How did Venus become such a hot mess? Volcanic discovery offers clues.
A new study found evidence of volcanic activity as recently as the early 1990s on the north side of Venus's Maat Mons, which is seen in this image from the JPL Multimission Image Processing Laboratory.(NASA/JPL)During the pandemic, planetary scientist Robert Herrick took advantage of hours of Zoom meetings to do some extraterrestrial multitasking - and discovered evidence that, as recently as 1991, a volcano erupted on Venus.
At Last, Astronomers May Have Seen the Universe's First Stars
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was built primarily to transform our understanding of the early universe.Less than a year after it was switched on, it is delivering, finding galaxies earlier in the universe than any seen before.Yet the telescope has another, less publicized goal in probing those earliest moments after the big bang 13.8 billion years ago.
Supernova peekaboo could provide clues to universe age
Unable to cut it open and count the rings, scientists have hit upon another method to figure out the age of the universe.In 2014 and 2015, a supernova popped up in view of the Hubble Space Telescope, exhibiting a phenomenon which, since the 1960s, cosmologists have theorized might offer insight into the nature of dark matter and shed light on the age of the universe.
Mirror-Image Supernova Yields Surprising Estimate of Cosmic Growth
How fast is the universe expanding?It depends on who you ask.Cast your gaze to the relatively nearby stars and galaxies that surround us in space, and you'll arrive at a certain number for this value, known as the Hubble constant.But look into the far more distant universe, and you'll get a slightly different number.
Watch a distant "Death Star" devour a gas giant planet in one big gulp
An aging star dubbed ZTF SLRN-2020 has been caught in the act of swallowing a planet.Credit: K. Miller/R.Hurt (Caltech/PAC)
Roughly five billion years from now, our Sun will end, not with a bang but with a whimper.That's when it finally burns through all the fuel in its core and puffs outward into a red giant, swallowing all the inner planets of our Solar System in the process, including Earth.
James Webb telescope captures ancient galaxies that theoretically shouldn't exist | Engadget
NASA GSFC/CIL/Adriana Manrique Gutierrez The James Webb Telescope has been giving us clearer views of celestial objects and exposing hidden features since it became operational last year.Now, according to a study conducted by an international team of astrophysicists, it may also completely change our understanding of the cosmos.
Look! New Webb Telescope Image Shows 300,000 Stars in Incredible Detail
Behold Messier 92, a dense place in the nearby Universe where more than 300,000 stars live with their siblings.Messier 92 is located within the Milky Way galaxy about 27,000 light-years away in the Hercules constellation.Astronomers define stellar hubs like Messier 92 as globular clusters, home to hundreds of thousands of huddled stars born roughly at the same time.
Back Then, Baby Galaxies. Next, a Super-Mega Galactic Cluster?
Like basketball scouts discovering a nimble, super-tall teenager, astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope reported recently that they had identified a small, captivating group of baby galaxies near the dawn of time.These galaxies, the scientists say, could well grow into one of the biggest conglomerations of mass in the universe, a vast cluster of thousands of galaxies and trillions of stars.
There's a Ring Around This Dwarf Planet. It Shouldn't Be There.
A small icy world far beyond Neptune possesses a ring like the ones around Saturn.Perplexingly, the ring is at a distance where simple gravitational calculations suggest there should be none.That's very strange, said Bruno Morgado, a professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.Dr. Morgado is the lead author of a paper published in the journal Nature on Wednesday that describes the ring that encircles Quaoar, a planetary body about 700 miles in diameter that orbits the sun at a distance of about four billion miles.
James Webb telescope finds two of the oldest and most distant galaxies ever seen
Nasa's James Webb space telescope is finding bright, early galaxies that until now have been hidden from view, including one that may have formed just 350m years after the big bang.Astronomers said Thursday that if the results were verified, this newly discovered throng of stars would beat the most distant galaxy identified by the Hubble space telescope a record-holder that formed 400m years after the universe began.
Webb Space Telescope spots early galaxies hidden from Hubble
Nasa's Webb Space Telescope is finding bright, early galaxies that until now were hidden from view, including one that may have formed a mere 350 million years after the cosmic-creating Big Bang.stronomers said that if the results are verified, this newly discovered throng of stars would beat the most distant galaxy identified by the Hubble Space Telescope, a record-holder that formed 400 million years after the universe began.
Webb telescope makes a surprising galactic discovery in the distant universe | CNN
Sign up for CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter.Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more.Astronomers have used the James Webb Space Telescope to peer back in time to the early days of the universe and they spotted something unexpected.The space observatory revealed six massive galaxies that existed between 500 million and 700 million years after the big bang that created the universe.
Hubble images photobombed by space hardware on the rise
Research published this week shows increasing interference with astronomical images caused by commercial satellites, adding to concern over the effects of the private space industry on science.Using deep learning algorithms to scan historic images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope between 2002 and 2021, researchers found 2.7 ±â€‰0.2 percent of images with a typical exposure time of 11 minutes contained at least one satellite trail.
Anyone Hoping for Aliens to Contact Earth Will Have to Wait Another 400 Years At Least
Nobody knows for certain what the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Enrico Fermi did or didn't say at the lunch with colleagues at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico that took place in 1950.But as the perhaps apocryphal story has it, Fermi was holding forth on the sheer number of stars in the sky and the sheer number of intelligent civilizations the planets orbiting them might harbor, and puzzling out why we've never seen or heard any sign of them.
The mystery dogged our family for decades.How could Donut tell time?And not just the approximate time, but the exact moment before the school bus would arrive.Every.Single.Day.You see, Donut was my husband's dog growing up, from elementary school through high school."She was a stray that came to our house when I was about 4," my husband, Matt, says.
Two New JWST Photos Could Change Everything We Know About Our Universe
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has repeatedly proven that the technology is incredible, and with it, scientists are learning so much more about our universe-and beyond.NASA recently shared two new images taken from the telescope that have the potential to change everything that we know about our universe.
Webb telescope finds two of the most distant galaxies ever observed
Sign up for CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter.Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more.The James Webb Space Telescope has spied one of the earliest galaxies formed after the big bang, about 350 million years after the universe began.The galaxy, called GLASS-z12, and another galaxy formed about 450 million years after the big bang, were found over the summer, shortly after the powerful space observatory began its infrared observations of the cosmos.
In a First, JWST Confirms an Atmosphere on a Rocky Exoplanet
Astronomers used the James Webb Space Telescope to detect the atmosphere of a rocky exoplanet, providing insights into early Earth's history and the search for life beyond the Solar System. [ more ]
NASA Releases Video of What It's Like to Fall Into a Black Hole
Astrophysicist simulates scenarios near a black hole, teaching about relativity's consequences and the allure of falling into supermassive black holes. [ more ]
Jane Rigby, a lesbian astrophysicist, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Sherry Cola advocates for LGBTQ+ rights through empowering campaigns, ensuring recognition of queer youth. [ more ]
Collapsing Sheets of Spacetime Could Explain Dark Matter and Why the Universe Hums'
Hypothetical domain walls may have formed after the big bang, creating a background of ripples in spacetime and possibly small black holes as dark matter. [ more ]
James Webb Turns to Examine Planet Showing Potential Sign of Life
The James Webb Space Telescope has identified potential signs of life on exoplanet K2-18b through the detection of dimethyl sulfide gas, exclusive to lifeforms on Earth. [ more ]
Could JWST Solve One of Cosmology's Greatest Mysteries?
The James Webb Space Telescope's observations provide conflicting values for the rate of cosmic expansion, failing to settle the disagreement over the Hubble constant. [ more ]
JWST's Puzzling Early Galaxies Don't Break Cosmology--But They Do Bend Astrophysics
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has observed bright galaxies that stretch back to the early universe, which is puzzling because galaxies shouldn't have had enough time to become so massive.
Studies suggest that the unexpected girth of these early galaxies could be attributed to astrophysical explanations like earlier-forming black holes or bursts of star formation, rather than a flaw in our understanding of cosmology. [ more ]
Explosion Light-Years Away Could Obliterate Life on Earth, Scientists Find
A kilonova, resulting from the collision of two neutron stars, could pose a major threat to Earth-like planets, even at significant interstellar distances.
A kilonova about 16 light-years from Earth could generate enough of an X-ray afterglow to ionize our atmosphere and pose a risk to life on Earth. [ more ]
Scientists Are Now Close to Finding a Mysterious Planet That Explains Strange Cosmic Phenomena, Study Reports
Scientists have narrowed down the search space for the hypothetical Planet Nine to 78 percent, significantly reducing the possible location of the planet.
The Planet Nine hypothesis suggests that there is an undiscovered planet in our solar system that could explain the strange orbits of certain objects at the outer edges of the system. [ more ]
SUBSCRIBE: Apple | Spotify Lee Billings: Hi, and welcome to Cosmos, Quickly.This is Lee Billings.Carin Leong: And this is Carin Leong.[CLIP: Show theme music] Billings: Carin, thanks for being here.A quick question for you: What's super-duper bright and hundreds or even thousands of times heavier than our entire solar system, yet it's so hard to find that it has yet to be directly seen?
Saturn regains status as planet with most moons in solar system
Saturn has regained its crown as the planet with the most moons in the solar system, just months after being overtaken by its fellow gas giant Jupiter.The leap-frog comes after the discovery of 62 new moons of Saturn, bringing its official total to 145.Jupiter, which added 12 moons to its tally in February, has 95 moons that have been formally designated by the International Astronomical Union (IAU).
Move Over Jupiter: Saturn Adds 62 More Moons to Its Count
In the red corner, Jupiter, the largest planet orbiting our sun, which shaped our solar system with its gravitational bulk.In the blue corner, Saturn, the magnificent ringed world with bewildering hexagonal storms at its poles.These two giant worlds are late in their bout for satellite-based supremacy.
Look: Five Stellar Nurseries Captured in Stunning Mosaics
Though nebulae host swaths of bright stars, they still find a way to obscure their secrets.Thick dust and gas clouds, which are the lifeblood of these stellar nurseries, cast a murky haze over newly-forming stars.At visible wavelengths, dust seems to cover all.But some telescopes can view nebulas at infrared wavelengths to cut through the haze.
JWST's Exoplanet Images Are Just the Beginning of Astrobiology's Future
When you think of the results from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), images of swirling colorful clouds in nebulae, galaxies older than we've ever seen before, and infant stars being born probably come to mind.In its first year in space, results from NASA's new powerhouse telescope have graced the cover of Scientific American, billboards in Times Square, and the computer screens of avid astronomy enthusiasts and casual readers alike.
For the first time ever, star caught in the act of swallowing one of its planets
Astronomers have caught their first-ever tantalizing glimpse of a star in the act of swallowing its planet, a harbinger of Earth's likely fate.It's the first time the actual gulp has been observed, though astronomers have seen before-and-after signs of such phenomena, researchers said in a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
This star ate its own planet. Earth may share the same fate
An artist's impression of an aging star swelling up and beginning to engulf a planet, much like the Sun will do in about 5 billion years.K. Miller/R.Hurt (Caltech/IPAC) Astronomers have gotten a sneak peek at what could be Earth's ultimate fate in about 5 billion years when the sun reaches the end of its life and engulfs the solar system's inner planets including our own.
Scientists Just Observed a Star Eating an Entire Planet
(CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.)For the first time, scientists have caught a star in the act of swallowing a planet not just a nibble or bite, but one big gulp.Astronomers on Wednesday reported their observations of what appeared to be a gas giant around the size of Jupiter or bigger being eaten by its star.
Star swallows planet in one gulp a preview of Earth's fate, astronomers say
By MARCIA DUNN | AP Aerospace Writer CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) For the first time, scientists have caught a star in the act of swallowing a planet not just a nibble or bite, but one big gulp.Astronomers on Wednesday reported their observations of what appeared to be a gas giant around the size of Jupiter or bigger being eaten by its star.
Candlelight vigil to be held in memory of teen killed at Toronto subway station | CBC News
A 16-year-old killed at a TTC station last weekend will be mourned at a candlelight vigil at High Park on Thursday night.Gabriel Magalhaes was sitting on a bench at Keele subway station when a stranger stabbed him in what Toronto police have called an "unprovoked" incident.A 22-year-old man of no fixed address has been charged in connection with his death.
New VLT data reveals more about aftermath of DART vs. asteroid collision
Last September, the Double Asteroid Redirect Test, or DART, smashed a spacecraft into a small binary asteroid called Dimorphos, successfully altering its orbit around a larger companion.We're now learning more about the aftermath of that collision, thanks to two new papers reporting on data collected by the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope.
Earth's First Asteroid Defense Test Yields Bonus Discoveries for Astronomers
NASA's DART mission successfully changed the course of a small asteroid, but it also shed some light on the makeup and evolution of the early Solar System.When NASA crashed its DART spacecraft into the asteroid Dimorphos (a small asteroid orbiting a larger one called Didymos), the agency proved that it's possible to knock an incoming asteroid off its course.
Good Morning, News: National Audubon Society Keeps Enslaver Name, and TEMPO All Up In Your Geostationary Orbit Measuring Your Air Pollution Flow
The Mercury provides news and fun every single day-but your help is essential.If you believe Portland benefits from smart, local journalism and arts coverage, please consider making a small monthly contribution, because without you, there is no us.Thanks for your support!Good Morning, Portland: One of my life's guiding principles comes from South Korean singer Kim Him-chan, who responded to disappointing contest scores by saying to his fellow teammates: "We have to excellent men who can accept results."
It's a lot of detail about two faraway objects, especially if you consider the astrophysicists only directly observed their extremely violent end.The team reconstructed a city from a pile of dust.To deduce so much from so little, they combined observations of the neutron stars with insights gleaned from studying other stars and galaxies, having created a behemoth of a mathematical model of both observed and hypothetical stars.
Light from early universe reaches James Webb Space Telescope
Formed between 500 and 700 million years after the Big Bang, objects at the extreme limits of human observation have showed up on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), designed to uncover the early life of the 13.8 billion-year-old universe.The observations are part of the first release of data from NASA's $10 billion space gadget that show galaxies more massive than had been expected for this early point in time.
No, the James Webb Space Telescope Hasn't Broken Cosmology
Reports that the JWST killed the reigning cosmological model have been exaggerated.But there's still much to learn from the distant galaxies it glimpses.The cracks in cosmology were supposed to take a while to appear.But when the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) opened its lens last spring, extremely distant yet very bright galaxies immediately shone into the telescope's field of view.
NASA Uncovers a Massive Galactic Mystery 9 Billion Light-Years from Earth
The bright, churning heart of ancient galaxy 3C 297, visible just right of center in a new NASA image, has fascinated astronomers.And when Valentina Missaglia, a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Astrophysics at FORTH in Greece, led a team to peer into the invisible world of X-ray and radio emissions surrounding the galaxy, she found something unexpected.
James Webb telescope detects evidence of ancient universe breaker' galaxies
The James Webb space telescope has detected what appear to be six massive ancient galaxies, which astronomers are calling universe breakers because their existence could upend current theories of cosmology.The objects date to a time when the universe was just 3% of its current age and are far larger than was presumed possible for galaxies so early after the big bang.
Green comet, visible in the night sky for first time since Stone Age, makes its closest pass by Earth
Sign up for CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter.Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more.A green-hued comet has made its closest approach to Earth, wowing night sky watchers in the Northern Hemisphere who caught a glimpse of the icy celestial object as it passed through our cosmic neighborhood.
Rare cosmic event beamed light at Earth from 8.5 billion light-years away
Sign up for CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter.Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more.An incredibly bright flash that appeared in the night sky in February was the result of a star straying too close to a supermassive black hole, meeting its untimely end there as it was ripped to shreds.
This Metal AF Hubble Video Reveals A Black Hole Devouring A Star
Have you ever wanted to know what it looks like when a black hole eats a star?Well, look no further.Thanks to NASA's incredible Hubble Space Telescope, there's a video of a black hole doing exactly that.On Jan. 12, 2023, NASA shared a video and images of a star being torn apart and devoured by a black hole.
Astronomers find Milky Way galaxy's most-distant stars
Astronomers found 208 stars of which the furthest is 1.08 million light years from Earth.Astronomers have detected, in the stellar halo that represents the Milky Way's outer limits, a group of stars more distant from Earth than any known within our own galaxy almost halfway to a neighbouring galaxy.
Hubble telescope observes a hungry supermassive black hole devouring a star
/ Such an event happens only a few times every 100,000 years in a galaxy with a dormant black hole at its center, but recently, one such event was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope.While some stars reach the end of their lives with a bang, exploding in an enormous supernova, others end in a whimper, puffing up and throwing off material before shrinking and cooling to a small core.
We Exist Inside a Giant Space Bubble, And Scientists Have Finally Mapped It
Image: Theo O'Neill and the Milkyway3d.orgteam You may not realize it in your day-to-day life, but we are all enveloped by a giant superbubble that was blown into space by the explosive deaths of a dozen-odd stars.Known as the Local Bubble, this structure extends for about 1,000 light years around the solar system, and is one of countless similar bubbles in our galaxy that are produced by the fallout of supernovas.
"IndyPod" online summit for independent podcasters set for Feb. 2 - RAIN News
Scottish podcasting company The Podcast Host has announced a new, free online event, IndyPod Summit, designed for independent podcasters that will take place on February 2nd, with speakers including Elsie Escobar (She Podcasts and Libsyn), Arielle Nissenblatt (Squadcast.fm), and Jeremy Enns (Podcast Marketing Academy), among others.
Astronomers find a star pulling its giant exoplanet into a death spiral
In a star system 2,600 light years away, a Jupiter-like exoplanet called Kepler-1658b is spiraling toward a fiery collision with its star, and it could shed light on the terrible fate that awaits our own cozy world.Astronomers would have remained blissfully ignorant of the exoplanet's fate without a tiny clue: a minuscule change in its orbit, revealed only by comparing more than a decade of data from several telescopes.
Neutrinos from a Nearby Galaxy Reveal Black Hole Secrets
In the zoo of subatomic particles, neutrinos are strange beasts.Unlike more familiar particles such as electrons and protons, ghostly neutrinos barely interact with normal matter at all: they can fly right through a planet as if it weren't even there.This makes them irritatingly difficult to detect and, for neutrinos streaming in from cosmic objects in the sky, even harder to know exactly where they come from.
Astronomers find cool evidence of two exoplanets made almost entirely of hot water
There's more than one way to uncover what a planet is made of.Scientists suspect that two exoplanets orbiting a red dwarf star may be mostly water, according to a recent study using data from two NASA telescopes.But before you start picturing Kevin Costner in Water World or even the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn, pause: These two exoplanets are far stranger than that.
The solar system's strangest objects are unlocking its history
A clutch of upcoming space missions will give scientists unprecedented views of some of the oddest objects in the solar system.Why it matters: The solar system is still a largely mysterious place.Scientists aren't sure exactly how planets came together billions of years ago or how life developed on Earth - and whether it took hold on other worlds.
Scientists are finally decoding the secrets within the Milky Way's supermassive black hole
Black holes keep their secrets close.They imprison forever anything that enters.Light itself can't escape a black hole's hungry pull.It would seem, then, that a black hole should be invisible - and taking its picture impossible.So great fanfare accompanied the release in 2019 of the first image of a black hole.
The Most Exciting Thing In Science Is When We Find Out We Were Wrong | Defector
Space is so hot right now.The uncrewed Artemis I mission is on its way to lunar orbit, the first in a series of missions that plans to return humans to the moon by the end of the decade.A spacewalk at theInternational Space Station went down this week, and it was streamed live.We're hucking shit at asteroids to prove we can.
Should we teach physics differently? - Tahnee Gangi Reddy Newstead Wood school
Should we teach physics differently?- Tahnee Gangi Reddy Newstead Wood school (Image: From student at Newstead Wood who would like to remain anonymous) Physics is considered a boring subject by student across schools.People say it is hard and uninteresting.But when asked about topics outside the curriculum, they found themselves astonished.
What the image of the Milky Way's black hole really shows
Black holes keep their secrets close.They imprison forever anything that enters.Light itself can't escape a black hole's hungry pull.It would seem, then, that a black hole should be invisible-and taking its picture impossible.So great fanfare accompanied the release in 2019 of the first image of a black hole.