Carolyn Collins Petersen, Author at Universe Today

November 9, 2023November 10, 2023 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

What? Wow! That New Asteroid Image from Lucy Just Got Even More Interesting

Asteroid Dinkinesh and its satellite companions, the "kissing moons". These appear to be a contact binary. Courtesy NASA/JPL/SWRI — Asteroid Dinkinesh and its satellite companions, the "kissing moons" now named Selam. The moon is a contact binary. Courtesy NASA/JPL/SWRI

Lucy’s images of asteroid Dinkinesh are the gift that keeps on giving. First, it was the discovery of a smaller companion. Now, it turns out that the companion itself is a contact binary. That’s two smaller objects touching each other as they orbit with Dinkinesh. So, how did they get that way?

October 29, 2023October 28, 2023 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

Uranus Has Infrared Auroras, Too

A simulation of the infrared auroras at Uranus. Credit: NASA, ESA and M. Showalter (SETI Institute) for the background image of Uranus

Just in time for Hallowe’en, astronomers confirmed the existence of spooky-looking infrared auroras on Uranus. Their existence reveals something about that planet’s misaligned magnetic field.

October 29, 2023October 28, 2023 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

Environmental Concerns Could Drive Asteroid Mining

Asteroid mining concept. Credit: NASA/Denise Watt

Asteroid mining is one of those topics that sounds like it’s straight out of science fiction. But, in recent years, with the growth of lower-cost launch options, mining space rocks could become downright economical. As an added plus, getting important resources from asteroids could help drive the switchover to clean environmental practices and technologies right here on Earth.

October 28, 2023October 28, 2023 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

The Largest Simulation of the Universe Ever Made

Image of the large-scale structure of the Universe, showing filaments and voids within the cosmic structure. Credit: Millennium Simulation Project. Now, the latest FLAMINGO simulation provide more detail about the evolution of the Universe within these structures. — Image of the large-scale structure of the Universe, showing filaments and voids within the cosmic structure. The latest FLAMINGO simulation provide more detail about the evolution of the Universe. Credit: Millennium Simulation Project

It’s about time to retire the old astronomy joke: “Define the Universe and give three examples.” That’s because recent simulations are answering that question pretty well. Nowadays, the answer could just very well be, “See the FLAMINGO simulations.”

October 25, 2023October 25, 2023 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

What’s Inside the Carina Pillars? Massive Protostars and Newly-Forming Planets!

Dust Pillars in the Carina Nebula. Astronomers are peering inside Carina's pillars to get new details about starbirth activities. Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Project (STScI/AURA) Acknowledgment: M. Livio (STScI) and N. Smith (University of California, Berkeley)

Star-forming nebulae are busy places. Unfortunately, clouds of gas and dust usually hide the action. To cut through the dust in one such region, a team of astronomers used the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA). They peered inside the Pillars of the Carina Nebula and studied molecular outflows (or jets) emanating from objects in this famous star-birth nursery.

October 22, 2023October 22, 2023 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

An Unusual Crater on Pluto Might be a Supervolcano

Two features that could be cryovolcanoes exist on Pluto. They lay on either side of heart-shaped Sputnik Planitia in this color-enhanced image of Pluto from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft taken in July 2015. (Credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL) / Southwest Research Institute (SwRI))

Pluto with a super-cryovolcano? Why not! All the elements are there, just not in the way we normally think of volcanoes. And, cryovolcanoes are the reason why Pluto’s surface looks the way it does. A recent research paper explains why Pluto could be the home of the latest supervolcano discovery in the Solar System.

October 18, 2023October 18, 2023 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

NASA Mission Had the Perfect View for the Recent Solar Eclipse

As the Moon crossed between the Sun and Earth during the 2023 annular eclipse, its shadow darkened skies across the United States. NASA image courtesy of the DSCOVR EPIC team. — As the Moon crossed between the Sun and Earth during the October 14, 2023 annular eclipse, its shadow darkened skies across the United States. NASA image courtesy of the DSCOVR EPIC team.

Eclipse-gazers across the United States got a chance last weekend to watch as the Moon aligned with the Sun to create an annular eclipse. They watched from the ground for a short experience of not-quite-darkness. NASA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCVR) caught the action from Earth orbit for a different view of the event.

October 16, 2023October 16, 2023 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

Protostars Can Siphon Material from Far Away

The B5 complex (red and green; radio images taken with the VLA and GBT) seen within its neighborhood, embedded in dust (blue) as seen with ESA’s Herschel Space Observatory, in infrared light. Scientists studied the protostar being fed by two streamers. Credit: B. Saxton (NRAO/AUI/NSF); ESA — The Barnard 5 complex (red and green; radio images taken with the VLA and GBT) seen within its neighborhood, embedded in dust (blue) as seen with ESA’s Herschel Space Observatory, in infrared light. Scientists studied the protostar being fed by two streamers. Credit: B. Saxton (NRAO/AUI/NSF); ESA

When stars are born, they do it inside a molecular cloud. Astronomers long assumed that the “crèche” supplied all the nutrients that protostars needed to form. However, it turns out they get help from outside the nest.

October 13, 2023October 12, 2023 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

This is What it Would Be Like to Fly Across Mars

A view of Noctis Labyrinthus on Mars, from Mars Odyssey data. ESA's Mars Express has created a flyover video from eight years of its data. Courtesy Mars Odyssey.

Many of us have dreamed about flying over the surface of Mars—someday. The planet offers so many cool places to study, and doing it in person is something for future Marsnauts to consider. The Mars Express spacecraft has been mapping the Red Planet for years. It now gives us an up-close look now, through an animation of thousands of images of Mars from its cameras.

October 12, 2023October 12, 2023 by Carolyn Collins Petersen

A Simulation Predicts Where Astronomers Should Look to Find Intermediate-mass Black Holes

A simulated stellar cluster made using DRAGON-II simulations. Orange and yellow dots represent sunlike stars, while the blue dots indicate stars with masses of 20 to 300 times that of the Sun. The large white object in the center represents a star with a mass of about 350 solar masses, which will shortly collapse to form an intermediate-mass black hole. Courtesy M. Arca Sedda (GSSI) — A simulated stellar cluster made using DRAGON-II simulations. Orange and yellow dots represent sunlike stars, while the blue dots indicate stars with masses of 20 to 300 times that of the Sun. The large white object in the center represents a star with a mass of about 350 solar masses, which will shortly collapse to form an intermediate-mass black hole. Could this model explain intermediate-mass black holes? Courtesy M. Arca Sedda (GSSI)

The universe is swimming in black holes, from stellar mass to supermassive behemoths. But, there’s one class that remains elusive: the “middle child” class. These are called “intermediate-mass black holes (IMBH).” How numerous are they, how do they form, and where are they? To answer those questions, astronomers simulated possible formation scenarios.