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Astronomy & Space

Astronomy & Space

Icy moonquakes: Surface tremors may cause landslides

Astronomy & Space Article
According to a new NASA study, the mysteriously smooth terrain on Jupiter and Saturn's moons may be caused by earthquakes. It is known that many of the giant planets' icy moons that orbit them in our solar system's farthest regions are active geologically. Because of their extremely strong gravity, Jupiter and Saturn stretch and pull the bodies that are in orbit around them, resulting in moonquakes that can crack the surfaces and crusts of the moons. For the first time, new research demonstrates how these quakes may cause landslides that create remarkably smooth terrain. The study, which was published in
Astronomy & Space

The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer allows you to see historic nebulas like never before.

Astronomy & Space Article
On February 22, 1971, a sounding rocket with specialized sensors launched from Wallops Island, Virginia, with a target in its sights: the Crab Nebula, a prominent celestial object 6,500 light-years away. Scientists back then initially received scientific data on a strip chart recorder, a machine that printed signals on paper, before recovering physical tapes from the experiment. On the day of the launch, astronomer Martin Weisskopf and his associates took the first step in their analysis by using a ruler and pencil to measure the separation between the signals. Weisskopf, a former astronomer at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in
Astronomy & Space

A bizarre track of newborn stars has been discovered to be evidence of a rogue supermassive black hole, according to a new research.

Astronomy & Space News
A candidate supermassive black hole has been observed by astronomers hurtling through space for the past 39 million years at a speed of about 4 million miles per hour as it flees from its native galaxy. a group from Yale University using the Hubble Space Telescope and W. A strange, extremely thin, almost straight streak of young stars and shocked gas was spotted by M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea in Hawaii. This streak is thought to be the path the black hole took as it fled the region. The results are described in a study that was published in The
Astronomy & Space

A new Webb telescope picture exposes star structure mysteries and the building elements of life.

Astronomy & Space News
Humans can and do look up at the stars. It's almost divine to be able to see them in three dimensions. A new, in-depth image of Cassiopeia A (Cas A), a stellar remnant—the clouds of gas, dust, and other materials left behind when a star dies—that was captured by the James Webb Space Telescope has given earthbound scientists a glimpse into the divine. A year-one research team on the JWST looking at Cas A is led by Danny Milisavljevic, assistant professor of physics and astronomy in the College of Science at Purdue University. Danny studies supernova remnants. I have devoted
Astronomy & Space

The Webb telescope has discovered the earliest galaxies yet viewed.

Astronomy & Space Article
The four farthest galaxies ever observed have been found by the James Webb Space Telescope, one of which formed just 320 million years after the Big Bang, when the universe was still young. Since it started operating last year, the Webb telescope has sparked a flood of scientific research while looking farther than ever into the far reaches of the cosmos, which also means it is looking back in time. By the time light from the farthest galaxies reaches Earth, it has been stretched by the universe's expansion and moved to the infrared spectrum. The NIRCam instrument on the Webb
Astronomy & Space

New evidence on the nature of stuff from early cosmic galaxies

Astronomy & Space Article
The discovery of galaxies from 13 billion years ago by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and brand-new, cutting-edge numerical simulations of the first galaxies have provided astronomers in Italy with new insight into the nature of matter. The research adds yet another element to our understanding of the nature of matter in the universe. While the widely accepted paradigm of structure formation is based on non-relativistic matter that interacts only gravitationally, or "cold" dark matter, alternative hypotheses proposed to address small-scale issues with the standard scenario rely on the idea that dark matter is composed of warm particles that
Astronomy & Space

NASA intends to conduct two super pressure balloon test flights from New Zealand.

Astronomy & Space News
Two super-pressure balloon (SPB) launches from Wnaka, New Zealand, are planned by NASA's Scientific Balloon Program to further test and qualify the technology, which could be less expensive than space missions. NASA is also flying science payloads as missions of opportunity on each balloon, even though the two launches are primarily intended to test the SPB technology. During their planned 100-day flights, the balloons may also be visible from the ground. Super pressure balloon technology, according to Debbie Fairbrother, NASA's Balloon Program Office chief based at the agency's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, "is a real game-changer for conducting cutting-edge
Astronomy & Space

Magnetic fields are more abundant than previously anticipated in multiple star systems with at least one large, hot blue star.

Astronomy & Space Article
Researchers from the European Southern Observatory (ESO), the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP), and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Kavli Institute and Department of Physics have found that magnetic fields are much more frequent than previously believed to exist in multiple star systems with at least one giant, hot blue star. The findings vastly increase our understanding of massive stars and their function as the origin of supernova explosions. The results have been released in the astronomical journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. With masses greater than 18 times that of the sun, blue, so-called O-type
Astronomy & Space

A ‘cold stream’ of molecular gas detected outside a galaxy, corroborating theories of star formation

Astronomy & Space News
International space researchers have discovered a "cold stream" of molecular gas outside of a galaxy, supporting the idea that galaxies form stars. The group used the array of radio telescopes at the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) to concentrate on the stream and learn more about its characteristics for their study, which was published in the journal Science. In the same journal issue, Caitlin Casey, an astronomer at the University of Texas, published a perspective article on the team's work. Cold streams of gases are thought to form in space and occasionally fall into galaxies, where they fuel the star-forming
Astronomy & Space

A new source of water has been discovered in lunar samples from China’s mission.

Astronomy & Space Article
In lunar samples from a Chinese mission, scientists have found a fresh and renewable source of water on the moon for upcoming explorers. In the lunar soil where meteorite impacts take place, there was water embedded in tiny glass beads. Samples from China's lunar mission in 2020 contained these gleaming, multicolored glass beads. According to Hejiu Hui of Nanjing University, who participated in the study, the beads range in size from the width of one hair to several hairs, and the water content is only a tiny portion of that. "Certainly, a plethora of glass beads will be required. On
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