https://phys.org/ en-us Latest news from Universe Today The reason we call dark matter dark isn't that it's some shadowy material. It's because dark matter doesn't interact with light. The difference is subtle, but important. Regular matter can be dark because it absorbs light. It's why, for example, we can see the shadow of molecular clouds against the scattered stars of the Milky Way. This is possible because light and matter have a way to connect. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-dark-slight-interaction-regular.html Astronomy Thu, 26 Sep 2024 15:10:05 EDT news646582201 When a massive star explodes as a supernova, it does more than release an extraordinary amount of energy. Supernovae explosions are responsible for creating some of the heavy elements, including iron, which is blasted out into space by the explosion. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-nearby-supernova-left-earth-life.html Astronomy Astrobiology Wed, 25 Sep 2024 14:54:04 EDT news646494841 Noctilucent clouds were once thought to be a fairly modern phenomenon. A team of researchers recently calculated that Earth and the entire solar system may well have passed through two dense interstellar clouds, causing global noctilucent clouds that may have driven an ice age. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-climate-earth-interstellar-clouds.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 24 Sep 2024 14:13:03 EDT news646405981 An atlas doesn't seem to be an essential item in cars these days, but think about them and most people will think about distances. An atlas of the stars not only covers distances but must also take into account time too. The Andromeda galaxy, for example, is so far away that its light takes 2.5 million years to reach us. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-evolution-universe.html Astronomy Mon, 23 Sep 2024 16:53:03 EDT news646329182 If there really are advanced alien civilizations out there, you'd think they'd be easy to find. A truly powerful alien race would stride like gods among the cosmos, creating star-sized or galaxy-sized feats of engineering. So rather than analyzing exoplanet spectra or listening for faint radio messages, why not look for the remnants of celestial builds, something too large and unusual to occur naturally? https://phys.org/news/2024-09-dyson-spheres-theyre-hotdogs.html Astrobiology Mon, 23 Sep 2024 15:35:02 EDT news646324501 Solar flares are a fascinating thing and have a profound effect on what astronomers refer to as "space weather." These events vary with the sun's 11-year solar cycle, releasing immense amounts of radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum (from extreme ultraviolet to X-rays) into space. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-high-resolution-images-sun-flares.html Astronomy Planetary Sciences Mon, 23 Sep 2024 12:16:04 EDT news646312561 Earth's average global temperatures have been steadily increasing since the Industrial Revolution. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA), Earth has been heating up at a rate of 0.06°C (0.11°F) per decade since 1850—or about 1.11°C (2°F) in total. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-advanced-civilizations-overheat-planets-years.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Mon, 23 Sep 2024 12:15:04 EDT news646312501 Although most potentially habitable worlds orbit red dwarf stars, we know larger and brighter stars can harbor life. One yellow dwarf star, for example, is known to have a planet teaming with life, perhaps even intelligent life. But how large and bright can a star be and still have an inhabited world? That is the question addressed in a recent article in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-stars-hotter-sun-life.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Mon, 23 Sep 2024 12:13:03 EDT news646312381 Most of the exoplanets we've discovered orbit red dwarf stars. This isn't because red dwarfs are somehow special, simply that they are common. About 75% of the stars in the Milky Way are red dwarfs, so you would expect red dwarf planets to be the most abundant. This also means that most habitable worlds are going to orbit these small, cool stars, and that has some significant consequences for our search for life. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-exoplanets-atmospheres.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Fri, 20 Sep 2024 13:50:01 EDT news646053775 As someone that has always lived in the UK countryside, I am no stranger to the glory of a dark star-filled sky. Sadly, 60% of the world's population has already lost access to the night sky thanks to light pollution. Across Europe and the U.S., that number climbs to nearer 80%. https://techxplore.com/news/2024-09-worldwide-pollution-inexpensive-sensors.html Engineering Telecom Fri, 20 Sep 2024 12:40:01 EDT news646053742 The sun is midway through its life of fusion. It's about 5 billion years old, and though its life is far from over, it will undergo some pronounced changes as it ages. Over the next billion years, the sun will continue to brighten. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-life-surface-earth-extra-billion.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Fri, 20 Sep 2024 12:33:04 EDT news646054381 Photosynthesis changed Earth in powerful ways. When photosynthetic organisms appeared, it led to the Great Oxygenation Event. That allowed multicellular life to evolve and resulted in the ozone layer. Life could venture onto land, protected from the sun's intense ultraviolet radiation. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-alien-skies.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Fri, 20 Sep 2024 12:22:22 EDT news646053736 If you are going to look for intelligent life beyond Earth, there are few better candidates than the TRAPPIST-1 star system. It isn't a perfect choice. Red dwarf stars like TRAPPIST-1 are notorious for emitting flares and hard X-rays in their youth, but the system is just 40 light-years away and has seven Earth-sized worlds. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-scientists-scan-trappist-technosignatures.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Thu, 19 Sep 2024 15:43:03 EDT news645979381 Peanuts! Get your peanuts here! The solar system has been passing out peanuts lately in the form of two different oddly shaped asteroids that recently passed by Earth, and both look like over-sized peanuts. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-nasa-peanut-asteroid-drift-earth.html Planetary Sciences Thu, 19 Sep 2024 09:35:03 EDT news645957301 Americans are famously fond of their guns. So it should come as no surprise that a team of NASA scientists has devised a way to "shoot" a modified type of sensor into the soil of an otherworldly body and determine what it is made out of. That is precisely what Sang Choi and Robert Moses from NASA's Langley Research Center did, though their bullets are miniaturized spectrometers rather than hollow metal casings. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-lunar-crater.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 18 Sep 2024 16:06:02 EDT news645894361 Is it time for space lasers yet? Almost. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-plenty-powerful-lasers-space.html Space Exploration Wed, 18 Sep 2024 16:01:04 EDT news645894061 Astronomers have observed three types of black holes in the universe. Stellar-mass black holes formed from the collapse of a massive star, intermediate mass black holes found in some star clusters, and supermassive black holes that lurk in the centers of galaxies. But there is a fourth type that remains hypothetical and unobserved. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-primordial-black-holes-solar.html Astronomy Wed, 18 Sep 2024 10:22:02 EDT news645873721 Billions of dollars of observatory spacecraft orbit around Earth or in the same orbit as our planet. When something wears out or goes wrong, it would be good to be able to fix those missions "in situ." So far, only the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has enjoyed regular visits for servicing. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-spacecraft-l2-webb-gaia.html Space Exploration Wed, 18 Sep 2024 10:21:04 EDT news645873661 In February 2016, scientists at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) confirmed they made the first-ever detection of gravitational waves (GWs). These events occur when massive objects like neutron stars and black holes merge, sending ripples through spacetime that can be detected millions (and even billions) of light-years away. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-future-gravitational-observatories-earliest-black.html Astronomy Wed, 18 Sep 2024 10:15:27 EDT news645873322 Mission concepts to the outer solar system are relatively common, as planetary scientists are increasingly frustrated by our lack of knowledge of the farthest planets. Neptune, the farthest known planet, was last visited by Voyager 2 in the 1980s. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-ambitious-mission-neptune-planet-triton.html Space Exploration Planetary Sciences Tue, 17 Sep 2024 14:07:03 EDT news645800821 Earlier this year, NASA selected a rather interesting proposal for Phase I development as part of their NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program. It's known as Swarming Proxima Centauri, a collaborative effort between Space Initiatives Inc. and the Initiative for Interstellar Studies (i4is) led by Space Initiative's chief scientist, Marshall Eubanks. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-video-tiny-spacecraft-swarm-proxima.html Space Exploration Mon, 16 Sep 2024 13:41:04 EDT news645712861 Optical interferometry has been a long-proven science method that involves using several separate telescopes to act as one big telescope, thus achieving more accurate data as opposed to each telescope working individually. However, the Earth's chaotic atmosphere often makes achieving ground-based science difficult, but what if we could do it on the moon? https://phys.org/news/2024-09-stars-lunar-surface-moonlite-courtesy.html Astronomy Mon, 16 Sep 2024 12:43:06 EDT news645709382 Ground-based interferometry on Earth has proven to be a successful method for conducting science by combining light from several telescopes into acting like a single large telescope. But how can an ultraviolet (UV)/optical interferometer telescope on the moon deliver enhanced science, and can the Artemis missions help make this a reality? https://phys.org/news/2024-09-artemis-missions-powerful-imaging-telescope.html Astronomy Space Exploration Fri, 13 Sep 2024 13:18:05 EDT news645452281 The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) is regularly plagued by the fact that humanity has a very limited perspective on civilization and the nature of intelligence itself. When it comes right down to it, the only examples we have to go on are "life as we know it" (aka Earth organisms) and human civilization. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-earth-years-advanced-civilizations.html Astrobiology Thu, 12 Sep 2024 11:52:47 EDT news645360759 Here at UT, we've had several stories that describe the concept of a space elevator. They are designed to make it easier to get objects off Earth and into space. That, so far, has proven technically or economically infeasible, as no material is strong enough to support the structure passively, and it's too energy-intensive to support it actively. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-space-elevator-resources-ceres.html Space Exploration Tue, 10 Sep 2024 13:47:03 EDT news645194821 Throughout Earth's history, the planet's surface has been regularly impacted by comets, meteors, and the occasional large asteroid. While these events were often destructive, sometimes to the point of triggering a mass extinction, they may have also played an important role in the emergence of life on Earth. This is especially true of the Hadean Era (ca. 4.1 to 3.8 billion years ago) and the Late Heavy Bombardment, when Earth and other planets in the inner solar system were impacted by a disproportionately high number of asteroids and comets. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-comets-blocks-life-ocean-worlds.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Mon, 09 Sep 2024 12:46:05 EDT news645104761 Where would be the most ideal landing site for the Artemis III crew in SpaceX's Human Landing System (HLS)? This is what a recent study submitted to Acta Astronautica, and available on the arXiv preprint server, hopes to address as an international team of scientists investigated plausible landing sites within the lunar south pole region, which comes after NASA selected 13 candidate landing regions in August 2022 and holds the potential to enable new methods in determining landing sites for future missions, as well. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-artemis-iii-sites-algorithm-techniques.html Space Exploration Planetary Sciences Mon, 09 Sep 2024 12:44:05 EDT news645104642 Between low Earth orbit and the moon, there is a region of space measuring 384,400 km (238,855 mi) wide known as Cislunar space. In the coming decades, multiple space agencies will send missions to this region to support the development of infrastructure that will lead to a permanent human presence on the moon. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-humanity-expansion-earth-moon.html Space Exploration Thu, 05 Sep 2024 12:54:06 EDT news644759642 Cosmologists have long hypothesized that the conditions of the early universe could have caused the formation of black holes not long after the Big Bang. These "primordial black holes" have a much wider mass range than those that formed in the later universe from the death of stars, with some even condensed to the width of a single atom. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-gravitational-observatories-primordial-black-holes.html Astronomy Mon, 02 Sep 2024 11:26:03 EDT news644495161 The term "habitable zone" is a broad definition that serves a purpose in our age of exoplanet discovery. But the more we learn about exoplanets, the more we need a more nuanced definition of habitable. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-vegetation-impact-climate-exoplanets.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 02 Sep 2024 11:24:03 EDT news644495041