Astronomy, Archaeo-astronomy and other interests

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Space and Astronomy News from Universe Today

  • New Research Reveals How Long Stays in Space Affects the Human Genome

    Human cells with fluorescently labeled chromatin (green) and microtubules (magenta) appear elongated after 24-hour exposure to fluid flows. Credit: Kanellakopoulos/Zidovska/NYU

    A new study in Science Advances addresses the pressing questions about how long-duration exposure to microgravity affects the human genome.

  • Enigmatic Mercury Will Remain A Puzzle Until Someone Sends A Lander

    Mercury, the innermost planet in our solar system.

    Despite the upcoming Bepi Colombo visit to Mercury, we need a lander mission to fully understand our solar system’s innermost planet.

  • In the Search for Exoplanets, Some Failures Are A Success

    This artist's illustration shows the pair of stars that make up the binary star 70 Ophiuchi AB (70 Oph AB.) The pair is close to Earth, only about 16.7 light years away. Astronomers conducted a search for massive planets in the system in an attempt to find nearby large terrestrial planets. None were found, but in this case, that isn't necessarily a failure. Image Credit: Hans Anderson/Michigan News

    Astronomers used decades of archival data and new radial velocity measurements to search for exoplanets around a neaby binary star, 70 Oph AB. They didn't find any, which can seem like a failure. But in this case, their work only ruled out large, Jupiter-mass planets at certain distances. There could still be Earth-sized planets there, and their precise findings will only fuel a deeper search with more powerful telescopes.

  • The Flavor of Neutrinos Could Determine How a Large Star Dies

    Illustration of the stages of a dying star as it collapses into a black hole. Credit: NASA/ESA/P. Jefferies (STScl)

    Neutrinos come in three different flavors. A new study finds that neutrino flavor could play a significant role in whether a dying star becomes a supernova or collapses directly into a black hole.

  • A Radio Phoenix Beyond the Zone of Avoidance

    This composite image shows the Treble Clef, an unusual and remarkable radio wave formation beyond the Milky Way's Zone of Avoidance. The Zone of Avoidance is opaque in optical light, but not in radio, infrared, and x-rays. Astronomers used the Chandra X-ray observatory and SRG/eROSITA to study the object, revealing its nature and its history. Image Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/INAF-IRA/A. Botteon et al.; Infrared: UKIDSS-GPS ; Radio: ASTRON/LOFAR; Image processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk

    Years ago, astronomers spotted a strange radio formation beyond the Zone of Avoidance. The formation resembles a treble clef, a symbol in musical notation, and the nickname has stuck. Determining what created it has been difficult, but new research has revealed that the Treble Clef is a radio phoenix.

  • A Distant Supercluster of Galaxies Points To Self-Interacting Dark Matter

    Hubble image of the El Gordo supercluster with the estimated dark matter highlighted in blue. Credit: NASA Hubble

    The El Gordo supercluster is unusually large given its distance. How could such a large galaxy cluster form so quickly? The answer could be that dark matter is self-interacting in an interesting two-state way.

  • Scientists Detect Rare Type of Wood Alcohol in Space

    A rare form of the organic alcohol methanol is present around at least one of the very young stars in the Perseus molecular cloud. Credit ©: Ekaterina Moerova/MPIfR/NASA/CXC/SSC/NOAO/DSS/NCBI

    As part of the ALMA COMPASS Large program, an international research team has detected a rare form of methanol in space for the first time.

  • Host Stars Shape Their Planetary Systems Into Two Families

    A team of astronomers have found a comprehensive link between solar system architectures and their host stars. They describe it as a 'genetic link' between the host star's size and metallicity, and the type of planets and their positions. The host star shapes the birth, dynamical evolution, and future stability of the entire planetary system. Image Credit: INAF / Universitat de Valencia / image generation assisted by Gemini AI

    New research draws a link between a host star and the characteristics of its planetary system. Higher mass stars create one family of systems, while lower mass stars create another. These results provide a new, more detailed template for understanding exoplanet systems.

  • Orionid, Taurid Meteors Haunt October Skies

    A Southern Taurid fireball over Tucson in 2024. Credit: Eliot Herman

    Fall meteor season has begun. Late October not only sees dusk falling ever earlier as ghouls and goblins walk the Earth on Halloween, but it also sees the peak of two fine annual meteor showers kicking off Halloween season: the Orionid and Taurid meteor showers.

  • SPHEREx Just Took the Fingerprints of Failed Stars Across Our Cosmic Neighborhood

    Images of the different brown dwarf stars used in the study. Credit - Credit: Zafar Rustamkulov/NASA/JPL-Caltech

    Brown dwarfs are the black (or brown?) sheep of astronomy. They’re too big to be considered a traditional gas planet, but they are too small to have started nuclear fusion and made the full transition to star-hood. They also change dramatically over time, cooling, shrinking, and spinning faster as they age. Or at least we think they do - our models of the atmospheres of these celestial objects aren’t the best, according to a new paper in The Astrophysical Journal Letters by a team led by Zafar Rustamkulov at Caltech and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.