Brian Koberlein
New Horizons is So Far Away, it Can Measure the True Darkness of the Universe
NASA's New Horizons Spacecraft has completed its flybys of Pluto and Arrakoth and is now about 8 billion kilometers from…
Storms on Saturn Can Have Impacts That Last for Hundreds of Years
While Jupiter has the famous Great Red Spot cyclonic storm, the other giant planets have less turbulent-looking surfaces. But they…
Vera Rubin Will Find Many More Interstellar Objects
Astronomers have discovered two interstellar objects, Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov. When the Vera C Rubin Observatory comes online next year, it'll…
Giant Tidal Waves are Crashing Onto the Surface of an Enormous Star
Although the surface of a star seems quite different from the ocean, the underlying effect of gravity can create similar…
Evidence for Modified Gravity Found in the Motions of Binary Stars
There are two leading explanations for dark matter, massive particles that don't interact with regular matter apart from gravity and…
Astronomers Search for Dark Matter Annihilation at the Center of the Earth
If dark matter is made of heavy particles, they could become captured by the gravitational field of massive objects like…
Could This Supermassive Black Hole Only Have Formed by Direct Collapse?
One of the outstanding mysteries in astronomy is how supermassive black holes gained so much mass so early in the…
Mars is Spinning Faster and Faster
Before it retired, NASA's Mars Insight Lander sent home detailed data about the rotation of Mars. From these data, planetary…
Some Metal Meteorites Have a Tiny Magnetic Field. But How?
A portion of the metallic meteorites found on Earth have traces of magnetism. This is surprising since you need a…
Do Technological Civilizations Depend on Atmospheric Oxygen?
Our modern technological civilization wouldn't have been possible without open-air combustion, which can only happen when atmospheric oxygen levels reach…