Universe Today

October 22, 2022October 17, 2022 by Paul M. Sutter

Chandra’s X-ray Vision Combined With JWST Reveals Even More Details About the Universe

A composite image showing x-ray radiation superimposed over an infrared image. Credit: NASA

NASA scientist have released images combining the early data from the James Webb Space Telescope with X-ray data taken with the Chandra Observatory. Besides their beauty, the images offer insights into the inner workings of some of the most complex astrophysical phenomena in the universe.

October 22, 2022October 22, 2022 by Anton Pozdnyakov

No More Big Rip, Pillars of Creation by JWST, Biggest Gamma-Ray Burst Ever

The Pillars of Creation revealed by JWST. It seems like Big Rip isn’t happening after all. Black holes twisting spacetime into knots. Jets that seem to be going faster than the speed of light.

October 22, 2022October 22, 2022 by Laurence Tognetti

Will Mars finally answer, ‘Are we alone?’

We recently examined how and why the planet Venus could answer the longstanding question: Are we alone? Despite its harsh environment on the surface, its atmosphere could be hospitable for life as we know it. Here, we will examine the planet Mars, aka the Red Planet and the fourth planet in our solar system, which has been marveling sky watchers from ancient times to the present day.

October 21, 2022October 21, 2022 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

Astronomers Find a “Marshmallow World”: the Lowest Density Gas Giant Ever Discovered

a gas giant orbiting a red dwarf star — A gas giant exoplanet [right] with the density of a marshmallow has been detected in orbit around a cool red dwarf star [left] by the NASA-funded NEID radial-velocity instrument on the 3.5-meter WIYN Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory, a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab. The planet, named TOI-3757 b, is the fluffiest gas giant planet ever discovered around this type of star.

Exoplanet discovery space hosts all kinds of interesting “super” worlds. There are super-Earths, super-Neptunes, and, of course, Super-Jupiters. Recently, the WIYN telescope on Kitt Peak in Arizona did a follow-up observation of a gas giant discovered by TESS (the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite). The world is fluffy and weird and it’s orbiting a red giant star. Oddly enough, it shouldn’t even exist. Yet, there it is happily orbiting a star some 580 light-years from Earth.

October 21, 2022October 21, 2022 by Matt Williams

Mars Could Have Been Warm and wet, While Earth was Still a Glowing Ball of Molten Rock

Could Mars have been a "pale blue dot" while Earth was still forming? Credit: Planet Volumes

Since the 1970s, the ongoing exploration of Mars has revealed that the planet has had a most interesting history. While conditions there are not hospitable to life today, scientists know Mars was once a much warmer, wetter place, with flowing water on its surface. According to new research led by the University of Arizona (UoA), Mars may have been a “pale blue dot” covered with oceans while Earth was still a ball of slowly-cooling molten rock. This discovery could allow for new research into a previously-overlooked period in Mars’ geological history and the formation and evolution of the Solar System.

October 21, 2022October 21, 2022 by Evan Gough

Early Life on Mars Might Have Wiped Out Life on Mars

Even though Mars and Earth had similar early histories, including water, Mars still ended up with fewer minerals than Earth. Why? Image Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser

Life might have wiped itself out on early Mars. That’s not as absurd as it sounds; that’s sort of what happened on Earth.

But life on Earth evolved and persisted, while on Mars, it didn’t.

October 21, 2022October 21, 2022 by Nancy Atkinson

NASA Just Ordered Three More Orion Capsules, for Artemis VI, VII, and VIII

Orion is NASA’s deep space exploration spaceship that will carry astronauts from Earth to the Moon and bring them safely home. Credit: Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin announced that NASA has ordered three more Orion spacecraft for future Artemis missions. The new order includes capsules for the Artemis VI, VII and VII missions, which are expected to launch in the late 2020s to early 2030s. The three additional capsules are on order for $1.99 billion.

October 21, 2022October 17, 2022 by Paul M. Sutter

Nitrous Oxide, aka “Laughing gas”, Could be an Indication of Life in an Exoplanet

Illustration showing the possible surface of TRAPPIST-1f, one of the newly discovered planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech — Illustration showing the possible surface of TRAPPIST-1f, one of the newly discovered planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system. It's a very active flare star. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

A team of astronomers have proposed to hunt for signs of life by looking for the signature of nitrous oxide in alien atmospheres. It’s laughing gas, but it’s no joke.

October 20, 2022October 20, 2022 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

Why NASA Is Trying to Crash Land on Mars

Mars crash lander — An artist's concept for SHIELD, a Mars lander that would enable lower-cost missions to crash safely onto the surface. Credit: California Academy of Sciences.

You know, sometimes the old ways are the best. At least, when it comes to landing on Mars and other planets, it’s worth looking at past successes—and failures. That’s the case with an idea that engineers at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory are testing: crashing spacecraft onto surfaces.

October 20, 2022October 20, 2022 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

Webb Sees a Cluster of Galaxies Feeding a Quasar

an artistic concept of a quasar — Concept image of a galactic quasar. Astronomers used the Event Horizon Telescope to study details at the heart of one like this called NRAO 530. Credit: ParallelVision, Pixabay

There’s a galaxy protocluster out there in the distant universe that’s waving some tantalizing clues about cosmic history at astronomers. First of all, it’s got an active galactic nucleus—a quasar—at its heart. That’s a black hole emitting huge amounts of radiation. But now, they’ve found at least three young galaxies sending massive amounts of cosmic food (gas and dust) into the maw of that black hole-powered engine. Those infant galaxies are massive and moving fast around each other. And, just to make things interesting, dark matter is probably involved in the action.