Dark matter makes up the vast majority of matter in the universe, but we can’t see it. At least, not directly. Whatever the dark matter is, it must interact with everything else in the universe through gravity, and astronomers have found that if too much dark matter collects inside of red giant stars, it can potentially cut their lifetimes in half.
Continue reading “If dark matter is a particle, it should get inside red giant stars and change the way they behave”Extreme galaxies depend on extreme conditions for their formation
Some galaxies are too small, and some galaxies are too big, while others are just right. A new survey of the nearby Virgo cluster has potentially revealed why extreme galaxies are the wrong size, and how they might be connected.
Continue reading “Extreme galaxies depend on extreme conditions for their formation”A beautiful picture of Saturn’s heavily-cratered moon Mimas, processed by @kevinmgill
The Cassini mission to Saturn took many images of Mimas, one of the smallest moons in the solar system. And now you can view it in all its icy, cratered glory, thanks to the work of Kevin Gill.
Continue reading “A beautiful picture of Saturn’s heavily-cratered moon Mimas, processed by @kevinmgill”Gravitational waves could show what’s happening inside a star as it’s going supernova
It’s kind of hard to see inside a star as it’s blowing up, because of the whole “blowing up” part, but gravitational waves – tiny ripples in the fabric of spacetime itself – may help astronomers unlock how the biggest stars die.
Continue reading “Gravitational waves could show what’s happening inside a star as it’s going supernova”Quasars can twinkle?
It turns out you can teach an old dog new tricks. With a recent upgrade to a 50-year-old radio telescope, astronomers have spotted nearly a dozen of a rare class of quasars, ones capable of flickering in less than an hour.
Continue reading “Quasars can twinkle?”Europa’s entire icy shell shifted 70-degrees a few million years ago
The mysterious world Europa, the ice-covered second moon of Jupiter, sports deep scars that cut across its face. An international team of investigators studied high-resolution maps of that surface to reveal a pattern: something shook Europa sometime within the past few million years, causing the entire shell to shift by 70 degrees.
Continue reading “Europa’s entire icy shell shifted 70-degrees a few million years ago”Astronomers find 100 brown dwarfs in our neighborhood
Brown dwarfs are smallish objects sitting somewhere between stars and planets, making them notoriously hard to find. But a recent citizen science project aimed at finding the elusive Planet 9 has instead revealed a treasure trove of these oddities, right next door.
Continue reading “Astronomers find 100 brown dwarfs in our neighborhood”Did a supernova cause the Devonian mass extinction event?
359 million years ago the Earth suffered one of its worst extinction events, and a team of researchers at the University of Illinois think that it might be caused by a series of supernova explosions no more than 35 light years away.
Continue reading “Did a supernova cause the Devonian mass extinction event?”Seeing baby stars at every stage of their formation
Stars form from the collapse of dense clouds of gas and dust, which makes it very hard for astronomers to watch the process unfold. Recently the ALMA telescope has revealed a treasure trove of embryonic stars in the Taurus Molecular Cloud, illuminating how baby stars are born.
Continue reading “Seeing baby stars at every stage of their formation”A magnetar has been discovered throwing off bizarre blasts of radiation. Is this where fast radio bursts come from?
Magnetars are the ultimate aggressive star: intense magnetic fields, massive outbursts, the works. We’ve known that magnetars are capable of producing some of the most powerful blasts in the cosmos, but new observations reveal a different kind of radiation: radio waves. This could potentially solve the long-standing puzzle of the origins of the mysterious Fast Radio Bursts.
Continue reading “A magnetar has been discovered throwing off bizarre blasts of radiation. Is this where fast radio bursts come from?”