Universe Today

February 10, 2021February 10, 2021 by Matt Williams

Super-Earth Conditions Simulated in the Lab to Discover if They’re Habitable

An artist’s conception of the magnetic fields of selected super-Earths as the Z machine, pictured at bottom, mimics the gravitational conditions on other planets. Credits: Eric Lundin; Z photo by Randy Montoya

Deep inside planet Earth, there is a liquid outer core and a solid inner core that counter-rotate with each other. This creates the dynamo effect that is responsible for generating Earth’s planetary magnetic field. Also known as a magnetosphere, this field keeps our climate stable by preventing Earth’s atmosphere from being lost to space. So when studying rocky exoplanets, scientists naturally wonder if they too have magnetospheres.

Unfortunately, until we can measure an exoplanet’s magnetic fields, we are forced to infer their existence from the available evidence. This is precisely what researchers at the Sandia National Laboratories did with its Z Pulsed Power Facility (PPF). Along with their partners at the Carnegie Institution for Science, they were able to replicate the gravitational pressures of “Super-Earths” to see if they could generate magnetic fields.

February 10, 2021February 10, 2021 by Nancy Atkinson

InSight is Going to Try and “Hear” Perseverance Land on Mars From 3,452 km Away

NASA Artist's impression of Perseverance reaching Mars. At the point it enters the atmosphere, it will be travelling at more than 15,000 km/h. Credit: NASA

Now that the UAE’s Hope spacecraft and China’sTianwen-1 have successfully reached the Red Planet, next up is NASA’s Perseverance rover, set to land on February 18th.

Ten operational spacecraft are currently in orbit or on the surface of Mars, ready to welcome the new rover. But one spacecraft in particular, the InSight lander, will be listening closely for Perseverance’s dramatic entry, descent and landing – a.k.a. the Seven Minutes of Terror.

February 10, 2021February 10, 2021 by Andy Tomaswick

February 7th Was the Start of a New Year on Mars

Happy New Year – from Mars. It’s always mind expanding to think about the passage of time from other perspectives than the ones we are most familiar with. So let’s celebrate that our slightly colder red cousin completed another spin around the sun. The 36th Martian year began on February 7th, with a noticeable lack of fireworks or people singing Auld Lang Syne.

February 10, 2021February 10, 2021 by Andy Tomaswick

Here’s the Best Place for Explorers to Harvest Martian Ice

Water ice, especially any located in the sub-surface, has long been a focal point of Mars exploration efforts. Reasons abound as to why – from the need to grow plants to the need to create more rocket fuel to blast off the planet for a round trip. Most of that effort has focused on the poles of the planet, where most of the water ice has been found.

February 9, 2021February 10, 2021 by Scott Alan Johnston

A New Technique to Find Cold Gas Streams That Might Make up the Missing (Normal) Matter in the Universe

Credit: Mark Myers, OzGrav/Swinburne University

Where is all the missing matter? That question has plagued astronomers for decades, because the Universe looks emptier than it should, given current theories about its makeup. Most of the Universe (70%) appears to be composed of Dark Energy, the mysterious force which is causing the Universe’s rate of expansion to increase. Another 25% of the Universe is Dark Matter, an unknown substance which cannot be seen, but has been theorized to explain the otherwise inexplicable gravitational forces which govern the formation of galaxies. That leaves Baryonic Matter – all the normal ‘stuff’ like you, me, the trees, the planets, and the stars – to make up just 5% of the Universe. But when astronomers look out into the sky, there doesn’t even seem to be enough normal matter to make up 5%. Some of the normal matter is missing!

February 9, 2021March 5, 2021 by Matthew Cimone

Plasma Thruster Could Dramatically Cut Down Flight Times to the Outer Solar System

Proposed Theoretical Propulsion Plasma Rocket c. NASA Public Doman

I just finished the most recent season of The Expanse – my current favourite Sci-Fi series. Unlike most of my other go-to Sci-Fi, The Expanse’s narrative is (thus far) mainly contained to our own Solar System. In Star Trek, ships fly about the galaxy at Faster-Than-Light speeds giving mention to the many light years (or parsecs *cough* Star Wars) travelled to say nothing of sublight journeys within solar systems themselves. The distances between stars is huge. But, for current-day Earthling technology, our Solar System itself is still overwhelmingly enormous. It takes years to get anywhere.

In The Expanse, ships use a fictional sublight propulsion called The Epstein Drive to travel quickly through the Solar System at significant fractions of light speed. We’re not nearly there yet, but we are getting closer with the announcement of a new theoretical sublight propulsion. It won’t be an Epstein drive, but it may come to be known as the Ebrahimi Drive – an engine inspired by fusion reactors and the incredible power of solar Coronal Mass Ejections.

Fatima Ebrahimi in her Office c, Elle Starkman

February 9, 2021February 9, 2021 by Evan Gough

A New Supernova Remnant Found from an Exploding White Dwarf Star

Astronomers have spotted the remnant of a rare type of supernova explosion. It’s called a Type Iax supernova, and it’s the result of an exploding white dwarf. These are relatively rare supernovae, and astronomers think they’re responsible for creating many heavy elements.

They’ve found them in other galaxies before, but this is the first time they’ve spotted one in the Milky Way.

February 9, 2021February 9, 2021 by Matt Williams

Emirates Mars Mission Arrives at the Red Planet Today!

Artist's impression of the UAE's Hope satellite in space. Credit and ©: UAE Space Agency

On July 19^th, 2020, the Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) – aka. Al Amal (“Hope” in Arabic) – launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan on its way to Mars. This mission, the first interplanetary effort to be mounted by an Arab nation, is being carried out by the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in collaboration with a number of research institutions internationally.

February 9, 2021February 9, 2021 by Brian Koberlein

If Dark Matter is Made of Sterile Neutrinos, a new Survey has Narrowed Down What to Look for

We don’t know what dark matter is. We do know what it isn’t, and that’s a problem. Matter is made of elementary particles, from the quarks and electrons that make up atoms and molecules, to primordial neutrinos spread throughout the cosmos. But none of the known elementary particles can comprise dark matter, so what is it?

February 8, 2021February 9, 2021 by Matt Williams

Nearby Ancient Dwarf Galaxies Have a Surprising Amount of Dark Matter

An artist's impression of the four tails of the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy (the orange clump on the left of the image) orbiting the Milky Way. The bright yellow circle to the right of the galaxy's center is our Sun (not to scale). Image credit: Amanda Smith (University of Cambridge)

Around the Milky Way, there are literally dozens of dwarf galaxies that continue to be slowly absorbed into our own. These galaxies are a major source of interest for astronomers because they can teach us a great deal about cosmic evolution, like how smaller galaxies merged over time to create larger structures. Since they are thought to be relics of the very first galaxies in the Universe, they are also akin to “galactic fossils.”

Recently, a team of astrophysicists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) observed one of the most ancient of these galaxies (Tucana II) and noticed something unexpected. At the edge of the galaxy, they observed stars in a configuration that suggest that Tucana II has an extended Dark Matter halo. These findings imply that the most ancient galaxies in the Universe had more Dark Matter than previously thought.