Carolyn Collins Petersen, Author at Universe Today

March 6, 2024March 6, 2024 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

What’s the Best Way to Pack for Space?

The QASIS system won first place in the Artemis Lunar Gateway Cargo Packing and Storing Challenge for use in space. This design maximizes stowage capacity, uses lightweight structures, and shows ease of use without the complexities of motors, batteries, and electronics. QASIS / NASA — The QASIS system by designer Kriso Leinfellner won first place in the Artemis Lunar Gateway Cargo Packing and Storing Challenge for use in space. This design maximizes stowage capacity, uses lightweight structures, and shows ease of use without the complexities of motors, batteries, and electronics. QASIS / NASA

Packing to go to space is a lot like getting ready for a plane ride with only a carry-on bag. You have to maximize the use of the space in your bag at the same time you want to make sure you have what you need. That’s the challenge astronauts face in the upcoming Artemis moon missions. So, NASA held a competition to figure out the best and most innovative ways to store cargo for the missions.

March 3, 2024March 3, 2024 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

Curiosity Rover is Climbing Through Dramatic Striped Terrain on Mars

HiRISE spots Curiosity driving toward upper Gediz Vallis. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Just about every day we here on Earth get a breathtaking picture of Mars’s terrain sent back by a rover. But, the view from space can be pretty amazing, too. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) just sent back a thought-provoking picture of Curiosity as it makes its way up a steep ridge on Mount Sharp.

February 27, 2024February 27, 2024 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

Planets in Binary Star Systems Could be Nice and Habitable

An AI-generated artist's concept of a planet in a binary star system where the orbits may not yet be in alignment. Credit: Michael S. Helfenbein.

The Star Wars world Tatooine is one of the most recognizable planets in the realm of science fiction. It’s a harsh place, and its conditions shaped the hero Luke Skywalker in many ways. In the reality-based Universe, there may not be many worlds like it. That’s because, according to a new study out from Yale researchers, the Universe likes to be more orderly, and that affects planets and their environments.

February 25, 2024February 25, 2024 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

A Planetary Disk in the Orion Nebula is Destroying and Replenishing Oceans of Water Every Month

A closeup of the inner region of the Orion Nebula as seen by JWST. There's a protoplanetary disk there that is recycling an Earth's ocean-full of water each month. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, PDRs4All ERS Team; Salomé Fuenmayor image

Planet-forming disks are places of chaotic activity. Not only do planetesimals slam together to form larger worlds, but it now appears that the process involves the destructive recycling of water within a disk. That’s the conclusion from scientists studying JWST data from a planetary birth crèche called d203-506 in the Orion Nebula.

February 23, 2024February 23, 2024 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

A Star Passed Through the Oort Cloud Less Than 500,000 Years Ago. It Wasn’t the Only One.

Stars travel throughout the Galaxy. It's inevitable that some will pass near the Sun and perhaps even through our Oort Cloud, with interesting consequences. Credit: NASA/ESA/STScI.

As stars in the Milky Way move through space, some of them have an unexpected effect on the Solar System. Over time, one comes closer to the Sun during its orbit in the galaxy. Some of them actually get within a light-year of our star and pass through the Oort Cloud. Such close flybys can affect the orbits of the outer planets and send cometary nuclei on a long inward rush to the Sun.

February 21, 2024February 21, 2024 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

A New, More Accurate Measurement for the Clumpiness of the Universe

Clusters of galaxies as observed by the eROSITA instrument. Colors indicate the redshift of the clusters, up to about 9 billion years of lookback time. Credit: MPE, J. Sanders for the eROSITA consortium. — Clusters of galaxies as observed by the eROSITA instrument. The idea is to determine the clumpiness (or distribution) of matter in the Universe. Colors indicate the redshift of the clusters, up to about 9 billion years of lookback time. Credit: MPE, J. Sanders for the eROSITA consortium.

Cosmologists are wrestling with an interesting question: how much clumpiness does the Universe have? There are competing but not compatible measurements of cosmic clumpiness and that introduces a “tension” between the differing measurements. It involves the amount and distribution of matter in the Universe. However, dark energy and neutrinos are also in the mix. Now, results from a recent large X-ray survey of galaxy clusters may help “ease the tension”.

February 15, 2024February 15, 2024 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

Even Stars Like the Sun Can Unleash Savage Flares in Their Youth

Artist's concept of the flare that burst out from the young nearby star HD 283572. The flare was detected by the Submillimeter Array on Mauna Kea, in Hawai'i. Credit: CfA/Melissa Weiss.

Why would a young Sun-like star suddenly belch out a hugely bright flare? That’s what astronomers at Harvard Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory want to know after they spotted such an outburst using a sensitive submillimeter-wave telescope. According to Joshua Bennett Lovell, leader of a team that observed the star’s activity, these kinds of flare events are rare in such young stars, particularly at millimeter wavelengths. So, what’s happening there?

February 13, 2024February 13, 2024 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

Black Holes Existed at the Dawn of Time, Birthing Stars and Encouraging Galaxy Formation

An illustration of a magnetic field generated by a supermassive black hole in the early universe, showing turbulent plasma outflows that help turn nearby gas clouds into stars. New findings suggest this process might be responsible for accelerated star formation in the first 50 million years of the universe. Credit: Roberto Molar Candanosa/Johns Hopkins University

The Universe is full of galaxies, many containing supermassive black holes. That sparked a question: which came first—the galaxies or their black holes? The answer is becoming very clear, thanks to the first year of observations made by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Black holes were in the Universe from the earliest times, along with the very first galaxies. And, they helped shape the cosmos we observe today.

February 10, 2024February 10, 2024 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

Webb Can Directly Test One Theory for Dark Matter

Stephan's Quintet of galaxies as seen by JWST. The telescope could provide sharp views of even more distant galaxies that could help solve part of the dark matter mystery in galaxy formation. Courtesy: JWST.

What is it about galaxies and dark matter? Most, if not all galaxies are surrounded by halos of this mysterious, unknown, but ubiquitous material. And, it also played a role in galaxy formation. The nature of that role is something astronomers are still figuring out. Today, they’re searching the infant Universe, looking for the tiniest, brightest galaxies. That’s because they could help tell the tale of dark matter’s role in galactic creation.

February 7, 2024February 7, 2024 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

How Does the Cosmic Web Drive Galaxy Evolution?

A computer simulation of what gas and stars in a galaxy cluster look like, and how they look embedded in the cosmic web. The assembly of galaxy clusters has implications for the clumpiness of the Universe throughout time. Credit: Yannick Bahé.

Galaxies experience a long strange trip through the cosmic web as they grow and evolve. It turns out that the neighborhoods they spend time in on the journey change their evolution, and that affects their star formation activity and alters their gas content.