Universe Today

February 23, 2020February 23, 2020 by Matt Williams

Who was Aristotle?

Credit: Lysippos - Jastrow/Wikipedia Commons

Philosopher, polymath, educator, synthesist, founder. These are just some of the words used to describe Aristotle, the 4th century BCE Greek luminary who (along with Plato) is known as the “father of Western philosophy.” With subjects ranging from physics, biology, and astronomy to logic, ethics, politics, and metaphysics, there is scarcely any field of study or subject that he did not have a significant and lasting impact on.

In fact, within the realm of astronomy and physics, Artistotle would be one of the leading authorities whose work would be considered canon for over two thousand years after his death. From Classical Antiquity to the Roman Empire to the Middle Ages and the Rennaissance, Aristotle would be considered the authoritative source on countless subjects.

February 23, 2020February 23, 2020 by Matt Williams

Solar Orbiter is Already Starting to Observe the Sun

Artist's impression of ESA's Solar Orbiter spacecraft. Credit: ESA/ATG medialab

On February 10th, 2020, the ESA’s Solar Orbiter (SolO) launched and began making its way towards our Sun. This mission will spend the next seven years investigating the Sun’s uncharted polar regions to learn more about how the Sun works. This information is expected to reveal things that will help astronomers better predict changes in solar activity and “space weather”.

Last week (on Thursday, Feb. 13th), after a challenging post-launch period, the first solar measurements obtained by the SolO mission reached its international science teams back on Earth. This receipt of this data confirmed that the orbiter’s instrument boom deployed successfully shortly after launch and that its magnetometer (a crucial instrument for this mission) is in fine working order.

February 22, 2020February 22, 2020 by Evan Gough

Dust Devils Have Left Dark Streaks All Over This Martian Crater

HiPOD from February 16th 2020 showing dust devil trails in a Martian crater. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/UArizona

There may be no life on Mars, but there’s still a lot going on there. The Martian surface is home to different geological process, which overlap and even compete with each other to shape the planet. Orbiters with powerful cameras give us an excellent view of Mars’ changing surface.

February 21, 2020February 21, 2020 by Evan Gough

Nutrient-Poor and Energy-Starved. How Life Might Survive at the Extremes in the Solar System

Artist impression of a sunset over KELT-9b, where the planet’s atmosphere is hot enough to vaporize heavy metals such as iron and titanium. Credit and ©: Denis Bajram

Our growing understanding of extremophiles here on Earth has opened up new possibilities in astrobiology. Scientists are taking another look at resource-poor worlds that appeared like they could never support life. One team of researchers is studying a nutrient-poor region of Mexico to try to understand how organisms thrive in challenging environments.

February 21, 2020February 26, 2020 by Brian Koberlein

How Interferometry Works, and Why it’s so Powerful for Astronomy

Three of the dishes that make up the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimter Array (ALMA). Image Credit: H. Calderón – ALMA (ESO/NRAO/NAOJ)

When astronomers talk about an optical telescope, they often mention the size of its mirror. That’s because the larger your mirror, the sharper your view of the heavens can be. It’s known as resolving power, and it is due to a property of light known as diffraction. When light passes through an opening, such as the opening of the telescope, it will tend to spread out or diffract. The smaller the opening, the more the light spreads making your image more blurry. This is why larger telescopes can capture a sharper image than smaller ones.

February 20, 2020February 21, 2020 by Nancy Atkinson

Japan Is Sending a Lander to Phobos

Artist impression of the MMX spacecraft. Credit: JAXA.

Sending a mission to moons of Mars has been on the wish list for mission planners and space enthusiasts for quite some time. For the past few years, however, a team of Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) engineers and scientists have been working on putting such a mission together. Now, JAXA announced this week that the Martian Moon eXploration (MMX) mission has been greenlighted to move forward, with the goal of launching an orbiter, lander — and possibly a rover — with sample return capability in 2024.

February 20, 2020February 20, 2020 by Matt Williams

SETI Researchers Release Petabytes of Data in the Search For Aliens

Last week (Friday. Feb. 14th), the Breakthrough Listen Initiative released about 2 petabytes of optical and radio data that they have accumulated over the past four years. This is the second data release by the non-profit effort (as part of Breakthrough Initiatives) and the public is once again invited to search through the data for possible signs of extraterrestrial communications.

February 20, 2020February 20, 2020 by Evan Gough

Both Stars in This Binary System Have Accretion Disks Around Them

Artist’s impression of one of the two stars in the FU Orionis binary system, surrounded by an accreting disk of material. What has caused this star — and others like it — to dramatically brighten? [NASA/JPL-Caltech] — Artist’s impression of one of the two stars in the FU Orionis binary system, surrounded by an accreting disk of material. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Stars exhibit all sorts of behaviors as they evolve. Small red dwarfs smolder for billions or even trillions of years. Massive stars burn hot and bright but don’t last long. And then of course there are supernovae.

Some other stars go through a period of intense flaring when young, and those young flaring stars have caught the attention of astronomers. A team of researchers are using the Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array (ALMA) to try to understand the youthful flaring. Their new study might have found the cause, and might have helped answer a long-standing problem in astronomy.

February 19, 2020February 19, 2020 by Susie Murph

Weekly Space Hangout: February 19, 2020 – John Thornton, CEO of Astrobotic

Hosts: Fraser Cain (universetoday.com / @fcain)

Dr. Brian Koberlein (BrianKoberlein.com / @BrianKoberlein)

Carolyn Collins Petersen (TheSpaceWriter.com / @spacewriter)

Michael Rodruck (@michaelrodruck)

Tonight we are airing Fraser’s interview with John Thornton, CEO of Astrobotic Technology. John earned his Master of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. While at Carnegie Mellon, John led the build of Scarab, a NASA concept robot for lunar drilling, and the first robot to carry a prototype of NASA’s RESOLVE payload. He also founded Carnegie Mellon’s Advanced Composites Lab, a research, training, design, and manufacturing lab specializing in high performance, lightweight composites for robotics.

February 19, 2020February 19, 2020 by Matt Williams

Salt Water Might Still be Able to Collect on the Surface of Mars a Few Days a Year

The dark, narrow streaks flowing downhill on Mars at sites such as this portion of Horowitz Crater are inferred to be formed by seasonal flow of water on modern-day Mars. The streaks are roughly the length of a football field. These dark features on the slopes are called "recurring slope lineae" or RSL. The imaging and topographical information in this processed view come from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

Billions of years ago, Mars had liquid water on its surface in the form of lakes, streams, and even an ocean that covered much of its northern hemisphere. The evidence of this warmer, wetter past is written in many places across the landscape in the form of alluvial fans, deltas, and mineral-rich clay deposits. However, for over half a century, scientists have been debating whether or not liquid water exists on Mars today.

According to new research by Norbert Schorghofer – the Senior Scientist at the Planetary Science Institute – briny water may form intermittently on the surface of Mars. While very short-lived (just a few days a year), the potential presence of seasonal brines on the Martian surface would tell us much about the seasonal cycles of the Red Planet, as well as help to resolve one of its most enduring mysteries.