Brian Koberlein, Author at Universe Today

June 25, 2021June 25, 2021 by Brian Koberlein

Could Life Exist in the Atmosphere of a sub-Neptune Planet?

An illustration of the Kepler-47 circumbinary planet system. Credit: NASA/JPL Caltech/T. Pyle

Earth is perfectly suited for organic life. It stands to reason then that similar worlds orbiting distant stars might also be rich with life. But proving it will be a challenge. One of the better ways to discover extraterrestrial life will be to study the atmospheres of inhabited exoplanets, but Earth is fairly small for a planet and has a thin atmosphere compared to larger worlds. It will be much easier to study the atmospheres of gas planets, but could such worlds harbor life? A new paper in Universe argues it could.

June 23, 2021June 23, 2021 by Brian Koberlein

Betelgeuse's Mysterious Dimming Solved. It was… Dust

Artist's impression of Betelgeuse. Credit: ESO/L. Calçada

At the beginning of 2020, the red giant star Betelgeuse started to dim significantly. Betelgeuse has been known to vary in brightness, but this one was unusual. It grew much dimmer than usual, and for a longer period. Since Betelgeuse is a star at the end of its life, it led some to speculate that perhaps it would go supernova. Astronomers didn’t think that was likely, and of course, Betelgeuse didn’t explode, and gradually its usual brightness returned. But astronomers were puzzled as to why Betelgeuse grew so dim.

June 21, 2021June 21, 2021 by Brian Koberlein

Supermassive Black Hole Winds Were Already Blowing Less Than a Billion Years After the Big Bang

Artist’s impression of a galactic wind driven by a supermassive black hole located in the center of a galaxy. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)

At the heart of most galaxies is a supermassive black hole. These beasts of gravity can play a crucial role in the formation and evolution of their galaxy. But astronomers still don’t fully understand when the influence of black holes becomes significant. Did large black holes form early in the universe, causing galaxies to form around them? Or did black holes grow after its primordial galaxy had begun to form? You might call this the chicken or egg problem. But a recent study suggests that galaxies and their supermassive black holes can have a mutual interaction that allows them to co-evolve.

June 16, 2021June 16, 2021 by Brian Koberlein

Black Holes don't Just Destroy, They Also Help With Star Formation

A simulation of gas within the Milky Way. Credit: TNG Collaboration/Dylan Nelson

Black holes are the most powerful destructive forces in the universe. They can rip apart a star and scatter its ashes out of the galaxy at nearly the speed of light. But these engines of destruction can also pave the way for new stars to form, as a new study in Nature shows.

June 12, 2021June 12, 2021 by Brian Koberlein

White Dwarf Measured Before it Exploded as a Supernova

Artist's impression of a supernova remnant. Credit: ESA/Hubble

Type Ia supernovae are an important tool for modern astronomy. They are thought to occur when a white dwarf star captures mass beyond the Chandrasekhar limit, triggering a cataclysmic explosion. Because that limit is the same for all white dwarfs, Type Ia supernovae all have about the same maximum brightness. Thus, they can be used as standard candles to determine galactic distances. Observations of Type Ia supernova led to the discovery of dark energy and that cosmic expansion is accelerating.

June 11, 2021June 11, 2021 by Brian Koberlein

The Moons of Rogue Planets Could Have Liquid Surface Water and Thick Atmospheres. They Could be Habitable

Artist's rendering of an Earth-sized rogue planet approaching a star. Credit: Christine Pulliam (CfA)

The search for life on exoplanets takes a fairly conservative approach. It focuses on life that is similar to that of Earth. Sure, it’s quite possible that life comes in many exotic forms, and scientists have speculated about all the strange forms life might take, but the simple fact is that Earth life is the only form we currently understand. So most research focuses on life forms that, like us, are carbon based with a biology that relies on liquid water. But even with that narrow view, life could still be hiding in places we don’t expect.

June 7, 2021June 7, 2021 by Brian Koberlein

Researchers Simulate the Formation of the Oort Cloud

Illustration of the Oort cloud for our solar system. Credit: ESA/AOES Medialab

There is a cloud of debris surrounding our solar system. It’s known as the Oort cloud, and it is the source of most of the comets in our solar system. It was first proposed by Jan Oort, as a way to explain why there were so many long-period comets, and why they can appear from almost any direction. It’s estimated that there are about 100 billion small icy bodies in the Oort cloud, spread throughout a sphere about 50,000 AU from the Sun. Through our studies of comets we’ve learned a great deal about the Oort cloud, but we still don’t fully understand how it came to be.

June 4, 2021June 4, 2021 by Brian Koberlein

What Comes After Photographing a Black Hole's Event Horizon? Could we see the Photon Ring?

Simulation of the photon ring for M87*. Credit: Andrew Chael, et al

In 2019 the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) gave us the first direct image of a black hole. On one hand, the image it produced was rather unimpressive. Just a circular blur of light surrounding a dark central region. On the other hand, subtle characteristics of the image hold tremendous information about the size and rotation of the black hole. Most of the details of the black hole image are blurred by the limits of the EHT. But the next generation EHT should provide a sharper view, and could reveal the dark edge of a black hole’s event horizon.

May 30, 2021May 30, 2021 by Brian Koberlein

Teeny Tiny CubeSats Could Have Deployable Mirrors Like James Webb

Cubesats being launched from the ISS. Credit: NASA

When you think of a space telescope, you probably think of ones such as the Hubble, which probes deep space using precision optics. But optical space telescopes are also pointed at Earth, giving us detailed views of everything from weather, to traffic patterns, to the movement of military troops. While Earth-focused telescopes are extremely useful, they can also be fairly large and expensive to launch into space. But that could change with a new proposed design for cube satellites.

May 26, 2021May 26, 2021 by Brian Koberlein

What Happened Moments After the Big Bang?

An illustration showing the timeline of the Universe. Credit: NASA, ESA, and A. Feild (STScI)

It’s often said that in its earliest moments the universe was in a hot, dense state. While that’s a reasonably accurate description, it’s also quite vague. What exactly was it that was hot and dense, and what state was it in? Answering that question takes both complex theoretical modeling and high-energy experiments in particle physics. But as a recent study shows, we are learning quite a bit.