Gravitational waves are caused by calamitous events in the Universe. Neutron stars that finally merge after circling each other for a long time can create them, and so can two black holes that collide with each other. But sometimes there’s a burst of gravitational waves that doesn’t have a clear cause.
Continue reading “A Mysterious Burst of Gravitational Waves Came From a Region Near Betelgeuse. But There’s Probably No Connection”The Debate Over Cold Dark Matter Warms Up As Astronomers Take Its Temperature
Dark matter has long been one of the most mysterious things in the cosmos. It was first proposed in the 1930s as an idea to address stellar motion in some galaxies. The first solid evidence of dark matter was gathered by Vera Rubin, who studied the rotational motion of galaxies. The motion of these galaxies didn’t add up unless they contained a large amount of unseen mass. There must be some exotic, invisible matter unlike anything known before.
If dark matter exists, then it must have two major properties. First, it cannot interact strongly with light, otherwise we would see it and it wouldn’t be “dark.” Second, it must interact with other matter gravitationally, to make visible matter move in strange ways. We know of several things that satisfy those conditions, such as neutrinos or tiny black holes, but these can’t be dark matter. We know this in part because we are now able to take its temperature.
Continue reading “The Debate Over Cold Dark Matter Warms Up As Astronomers Take Its Temperature”ESA Recruits Amateur Astronomers Ahead of Hera Asteroid Mission
The European Space Agency is looking to recruit amateur astronomers to help characterize possible secondary targets for the upcoming Hera asteroid rendezvous mission.
Continue reading “ESA Recruits Amateur Astronomers Ahead of Hera Asteroid Mission”An Asteroid has been Found that Orbits the Sun Closer than Venus
Astronomers at Caltech’s Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) have discovered an asteroid that orbits inside Venus. Though other asteroids have a portion of their orbit inside Venus’, this is the first one with an orbit that is completely inside Venus’ orbit. The new object is named 2020 AV2.
Continue reading “An Asteroid has been Found that Orbits the Sun Closer than Venus”Another Beautiful Image of Jupiter from Juno During a Flyby. Great Work by Gerald Eichstadt and Sean Doran
Confucius said, “Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.”
When it comes to Jupiter, Gerald Eichstädt and Seán Doran can certainly see it. And lucky for us, they have the skill to bring that beauty to the fore for the rest of us to enjoy.
Continue reading “Another Beautiful Image of Jupiter from Juno During a Flyby. Great Work by Gerald Eichstadt and Sean Doran”Scientists Figure Out How to Continuously Watch the Entire Planet With Just 4 Satellites
For decades, scientists have been trying to figure out the minimum number of satellites that would be able to see every point on Earth. This question is motivated in part by the growing problem of space debris, but also by considerations of cost and efficiency. By the mid-1980s, researcher John E. Draim proposed a solution to this problem in a series of studies, claiming that a four-satellite constellation was all that was needed.
Unfortunately, his solution simply wasn’t practical at the time since a tremendous amount of propellant would be needed to keep the satellites in orbit. But thanks to a recent collaborative study, a team of researchers has found the right combination of factors to make a four-satellite constellation possible. Their findings could drive advances in telecommunication, navigation, and remote sensing while also reducing costs.
Continue reading “Scientists Figure Out How to Continuously Watch the Entire Planet With Just 4 Satellites”Beautiful Image of Ice at Mars’ Northern Polar Cap
A new image from the ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft shows how beautiful, and desolate, Mars can appear. It also highlights some of the natural process that shape the planet’s surface. The image is of the northern polar region, and it features bright patches of ice, deep dark troughs, and evidence of storms and strong winds.
Continue reading “Beautiful Image of Ice at Mars’ Northern Polar Cap”A Second Planet May Have been Found Orbiting Proxima Centauri! And it’s a Super Earth.
Astronomers have discovered another candidate exoplanet orbiting our neighbor, Proxima Centauri. A paper announcing these results was just published in the journal Science Advances. If confirmed, it will be the second exoplanet orbiting the star.
Continue reading “A Second Planet May Have been Found Orbiting Proxima Centauri! And it’s a Super Earth.”It Takes Two Stars to Make a Gamma Ray Burst
In 1967, NASA scientists noticed something they had never seen before coming from deep space. In what has come to be known as the “Vela Incident“, multiple satellites registered a Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) that was so bright, it briefly outshined the entire galaxy. Given their awesome power and the short-lived nature, astronomers have been eager to determine how and why these bursts take place.
Decades of observation have led to the conclusion that these explosions occur when a massive star goes supernova, but astronomers were still unsure why it happened in some cases and not others. Thanks to new research by a team from the University of Warwick, it appears that the key to producing GRBs lies with binary star systems – i.e. a star needs a companion in order to produce the brightest explosion in the Universe.
Continue reading “It Takes Two Stars to Make a Gamma Ray Burst”Underwater Robot Captures its First Sample 500 Meters Below the Surface of the Ocean
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) says their underwater robot has just completed the first-ever automated underwater sampling operation. The robot is called Nereid Under Ice (NEI) and it collected the sample in Greece. WHOI is developing Nereid in association with NASA’s Planetary Science and Technology from Analog Research (PSTAR) program.
Continue reading “Underwater Robot Captures its First Sample 500 Meters Below the Surface of the Ocean”