Our Best Look at the Cosmic Web

The image shows the diffuse gas (yellow to purple) contained within the cosmic filament connecting two galaxies (yellow… [more] © Davide Tornotti/University of Milano-Bicocca

At first glance the large scale structure of the Universe may seem to be a swarming mass of unconnected galaxies. Yet somehow, they are! The ‘cosmic web’ is the largest scale structure of the Universe and consists of vast networks of interconnected filamentary structures that surround empty voids. A team of astronomers have used hundreds of hours of telescope time to capture the highest resolution image ever taken of a single cosmic filament that connects to forming galaxies. It’s so far away from us that we see it as it was when the Universe was just 2 billion years old! 

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How Far Away Could We Detect… Ourselves?

New research asks if an ETI with our current level of technology could detect our technosignatures, and from how far away. Image Credit: SETI Institute

Revelations from the past can seem quaint once we’ve been living with them for a generation or two. That’s true of the realization in the past that spawned SETI: the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. Humanity realized that if we’re blasting radio signals out into the cosmos haphazardly, then other ETIs, if they exist, are probably doing the same.

It seems obvious now, but back then, it was a revelation. So, we set up our radio antennae and began scanning the skies.

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Burrowing Mole-Bot Could Characterize Other Planet’s Soil

Burrowing under soil opens up a whole new world, especially when that soil is on other planets. Getting under the top layer of regolith on a world such as Mars could give access to a world still extant with life, whereas, on the Moon, it could lead to discovering a water source. So, for almost 30 years, scientists have been developing robots based on that most well-known burrowing machine here on Earth – the mole. Unfortunately, the models that have made it into space so far have failed for various reasons, but that hasn’t stopped more research groups from trying to perfect their own version of a mole robot. A paper from a research group at Guangdong University of Technology in China describes their efforts and frustrations in mimicking one of nature’s more unique but capable specialists.

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Even Microquasars are Powerful Particle Accelerators

Artist’s impression of a microquasar system. Credit: Science Communication Lab for MPIK/H.E.S.S.

The Earth is bathed in high-energy particles. Known as cosmic rays, most of them are protons striking us at nearly the speed of light. Fortunately, the atmosphere protects us from any significant harm, though the particles can strike with so much energy that they create a shower of lower energy particles that do reach Earth’s surface. That’s actually how we can detect most cosmic rays.

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The Hubble Space Telescope is a Powerful Science Instrument Despite its Age

This is supernova SN 2022aajn as observed by the Hubble. It's the small blue dot near the center of the image. The space telescope is examining this SN and 99 other Type Ia SN to refine our understanding of standard candles. Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. J. Foley (UC Santa Cruz)

This Hubble image shows a supernova named SN 2022aajn in a distant galaxy about 600 million light-years away with the unwieldy name of WISEA J070815.11+210422.3. However, the obtuse yet scientifically descriptive names aren’t what’s important.

What’s important is that SN 2022aajn is a Type 1a supernova, also known as a standard candle, and this image is part of a critical effort in cosmology.

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ESA is Building its Own Lunar Lander

ESA's Argonaut lander

It seems everyone is talking about the Moon and everyone wants to get their foot in the door with the renewed passion for lunar exploration. ESA too have jumped into the lunar landing game having just signed a contract with Thales Alenia Space to build its Argonaut Lunar Lander. Compared to other landers, it will be unique in its ability to handle the harsh night and day conditions on the lunar surface. Each mission is planned to have a 5 year life and will have a standard descent and cargo module but with different payloads determined by the Moon. If all goes to plan then the first lander will fly in 2031. 

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SETI Researchers Double-Checked 1 Million Objects for Signs of Alien Signals

SETI is developing a new way to search for technosignatures and the first results are in. Sadly, no alien signals were detected. Image Credit: SETI

We can’t help ourselves but wonder about life elsewhere in the Universe. Any hint of a biosignature or even a faint, technosignature-like event wrests our attention away from our tumultuous daily affairs. In 1984, our wistful quest took concrete form as SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.

Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, SETI has turned up nothing. Recently, scientists used a powerful new data system to re-examine data from one million cosmic objects and still came up empty-handed. Did they learn anything from this attempt?

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White Dwarfs Pause Their Cooling, Giving Planets a Second Chance for Habitability

A Ceres-like planet orbits a white dwarf star. Credit: Mark A. Garlick

When we first began searching for planets around other stars, one of the surprising discoveries was that there are planets orbiting white dwarfs. The first exoplanets we ever discovered were white dwarf planets. Of course, these planets were barren and stripped of any atmosphere, so we had to look at main sequence stars to find potentially habitable worlds. Or so we thought.

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High-Resolution Imaging of Dyson Sphere Candidate Reveals no Radio Signals

A Type II civilization is one that can directly harvest the energy of its star using a Dyson Sphere or something similar. Credit: Fraser Cain (with Midjourney)

In the more than sixty years where scientists have engaged in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), several potential examples of technological activity (“technosignatures”) have been considered. While most SETI surveys to date have focused on potential radio signals from distant sources, scientists have expanded the search to include other possible examples. This includes other forms of communication (directed energy, neutrinos, gravitational waves, etc.) and examples of megastructures (Dyson Spheres, Clarke Bands, Niven Rings, etc.)

Examples of modern searches include Project Hephaistos, the first Swedish Project dedicated to SETI. Named in honor of the Greek god of blacksmiths, this Project is focused on the search for technosignatures in general rather than looking for signals deliberately sent toward Earth. In a recent paper, a team led by the University of Manchester examined a Dyson Sphere candidate identified by Hephaistos. Their results confirmed that at least some of these radio sources are contaminated by a background Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN).

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Measuring Lightsail Performance in the Lab

Sailing has been a mainstay of human history for millennia, so it’s no surprise that scientists would apply it to traveling in space. Solar sailing, the most common version, uses pressure from the Sun to push spacecraft with giant sails outward in the solar system. However, there is a more technologically advanced version that several groups think might offer us the best shot at getting to Alpha Centauri – light sailing. Instead of relying on light from the Sun, this technique uses a laser to push an extraordinarily light spacecraft up to speeds never before achieved by anything humans have built. One such project is supported by the Breakthrough Starshot Initiative, initially founded by Yuri Milner and Stephen Hawking. A new paper by researchers at Caltech, funded by the Initiative, explores how to test what force a laser would have on a light sail as it travels to another star.

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