Paul M. Sutter, Author at Universe Today

June 23, 2020June 22, 2020 by Paul M. Sutter

There’s no evidence that dark matter interacts with any other force but gravity

HD+ molecular ions (yellow and red pairs of dots: proton and deuteron) suspended in an ultra-high vacuum between atomic ions (blue dots). Credit: HHU / Alighanbari, Hansen, Schiller

Most of the universe is made of one of two kinds of mysterious substances, called dark matter and dark energy. From all the evidence, these two cosmic components only interact with “normal” matter through the gravitational force. And a recent nuclear experiment reveals no presence of any dark contamination in the bonds between atomic nuclei to a level twenty times better than previously recorded.

June 22, 2020June 22, 2020 by Paul M. Sutter

Antares is a supergiant star that would fill the Solar System beyond Mars, but its atmosphere is 12 times bigger than that

This artist’s impression shows the red supergiant star. Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer, an international team of astronomers have constructed the most detailed image ever of this, or any star other than the Sun. Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser

Antares, the angry red eye of the constellation Taurus the bull, is a red supergiant star near the end of its life. And astronomers with the VLA and ALMA have realized that it’s much, much bigger than we ever imagined.

June 16, 2020June 15, 2020 by Paul M. Sutter

Spacecraft was able to measure how long neutrons last before they decay

Artist's concept of the MESSENGER spacecraft on approach to Mercury. Credit: NASA/JPL

Using NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft’s close encounters with Venus and Mercury, researchers were able to measure the lifetime of neutrons, an important prediction of the Standard Model of particle physics.

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

Scientists are much better at predicting when the Sun is going to become more active

A massive prominence erupts from the surface of the sun. Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

The sun constantly cycles between periods of activity and periods of inactivity, and a new technique allows scientists to better predict when things will start getting interesting.

June 8, 2020June 8, 2020 by Paul M. Sutter

There are powerful magnetic fields at the core of the Milky Way, driven by the supermassive black hole

NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope captured this stunning infrared image of the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, where the black hole Sagitarrius A resides. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The center of the Milky Way is home to a giant black hole, but new research suggests that it isn’t the only big player in the downtown core of our galaxy – massive magnetic fields also shape and drive the flows of gas there.

June 8, 2020June 8, 2020 by Paul M. Sutter

The Milky Way is surrounded by a huge hot halo of gas

Artist's impression of the Milky Way Galaxy. Credit: ESO

Our Milky Way galaxy isn’t just a disk of stars and nebulae – it’s surrounded by a cloud of hot, thin plasma. And recently, researchers at The Ohio State University confirmed that the plasma surrounding our galaxy is much, much hotter than we previously thought.

June 6, 2020June 8, 2020 by Paul M. Sutter

China will begin constructing its space station in 2021

An artist's impression of the future Chinese space station. Image credit: NASA

The Chinese space agency is building a brand new space station, and they’re going about it in a suitably impressive way: an ambitious schedule of 11 planned launches crammed into only two years. When it’s done, the 66-ton space station will host crews of three astronauts for up to six months at a time, lasting for a planned 10 years before de-orbiting.

June 3, 2020 by Paul M. Sutter

The dinosaur killing asteroid hit the Earth at the most devastating possible angle

Impactors strike during the reign of the dinosaurs (image credit: MasPix/devianart)

There are bad days, and then there are really bad days. 65 million years ago, life on Earth – especially if you were a dinosaur – experienced the worst possible bad day, as a giant meteor came crashing down to the surface of our planet, unleashing an inferno followed by decades of nuclear winter. And the worst part? It didn’t have to be so bad.

May 29, 2020May 29, 2020 by Paul M. Sutter

On Mars, mud flows like lava

A composite image showing alternating layers of ice and sand in an area where they are exposed on the surface of Mars. The photograph, taken with the HiRISE camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, was adjusted to show water ice as light-colored layers and sand as darker layers of blue. The tiny bright white flecks are thin patches of frost. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

One of the most striking features on Earth are the curious flows of lava as it cools, forming undulating ropes of rock known by the Hawaiian word pahoehoe. New research simulating conditions on Mars now reveals that the red planet has its own kind of pahoehoe…but made of mud.

May 29, 2020May 29, 2020 by Paul M. Sutter

At cosmic distances, even the speed of light is really slow

In this image, the submillimetre-wavelength glow of dust clouds in the Orion A nebula is overlaid on a view of the region in the more familiar visible light, from the Digitized Sky Survey 2. The large bright cloud in the upper right of the image is the well-known Orion Nebula, also called Messier 42. Credit: ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2

The speed of light is the absolute fastest thing in the universe, clocking in at a whopping 299,792,458 meters per second. At that speed, a beam of light could travel around the Earth’s entire equator in a mere 0.13 seconds. That’s…fast. And yet, when it comes to cosmic distances, it’s incredibly, frustratingly, boringly slow.