Paul M. Sutter, Author at Universe Today

December 15, 2020December 15, 2020 by Paul M. Sutter

Gravitational interactions can drive comets and asteroids from Jupiter out to Neptune in just 10 years

This image is an artist’s impression of the trans-Neptunian object that two Southwest Research Institute scientists recently discovered is a binary object. Image Credit: SwRI

Distances in the solar system are vast, and it typically takes millions of years for small bodies to migrate from one orbit to another. But researchers recently discovered a “super highway”, where interactions among the planets are capable of sending comets and asteroids from Jupiter to Neptune in as little as a decade.

December 6, 2020December 6, 2020 by Paul M. Sutter

20 Years of Hubble Photos Show how the Stingray Nebula is Fading

The Stingray Nebula has been fading for the past twenty years.

The Stingray Nebula is the youngest known planetary nebula. For half a century astronomers have witnessed its formation, and now they’ve noticed something strange: it’s fading away.

December 6, 2020December 6, 2020 by Paul M. Sutter

If There’s Subsurface Water Across Mars, Where is it Safe to Land to Avoid Contamination?

Light-toned layered deposits thought to be sandstones in West Candor Chasma, Mars. They may have formed in an ancient wet and potentially habitable environment. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

If Mars is a potential home for alien life, can we land safely anywhere on the surface without introducing contamination of Earth-born bacteria? A new study has some good news and some bad news. The good news is that Mars is likely completely inhospitable to life. The bad news is that Mars is…likely completely inhospitable to life.

November 30, 2020November 30, 2020 by Paul M. Sutter

New jets seen blasting out of the center of a galaxy

Artist's impression of a quasar and a relativistic jet emanating from the center. Credit: NASA

Giant black holes can launch jets that extend for tens of thousand of light-years, blasting clean out of their host galaxies. These jets can last for tens of millions of years. Recently astronomers have spotted the first-ever jet in the process of forming, creating a cavity in the span of only twenty years.

November 30, 2020November 30, 2020 by Paul M. Sutter

Astronomers find a galaxy that had its dark matter siphoned away

Artist rendering of possible dark matter emissions from the Milky Way. Credit: Christopher Dessert, Nicholas L. Rodd, Benjamin R. Safdi, Zosia Rostomian (Berkeley Lab)

The galaxy NGC 1052-DF4 surprised scientists by having almost no dark matter to complement its stellar population. Recently a team of astronomers has provided an explanation: a nearby galaxy has stripped NGC 1052-DF4 of its dark matter, and is currently in the process of destroying the rest of it too.

November 27, 2020November 27, 2020 by Paul M. Sutter

A third of the stars in the Milky Way came from a single merger 10 billion years ago

This artist’s impression shows how the Milky Way galaxy would look seen from almost edge on and from a very different perspective than we get from the Earth. The central bulge shows up as a peanut shaped glowing ball of stars and the spiral arms and their associated dust clouds form a narrow band. Image Credit: By ESO/NASA/JPL-Caltech/M. Kornmesser/R. Hurt - http://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1339a/, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28256788

Ten billion years ago the young Milky Way survived a titanic merger with a neighboring galaxy, eventually consuming the whole thing. Now, remnants of that fossil galaxy still swim in our galaxy’s core – and astronomers have discovered that almost a third of the Milky Way’s current population came from that dismantled rival.

November 27, 2020November 27, 2020 by Paul M. Sutter

A new way to map out dark matter is 10 times more precise than the previous-best method

Simulation of dark matter and gas. Credit: Illustris Collaboration (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Astronomers have to be extra clever to map out the invisible dark matter in the universe. Recently, a team of researchers have improved an existing technique, making it up to ten times better at seeing in the dark.

November 17, 2020November 19, 2020 by Paul M. Sutter

The family tree of the Milky Way. The mergers that gave us the galaxy we see today

An edge-on view of a spiral galaxy. Credit: ESO

Galaxies build themselves up slowly over time by cannibalizing their neighbors. Using an advanced suite of computer simulations, researchers have now traced back the evolutionary history of our own Milky Way.

November 17, 2020November 17, 2020 by Paul M. Sutter

Fast radio bursts within the Milky Way seem to be coming from magnetars

Fast radio bursts are some of the most mysterious events known in astronomy, but they are slowly becoming better understood. Case in point: recent observations of a fast radio burst in the Milky Way reveals the powerhouse behind the blasts: a flaring magnetar.

November 9, 2020November 8, 2020 by Paul M. Sutter

Most light pollution isn’t coming from streetlights

Zodiacal light tilts upward from the western horizon and points at the Pleiades star cluster in this photo taken March 19, 2009. Clouds at bottom reflect light pollution from nearby Duluth, Minn. U.S. Credit: Bob King

Light pollution is the arch nemesis of astronomy, spoiling both the enjoyment of the night sky and the professional study of our universe. For years we’ve assumed that streetlights are the main culprit behind light pollution, but a recent study has shown that streetlights contribute no more than 20% of all the pollution, and if we want to solve this vexing astronomical problem, we have to think harder.