Could Dark Matter Be Evolving Over Time, and Not Dark Energy?

By Brian Koberlein May 13, 2025
For a while now, there has been a problematic mystery at the heart of the standard cosmological model. Although all observations support the expanding Universe model, observations of the early period of the cosmos give a lower rate of acceleration than more local observations. We call it the Hubble tension problem, and we have no idea how to solve it. Naturally, there have been several proposed ideas: what if general relativity is wrong; what if dark matter doesn't exist; what if the rate of time isn't uniform; heck, what if the entire Universe rotates. So, let's add a new idea to the pile: what if dark matter evolves?
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Tracking Down "Annihilation Photons" Could Lead To Unique Binary Systems

By Andy Tomaswick May 13, 2025
Tracking the sources of photons is a hobby of many astrophysicists. Some types of photons are tied so closely to particular phenomena that tracking their sources would help answer some larger questions in astrophysics itself. Photons on the "511 keV line" are one such type of photon, and they have been overrepresented near the galactic core, with no known source being prolific enough to create them. A new paper from Zachary Metzler and Zorawar Wadiasingh of the University of Maryland and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center suggests one potential source - millisecond pulsar (MSP) binaries.
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TESS Has Found Exoplanets. Can it Find Rings Around Them?

By Mark Thompson May 13, 2025
NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has already uncovered hundreds of exoplanets of all sizes. Now, a team of astronomers is pushing the search even further—this time, looking for signs of planetary rings. Scanning 308 TESS planet candidates, they zeroed in on large, fast-orbiting worlds circling bright, nearby stars. Out of those, six showed subtle hints that rings might be present. But despite the tantalising clues, none offered definitive evidence of ring systems—at least not yet.
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Everything in the Universe Could Decay from Hawking Radiation

By Mark Thompson May 13, 2025
You’ve probably heard that black holes stick around for a long time—but even they are not eternal. Over unimaginable spans of time, they slowly evaporate into space through a process called Hawking radiation. And here’s the kicker: this doesn’t just apply to black holes. Anything with mass—stars, moons, even you—can, in theory, evaporate in this way. Black holes are a special case since they don’t have a surface and can actually swallow some of their own radiation, making their demise painfully slow. The biggest ones might take up to 10^100 years to disappear. But smaller objects? Something like the Moon—or a human being—could fade into nothingness in "just" 10^90 years.
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Webb Watches Auroras Dance in Jupiter's Atmosphere

By Mark Thompson May 13, 2025
James Webb Space Telescope zoomed in on Jupiter's turbulent north pole in 2023 on the lookout for aurora. The results were amazing. Scientists have finally crunched through the data, revealing how the aurora rapidly change, fizzing and popping with light over the course of a few minutes. The team didn't stop there, training Hubble's ultraviolet eye on the same light show, they've created the most comprehensive view of Jupiter's auroral displays ever captured.
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Advancing Martian Geology Mapping with Machine Learning Tools

By Laurence Tognetti, MSc May 12, 2025
How can artificial intelligence (AI) be used to advance mapping and imaging methods on other planets? This is what a recent study presented at the 56th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference hopes to address as a lone researcher investigated using machine learning models to enhance mapping and imaging capabilities from orbital images obtained from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) Context Camera (CTX), which is currently orbiting Mars. This study has the potential to help scientists, engineers, and the public better understand the benefits of AI in conducting more advanced science, specifically regarding global images around Earth and other worlds.
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The Fastest Spinning Asteroids are Most Likely to Have Moons

By Matthew Williams May 12, 2025
When NASA's Galileo spacecraft flew past asteroid Ida, it discovered a second, smaller asteroid in orbit: Dactyl. This was the first confirmed discovery of an asteroid with a moon, but now we know of many, including 13 asteroids larger than 100 km with satellites. Researchers have found that the mostly rapidly spinning asteroids are more likely to have moons; a large impact both spins up the asteroid and creates the debris that remains in orbit.
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A Relative of DNA Can Handle the Venus High Atmosphere

By Evan Gough May 12, 2025
Could some type of life find refuge in Venus' clouds? The detection of phosphine and potentially ammonia in the planet's atmosphere is posing that question. If life could survive there, would it be like Earth life? Or would it have a different molecular basis?
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