Universe Today

September 6, 2023September 6, 2023 by Matt Williams

The Space Station is Getting Gigabit Internet

NASA's ILLUMA-T payload communicating with LCRD over laser signals. Credit: NASA/Dave Ryan

Aboard the International Space Station (ISS), astronauts and cosmonauts from many nations are performing vital research that will allow humans to live and work in space. For more than 20 years, the ISS has been a unique platform for conducting microgravity, biology, agriculture, and communications experiments. This includes the ISS broadband internet service, which transmits information at a rate of 600 megabits per second (Mbps) – ten times the global average for internet speeds!

In 2021, NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) began integrating a technology demonstrator aboard the ISS that will test optical (laser) communications and data transfer. This system currently consists of Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) and will soon be upgraded with the addition of the Integrated LCRD Low Earth Orbit User Modem and Amplifier Terminal (ILLUMA-T). Once complete, this system will be the first two-way, end-to-end laser relay system, giving the ISS a gigabit internet connection!

September 6, 2023September 6, 2023 by Evan Gough

TESS Finds a Planet That Takes 482 Days to Orbit, the Widest it’s Seen so Far

An artist's rendition of the two planets and star in the TOI-4600 system. One of them has the longest orbit of any planet yet found by TESS. Image Credit: Tedi Vick

We’re rapidly learning that our Solar System, so familiar to us all, does not represent normal.

A couple of decades ago, we knew very little about other solar systems. Astronomers had discovered only a handful of exoplanets, especially around pulsars. But that all changed in the last few years.

September 6, 2023September 6, 2023 by Evan Gough

JWST Gazes into the Dark Molecular Clouds at the Heart of the Milky Way

The Central Molecular Zone; the Heart of the Milky Way. Image Credit: Henshaw / MPIA

There’s an unusual object near the Milky Way’s heart that astronomers call “The Brick.” It’s a massive cloud of gas called an infrared dark cloud (IDC). The Brick is dense and turbulent like others of its type, but for some reason, it shows few signs of star formation.

Why?

September 6, 2023September 6, 2023 by Brian Koberlein

Humanity Will Out-Communicate all Life on Earth Within 90 Years

A male Japanese Bush Warbler singing. Credit: Wikipedia user Alpsdake (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Life on Earth is a glorious dance of data. From the songs of backyard birds to the chemical exchanges of forest trees, the exchange of information between living things is an essential part of its existence and evolution. Humans, too, are a part of that dance, with friendship chats over morning coffee, bold headlines in newspapers, and TikTok videos of teenagers. Right now human data is just one part of Earth’s living data exchange, but it could soon become the overwhelming dominant part. If the same is true for all advanced civilizations, it could impact our search for alien life.

September 5, 2023September 5, 2023 by Brian Koberlein

A New Telescope Could Detect Decaying Dark Matter in the Early Universe

The Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA). Credit: HERA Collaboration

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the Universe. By far. More than 90% of the atoms in the Universe are hydrogen. Ten times the number of helium atoms, and a hundred times more than all other elements combined. It’s everywhere, from the water in our oceans to the earliest regions of the Cosmic Dawn. Fortunately for astronomers, all this neutral hydrogen can emit a faint emission line of radio light.

September 4, 2023September 4, 2023 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

Some Galaxies Contain Double Supermassive Black Holes

A Hubble Space Telescope view of M87's core and its jet. it points nearly directly at us and is also known as a blazar. Astronomers are studying other blazars that have meandering jets and think that binary black holes may be hidden inside some of them. Courtesy STScI.

Blazars occupy an intriguing spot in the cosmic zoo. They’re bright active galactic nuclei (AGN) that blast out cosmic rays, are bright in radio emission, and sport huge jets of material traveling in our direction at nearly the speed of light. For some blazars, their jets look curvy and snaky and astronomers have questions.

September 4, 2023September 4, 2023 by Brian Koberlein

It's Going to Take More Than Early Dark Energy to Resolve the Hubble Tension

Artist impression of a cluster of galaxies in the early Universe. Credit: S. Dagnello; NSF/NRAO/AUI

Our best understanding of the Universe is rooted in a cosmological model known as LCDM. The CDM stands for Cold Dark Matter, where most of the matter in the universe isn’t stars and planets, but a strange form of matter that is dark and nearly invisible. The L, or Lambda, represents dark energy. It is the symbol used in the equations of general relativity to describe the Hubble parameter, or the rate of cosmic expansion. Although the LCDM model matches our observations incredibly well, it isn’t perfect. And the more data we gather on the early Universe, the less perfect it seems to be.

September 3, 2023September 3, 2023 by Scott Alan Johnston

A Bizarre Pulsar Switches Between Two Brightness Modes. Astronomers Finally Figured Out Why.

Pulsars are the lighthouses of the universe. These rotating dead stars shoot twin jets of radiation from their poles, usually with a predictable rhythm. But sometimes pulsars behave strangely, and one pulsar in particular has had astronomers scratching their heads for years. It’s called PSR J1023+0038, and a decade ago, it shut off its jets and began oscillating between two brightness levels in an unpredictable pattern. Now, scientists think they understand why: it is busy eating a neighboring star.

September 3, 2023September 3, 2023 by Brian Koberlein

The Closest Supernova Seen in the Modern Era, Examined by JWST

SN 1987a as seen by JWST's Near-Infrared Camera. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, M. Matsuura, R. Arendt, C. Fransson

In November of 1572, Tycho Brahe noticed a new star in the constellation Cassiopeia. It was the first supernova to be observed in detail by Western astronomers and became known as Tycho’s Supernova. Earlier supernovae had been observed by Chinese and Japanese astronomers, but Tycho’s observations demonstrated to the Catholic world that the stars were not constant and unchanging as Aristotle presumed. Just three decades later, in 1604, Johannes Kepler watched a supernova in the constellation Ophiuchus brighten and fade. There have been no observed supernovae in the Milky Way since then.

September 2, 2023September 2, 2023 by Matt Williams

Is Humanity Ready to Realize the Dream of Interstellar Travel?

The 8th Interstellar Symposium was held from July 10th to 13th at McGill University. Credit: Interstellar Research Group (IRG)

For generations, humans have dreamed, speculated, and theorized about the possibility of journeying to distant stars, finding habitable planets around them, and settling down. In time, the children of these bold adventurers would create a new civilization and perhaps even meet the children of Earth. People could eventually journey from one world to another, cultures would mix, and trade and exchanges would become a regular feature. The potential for growth that would come from these exchanges – intellectually, socially, politically, technologically, and economically – would be immeasurable.

Expanding humanity’s reach beyond the Solar System is not just the fevered dream of science fiction writers and futurists. It has also been the subject of very serious scientific research, and interest in the subject is again on the rise. Much like sending crewed missions to Mars, establishing permanent outposts on the Moon, and exploring beyond cislunar space with human astronauts instead of robots – there is a growing sense that interstellar travel could be within reach. But just how ready are we for this bold and adventurous prospect? Whether we are talking about probes vs. crews or technological vs. psychological readiness, is interstellar travel something we are ready to take on?

This was a central question raised at a public outreach event aptly named “Interstellar Travel: Are We Ready?” that took place at the 8th Interstellar Symposium: In Light of Other Suns, held from July 10th to 13th at the University of McGill in Montreal, Quebec. The symposium was hosted by the Interstellar Research Group (IRG), the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), and Breakthrough Initiatives – in coordination with the University of McGill – and featured guest speakers and luminaries from multiple disciplines – ranging from astronomy and astrophysics to astrobiology, geology, and cosmology.