Evan Gough, Author at Universe Today

July 31, 2019July 31, 2019 by Evan Gough

The Moon is Older Than Scientists Thought

It is believed that 4.4 billion years ago, a celestial body (Theia) slammed into Earth and produced the Moon. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The most comprehensive and widely-held theory of how the Moon formed is called the ‘giant impact hypothesis.’ That hypothesis shows that about 150 million years after the Solar System formed, a roughly Mars-sized planet named Theia collided with Earth. Though the timeline is hotly-debated in the scientific community, we know that this collision melted Theia and some of Earth, and that molten rock orbited around Earth until it coalesced into the Moon.

But now a new study, though not contradicting the giant impact hypothesis, is suggesting a different timeline, and an older Moon.

July 30, 2019July 30, 2019 by Evan Gough

Watch this Amazing Video of Hayabusa 2 Picking Up a Sample from the Surface of Ryugu

A screen shot from JAXA's video showing Hayabusa 2's second sample grabbing touchdown. Image Credit: JAXA

A new video shows Japan’s Hayabusa 2 sample return spacecraft collecting samples from asteroid Ryugu. The spacecraft has been at Ryugu for months now, and it’s all been leading up to this. In the video, you can clearly see airborne asteroid dust and particles swirling around in the low gravity.

July 30, 2019July 30, 2019 by Evan Gough

Check Out This Super-Cool Quad Video of the Falcon Re-Entry. Two Sonic Booms!

A screenshot from the video of the SpaceX Falcon re-entry. Image Credit: SpaceX

Elon Musk has posted a four-panel video of the Falcon re-entry on his Twitter feed and it’s driving even jaded space-watchers into a frenzy.

July 29, 2019July 29, 2019 by Evan Gough

Great News! The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope Might be Named for Vera Rubin

The LSST, or Vera Rubin Survey Telescope, under construction at Cerro Pachon, Chile. Image Credit: LSST

The U.S. House of Representatives have passed a bill to change the name of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST.) Instead of that explanatory yet cumbersome name, it will be named after American astronomer Vera Rubin. Rubin is well-known for her pioneering work in discovering dark matter.

July 26, 2019July 26, 2019 by Evan Gough

Fossilized Clams Had Evidence of a Meteorite Impact Inside Them

Some of the microtektites found by Mike Meyer inside fossilized clams in Florida. Image Credit: Photo by Meyer et al in Meteoritics and Planetary Science.

When an extraterrestrial object slams into the Earth, it sends molten rock high into the atmosphere. That debris cools and re-crystallizes and falls back down to Earth. Tiny glass beads that form in this process are called microtektites, and researchers in Florida have found microtektites inside fossilized clams.

July 26, 2019July 26, 2019 by Evan Gough

What Did the Early Milky Way Look Like?

The Milky Way 10 billion years ago and the Milky Way today. Image Credit: Gabriel Pérez Díaz, SMM (IAC)

In the very early days of our Universe, just over 13 billion years ago, there was very little structure. There were stars, and they were forming at a rapid rate, kicking off what’s known as the Stelliferous Era. But the enormous, majestic galaxies that we see today, including our Milky Way galaxy, hadn’t formed yet.

July 24, 2019July 24, 2019 by Evan Gough

Toyota is Building a Pressurized Lunar Rover for Japan

An artist's illustration of a pressurized lunar vehicle. Image Credit: JAXA/Toyota

JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, is teaming up with the nation’s largest company to build a lunar rover. Toyota, the second largest automobile company in the world (only Volkswagen makes more cars) has signed a development deal with JAXA that will last three years. The goal? To design, build, test and evaluate prototypes for a pressurized, crewed lunar vehicle that runs on fuel-cells.

July 24, 2019July 24, 2019 by Evan Gough

India’s Chandrayaan-2 is Heading to the Moon

India's Chandrayaan-2 launching to the Moon on July 22nd. Image Credit: ISRO

ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) has successfully launched their Chandrayaan-2 mission to the Moon. The mission, which includes an orbiter, a lander, and a rover, was launched into space on a GSLV Mk III rocket on July 22nd, after a week-long delay. On September 7th it will perform a soft-landing on the Moon.

July 23, 2019July 24, 2019 by Evan Gough

Drama In Low-Earth Orbit As LightSail2 Deploys Its Sails

LightSail 2 captured this image of Mexico on July 12th, 2019. The image is looking east across Mexico. The tip of the Baja Peninsula is on the left, and on the far right is Tropical Storm Barry. Image Credit: The Planetary Society

LightSail 2 has successfully deployed its solar sails. Shortly after 12:00 pm PST The Planetary Society tweeted that the sails were deployed, and that the spacecraft was sailing with sunlight. We can all enjoy their success and start to wonder how solar sails will fit into humanity’s plans for space exploration.

Update: This article has been updated with new images from LightSail2.

July 22, 2019July 22, 2019 by Evan Gough

Meet Our Neighbour, The Local Void. Gaze Into It, Puny Humans.

A smoothed rendition of the structure surrounding the Local Void. Our Milky Way galaxy lies at the origin of the red-green-blue orientation arrows (each 200 million lightyears in length). We are at a boundary between a large, low density void, and the high density Virgo cluster. Credit: R. Brent Tully

Our planet is part of the larger structure of the Solar System, shaped and made stable by the force of gravity. Our Solar System is gravitationally bound to the Milky Way galaxy, along with hundreds of millions of other solar systems. And our galaxy is also part of a larger structure, where not only gravity, but the expansion of the Universe, shapes and molds that structure. For regular Universe Today readers, none of that is news.

Now a new study sheds some light on a curious part of our cosmic neighbourhood, where there is basically nothing: The Local Void.