The Star Wars world Tatooine is one of the most recognizable planets in the realm of science fiction. It’s a harsh place, and its conditions shaped the hero Luke Skywalker in many ways. In the reality-based Universe, there may not be many worlds like it. That’s because, according to a new study out from Yale researchers, the Universe likes to be more orderly, and that affects planets and their environments.
Continue reading “Planets in Binary Star Systems Could be Nice and Habitable”A Planetary Disk in the Orion Nebula is Destroying and Replenishing Oceans of Water Every Month
Planet-forming disks are places of chaotic activity. Not only do planetesimals slam together to form larger worlds, but it now appears that the process involves the destructive recycling of water within a disk. That’s the conclusion from scientists studying JWST data from a planetary birth crèche called d203-506 in the Orion Nebula.
Continue reading “A Planetary Disk in the Orion Nebula is Destroying and Replenishing Oceans of Water Every Month”A Star Passed Through the Oort Cloud Less Than 500,000 Years Ago. It Wasn’t the Only One.
As stars in the Milky Way move through space, some of them have an unexpected effect on the Solar System. Over time, one comes closer to the Sun during its orbit in the galaxy. Some of them actually get within a light-year of our star and pass through the Oort Cloud. Such close flybys can affect the orbits of the outer planets and send cometary nuclei on a long inward rush to the Sun.
Continue reading “A Star Passed Through the Oort Cloud Less Than 500,000 Years Ago. It Wasn’t the Only One.”A New, More Accurate Measurement for the Clumpiness of the Universe
Cosmologists are wrestling with an interesting question: how much clumpiness does the Universe have? There are competing but not compatible measurements of cosmic clumpiness and that introduces a “tension” between the differing measurements. It involves the amount and distribution of matter in the Universe. However, dark energy and neutrinos are also in the mix. Now, results from a recent large X-ray survey of galaxy clusters may help “ease the tension”.
Continue reading “A New, More Accurate Measurement for the Clumpiness of the Universe”Even Stars Like the Sun Can Unleash Savage Flares in Their Youth
Why would a young Sun-like star suddenly belch out a hugely bright flare? That’s what astronomers at Harvard Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory want to know after they spotted such an outburst using a sensitive submillimeter-wave telescope. According to Joshua Bennett Lovell, leader of a team that observed the star’s activity, these kinds of flare events are rare in such young stars, particularly at millimeter wavelengths. So, what’s happening there?
Continue reading “Even Stars Like the Sun Can Unleash Savage Flares in Their Youth”Black Holes Existed at the Dawn of Time, Birthing Stars and Encouraging Galaxy Formation
The Universe is full of galaxies, many containing supermassive black holes. That sparked a question: which came first—the galaxies or their black holes? The answer is becoming very clear, thanks to the first year of observations made by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Black holes were in the Universe from the earliest times, along with the very first galaxies. And, they helped shape the cosmos we observe today.
Continue reading “Black Holes Existed at the Dawn of Time, Birthing Stars and Encouraging Galaxy Formation”Webb Can Directly Test One Theory for Dark Matter
What is it about galaxies and dark matter? Most, if not all galaxies are surrounded by halos of this mysterious, unknown, but ubiquitous material. And, it also played a role in galaxy formation. The nature of that role is something astronomers are still figuring out. Today, they’re searching the infant Universe, looking for the tiniest, brightest galaxies. That’s because they could help tell the tale of dark matter’s role in galactic creation.
Continue reading “Webb Can Directly Test One Theory for Dark Matter”How Does the Cosmic Web Drive Galaxy Evolution?
Galaxies experience a long strange trip through the cosmic web as they grow and evolve. It turns out that the neighborhoods they spend time in on the journey change their evolution, and that affects their star formation activity and alters their gas content.
Continue reading “How Does the Cosmic Web Drive Galaxy Evolution?”NASA is One Step Closer to Deploying Fission Reactors on the Moon
What’s the most important thing you need to live and work on the Moon? Power. For NASA’s upcoming Artemis program, getting power to lunar bases is a top priority. That’s why the agency created its Fission Surface Power Project. The idea is to develop concepts for a small nuclear fission reactor to generate electricity on the lunar surface.
Continue reading “NASA is One Step Closer to Deploying Fission Reactors on the Moon”Half the Entire Sky, Seen in X-Rays
There’s an old trope in science fiction about someone suddenly getting X-ray vision and looking through solid objects. It turns out to be a physical impossibility with our Mark I eyeballs. However, astronomers have found a way around that challenge that lets us study the Universe with X-ray vision.
Continue reading “Half the Entire Sky, Seen in X-Rays”