a Person

A new study reveals the secret to the antioxidant that allows the bacteria Deinococcus radiodurans to withstand radiation doses 28,000 times greater than what would kill a human. Credit: Northwestern University

Nature is filled with examples of extreme life (aka. extremophiles), which are so-called because they can withstand extreme conditions. These include organisms that can survive in extremely dry conditions, extreme temperatures, acidity, pressure, and even the vacuum of space. The study of these organisms not only helps scientists learn more about the kinds of environments life can survive (and even thrive) in. It also helps astrobiologists to speculate about possible life in the Universe. Perhaps the name “tardigrades” (aka. “water bears”) rings a bell, those little creatures that could survive in interstellar space?

Then you have Deinococcus radiodurans (D. radiodurans), which microbiologists call “Conan the Bacterium” due to its ability to tolerate the harshest conditions. This includes radiation doses thousands of times higher than what would kill a human, or any other organism on Earth, for that matter. In a new study, a team of researchers from Northwestern University and the Uniformed Services University (USU) characterized a synthetic organism inspired by Deinococcus radiodurans that could allow humans to withstand the elevated radiation levels in deep space, on the Moon, and Mars.

January 6, 2025January 6, 2025 by Evan Gough

An Early Supermassive Black Hole Took a Little Break Between Feasts

This artist’s impression shows a black hole about 800 million years after the Big Bang, during one of its short periods of rapid growth. Image Credit: Jiarong Gu

In the last couple of decades, it’s become increasingly clear that massive galaxies like our own Milky Way host supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in their centres. How they became so massive and how they affect their surroundings are active questions in astronomy. Astronomers working with the James Webb Space Telescope have discovered an SMBH in the early Universe that is accreting mass at a very low rate, even though the black hole is extremely massive compared to its host galaxy.

What’s going on with this SMBH, and what does it tell astronomers about the growth of these gargantuan black holes?

January 6, 2025January 6, 2025 by David Dickinson

Will Comet G3 ATLAS Perform at Perihelion?

Comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS may put on a quick show this month.

What ‘may’ be the best anticipated comet of 2025 is coming right up. Right now, there’s only one comet with real potential to reach naked eye visibility in 2025: Comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS. This comet reaches perihelion at 0.094 Astronomical Units (AU, 8.7 million miles or 14 million kilometers, interior to the orbit of Mercury) from the Sun on January 13^th, and ‘may’ top -1^st magnitude or brighter. At magnitude +4 in late December, Comet G3 ATLAS could become a fine object low in the dawn sky for southern hemisphere observers… if (a big ‘if) it holds together and performs as expected.

January 6, 2025January 6, 2025 by Brian Koberlein

A Dragon Reveals Individual Stars From A Time When the Universe Was Half Its Present Age

The galactic cluster Abell 370, with the Dragon Arc highlighted. Credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble SM4 ERO Team and ST-ECF

One powerful way to study the galaxies is to study individual stars. By looking at the ages, types, and distribution of stars in the Milky Way, we’ve captured a detailed snapshot of how our galaxy formed and evolved. The only problem with this approach is that we can only do this for a handful of galaxies. Even with the most powerful telescopes, we can only see individual stars in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies such as Andromeda. For galaxies billions of light years away, individual stars blur together, and the best we can do is observe the overall spectra of galaxies, not individual stars. But thanks to a chance alignment, we can now observe dozens of stars in a galaxy so distant we see it at a time when the Universe was half its present age.

January 6, 2025January 6, 2025 by Andy Tomaswick

Pushing A Probe To Alpha Centauri Using A Relativistic Electron Beam

Getting a spacecraft to another star is a monumental challenge. However, that doesn’t stop people from working on it. The most visible groups currently doing so are Breakthrough Starshot and the Tau Zero Foundation, both of whom focus on a very particular type of propulsion-beamed power. A paper from the Chairman of Tau Zero’s board, Jeffrey Greason, and Gerrit Bruhaug, a physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory who specializes in laser physics, takes a look at the physics of one such beaming technology – a relativistic electron beam – how it might be used to push a spacecraft to another star.

January 5, 2025January 5, 2025 by Matt Williams

If We Want to Live on Other Worlds, We're Going to Need New Clocks

Artist's impression of astronauts on the lunar surface, as part of the Artemis Program. How will they store power on the Moon? 3D printed batteries could help. Credit: NASA

Between NASA, other space agencies, and the commercial space sector, there are some truly ambitious plans for humanity’s future in space. These plans envision the creation of permanent infrastructure on and around the Moon that will enable a permanent human presence there, complete with research, science, and commercial operations. They also call for the first crewed missions to Mars, followed by the creation of surface habitats that will allow for return visits. These plans present many challenges, ranging from logistical and technical issues to health and human safety.

Another challenge is coordinating operations across the lunar surface with those in orbit and back at Earth, which requires a system of standardized time. In a recent study, a team of NASA researchers developed a new system of lunar time for all lunar assets and those in cis-lunar space. They recommend that this system’s foundation be relativistic time transformations, known more generally as “time dilation.” Such a system will allow for coordination and effective timekeeping on the Moon by addressing discrepancies caused by gravitational potential differences and relative motion.

January 4, 2025January 4, 2025 by Mark Thompson

There Were Over 260 Orbital Launches in 2024. A New Record

Breakdown of launches per year. Credit : SpaceStatsOnline.Com

The launch of a rocket into orbit should never become routine. There was a time, probably around the 50’s and 60’s that a rocket launch hit the headlines. Now its just another launch. Last year (2024) saw a record breaking 263 launches. The US launched 158, China launched 68 and other countries/regions like Europe, Russian and Japan. Last year just 224 launches were completed and two years ago in 2022, 168 launches were completed. Surprisingly perhaps, prior to 2020 the record was set at 141 back in 1967, the future of rocket flight still seems quite alive!

January 3, 2025January 3, 2025 by Matt Williams

New Study Explains How Mars Dust Storms Can Engulf the Planet

A dust storm spreads over the surface of Mars in 2018. Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin

Mars is well-known for its dust storms, which occur every Martian year during summer in the southern hemisphere. Every three Martian years (five and a half Earth years), these storms grow so large that they are visible from Earth and will engulf the entire planet for months. These storms pose a significant threat to robotic missions, generating electrostatic charges that can interfere with their electronics or cause dust to build up on their solar panels, preventing them from drawing enough power to remain operational.

While scientists have studied these storms for decades, the precise mechanisms that trigger them have remained the subject of debate. In a new study, a team of planetary scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder) has provided new insight into the factors involved. According to their findings, relatively warm and sunny days may kick off the largest storms every few years. These could be the first step toward forecasting extreme weather on Mars, which is vital for future crewed missions to Mars.

January 3, 2025January 3, 2025 by Andy Tomaswick

Student Team Designs 2U CubeSat with Big Ambitions

CubeSats can be used in many different scenarios, and one of their most important uses is providing an easy path to understanding how to design, plan, and launch a mission. That was the idea behind AlbaSat, a 2U CubeSat currently under development by a team at the University of Padova with an impressive four different functional sensors packed into its tiny frame.

January 3, 2025January 3, 2025 by Brian Koberlein

This Fast Radio Burst Definitely Came From a Neutron Star

An artist's impression of the origin of FRB 20221022A. Credit: Daniel Liévano

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are notoriously difficult to study. They are flashes of radio light that can outshine a galaxy but often last for only a fraction of a second. For years, all we could do was observe them by random chance and wonder about their origins. Now, thanks to wide-field radio telescopes such as CHIME, we have some general understanding as to their cause. They seem to originate from highly magnetic neutron stars known as magnetars, but the details are still a matter of some debate. Now a team has used a method known as scintillation to reveal more clues about this mysterious phenomenon.