Universe Today

November 13, 2020November 13, 2020 by Matt Williams

Europa’s Nightside Glows in the Dark

This illustration of Jupiter's moon Europa shows how the icy surface may glow on its nightside, the side facing away from the Sun. Variations in the glow and the color of the glow itself could reveal information about the composition of ice on Europa's surface. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

In a few years, NASA will be sending a spacecraft to explore Jupiter’s icy moon Europa. Known as the Europa Clipper mission, this orbiter will examine the surface more closely to search for plume activity and evidence of biosignatures. Such a find could answer the burning question of whether or not there is life within this moon, which is something scientists have speculated about since the 1970s.

In anticipation of this mission, scientists continue to anticipate what it will find once it gets there. For instance, scientists from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory recently conducted a study that showed how Europa might glow in the dark. This could be the result of Europa constantly being pummeled with high-energy radiation from Jupiter’s magnetic field, the study of which could tell scientists more about the composition of Europa’s ice.

November 12, 2020November 12, 2020 by Nancy Graziano

Weekly Space Hangout: November 11, 2020 – Amy Ross, NASA Engineer and Space Suit Designer

This week we are excited to welcome Amy Ross, NASA Space Suit Engineer, to the WSH. Amy is the team lead for the Exploration Extra-vehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU) Pressure Garment Subsystem (PGS) as well as Space Suit Pressure Garment Technology Development. The team’s primary focus is the design, fabrication, qualification testing, and flight hardware delivery of the xEMU PGS in 2023.

November 12, 2020November 12, 2020 by David Dickinson

From a Tempest to a Trickle: Prospects for the 2020 Leonid Meteor Shower

Following the Leonid meteors in 2020.

We witnessed an amazing astronomical spectacle in the early morning skies over the Kuwaiti desert in November 1998. That year, the Leonid meteors put on a spectacular display, topping an estimated 1,000 meteors per hour near sunrise. On most years, however, the Lion whimpers with a few paltry meteors per hour, but once every 33 years or so, the mighty Leonids can roar with an amazing display reaching storm level proportions.

November 11, 2020November 11, 2020 by Ralph Crewe

Terrify yourself with LeoLabs’ visualization of satellites and space debris around Earth

Founded in 2016, Menlo Park, California-based LeoLabs, is a mind-blowing company. They have built, and continue to expand, a network of ground-based, phased array radars worldwide to keep track of the thousands of operational satellites, defunct satellites, spent rocket bodies, and pieces of debris in orbit around the Earth. Not only is their radar technology ground-breaking, but they have built a spectacular, if not a little terrifying, digital visualization of the traffic in space that is free for the public to explore.

November 11, 2020November 11, 2020 by Andy Tomaswick

Meteorite Tells Us About Water on Mars 4.4 Billion Years Ago

Image of the NWA7533 meteorite that was the subject of the study. Credit: University of Copenhagen / Deng et all.

Meteorites often offer terrific glimpses into worlds we are unable to otherwise access. Sometimes those worlds are simply fragments of asteroids that didn’t burn up when they entered the atmosphere. But sometimes, they come from the Moon or Mars. Part of what makes these types of meteorites interesting is that they don’t necessarily come from what we now think of as two of our nearest neighbors. Fragments of meteorites that end up on Earth act as a kind of time capsule, allowing us to understand the geological environment of the world when the meteorite was formed.

A meteorite found in the Sahara desert a few years ago is exactly that type of time capsule. Named NWA 7533 (named after “North West Africa”, not the 80s rap group), this meteorite came from Mars about 4.4 billion years ago. A team led by Profs Zhengbin Deng at the University of Copenhagen and Takashi Mikouchi at the University of Tokyo have found evidence that the impact the created NWA 7533 most likely took place in the presence of water.

November 11, 2020November 11, 2020 by Nancy Atkinson

A Second Cable has Failed at Arecibo, Causing Even More Damage to the Radio Observatory

The Arecibo Radio Telescope. Though it's decommissioned now, Arecibo Data may explain 1977's mysterious Wow! Signal. Image Credit: UCF

Another main cable that supports the Arecibo Observatory broke last week, falling onto the reflector dish and causing more damage. This is the second time a cable has snapped on the iconic radio observatory in just three months.

The new damage is an unfortunate and devastating setback for the observatory, just as repairs from the first accident were about to begin.

November 10, 2020November 10, 2020 by Matt Williams

The Driest Place on Earth Could Help Predict How Life Might be Surviving on Mars

Future missions could determine the presence of past life on Mars by looking for signs of extreme metal-metabolizing bacteria. Credit: NASA.

In the next few years, Mars will be visited by three new rovers, the Perseverance, Tianwen-1, and Rosalind Franklin missions. Like their predecessors – Pathfinder and Sojourner, Spirit and Opportunity, and Curiosity – these robotic missions will explore the surface, searching for evidence of past and present life. But even after years of exploring, an important question remains: where is the best place to look?

To date, all attempts to find evidence of life on the surface have yielded nothing, owing to the fact that the Martian environment is extremely cold, desiccated, and irradiated. According to a new study by an international team of researchers led by Cornell University and the Centro de Astrobiología in Madrid, the Atacama desert in the mountains of Chile could hold the answer.

November 10, 2020November 10, 2020 by Nancy Atkinson

Australia’s Parkes Telescope Just Got a New Name: Murriyang, Which Means “Skyworld”

The three telescopes at CSIRO’s Parkes Observatory. Credit: Red Empire Media/CSIRO.

Australia’s iconic 64-meter Parkes radio telescope has been given a new traditional name to recognize the Wiradjuri, who own the land on which the telescope sits. The Wiradjuri are some of Australia’s First People who have occupied the continent and its adjacent islands for over 65,000 years.

The telescope received the name Murriyang, which represents the ‘Skyworld’ where a prominent creator spirit of the Wiradjuri Dreaming, Biyaami (Baiame), lives. The two smaller telescopes at CSIRO’s Parkes Observatory also received Wiradjuri names.

November 10, 2020November 10, 2020 by Brian Koberlein

Brown dwarf discovered with a radio telescope for the first time

Artist view of a cool brown dwarf. Credit: ASTRON / Danielle Futselaar

Brown dwarfs are interesting objects. They are generally defined as bodies massive enough to trigger the fusion of deuterium or lithium in their cores (and are thus not a planet) but too small to fuse hydrogen in their cores (and therefore not a star). They are the middle children of cosmic bodies.

November 9, 2020November 8, 2020 by Paul M. Sutter

Most light pollution isn’t coming from streetlights

Zodiacal light tilts upward from the western horizon and points at the Pleiades star cluster in this photo taken March 19, 2009. Clouds at bottom reflect light pollution from nearby Duluth, Minn. U.S. Credit: Bob King

Light pollution is the arch nemesis of astronomy, spoiling both the enjoyment of the night sky and the professional study of our universe. For years we’ve assumed that streetlights are the main culprit behind light pollution, but a recent study has shown that streetlights contribute no more than 20% of all the pollution, and if we want to solve this vexing astronomical problem, we have to think harder.