Carolyn Collins Petersen, Author at Universe Today

August 10, 2024August 10, 2024 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

Gaia Finds Hundreds of Asteroid Moons

This illustrates the orbits of more than 150,000 asteroids seen by Gaia as part of its data release 3. The orbits shown here extend from the inner solar system to the orbit of Jupiter. Courtesy ESA/Gaia/DPAC; CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

The amazing Gaia mission to chart stars in the Milky Way Galaxy is also an expert asteroid hunter. Now, astronomers are reporting its success at spotting more moons of asteroids in our solar system. Once the Gaia data from its release 3 are confirmed, those observations will add 352 more binary asteroids to the known count. That nearly doubles the known number of asteroids with moons and previous Gaia data releases also revealed asteroids in its survey.

August 7, 2024August 7, 2024 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

The Moon’s Atmosphere Comes from Space Weathering

A future astronaut studies the lunar surface to understand space weathering of the Moon. Courtesy NASA.

How do you get an atmosphere at a world that doesn’t have one and can’t keep one? If it’s the Moon, you simply bombard it for millions of years with tiny meteorites. Also, let it sit in the solar wind and see what happens. Both space-weathering processes create a thin “exosphere” just above the lunar surface.

July 31, 2024July 31, 2024 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

Predicting Solar Storms Before They Leave the Sun

Solar storms called coronal mass ejections erupt from the Sun. Scientists now think they can predict the speed of these storms. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

When giant solar storms hit Earth, they trigger beautiful auroral displays high in Earth’s atmosphere. There’s a dark side to this solar activity, though. The “space weather” it sets off also threatens our technology. The potential for damage is why we need highly accurate predictions of just when these storms will impact our planet’s magnetosphere.

July 30, 2024July 30, 2024 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

Space Debris From Every Angle

Images from the "Fly-around Observation" on July 15 conducted by Astroscale's ADRAS-J demonstration satellite. The idea was to image this space debris. Courtesy Astroscale/JAXA.

Near-Earth space is an orbiting junkyard of space debris. Everything from old rocket parts and pieces of dead satellites to cameras and tools floats in orbit. None of it serves a useful function any longer, but it does threaten other spacecraft. In fact, some missions have been damaged by this orbital debris and the problem will get worse as we launch more missions to space.

So, it makes sense to remove the existing space junk, but how to do that? A company in Japan called Astroscale is working with the Japan Aerospace Agency (JAXA) to figure that out.

July 29, 2024July 29, 2024 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

We Might Find Life Just Under the Surface on Europa

If life exists in the oceas of Europa (left) and Enceladus (right), it could leave amino-acid fingerprints just beneath the surface. Courtesy NASA.

What does it take to have life at another world? Astrobiologists say you need water, warmth, and something for life to eat. If it’s there, it’ll leave signs of itself in the form of organic molecules called amino acids. Now, NASA scientists think that those “signatures” of life—or potential life—could exist just under the icy surfaces of Europa and Enceladus.

July 25, 2024July 25, 2024 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

Is This How You Get Hot Jupiters?

This artist’s impression shows a Jupiter-like exoplanet that is on its way to becoming a hot Jupiter — a large, Jupiter-like exoplanet that orbits very close to its star. Courtesy: NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da Silva

When we think of Jupiter-type planets, we usually picture massive cloud-covered worlds orbiting far from their stars. That distance keeps their volatile gases from vaporizing from stellar heat, similar to what we’re familiar with in our Solar System. So, why are so many exoplanets known as “hot Jupiters” orbiting very close to their stars? That’s the question astronomers ask as they study more of these extreme worlds.

July 23, 2024July 23, 2024 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

Curiosity Drives Over a Rock, Cracking it Open and Revealing an Amazing Yellow Crystal

The Mars Curiosity rover rolled over this rock containing pure sulfur crystals in May. Planetary scientists are still trying to figure out how the sulfur got there. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

On May 30th, the Mars Curiosity rover was just minding its own business exploring Gediz Vallis when it ran over a rock. Its wheel cracked the rock and voila! Pure elemental sulfur spilled out. The rover took a picture of the broken rock about a week later, marking the first time sulfur has been found in a pure form on Mars.

July 18, 2024July 18, 2024 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

Why is Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Shrinking? It’s Starving.

Hubble’s 2021 image of Jupiter shows the Great Red Spot, along with smaller storms that may be affecting its size over time. Courtesy NASA/ESA/STScI.

The largest storm in the Solar System is shrinking and planetary scientists think they have an explanation. It could be related to a reduction in the number of smaller storms that feed it and may be starving Jupiter’s centuries-old Great Red Spot (GRS).

July 18, 2024July 18, 2024 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

Stars Can Survive Their Partner Detonating as a Supernova

A binary star system consisting of two stars: a dense neutron star (lower right) and a normal Sun-like star (upper left). The neutron star formed in a supernova explosion and the Sun-like star survived it. Credit: Caltech/R. Hurt (IPAC)

When a massive star dies in a supernova explosion, it’s not great news for any planets or stars that happen to be nearby. Generally, the catastrophic event crisps nearby worlds and sends companion stars careening through space. So, astronomers were pretty surprised to find 21 neutron stars—the crushed stellar cores left over after supernova explosions—orbiting in binary systems with Sun-like stars.

July 17, 2024July 17, 2024 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

Neutron Star is Spraying Jets Like a Garden Sprinkler

Radio image from the MeerKAT telescope showing Circinus X-1 in the center, within the spherical remnant of the supernova it was born in. The shock waves caaued by the jets are seen above and below Cir X-1, and the S-shape structure in the jets is somewhat obscured by a bright source in the background. Courtesy Fraser Cowie, Attribution CC BY 4.0. — Radio image from the MeerKAT telescope showing Circinus X-1 in the center, within the spherical remnant of the supernova it was born in. The shock waves caused by the jets are seen above and below Cir X-1, and the S-shape structure in the jets is somewhat obscured by a bright source in the background. Courtesy Fraser Cowie, Attribution CC BY 4.0.

X-ray binaries are some of the oddest ducks in the cosmic zoo and they attract attention across thousands of light-years. Now, astronomers have captured new high-resolution radio images of the first one ever discovered. It’s called Circinus X-1. Their views show a weird kind of jet emanating from the neutron star member of the binary. The jet rotates like an off-axis sprinkler as it spews material out through surrounding space, sending shockwaves through the interstellar medium.