Brian Koberlein, Author at Universe Today

January 15, 2024January 15, 2024 by Brian Koberlein

Gigantic Galaxy Clusters Found Just Before They're Awash in Star Formation

This panchromatic view of galaxy cluster MACS0416 was created by combining infrared observations from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope with visible-light data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI

One of the central factors in the evolution of galaxies is the rate at which stars form. Some galaxies are in a period of active star formation, while others have very little new stars. Very broadly, it’s thought that younger galaxies enter a period of rapid star formation before leveling off to become a mature galaxy. But a new study finds some interesting things about just when and why stars form.

January 12, 2024January 12, 2024 by Brian Koberlein

Dark Matter Could Map the Universe's Early Magnetic Fields

Illustration of magnetic field lines running between galaxies. Credit: Chris Mihos/ CWRU

We think of magnetic fields as a part of planets and stars. The Earth and Sun have relatively strong magnetic fields, as do more exotic objects such as neutron stars and the accretion disks of black holes. But magnetic field lines also run throughout galaxies, and even between the vast voids of intergalactic space. Magnetic fields are quite literally everywhere, and we aren’t entirely sure why. One idea is that faint magnetic fields formed during the earliest moments of the Universe. If that’s the case, we might be able to prove it through the distribution of dark matter.

January 6, 2024January 6, 2024 by Brian Koberlein

Multiple Supernova Remnants Merging in a Distant Nebula

The nebula 30 Doradus B seen in x-ray, optical, and visible light. Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Penn State Univ./L. Townsley et al.; Optical: NASA/STScI/HST; Infrared: NASA/JPL/CalTech/SST; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Schmidt, N. Wolk, K. Arcand

The key to astronomy is careful observation. Unlike many sciences, astronomers can’t often do their work in a lab. Sure, they can build space telescopes and large ground observatories, but even with tools as simple as sticks and stones astronomers were able to change our understanding of the Universe with patience and observation. That tradition still holds true today, as a recent study in The Astronomical Journal shows.

January 5, 2024January 5, 2024 by Brian Koberlein

Do Neutron Stars Have Mountains? Gravitational Wave Observatories Could Detect Them

Light bursts from the collision of two neutron stars. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/CI Lab

The surface gravity of a neutron star is so incredibly intense that it can cause atoms to collapse into a dense cluster of neutrons. The interiors of neutron stars may be dense enough to allow quarks to escape the bounds of nuclei. So it’s hard to imagine neutron stars as active bodies, with tectonic crusts and perhaps even mountains. But we have evidence to support this idea, and we could learn even more through gravitational waves.

January 4, 2024January 4, 2024 by Brian Koberlein

Want to Find Life? See What's Missing in an Atmosphere

Illustration potentially habitable worlds. Credit: Christine Daniloff, MIT; iStock

The world runs on carbon. Not just fossil-fuel-driven human society, but all life on Earth. Carbon-based organic molecules are a part of every living thing on Earth. Along with oxygen, nitrogen, and water, carbon is a necessary ingredient for life as we know it. So one way to look for life on other worlds could be to look for carbon in its atmosphere. But a new study shows that it’s actually a lack of carbon that could be the best clue to life on another world.

January 3, 2024January 3, 2024 by Brian Koberlein

The Most Massive Neutron Stars Probably Have Cores of Quark Matter

Illustration of a quark core in a neutron star. Credit: Jyrki Hokkanen, CSC - IT Center for Science

Atoms are made of three things: protons, neutrons, and electrons. Electrons are a type of fundamental particle, but protons and neutrons are composite particles made of up and down quarks. Protons have 2 ups and 1 down, while neutrons have 2 downs and 1 up. Because of the curious nature of the strong force, these quarks are always bound to each other, so they can never be truly free particles like electrons, at least in the vacuum of empty space. But a new study in Nature Communications finds that they can liberate themselves within the hearts of neutron stars.

December 29, 2023December 29, 2023 by Brian Koberlein

The Early Universe Was Surprisingly Filled With Spiral Galaxies

The bluish-white spiral galaxy NGC 1376 hangs delicately in the cold vacuum of space. Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

If we could travel far beyond our galaxy, and look back upon the Milky Way, it would be a glorious sight. Luminous spirals stretching from a central core, with dust and nebulae scattered along the spiral edges. When you think about a galaxy, you probably imagine a spiral galaxy like the Milky Way, but spirals make up only about 60% of the galaxies we see. That’s because spiral galaxies only form when smaller galaxies collide and merge over time. Or so we thought, as a new study suggests that isn’t the case.

December 23, 2023December 23, 2023 by Brian Koberlein

The Atmosphere of an Exoplanet Reveals Secrets About Its Surface

An artist’s concept of active volcanoes on Venus. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Peter Rubin

As astronomers have begun to gather data on the atmospheres of planets, we’re learning about their compositions and evolution. Thick atmospheres are the easiest to study, but these same thick atmospheres can hide the surface of a planet from view. A Venus-like world, for example, has such a thick atmosphere making it impossible to see the planet’s terrain. It seems the more likely we are to understand a planet’s atmosphere, the less likely we are to understand its surface. But that could change thanks to a new study in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astrophysical Society.

December 16, 2023December 16, 2023 by Brian Koberlein

Could There Be a Black Hole Inside the Sun?

It’s a classic tale of apocalyptic fiction. The Sun, our precious source of heat and light, collapses into a black hole. Or perhaps a stray black hole comes along and swallows it up. The End is Nigh! If a stellar-mass black hole swallowed our Sun, then we’d only have about 8 minutes before, as the kids say, it gets real. But suppose the Sun swallowed a small primordial black hole? Then things get interesting, and that’s definitely worth a paper on the arXiv.

December 15, 2023December 26, 2023 by Brian Koberlein

Ancient Stars Could Make Elements With More Than 260 Nucleons

Artist’s impression of strontium emerging from a neutron star merger. Credit: ESO/L. Calçada/M. Kornmesser

The first stars of the Universe were monstrous beasts. Comprised only of hydrogen and helium, they could be 300 times more massive than the Sun. Within them, the first of the heavier elements were formed, then cast off into the cosmos at the end of their short lives. They were the seeds of all the stars and planets we see today. A new study suggests these ancient progenitors created more than just the natural elements.