Mark Thompson, Author at Universe Today

December 8, 2024December 8, 2024 by Mark Thompson

Using Jupiter as a Dark Matter Detector

This full-disc image of Jupiter was taken on 21 April 2014 with Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3).

The nature of dark matter has been a hotly debated topic for decades. If it’s a heavy, slow moving particle then it’s just possible that neutrinos may be emitted during interactions with normal matter. A new paper proposes that Jupiter may be the place to watch this happen. It has enough gravity to capture dark matter particles which may be detectable using a water Cherenkov detector. The researchers suggest using a water Cherenkov detector to watch for excess neutrinos coming from the direction of Jupiter with energies between 100 MeV and 5 GeV.

December 6, 2024December 6, 2024 by Mark Thompson

Other Liquids Could Be Forming Minerals on Mars

At left: Steel is seen to corrode into siderite (FeCO3) when immersed in subcritical liquid carbon dioxide (LCO2). At right: Samples of albite (a plagioclase feldspar) and a sandstone core are observed to form red rhodochrosite (MnCO3) when exposed to supercritical CO2 in the presence of a water solution with potassium chloride and manganese chloride, with particularly strong reaction near the interface of the two solutions. In both experiments, water saturation is provided by floating LCO2 on the water. Under the lower pressure conditions characteristic of early Mars, the water would float on the LCO2. Credits:Photos courtesy of Todd Schaef/PNNL (left) and Earl Mattson/Mattson Hydrology (right).

Most people will think of a dry arid landscape when they think of Mars. When seen from orbit, dry river channels and lake-beds can be seen along with mineral deposits thought to be the created in the presence of liquid water. A team of researches now suggest that liquid carbon dioxide could also explain the features seen. On Earth, a process known as carbon sequestration liquefies CO2 which is buried underground. There are a number of mechanisms that could explain the liquid CO2 underground the researchers suggest.

December 6, 2024December 6, 2024 by Mark Thompson

Jared Isaacman is Trump’s Choice for NASA Administrator

As a new President of the United States is elected, the NASA administrator role is usually reviewed. With the election of Trump, a new administrator has been chosen, Jared Isaacman. He is a billionaire entrepreneur, an experienced jet pilot and has himself completed to private flights to space. He was also the first to complete a spacewalk during the Polaris Dawn mission. Isaacman replaces the outgoing administrator Bill Nelson, a former space shuttle astronaut and senator.

December 1, 2024December 1, 2024 by Mark Thompson

Just Built a Giant, Next Generation Planet Hunting Space Telescope? Here’s Where to Point It

LIFE will have five separate space telescopes that fly in formation and work together to detect biosignatures in exoplanet atmospheres. Image Credit: LIFE, ETH Zurich

You know what it’s like. You get a new telescope and need to know where to point it! The bigger the telescope, the more potential targets and the harder the decision! To date, we have found over 5,000 confirmed exoplanets (5,288 to be exact) with thousands more candidates. With missions like Gaia identifying thousands of nearby stars like our Sun where Earth-like planets could be lurking, its time to hunt them down. A new paper takes on the goiath task of trying to filter down all the millions of candidates into about 1,000 main sequence stars or binaries worth exploring. From these, they have identified 100 most promising targets and from them, the 10 best planetary systems.

November 29, 2024November 29, 2024 by Mark Thompson

The Early Earth Wasn’t Completely Terrible

Earth formed 4.54 billion years ago. The first period of the history of the Earth was known as the Hadean Period which lasted from 4.54 billion to 4 billion years ago. During that time, Earth was thought to be a magma filled, volcanic hellscape. It all sounds rather inhospitable at this stage but even then, liquid oceans of water are thought to have existed under an atmosphere of carbon dioxide and nitrogen. Recent research has shown that this environment may well have been rather more habitable than once thought.

November 29, 2024November 29, 2024 by Mark Thompson

Globular Clusters Evolve in Interesting Ways Over Time

Image gallery of the 16 globular clusters analysed in order of difference in the kinematic properties observed between the multiple stellar populations. Credits: ESA/Hubble - ESO - SDSS

Globular clusters are among the oldest objects in the Universe. The early Universe was filled with dwarf galaxies and its just possible that globular clusters are the remains of these ancient relics. Analysis of the stars in the clusters reveals ages in the region of 12-13 billion years old. A new paper just published shows that the globular clusters are home to two distinct types of stars; the primordial ones with normal chemical composition and those with unusual heavy amounts of heavier elements.

November 28, 2024November 28, 2024 by Mark Thompson

Euclid Could Find 170,000 Strong Gravitational Lenses

Gravitational lensing is a concept where dark matter distorts space revealing its presence through its interaction with light. ESA’s Euclid mission is mapping out the gravitational lensing events to chart the large scale structure of the Universe. Euclid is also expected to discover in excess of 170,000 strong gravitational lensing features too. AI is expected to help achieve this goal but machine learning is still in its infancy so human beings are likely to have to confirm each lens candidate.

November 28, 2024November 28, 2024 by Mark Thompson

Uranus’s Wobbling Moons Could Point to Oceans Under the Ice

This is an image of the planet Uranus taken by the spacecraft Voyager 2 in 1986.

Subsurface oceans of liquid water are a common feature of the moon’s of Jupiter and Saturn. Researchers are exploring whether the icy moons of Uranus and Neptune might have them as well. Their new paper suggests future missions to the outer Solar System could measure the rotation of the moons and detect any wobbles pointing to liquid oceans. Less wobble means the moons is mostly solid but large wobbles can indicate ice floating on an ocean of liquid.

November 27, 2024November 27, 2024 by Mark Thompson

Magnetic Tornado is Stirring up the Haze at Jupiter’s Poles

An artificially colored view of Jupiter as seen in ultraviolet light. In addition to the Great Red Spot, which appears blue, another oval feature can be seen in the brown haze at Jupiter's south pole. The oval, an area of concentrated haze, is possibly the result of mixing generated by a vortex higher up in the planet's ionosphere. These dark UV ovals also appear periodically at the north pole, though less often. Credit Troy Tsubota and Michael Wong, UC Berkeley

Jupiter is a stunning planet to observe. Whether it be visible light or any other wavelength. In a stunning new image released by the University of California -Berkley, Jupiter is seen in ultraviolet light. The familiar Great Red Spot appears as a blue oval as do many of the familiar belt features. Around the polar regions are revealed a brown haze which is thought to be caused by a high altitude vortex mixing up the atmosphere. The jury is still out on the mechanism behind this though but it may be an interaction between Jupiter’s strong magnetic field which pierces the atmosphere near the poles.

November 27, 2024November 27, 2024 by Mark Thompson

Is There Seismic Activity on Venus? Here’s How We Could Find Out

An artist’s depiction of different methods for measuring seismic and acoustic waves on Venus: a seismometer on the ground, pressure sensors on board balloons, and infrared imagers on board orbiters. Credit: Fabio Crameri

Venus is often referred to as Earths twin but size and mass are the only similarities. A visitor to one of our nearest neighbours would experience a very different world at the surface. Unlike other planets in the Solar System, Venus seems to show very little active volcanism. The environmental conditions on the surface are harsh so a researcher has suggested a combination of an orbiter, a balloon and a lander would be able to work together to detect seismic activity under the surface.