Universe Today

February 26, 2023February 26, 2023 by Laurence Tognetti

The Planet That Shouldn’t Exist

Artist illustration of TOI-5205b orbiting its parent star. (Artwork Credit: Katherine Cain/Carnegie Institution for Science)

As of this writing, almost 5300 exoplanets spanning approximately 4000 planetary systems have been confirmed to exist in our universe. With each new exoplanet discovery, scientists continue to learn more about planetary formation and evolution that has already shaken our understanding of this process down to its very core. One such example is “Hot Jupiters”, which are Jupiter-sized exoplanets, or larger, that orbit closer to their parents stars than Mercury does to our own. This is in stark contrast to our own Solar System, which has rocky planets closer towards our Sun and the gas giant planets much farther out.

February 26, 2023February 26, 2023 by Brian Koberlein

Even the Largest Structures in the Universe Have a Magnetic Field

A composite image showing the magnetic fields of the cosmic web. Credit: Vernstrom et al

The universe is filled with magnetic fields. Although the universe is electrically neutral, atoms can be ionized into positively charged nuclei and negatively charged electrons. When those charges are accelerated, they create magnetic fields. One of the most common sources of magnetic fields on large scales comes from the collisions between and within interstellar plasma. This is one of the major sources of magnetic fields for galactic-scale magnetic fields.

February 25, 2023February 25, 2023 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

Not Just Water. Enceladus is Also Blasting Silica Into Space

A false-colour image of the plumes erupting from Enceladus. Image Credit: NASA/ESA

Deep beneath the icy surface of Saturn’s moon Enceladus, something’s happening that causes particles of icy silica to spew out to space. They eventually end up in Saturn’s E ring. Planetary scientists knew that this was happening, but didn’t have a good explanation for why or how. Now, they do.

February 25, 2023February 25, 2023 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

A New Survey of the Sky Contains Over One Billion Galaxies

Ten areas in the sky were selected as “deep fields” that the Dark Energy Camera imaged several times during the survey, providing a glimpse of distant galaxies and helping determine their 3D distribution in the cosmos. The image is teeming with galaxies — in fact, nearly every single object in this image is a galaxy. Some exceptions include a couple of dozen asteroids as well as a few handfuls of foreground stars in our own Milky Way. Credit: Dark Energy Survey/DOE/FNAL/DECam/CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA Acknowledgments: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF’s NOIRLab), J. Miller, M. Zamani & D. de Martin (NSF’s NOIRLab) — Ten areas in the sky were selected as “deep fields” that the Dark Energy Camera imaged several times during its survey, providing a glimpse of distant galaxies and helping determine their 3D distribution in the cosmos. Nearly every single object in this image is a galaxy. Credit: Dark Energy Survey/DOE/FNAL/DECam/CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA Acknowledgments: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF’s NOIRLab), J. Miller, M. Zamani & D. de Martin (NSF’s NOIRLab)

What contains a petabyte of data on more than a billion galaxies in one of the most extensive sky maps? The answer: the ever-expanding Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Legacy Imaging Survey. The galaxies it charts are part of the largest two-dimensional map of the sky ever made. And, just recently, it grew even larger with the addition of new data from telescopes in the U.S. and Chile.

February 25, 2023February 25, 2023 by Matt Williams

Astronomers Suspected There Should Be a Planet Here, and Then They Took a Picture of it

Direct images of AF Lep b, acquired by the SPHERE instrument on the VLT. Credit: ESO/Paranal Observatory

To date, astronomers have confirmed 5,272 exoplanets in 3,943 systems using a variety of detection methods. Of these, 1,834 are Neptune-like, 1,636 are gas giants (Jupiter-sized or larger), 1,602 are rocky planets several times the size and mass of Earth (Super-Earths), and 195 have been Earth-like. With so many exoplanets available for study (and next-generation instruments optimized for the task), the process is shifting from discovery to characterization. And discoveries, which are happening regularly, are providing teasers of what astronomers will likely see in the near future.

For example, two international teams of astronomers independently discovered a gas giant several times the mass of Jupiter orbiting a Sun-like star about 87.5 light-years from Earth. In a series of new papers that appeared in Astronomy & Astrophysics, the teams report the detection of a Super-Jupiter orbiting AF Leporis (AF Lep b) using a combination of astrometry and direct imaging. The images they acquired using the Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch instrument (SPHERE) have since become the ESO’s Picture of the Week.

February 25, 2023February 25, 2023 by Matt Williams

59 New Planets Discovered in Our Neighborhood

An artist’s concept of a high-resolution image of an Earth-size planet in the cool range of the habitable zone of a nearby M dwarf. © José A. Caballero (CAB, CSIC-INTA), Javier Bollaín (Render Area)

The hunt for habitable extrasolar planets continues! Thanks to dedicated missions like Kepler, TESS, and Hubble, the number of confirmed extrasolar planets has exploded in the past fifteen years (with 5,272 confirmed and counting!). At the same time, next-generation telescopes, spectrometers, and advanced imaging techniques are allowing astronomers to study exoplanet atmospheres more closely. In short, the field is shifting from the process of discovery to characterization, allowing astronomers to more tightly constraint habitability.

Finding potentially-habitable “Earth-like” planets around these fainter stars is the purpose of the Calar Alto high-Resolution search for M dwarfs with Exoearths with Near-infrared and optical Echelle Spectrographs (CARMENES), located at the Calar Alto Observatory in Spain. In a study that appeared in Astronomy & Astrophysics today, the CARMENES Consortium published data (Data Release 1) data from about 20,000 observations taken between 2016 and 2020. Among the measurements obtained from 362 nearby cool stars, the DR1 contained data on 59 new planets.

February 25, 2023February 25, 2023 by Laurence Tognetti

Europa Could be Covered in Salty Ice

Jupiter's second Galilean moon, Europa. Its smooth surface has fewer craters than other moons, but they help us understand its icy shell. (Credit: NASA/JPL/Galileo spacecraft) — The Hubble spotted evidence of geysers coming from Jupiter's moon Europa, but nobody's been able to find them again. (Credit: NASA/JPL/Galileo spacecraft)

Jupiter’s second Galilean moon, Europa, is one of the most fascinating planetary objects in our Solar System with its massive subsurface ocean that’s hypothesized to contain almost three times the volume of water as the entire Earth, which opens the possibility for life to potentially exist on this small moon. But while Europa’s interior ocean could potentially be habitable for life, its unique surface features equally draw intrigue from scientists, specifically the large red streaks that crisscross its cracked surface.

February 24, 2023February 24, 2023 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

Recreating the Extreme Forces of an Asteroid Impact in the Lab

Barringer Meteor Crater in Arizona. Scientists studied the forces in the event that created this impact scar. Image credit: NASA

About 50,000 years ago, a nickel-iron meteorite some 50 meters across plowed into the Pleistocene-era grasslands of what is now Northern Arizona. It was traveling fast—about 13 kilometers per second. In just a few seconds, an impact dug out a crater just over a kilometer wide and spread rocks from the site for miles around.

February 24, 2023February 24, 2023 by Nancy Atkinson

It Should be Possible to Farm on the Moon

Artist concept of a future farm on the Moon. Places like this could be where lunar inhabitants get their fresh salads and other veggies. Credit: Solsys Mining.

An astronaut’s gotta eat, right? Especially if they are on a long-duration mission to places like the Moon. Scientists have been looking into how the lunar regolith could possibly support growing food for humans, as growing plants for food and oxygen will be critical for future long-term lunar missions.

One company has been diligently researching this concept and they say there’s good news.

February 23, 2023February 23, 2023 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

Supermassive Black Holes on a Collision Course

Artist's impression of two merging black holes. Credit: Bohn, Throwe, Hébert, Henriksson, Bunandar, Taylor, Scheel/SXS

The early Universe was swimming with dwarf galaxies only a few hundred million years after the Big Bang. They merged with each other over time, building larger and more massive galaxies. At the same time, the giant black holes inside these dwarfs merged, too.