Brian Koberlein, Author at Universe Today

January 5, 2024January 5, 2024 by Brian Koberlein

Do Neutron Stars Have Mountains? Gravitational Wave Observatories Could Detect Them

Light bursts from the collision of two neutron stars. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/CI Lab

The surface gravity of a neutron star is so incredibly intense that it can cause atoms to collapse into a dense cluster of neutrons. The interiors of neutron stars may be dense enough to allow quarks to escape the bounds of nuclei. So it’s hard to imagine neutron stars as active bodies, with tectonic crusts and perhaps even mountains. But we have evidence to support this idea, and we could learn even more through gravitational waves.

January 4, 2024January 4, 2024 by Brian Koberlein

Want to Find Life? See What's Missing in an Atmosphere

Illustration potentially habitable worlds. Credit: Christine Daniloff, MIT; iStock

The world runs on carbon. Not just fossil-fuel-driven human society, but all life on Earth. Carbon-based organic molecules are a part of every living thing on Earth. Along with oxygen, nitrogen, and water, carbon is a necessary ingredient for life as we know it. So one way to look for life on other worlds could be to look for carbon in its atmosphere. But a new study shows that it’s actually a lack of carbon that could be the best clue to life on another world.

January 3, 2024January 3, 2024 by Brian Koberlein

The Most Massive Neutron Stars Probably Have Cores of Quark Matter

Illustration of a quark core in a neutron star. Credit: Jyrki Hokkanen, CSC - IT Center for Science

Atoms are made of three things: protons, neutrons, and electrons. Electrons are a type of fundamental particle, but protons and neutrons are composite particles made of up and down quarks. Protons have 2 ups and 1 down, while neutrons have 2 downs and 1 up. Because of the curious nature of the strong force, these quarks are always bound to each other, so they can never be truly free particles like electrons, at least in the vacuum of empty space. But a new study in Nature Communications finds that they can liberate themselves within the hearts of neutron stars.

December 29, 2023December 29, 2023 by Brian Koberlein

The Early Universe Was Surprisingly Filled With Spiral Galaxies

The bluish-white spiral galaxy NGC 1376 hangs delicately in the cold vacuum of space. Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

If we could travel far beyond our galaxy, and look back upon the Milky Way, it would be a glorious sight. Luminous spirals stretching from a central core, with dust and nebulae scattered along the spiral edges. When you think about a galaxy, you probably imagine a spiral galaxy like the Milky Way, but spirals make up only about 60% of the galaxies we see. That’s because spiral galaxies only form when smaller galaxies collide and merge over time. Or so we thought, as a new study suggests that isn’t the case.

December 23, 2023December 23, 2023 by Brian Koberlein

The Atmosphere of an Exoplanet Reveals Secrets About Its Surface

An artist’s concept of active volcanoes on Venus. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Peter Rubin

As astronomers have begun to gather data on the atmospheres of planets, we’re learning about their compositions and evolution. Thick atmospheres are the easiest to study, but these same thick atmospheres can hide the surface of a planet from view. A Venus-like world, for example, has such a thick atmosphere making it impossible to see the planet’s terrain. It seems the more likely we are to understand a planet’s atmosphere, the less likely we are to understand its surface. But that could change thanks to a new study in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astrophysical Society.

December 16, 2023December 16, 2023 by Brian Koberlein

Could There Be a Black Hole Inside the Sun?

It’s a classic tale of apocalyptic fiction. The Sun, our precious source of heat and light, collapses into a black hole. Or perhaps a stray black hole comes along and swallows it up. The End is Nigh! If a stellar-mass black hole swallowed our Sun, then we’d only have about 8 minutes before, as the kids say, it gets real. But suppose the Sun swallowed a small primordial black hole? Then things get interesting, and that’s definitely worth a paper on the arXiv.

December 15, 2023December 26, 2023 by Brian Koberlein

Ancient Stars Could Make Elements With More Than 260 Nucleons

Artist’s impression of strontium emerging from a neutron star merger. Credit: ESO/L. Calçada/M. Kornmesser

The first stars of the Universe were monstrous beasts. Comprised only of hydrogen and helium, they could be 300 times more massive than the Sun. Within them, the first of the heavier elements were formed, then cast off into the cosmos at the end of their short lives. They were the seeds of all the stars and planets we see today. A new study suggests these ancient progenitors created more than just the natural elements.

December 8, 2023December 9, 2023 by Brian Koberlein

Did the Last Great Galactic Merger Create the Milky Way's Bar?

Milky Way. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (SSC/Caltech)

The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy. More specifically, it is a barred spiral galaxy, meaning that within its central region, there is a bar shape off of which the spirals emanate. About two-thirds of spiral galaxies are barred spirals, and astronomers have thought this difference is just a variance in how density waves cluster stars in a galaxy. But a new study suggests that the bar of the Milky Way may have been caused by an ancient collision with another galaxy.

November 25, 2023November 25, 2023 by Brian Koberlein

Dark Matter Could Help Solve the Final Parsec Problem of Black Holes

This image is from a simulation of two merging black holes. The upcoming Vera Rubin Observatory should be able to detect binary black holes before they merge. But the vexing problem of false positives needs a solution. Image Credit: Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes (SXS) Project

When galaxies collide, their supermassive black holes enter into a gravitational dance, gradually orbiting each other ever closer until eventually…merging. We know they merge because we see the gravitational beasts that result, and we have detected the gravitational waves they emit as they inspiral. But the details of their final consummation remain a mystery. Now a new paper suggests part of that mystery can be solved with a bit of dark matter.

November 21, 2023November 21, 2023 by Brian Koberlein

CERN Has Joined the Search for Dark Photons

Illustration of two types of long-lived particles decaying into a pair of muons. Credit: CMS/CERN

In the search for dark matter particles, there are two main approaches. The first is to look for particles that happen to decay naturally as they pass by. This typically involves neutrino observatories such as IceCube where a dark matter particle particle colliding with a nuclei might trigger a faint burst of light. So far this has turned up nothing. The second approach is to slam particles together in a particle accelerator. This approach has also failed to find dark matter particles, but there have been enough interesting hints that CERN is having a go. Their latest run is looking for what are known as dark photons.