This testing focused on the telescope’s Outer Barrel Assembly, a critical component designed to protect the telescope from stray light and temperature fluctuations during its mission. The centrifuge trials simulate the intense gravitational forces the telescope will endure during launch, a necessary step to ensure the spacecraft’s resilience before its scheduled 2025 launch.

Testing the Limits: Extreme Spin Trials

The Roman Telescope's Outer Barrel Assembly underwent high-speed spin tests in a centrifuge chamber at NASA’s Goddard facility. The centrifuge, equipped with a 600,000-pound steel arm, applied centrifugal forces equivalent to over seven times Earth’s gravity (7G). While the assembly was spun at 18.4 rotations per minute, engineers tested its ability to withstand extreme conditions, ensuring it can survive the harsh environment of space.

Due to its size, the Outer Barrel Assembly was tested in two stages. The first stage involved the testing of its "stilts", referred to as the elephant stand, which will support and surround key instruments like the Wide Field Instrument and Coronagraph Instrument. The second stage involved the "house", a shell and ring that enclose the telescope’s core and help maintain consistent temperatures to prevent misalignment of the mirrors. Jay Parker, the product design lead for the assembly, remarked, “It’s designed a bit like a house on stilts, so we tested the ‘house’ and ‘stilts’ separately.”

Building a Robust Structure for the Cosmos

To maintain temperature stability, the Outer Barrel Assembly is constructed using advanced materials, including carbon fibers mixed with reinforced plastic, and connected by titanium fittings. This material choice ensures that the structure remains stiff enough to avoid warping under fluctuating temperatures, while also being lightweight enough to minimize the burden during launch. In addition, the assembly's inner structure features a honeycomb pattern, reducing weight while maximizing strength. This design is essential for keeping the telescope stable and functional in space, where even slight temperature variations could lead to misaligned mirrors and blurry images.

The assembly also serves as a protective exoskeleton, shielding the telescope from stray light that could interfere with its sensitive observations. This is crucial for the Roman Telescope’s mission, as it will be tasked with capturing high-precision data from distant exoplanets, galaxies, and even dark energy—the mysterious force driving the universe’s accelerating expansion.

Readying for Future Discoveries

The Roman Space Telescope will now move on to further testing phases, including thermal vacuum testing in 2025, to ensure it can endure the extreme temperature shifts and vacuum of space. Following this, the telescope will undergo vibration testing to simulate the shaking and stress of launch. Once all components are integrated, including solar panels and the Deployable Aperture Cover, the Roman Telescope will be ready for its long-awaited journey into space.

Scientists are excited about the telescope's potential to reshape our understanding of the universe. With a field of view 100 times larger than the Hubble Space Telescope, the Roman Telescope will be able to survey vast areas of the sky and reveal previously unknown cosmic phenomena. Julie McEnery, Roman's senior project scientist, emphasized the telescope's potential for serendipitous discoveries: “This Roman survey will provide a treasure trove of data for astronomers to comb through… We may serendipitously discover entirely new things we don't yet know to look for.”

By the time it launches in 2025, the Roman Space Telescope is expected to play a pivotal role in answering some of the biggest questions in modern astrophysics, from unraveling the mysteries of dark energy to uncovering hidden exoplanets in distant star systems.

The Largest Pptical Telescopes Ever Built

The E-ELT, with its massive 39-meter primary mirror, will be the largest optical/infrared telescope ever constructed. Located on a remote mountaintop in Chile's Atacama Desert, the E-ELT is designed to collect more light than any telescope currently in operation, allowing it to observe the faintest and most distant objects in the universe. This telescope is expected to tackle major scientific challenges, from understanding how galaxies form to exploring exoplanets.

Meanwhile, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, also located in Chile, will use its enormous 3,200-megapixel camera to photograph the entire visible sky every three days. Over the course of a decade, it will create a time-lapse video of the universe, capturing everything from supernovae to asteroid movements in incredible detail. Rubin’s goal is to detect changes in the night sky, providing real-time updates on cosmic events. “We’re making a digital color motion picture of the universe,” said Rubin Observatory Chief Scientist Tony Tyson.

Exploring the Unknown: Dark Matter and Dark Energy

These new telescopes are particularly suited to probing dark matter and dark energy, two of the biggest mysteries in cosmology. While dark matter is believed to make up 27% of the universe and dark energy around 68%, their nature remains largely unknown. Dark matter does not interact with light and can only be observed indirectly through its gravitational effects. Dark energy, meanwhile, is believed to be responsible for the accelerating expansion of the universe.

The Rubin Observatory will be instrumental in studying these phenomena. According to Kathy Turner, program manager for the observatory at the DOE, “Rubin will sweep back and forth across the sky for 10 years, and each object it observes will be measured repeatedly. From that, you can unfold the dark energy.” Rubin's continuous monitoring of the sky will offer high-precision measurements that could help unravel the properties of dark matter and dark energy, potentially leading to new theories about the universe’s composition and behavior.

Pushing the Boundaries of Discovery

One of the most exciting aspects of these next-generation telescopes is their potential to uncover “unknown unknowns”—phenomena that scientists have not yet imagined. In the past, telescopes like Hubble and James Webb revolutionized our understanding of the universe in ways no one predicted. For example, Hubble’s observations revealed the existence of black hole vortices, the presence of dark matter, and the accelerating expansion of the universe, none of which were part of its original mission objectives.

As new technologies are deployed, scientists expect similar breakthroughs. “The best science experiments shouldn’t just tell us about the things we expect to find, but also about the unknown unknowns,” remarked Richard Massey, an expert in cosmology. These telescopes are designed not only to meet their stated science goals but also to go beyond them, making discoveries that could fundamentally alter our understanding of the cosmos.

Preparing for the Next Decade of Cosmic Exploration

In the coming years, the E-ELT, the Rubin Observatory, and other cutting-edge instruments will bring the universe into sharper focus, allowing astronomers to explore regions of space and time that were previously out of reach. These telescopes will open new windows into the formation of galaxies, the behavior of black holes, and the nature of dark matter and energy. As these observatories come online, they are poised to transform our view of the universe and unlock some of its deepest mysteries.

With the ability to observe trillions of cosmic events and detect even the faintest objects, these telescopes will push the boundaries of human knowledge, offering unparalleled insights into the structure of the universe and the forces that govern it. As Tony Tyson put it, “I think we’re going to discover something that blows our minds.”

In the worst-case scenario, these collisions could cause a chain reaction, filling Earth's orbit with debris that could destroy vital satellites and make launching new ones nearly impossible. With over 10,000 satellites currently orbiting Earth and more than 100 trillion pieces of space junk, the possibility of Kessler syndrome becoming a reality is growing.

The Cascading Disaster of Space Debris

Kessler’s theory suggests that every collision between satellites or debris would produce more fragments, which would then increase the likelihood of further collisions. This dangerous cycle could lead to a situation where the space around Earth becomes so cluttered with fast-moving debris that launching new satellites—or repairing existing ones—becomes too risky. As John L. Crassidis, a space debris expert, stated, “The Kessler syndrome is going to come true. If the probability of a collision is so great that we can’t put a satellite in space, then we’re in trouble.”

The implications of such a disaster would be profound. Without functioning satellites, crucial technologies like GPS, communication systems, and weather forecasting would be severely disrupted. This would affect industries ranging from aviation to agriculture, potentially crippling global infrastructure and causing economic chaos.

The Impact on Modern Life

The ripple effects of Kessler syndrome would touch every aspect of modern life. Air travel, for example, relies heavily on satellite communication systems for navigation and weather updates. Without access to these systems, airlines would have to rely on manual navigation, increasing the risk of accidents and severely hampering global travel. According to Crassidis, “Without real-time updates from satellites, pilots would face significant challenges flying safely, especially in hazardous weather conditions.” The aviation industry could face massive downsizing, leading to job losses and economic disruption.

The railway industry would also be impacted. GPS systems are essential for tracking train locations and preventing collisions. Without reliable satellite communication, trains would lose a critical safety net, posing significant risks to passengers and potentially leading to deadly accidents.

Agriculture and Food Security

The consequences for the agriculture sector could be catastrophic. Farmers worldwide rely on satellite technology for precision agriculture, a method that uses GPS to optimize the use of water, fertilizers, and pesticides. Without access to satellite data, farmers would have to revert to primitive farming methods, which could drastically reduce crop yields and disrupt the global food supply. As Crassidis’ paper notes, “Precision agriculture facilitates cost reduction, increased production, and enhanced ecological sustainability. Without it, global food systems would face severe disruption.”

energy and communication failures

Kessler syndrome would also pose a grave threat to energy security. Many energy infrastructures, including renewable sources like hydropower and wind, rely on satellite data for operational efficiency. If satellite networks were to fail, it would become nearly impossible to manage these systems effectively. The disruption could result in power outages, forcing societies to prioritize essential energy needs while leaving others in darkness. In a world where energy drives the economy, these disruptions would lead to widespread job losses and economic instability.

Nuclear energy plants, in particular, would be at risk. Many nuclear facilities rely on satellite-based systems to monitor safety conditions. In the event of a satellite failure, the lack of real-time data could result in dangerous oversights, potentially leading to catastrophic incidents.

The Global Stakes of Kessler Syndrome

While Kessler syndrome may seem like a far-off scenario, experts warn that the threat is growing as more satellites are launched and space becomes increasingly congested. In his paper “Kessler’s Syndrome: A Challenge to Humanity,” Crassidis outlines how such an event could devastate global industries, including transportation, energy, and healthcare. The stakes are high—without functioning satellites, the world would face an unprecedented crisis.

The healthcare sector would be particularly vulnerable. Satellite networks are essential for managing the transportation of drugs, and a failure of these systems would make it nearly impossible to deliver life-saving treatments to patients. According to Crassidis, “Without reliable access to electricity and transportation, millions of people could lose access to vital medical treatments, leading to widespread fatalities.”

Mental Health and Societal Collapse

Beyond the physical and economic impacts, Kessler syndrome could also have serious consequences for mental health. Modern society has grown increasingly dependent on technology for communication and entertainment, and a sudden loss of these systems could lead to widespread feelings of isolation and anxiety. The social disruption caused by the collapse of technology could fuel panic and unrest, further destabilizing already fragile systems.

As Crassidis explains, “Technological innovations have transformed how our minds and bodies adapt to the modern world. A sudden loss of these technologies could have severe psychological consequences.” The potential collapse of technology-based systems could lead to widespread mental health crises, compounding the broader impacts of Kessler syndrome on global society.

Apples naturally emit ethylene gas, which plays a crucial role in slowing down the ripening process of certain fruits and vegetables. When stored alongside potatoes, this gas creates an environment that discourages sprouting. It's a simple yet effective method that can significantly extend the usability of your potatoes.

To implement this trick :

1. Place a few apples in your potato storage container
2. Ensure the container is in a cool, dry place
3. Check periodically and remove any damaged potatoes
4. Replace apples as needed

This natural preservative method not only keeps your potatoes fresh but also complements other nutritious foods in your pantry. For instance, vitamin D-rich autumn foods can boost immunity and bone health, making them excellent companions to your sprout-free potatoes in wholesome meals.

Maximizing potato freshness : Beyond the apple trick

While the apple method is a game-changer, combining it with other storage best practices can further extend your potatoes' shelf life. Here are some additional tips to keep your spuds in top condition :

Avoid moisture at all costs. Dampness is a potato's worst enemy when it comes to storage. Resist the urge to wash your potatoes before storing them, as excess moisture can lead to premature sprouting and even mold growth. Instead, gently brush off any dirt and store them dry.

Choose the right storage location carefully. A cool, dark place like a pantry or cupboard is ideal. Avoid refrigerating potatoes, as the cold temperature can alter their starch content and affect their taste and texture. The perfect storage temperature ranges between 45°F and 50°F (7°C to 10°C).

Here's a handy table summarizing optimal potato storage conditions :

Understanding potato sprouting and its implications

Sprouting is a natural process in potatoes, but it's one we'd rather avoid for both culinary and health reasons. When potatoes sprout, they're redirecting their energy into growing new plants, which can affect their texture and flavor. More importantly, sprouting can lead to an increase in solanine, a potentially harmful compound.

Solanine is a natural defense mechanism in potatoes, but in high concentrations, it can cause digestive issues and other health concerns. This is why it's crucial to store potatoes properly and discard any that show excessive sprouting or green coloration.

If you do spot a few small sprouts, don't panic. You can often simply cut them off and use the potato as normal. However, if the potato is heavily sprouted, soft, or has a green tinge, it's best to err on the side of caution and discard it.

Remember, proper potato storage isn't just about convenience; it's also about food safety. By implementing these storage techniques, you're not only saving money and reducing food waste but also ensuring that your meals are safe and delicious. Speaking of delicious meals, potatoes pair wonderfully with various breads. If you're curious about the best options, check out this guide on the best white bread available in stores.

Embracing timeless kitchen wisdom

The apple and potato storage trick is a prime example of how traditional kitchen wisdom can often outshine modern methods. This simple, chemical-free approach to food preservation demonstrates that sometimes, the most effective solutions are also the most natural ones.

By incorporating this technique into your kitchen routine, you're not just preserving potatoes; you're preserving a piece of culinary heritage. It's a reminder that in our fast-paced, technology-driven world, there's still immense value in the time-tested methods passed down through generations.

So, the next time you bring home a bag of potatoes, remember this ingenious tip. Place a couple of apples among them, and watch as your potatoes stay fresh and sprout-free for weeks longer than usual. It's a small change that can make a big difference in your kitchen efficiency and food quality.

Released on October 15, 2024, the breathtaking images show a vast mosaic of stars and galaxies, offering a glimpse into the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy that the telescope aims to unravel.

A 208-gigapixel Mosaic of the Cosmos

Euclid's initial release includes a mosaic made up of 208 gigapixels of data, gathered during a two-week observation period between March 25 and April 8, 2024. This first image, described by ESA as "just the first piece of the puzzle," covers only 1% of the area that Euclid will eventually survey over its six-year mission. Despite this small fraction, the mosaic is already a monumental achievement, offering insights into both nearby stars within the Milky Way and more than 14 million distant galaxies.

"This stunning image is the first piece of a map that in six years will reveal more than one-third of the sky," said Valeria Pettorino, Euclid Project Scientist at ESA. "This is just 1% of the map, and yet it is full of a variety of sources that will help scientists discover new ways to describe the universe."

The region mapped in this image spans about 132 square degrees of the Southern Sky, which is more than 500 times the area of the full moon. By the time Euclid completes its mission, it will have created a three-dimensional map of the universe, showing galaxies up to 10 billion light-years away.

Uncovering the Dark Universe

Euclid's primary mission is to help answer some of the biggest questions in modern cosmology, particularly around dark matter and dark energy, which together make up about 95% of the universe’s content. The telescope uses a 600-megapixel camera and a near-infrared spectrometer to measure redshift, a key factor in determining the distance and velocity of galaxies as they move away from us. By analyzing these movements, Euclid will map how the universe has expanded over time, offering crucial data on how dark energy accelerates this expansion.

"Euclid is observing the universe in a brand new way, and it's gonna get a gigantic census of the galaxies," said Luz Ángela García Peñaloza, a cosmologist at Universidad ECCI in Colombia. "Any image that reveals information about the distribution of galaxies in the large-scale structure of the universe will provide handfuls of information on the nature of the dark side of the cosmos."

One standout feature of the images released is the high level of detail in individual galaxies and galaxy clusters. For instance, the core of galaxy cluster Abell 3381, located 678 million light-years away, was captured in stunning resolution. This allows scientists to zoom into specific regions of space and examine intricate details of galactic structures.

A Look at the Galactic Cirrus

Euclid’s camera also captured an unusual phenomenon known as galactic cirrus, faint clouds of gas and dust that appear as light blue streaks between the stars of the Milky Way. These clouds, which resemble cirrus clouds in Earth's atmosphere, reflect the light of the Milky Way and shine brightly in the infrared spectrum. Euclid’s ability to visualize these features highlights the telescope’s exceptional sensitivity to both visible and infrared light.

In fact, Euclid's ability to capture such fine details of both nearby and distant objects allows scientists to "zoom" deep into specific areas of the mosaic. In one instance, a spiral galaxy located 420 million light-years away is shown in exquisite detail, with researchers able to zoom in 600 times to examine its structure.

Future Milestones for Euclid

This initial image is just a glimpse of what’s to come. Euclid’s first year of cosmology data is expected to be released to the scientific community in 2026, with more detailed maps being published as the mission progresses. In March 2025, the release of a 53-square-degree segment of the survey, including a preview of the Euclid Deep Field areas, will provide even more data for scientists to analyze.

As the Euclid mission continues, it is expected to offer profound insights into the structure of the universe, how it has evolved, and how dark matter and dark energy shape the cosmos. According to García Peñaloza, "This is just the beginning of what we will be able to see in Euclid's lifetime. For sure, the best is still to come! I'm positive Euclid will shed light on our understanding of the cosmic mysteries."

While the primary focus of the mission was to collect and analyze material from Bennu, scientists are now using the data to explore new avenues of research, including the potential existence of a fifth fundamental force in the universe. This research could challenge current models of physics and expand our understanding of dark matter, gravity, and the formation of the solar system.

Bennu Tracking and the Quest for a Fifth Fundamental Force

One of the most intriguing outcomes of the OSIRIS-REx mission is its unexpected contribution to the field of fundamental physics. By analyzing the precise tracking data from Bennu’s orbit, scientists have been able to probe whether a fifth fundamental force exists, alongside the four known forces: gravity, electromagnetism, and the strong and weak nuclear forces. This research aims to provide evidence that might extend the Standard Model of physics, a theoretical framework that has successfully explained much of what we know about the universe, but still leaves many questions unanswered—particularly about dark matter and dark energy.

Researchers from Los Alamos National Laboratory and other institutions are examining Bennu’s orbital trajectory for subtle anomalies that could suggest the existence of a fifth force. By studying these small deviations, scientists hope to detect the presence of new particles, such as ultralight bosons, which may mediate this additional force. Yu-Dai Tsai, lead researcher on the project, emphasized the importance of this work, stating, “Interpreting the data we see from tracking Bennu has the potential to add to our understanding of the theoretical underpinnings of the universe, potentially revamping our understanding of the Standard Model of physics, gravity, and dark matter.” If successful, this research could have far-reaching implications for our understanding of how the universe operates at its most fundamental levels.

Bennu's tracking data, gathered during the mission, has provided an unprecedented level of precision in understanding its orbital path. This information allowed researchers to impose some of the tightest constraints yet on the existence of a potential fifth force. As Sunny Vagnozzi, co-author and assistant professor at University of Trento, explained, “The tight constraints we've achieved translate readily to some of the tightest-ever limits on Yukawa-type fifth forces. These results highlight the potential for asteroid tracking as a valuable tool in the search for ultralight bosons, dark matter, and several well-motivated extensions of the Standard Model.” The study represents a new frontier in how we can use celestial objects like asteroids to probe fundamental physics.

Bennu's Composition: Clues to The Origins of Life

While the mission’s contributions to physics are groundbreaking, OSIRIS-REx’s primary objective—returning a sample from Bennu—has revealed equally fascinating results about the asteroid itself. In September 2023, the spacecraft delivered 4.3 ounces (122 grams) of material from Bennu, far exceeding the mission's original goal of collecting 2 ounces. This sample is now being analyzed to uncover the secrets of Bennu’s composition and its potential role in the formation of the solar system and the origins of life on Earth.

The analysis of Bennu’s sample has revealed a rich array of organic compounds, including carbon-based molecules and hydrated minerals, which support the idea that asteroids may have been key contributors to life on Earth. These findings are significant because they suggest that asteroids like Bennu may have transported vital elements, such as water and organic materials, to early Earth, potentially sparking the chemical reactions that led to life. Dante Lauretta, the principal investigator of the OSIRIS-REx mission, emphasized the importance of these findings: “Finding organic compounds and signs of a watery past on Bennu brings us closer to understanding the origins of our solar system and the chemistry that may have sparked life on Earth. It’s a powerful reminder of how deeply we are connected to the universe.”

Additionally, the sample included magnesium sodium phosphate, a mineral that had not been previously detected via remote sensing. This discovery hints at the possibility that Bennu may have originated from a water-rich parent body, suggesting a more complex history than scientists initially thought. Such findings open new avenues for understanding the formation of asteroids and their potential to host or deliver the building blocks of life across the solar system.

Expanding the Mission: OSIRIS-APEX and Planetary Defense

The success of the OSIRIS-REx mission has not only deepened our understanding of Bennu and the early solar system but has also paved the way for expanded missions that will further investigate asteroids and their interactions with Earth. Following the successful sample return, NASA has repurposed the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft for a new mission under the name OSIRIS-APEX. This extended mission will focus on the asteroid Apophis, a near-Earth object that will make a close approach to our planet in 2029.

The mission to Apophis is of particular interest to planetary defense experts. Studying the asteroid’s interactions with Earth's gravity during its flyby will provide critical data that could inform future planetary defense strategies. Apophis, much like Bennu, is classified as a potentially hazardous asteroid, meaning that detailed studies of its orbit and physical properties are essential for developing methods to deflect or mitigate the threat of similar asteroids. Dani Mendoza DellaGiustina, who will lead the OSIRIS-APEX mission, noted, “The data we gather from Apophis will provide invaluable insights into how asteroids behave in close proximity to Earth, which could be crucial for future planetary defense efforts.”

Beyond planetary defense, the study of Apophis will also contribute to our understanding of how gravitational forces shape asteroid trajectories and physical structures. The extended mission will further leverage the scientific expertise gained from Bennu to explore a new and equally fascinating object in our solar system.

New Frontiers in Space Exploration and Astrobiology

The success of OSIRIS-REx has had a profound impact not just on asteroid science but on broader fields like astrobiology. Following the return of the Bennu sample, the University of Arizona established the Arizona Astrobiology Center, which aims to bring together researchers from various disciplines to study the origins of life on Earth and the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe. This interdisciplinary approach will foster collaboration between experts in planetary science, chemistry, and biology, allowing for a more comprehensive exploration of life's origins.

The study of Bennu’s organic compounds and hydrated minerals could provide key insights into the conditions necessary for life to emerge, both on Earth and other celestial bodies. This research not only advances our understanding of the past but could also inform future missions that search for life beyond our planet. As Lauretta explained, “The journey of OSIRIS-REx has surpassed our greatest expectations, thanks in large part to the dedication and insight of the students who have been at the heart of this mission.” By involving students in this groundbreaking work, the mission has not only expanded scientific knowledge but also helped train the next generation of planetary scientists.

With Bennu’s sample now offering a wealth of data and future missions like OSIRIS-APEX set to explore new frontiers, the impact of this mission will be felt for years to come, as researchers continue to uncover the mysteries of the solar system and our place within it.

A Stellar Nursery in Full Bloom

The Rosette Nebula is a vast region, spanning 130 light-years, where young stars are born from collapsing clouds of gas and dust. At the center of this stellar nursery lies the cluster NGC 2244, composed of hot, massive stars that are just a few million years old. These stars emit powerful ultraviolet radiation, ionizing the gas surrounding them and giving the nebula its striking appearance. The Dark Energy Camera, mounted on the Víctor M. Blanco Telescope, captured this vibrant image with a 500-megapixel resolution, providing unprecedented detail.

As explained by NOIRLab, “The billowing red clouds are regions of H-alpha emission, resulting from highly energized hydrogen atoms emitting red light. Along the walls of the central cavity, closer to the massive central stars, the radiation is energetic enough to ionize a heavier atom like oxygen, which glows in shades of gold and yellow. Finally, along the edges of the flower’s petals are wispy tendrils of deep pink glowing from the light emitted by ionized silicon.” These colors are the result of the nebula’s interaction with the massive stars in its core, whose energy is fueling the nebula’s glow.

Dark Dust and New Stars Emerging

While the glowing gas dominates much of the Rosette Nebula’s appearance, the image also reveals dark regions of dense dust, where new stars are still forming. These dense columns, often referred to as “elephant trunks,” are slowly collapsing under their own gravity, providing the material needed for the birth of new stars. One of these features, called the Wrench Trunk, twists through the nebula, shaped by its internal magnetic fields.

In addition to the elephant trunks, the nebula contains Bok globules—small, dark clouds of gas and dust that are thought to harbor the early stages of stellar formation. These globules provide an essential environment for the formation of low-mass stars, shielding them from the intense radiation emitted by the more massive stars in the region.

The Rosette Nebula’s Future

As the stars in NGC 2244 evolve, their stellar winds will eventually disperse much of the gas and dust that make up the Rosette Nebula. The nebula’s central cavity is already a result of these winds, which have blown away the material around the stars, creating the hollow structure seen in the image. Over time, some of these stars will end their lives in supernovae, and the shock waves from these explosions will further disrupt the nebula, scattering the remaining gas and dust into space.

This process mirrors what happens in other star-forming regions across the galaxy, where the birth and death of stars play a pivotal role in shaping the surrounding environment. In a few million years, the Rosette Nebula will likely fade, leaving behind a cluster of young stars that were once cradled in its gaseous folds. These stars may eventually give rise to planetary systems, just as our solar system likely formed from a similar nebula billions of years ago.

A Glimpse Into the Past

The Rosette Nebula offers astronomers a rare opportunity to study the conditions that lead to the formation of stars and planets. By observing regions like the Rosette, scientists gain insights into how the Sun and its planets were born more than 4.6 billion years ago. The high-resolution image captured by DECam allows researchers to investigate the complex interactions between stars and their environments, providing clues about the early stages of stellar evolution.

The nebula’s glowing gas, dark dust clouds, and emerging stars make it an ideal site for studying stellar formation. With its intricate structure and stunning colors, the Rosette Nebula continues to captivate both scientists and the public, offering a vivid snapshot of the universe’s ongoing cycle of birth and transformation.

What Causes the Northern Lights?

The northern lights, or aurora borealis, occur when charged particles from the sun, often released during events like coronal mass ejections (CMEs), collide with Earth’s magnetic field. These particles are funneled toward the poles, where they interact with gases in the upper atmosphere, such as oxygen and nitrogen. As these collisions occur, they release energy in the form of light, creating the dazzling displays of green, red, purple, and sometimes blue hues seen in the night sky.

This week’s auroral display is the result of a coronal mass ejection from the sun, which has sent a wave of solar particles toward Earth. These particles are expected to interact with Earth’s magnetosphere, leading to a G1 geomagnetic storm, according to NOAA. While the northern lights are typically confined to regions near the Arctic, this week’s storm could push the auroras farther south, making them visible in parts of the northern U.S. states.

What makes this storm part of a larger trend is the sun's current activity cycle. The sun follows an 11-year solar cycle, and it is currently nearing the peak of Solar Cycle 25, a period marked by increased sunspots and solar storms. This cycle is expected to reach its peak in 2025, meaning that more solar activity, and thus more auroras, could be visible in the next few years.

Where and When to See the Aurora Borealis

According to NOAA, the auroras may be visible in several northern U.S. states, including Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Maine. NOAA’s forecast is based on the Kp index, a measure of geomagnetic activity that ranges from 0 to 9, with higher numbers indicating stronger storms and a wider visibility of the auroras. For this event, the Kp index is expected to reach five, which means that the northern lights could extend farther south than usual, though they will still be brightest near the Arctic.

The best time to view the northern lights is typically between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m., when the night sky is darkest and the geomagnetic activity is most intense. However, visibility depends heavily on local conditions such as cloud cover and light pollution. For those hoping to catch a glimpse of the auroras, it’s best to head to areas with little to no artificial light, such as rural locations or elevated spots like hilltops.

NOAA also provides real-time tracking through its aurora dashboard, allowing skygazers to monitor the geomagnetic activity and the likelihood of seeing the northern lights in their area. The dashboard tracks solar wind conditions and provides updates on the current visibility range of the auroras, helping viewers plan their night of skywatching.

The Impact of Solar Storms and Future Opportunities

Solar storms like this week’s event are not only visually stunning but can also have practical impacts on modern technology. Geomagnetic storms, especially stronger ones, have the potential to disrupt satellite communications, GPS systems, and even power grids. The charged particles released by the sun during these storms interact with Earth’s magnetic field, which can cause fluctuations in electrical systems. While this week’s storm is expected to be minor, larger storms—like the G4-class storm in May—can create more significant disturbances.

The current increase in solar activity is part of the natural solar cycle, which impacts space weather and the frequency of auroras. As Solar Cycle 25 moves toward its peak, solar storms will become more common, increasing the chances of auroral displays in lower latitudes. This means that even regions in the continental U.S. that don’t typically see the northern lights could have more opportunities to witness the phenomenon in the coming years.

In recent months, the northern lights have already made several unexpected appearances in lower latitudes. In May 2024, a particularly strong geomagnetic storm brought the auroras as far south as Virginia. As the sun’s activity continues to ramp up, it’s likely that more regions will be treated to these spectacular displays, making this an exciting time for skywatchers.

If weather conditions or location prevent viewing this week’s aurora, there will be more chances in the near future as solar activity remains elevated. With Solar Cycle 25 expected to peak around 2025, the next few years are likely to bring more frequent opportunities to see the northern lights.

Quasar Neighborhoods: Dense Yet Unexpectedly Isolated

Quasars are known to be powered by supermassive black holes accreting massive amounts of gas, which makes them some of the most luminous objects in the cosmos. These black holes are so large that they can only form in regions where gas is abundantly available, and for this reason, scientists have long believed that quasars reside in the densest parts of the early universe. However, despite their expected presence in highly populated galactic clusters, previous observations of quasar environments have yielded mixed results. Some studies reported dense regions of companion galaxies around quasars, while others found sparse surroundings. The inconsistency in these findings has puzzled astronomers for years.

In this latest study, led by Trystan Lambert, researchers turned to DECam's massive field of view and special filters to solve the puzzle. By focusing on the quasar VIK J2348-3054, which is located at a well-established distance thanks to prior observations from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), the team was able to map the quasar’s environment across an unprecedentedly wide area of the sky. According to Lambert, the study benefited from the "perfect storm" of conditions: “We had a quasar with a well-known distance, and DECam on the Blanco telescope offered the massive field of view and exact filter that we needed.” This allowed the team to detect 38 companion galaxies spread over a distance of up to 60 million light-years from the quasar, confirming that these quasars reside in densely populated regions of space, as expected.

However, the real surprise came when the team examined the area closer to the quasar, within a radius of 15 million light-years, and found no galaxies at all. This void around the quasar suggests that the intense radiation emitted by the quasar could be preventing the formation of new stars in nearby galaxies, a phenomenon that had not been conclusively observed before. “Some quasars are not quiet neighbors,” Lambert explained, theorizing that the radiation may be so strong that it "heats up the gas in nearby galaxies, preventing this collapse" and thus suppressing star formation altogether.

Resolving The Quasar Neighborhood Conundrum

This study sheds light on the long-standing confusion about quasar environments and explains why past research has produced conflicting results. Previous smaller-area surveys of quasar surroundings might have been misled by the deceptive emptiness of the regions immediately surrounding the quasar. Without a broad enough view, earlier observations could have missed the larger clusters of companion galaxies further out, giving an incomplete or even contradictory picture of quasar environments. According to Lambert, the success of this study was largely due to DECam’s extremely wide field of view, which was crucial for detecting the more distant companion galaxies: "You really have to open up to a larger area,” he said, adding that this expansive view allowed for a much more thorough analysis of quasar neighborhoods than ever before.

By mapping the region up to 60 million light-years from the quasar, the research team was able to provide a more comprehensive perspective. They found that while quasars are indeed surrounded by dense populations of companion galaxies, there is often a noticeable gap immediately around the quasar itself. The absence of galaxies in this region offers a plausible explanation for why past studies presented conflicting results. Smaller-scale surveys, which lacked the broad field of view offered by DECam, might have focused only on the closer, emptier areas around quasars and thus missed the larger, more distant galaxy clusters.

This unexpected discovery also provides a new understanding of the dynamics of quasar feedback, where the intense radiation from a quasar could disrupt the process of star formation in nearby galaxies. This disruption might explain why galaxies closer to the quasar are invisible or absent. As Lambert pointed out, “Stars in galaxies form from gas that is cold enough to collapse under its own gravity. Luminous quasars can potentially be so bright as to illuminate this gas in nearby galaxies and heat it up, preventing this collapse.” This finding highlights the significant role quasars may play in regulating star formation in their neighborhoods and could reshape our understanding of the formation of galaxy clusters in the early universe.

Future Implications for Quasar and Galaxy Formation Research

Looking ahead, the research team plans to continue investigating the relationship between quasars and their surrounding galaxies. Further observations are needed to confirm whether the radiation from quasars is indeed suppressing star formation in nearby galaxies. Lambert’s team is already preparing for additional spectroscopic observations to gather more data on the potential suppression of star formation and to expand the sample size by studying other quasars in similar environments. These follow-up studies will be critical in determining whether this phenomenon is unique to certain quasars or if it represents a broader pattern across the early universe.

In the near future, the development of more advanced observatories like the NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory is expected to revolutionize our understanding of quasars and their environments. The observatory will offer even more powerful tools for studying the early universe, enabling astronomers to map quasar neighborhoods with even greater precision. “We expect that productivity will be amplified enormously with the upcoming NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory,” said Chris Davis, program director at NSF NOIRLab, highlighting the collaborative effort between the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy that made this study possible.

This research marks a significant step forward in our understanding of how quasars interact with their environments. The combination of DECam's wide-field capabilities and the precise distance measurements provided by ALMA has opened up new possibilities for studying the early universe. By revealing both the dense populations of galaxies surrounding quasars and the unexpected voids near them, this study offers a more nuanced view of the cosmos during its formative stages. As future observations refine these findings, we may soon have a clearer understanding of how supermassive black holes, quasars, and galaxy clusters co-evolved in the early universe, shaping the universe we see today.

The discovery includes the largest Einstein Cross ever observed, in which light from a single galaxy is bent and split into four separate images by the gravitational field of the lensing galaxy cluster. This unique galactic alignment is set to enhance our understanding of the most elusive forces in the universe.

A Rare Alignment: The Formation of the "Carousel Lens"

The Carousel Lens is an extremely rare alignment of galaxies, offering scientists a unique opportunity to study the physics of gravitational lensing. Gravitational lensing, first predicted by Albert Einstein in 1915 through his general theory of relativity, occurs when the massive gravitational field of a foreground object, such as a galaxy cluster, distorts and magnifies the light from more distant objects. In this case, the foreground galaxy cluster, located 5 billion light-years from Earth, acts as a lens, bending the light from the seven background galaxies, which are even farther away. These galaxies, located at the very edge of the observable universe, are stretched and warped due to the lensing effect, creating multiple distorted images that appear as if they were part of a cosmic "carousel."

"This is an amazingly lucky 'galactic line-up' — a chance alignment of multiple galaxies across a line-of-sight spanning most of the observable universe," said David Schlegel, a senior scientist at Berkeley Lab's Physics Division and a co-author of the study. "Finding one such alignment is a needle in the haystack. Finding all of these is like eight needles precisely lined up inside that haystack," he added. The rarity of such an alignment makes the Carousel Lens a truly exceptional discovery, providing astronomers with a unique observational window to study how light interacts with the gravitational fields of massive galaxy clusters.

Gravitational Lensing and the Largest Einstein Cross Ever seen

One of the most fascinating features of the Carousel Lens is the discovery of the largest known Einstein Cross—a phenomenon where light from a distant galaxy is bent around a massive foreground object, causing the distant galaxy to appear multiple times in a cross-like pattern. In this case, the light from galaxy number 4 in the Carousel Lens is split into four distinct images, labeled 4a, 4b, 4c, and 4d, due to the powerful gravitational forces exerted by the lensing galaxy cluster. This creates the visual effect of the largest Einstein Cross ever observed.

The discovery of such a large Einstein Cross is significant because it offers a clear demonstration of the symmetrical mass distribution within the lensing galaxy cluster, particularly the role of dark matter. Dark matter, which makes up around 80% of the matter in the universe, is invisible and does not interact with light. It can only be detected through its gravitational influence, making gravitational lensing one of the most effective methods to study its distribution in the cosmos.

"The Carousel Lens is an incredible alignment of seven galaxies in five groupings that line up nearly perfectly behind the foreground cluster lens," said Xiaosheng Huang, a member of the research team and a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of San Francisco. Huang's team used data from the Hubble Space Telescope and computational power from the Perlmutter supercomputer at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) to model the gravitational lensing effect in detail. This alignment allows researchers to map out the unseen distribution of dark matter in the foreground cluster, which is otherwise invisible to traditional observational methods.

Gravitational Lensing: A Window Into the Dark Universe

The discovery of the Carousel Lens is not just visually stunning but also scientifically invaluable. Gravitational lensing serves as a natural telescope, magnifying distant galaxies that would otherwise be too faint or too far away to be observed directly. This phenomenon occurs because the intense gravitational field of a galaxy cluster warps the space around it, bending light as it passes through. As Albert Einstein explained through his theory of general relativity, mass distorts the fabric of space-time, and light follows the curved path created by this distortion. The more massive the object, the greater the curvature of space-time and the more pronounced the lensing effect.

In the Carousel Lens, the seven background galaxies appear multiple times in the image because the light from each galaxy takes different paths around the gravitational lens. These images are distorted into elongated shapes and arcs, creating a visual effect akin to a cosmic "funhouse mirror." In some cases, like galaxy 4, the light paths result in the formation of an Einstein Cross, where the same galaxy is imaged four times in a symmetric pattern. Such precise alignments are extremely rare, making the Carousel Lens an exceptional case for studying how mass, particularly dark matter, is distributed in space.

Unveiling the Mysteries of Dark Matter and Dark Energy

The Carousel Lens is not only an extraordinary visual spectacle but also a powerful tool for studying dark matter and dark energy, two of the most mysterious components of the universe. Dark matter, which does not emit, absorb, or reflect light, can only be detected through its gravitational effects. By analyzing how the light from the distant galaxies is distorted by the foreground cluster, astronomers can map the distribution of dark matter within the lensing cluster. This allows scientists to gain a deeper understanding of how dark matter influences the large-scale structure of the universe.

In addition to studying dark matter, the Carousel Lens offers new opportunities to explore dark energy, the invisible force responsible for the accelerated expansion of the universe. Dark energy is even more elusive than dark matter, and its nature remains one of the biggest unsolved mysteries in cosmology. However, precise measurements made possible by the Carousel Lens could help scientists better understand how dark energy operates on cosmic scales, offering new insights into the fundamental forces shaping our universe.

"This is an extremely unusual alignment, which by itself will provide a testbed for cosmological studies," said Nathalie Palanque-Delabrouille, director of Berkeley Lab’s Physics Division. "It also shows how the imaging done for DESI can be leveraged for other scientific applications, such as investigating the mysteries of dark matter and the accelerating expansion of the universe, which is driven by dark energy."

A Breakthrough in Cosmology and the Road Ahead

The discovery of the Carousel Lens represents a significant breakthrough in the field of cosmology, offering a unique laboratory for testing theories about the universe’s structure and composition. The precise data gathered from this rare alignment will allow researchers to refine their models of dark matter and dark energy, potentially leading to new discoveries about the fundamental nature of the universe. The team’s research, published in The Astrophysical Journal, highlights the importance of collaborative efforts and cutting-edge technology in advancing our understanding of the cosmos.

As scientists continue to analyze the Carousel Lens, the data collected could lead to breakthroughs in how we understand the dark universe. The intricate details revealed by this cosmic alignment will likely keep astronomers and physicists busy for years to come. In the words of William Sheu, the lead author of the study and a Ph.D. student at UCLA, "The Carousel Lens is an unprecedented discovery that opens up new possibilities for studying the universe at its most fundamental level."

This discovery not only enhances our understanding of the universe’s invisible components but also sets the stage for future studies that could reshape our understanding of dark matter, dark energy, and the very fabric of the cosmos itself.

Designed to explore the mysteries of dark energy, dark matter, and exoplanets, the Roman Space Telescope is a next-generation observatory set to revolutionize our understanding of the cosmos. With the spacecraft bus now finished, NASA is one step closer to launching this highly anticipated telescope, which is expected to exceed the capabilities of both the Hubble and James Webb Space Telescopes.

Roman Space Telescope’s Spacecraft Bus: A Vital Component

The spacecraft bus plays a critical role in the operation of the Roman Space Telescope, acting as the core infrastructure that will transport and support the telescope in space. Often compared to an RV, the bus is much more than a transport vehicle; it is responsible for enabling the telescope to accomplish its scientific goals. It houses the systems that control power generation, communication with Earth, data management, and thermal regulation, ensuring that the observatory can function efficiently in space.

One of the most impressive aspects of the spacecraft bus is its 50 miles of electrical cabling, which ensures that the various components of the telescope can communicate with each other seamlessly. The bus will also deploy several major systems once in orbit, including solar panels, a high-gain antenna, and a deployable aperture cover, all of which are essential for the telescope's operation. These systems, along with the Lower Instrument Sun Shade, are designed to protect the observatory from sunlight and help regulate its temperature, a critical requirement for sensitive infrared observations.

Record-breaking Data Capabilities

One of the standout features of the Roman Space Telescope is its unprecedented data handling capacity. According to Jason Hylan, the Roman observatory manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, the telescope will transmit 1.4 terabytes of data per day—a significant increase compared to the 50 to 60 gigabytes sent daily by the James Webb Space Telescope and the 3 gigabytes sent by Hubble. To put this in perspective, Hylan notes that Roman’s daily data downlink is equivalent to two weeks' worth of YouTube videos at the highest resolution, compared to 13 hours' worth from the Webb telescope.

This enormous data flow is essential for the telescope’s mission, which includes surveying large sections of the sky to study the accelerating expansion of the universe (driven by dark energy) and the nature of dark matter. The data will also be used to identify and image exoplanets in other star systems, contributing to a growing field of research focused on discovering potentially habitable worlds beyond our solar system.

Innovative Engineering and Modular Design

The construction of the spacecraft bus was a complex process, spanning eight years and involving hundreds of engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. The team faced numerous challenges, including supply chain disruptions and delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, NASA engineers were able to overcome these obstacles through innovative design choices and a highly collaborative approach.

One particularly effective technique was the creation of a structural verification unit, a mockup of the spacecraft that allowed engineers to conduct strength testing while simultaneously assembling the actual bus. This parallel approach saved time and money, allowing the team to maintain their schedule despite external challenges. The bus was designed with a modular layout, which enabled different teams to work on various parts of the spacecraft independently, speeding up the construction process.

The bus itself is 13 feet wide and 6.5 feet tall, weighing 8,400 pounds. It features a hexagonal shape and incorporates lightweight composite materials and a honeycomb structure to minimize weight without sacrificing strength. Some components, such as the antenna dish, are made of ultra-lightweight composites that ensure the bus remains sturdy yet light enough for efficient launch and maneuvering in space.

Final Assembly and Testing

Now that the spacecraft bus is fully assembled, NASA engineers are preparing for the next phase of the project: integrating the scientific instruments and the telescope itself. This will include attaching the deployable aperture cover, the outer barrel assembly, and the solar panels. The integration process will be followed by comprehensive system testing to ensure all components work together flawlessly before launch.

Each component of the spacecraft has already undergone rigorous testing individually, but now the full assembly will be tested as a complete unit. As Missie Vess, a spacecraft systems engineer for the Roman mission, explained, "The spacecraft passed the test, and now we’re getting ready to install the payload—Roman’s instruments and the telescope itself." These final tests will ensure that the telescope is fully operational and ready to launch, currently slated for May 2027.

Goddard's Expertise and Collaboration

The successful completion of the Roman Space Telescope’s spacecraft bus is the culmination of years of effort by a team of highly skilled engineers and scientists. The project was led by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, which provided the expertise needed to design and build the bus, and collaborated with various vendors and industry partners to supply the necessary components. Companies such as BAE Systems, L3Harris Technologies, and Teledyne Scientific & Imaging contributed to the construction of the spacecraft, providing cutting-edge technologies and materials.

According to Jackie Townsend, Roman's deputy project manager, the project leaned heavily on generations of experience in spacecraft engineering, allowing the team to work through technical challenges and adapt to changing timelines. "We leaned on generations of expertise in the spacecraft arena to work around cost and schedule challenges that arose from supply chain issues and the pandemic," Townsend said.

Looking Ahead: The Future of Space Exploration

The completion of the spacecraft bus brings NASA one step closer to launching the Roman Space Telescope, a mission that promises to transform our understanding of the universe. With its wide-field survey capabilities, the Roman telescope is poised to uncover new insights into cosmic expansion, dark matter, and the search for exoplanets. Once fully assembled and tested, the Roman Space Telescope will join the ranks of NASA’s most powerful observatories, providing data that will drive astrophysical research for years to come.

As the project moves forward, the next few years will be critical in preparing the telescope for its mission. Engineers will continue testing and integrating the final components before the planned launch in May 2027. When it reaches its orbit, the Roman Space Telescope will open a new era in astronomical exploration, making groundbreaking discoveries that will enhance our understanding of the universe and its fundamental forces.

Located about 670 million light-years from Earth, this cluster contains two distinct streams of superheated gas crossing each other—a rare and complex phenomenon that sheds light on how galaxy clusters evolve. This unusual event provides crucial insights into the dynamics of galaxy clusters, offering a window into the interactions between galaxies and the surrounding hot gas, which is critical for understanding galaxy formation and evolution on a larger cosmic scale.

The Discovery of Galaxy Tails in Zwicky 8338

In their observations of Z8338, astronomers discovered an enormous comet-like tail of hot gas stretching over 1.6 million light-years behind a galaxy in the cluster. This tail formed as the galaxy sped through the cluster's hot plasma, with the gas being stripped from the galaxy due to pressure from its high-speed motion. What makes this finding remarkable is the tail’s bifurcation into two distinct streams, a phenomenon that has rarely been observed in galaxy clusters.

This newly detected tail adds to a previous discovery of a shorter pair of gas tails from a different galaxy within the same cluster. These discoveries were only made possible through deeper X-ray observations from Chandra, which allowed astronomers to detect the faint X-rays emitted by the gas streams. According to NASA scientists, these streams are likely a result of intense interactions between galaxies as they move through the cluster, causing the gas to split into multiple streams.

The Chandra data provided an unprecedented view of these complex structures, revealing a rich environment of galaxies, superheated gas, and shock waves, all packed into a relatively small region of space. Researchers propose that these gas tails result from the chaotic forces at play as two galaxy clusters collide to form Z8338, creating a turbulent environment where gas is stripped from galaxies and shaped into long, comet-like tails.

The Significance of Crossing Gas Streams

The crossing of these superheated gas streams in Z8338 has major implications for our understanding of galaxy cluster dynamics. Galaxy clusters, the largest gravitationally bound structures in the universe, contain thousands of galaxies and immense quantities of hot gas. When two galaxy clusters collide, shock waves and turbulent motions, similar to sonic booms, spread through the cluster, causing gases to interact in complex ways.

In Z8338, scientists now have direct evidence that these interactions cause gas streams to cross and detach from their parent galaxies. The passage of one galaxy's gas stream through the tail of another galaxy is believed to be the key factor behind the formation of these dual tails. This process likely plays a significant role in the overall evolution of the galaxy cluster, redistributing gas across vast distances and potentially leading to the formation of new structures such as stars and planets.

NASA scientists noted that the cooler gas clouds observed in the head of the detached tail can survive for at least 30 million years after being separated from their host galaxy. During this time, these clouds may condense to form new stars and planetary systems, making this discovery particularly important for understanding the life cycle of galaxies within clusters.

Insights from Multi-wavelength Observations

The Chandra X-ray Observatory’s findings were enhanced by combining its X-ray data with optical images from the Dark Energy Survey, carried out at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. This multi-wavelength approach provided a comprehensive view of the galaxy cluster, allowing astronomers to observe both the hot gas and the galaxies within Z8338. The X-ray data revealed the gas as it is stripped from the galaxies, while the optical images provided a clear picture of the galaxies themselves.

In the composite image of Z8338, the hot gas appears as streaks of purple, while the galaxies are visible as glowing red and golden dots scattered across the field of view. The combination of these datasets allowed astronomers to observe the entire process of gas stripping, stream crossing, and tail formation in much greater detail.

One of the most striking features of the image is the original tail, about 800,000 light-years long, which is seen as a vertical structure in the Chandra X-ray data. This tail is believed to be composed of cool gas that was stripped from a large galaxy as it sped through the cluster. The head of the tail is now located about 100,000 light-years from the galaxy it originated from, highlighting the dramatic extent of gas loss experienced by galaxies moving through these dense environments.

The Broader Implications for Galaxy Cluster Evolution

The discovery of crossing gas streams in Z8338 not only provides insight into the inner workings of this particular cluster but also has broader implications for our understanding of galaxy cluster evolution. Galaxy clusters are dynamic systems where galaxies interact with one another and with the surrounding intracluster medium, the hot plasma that fills the space between galaxies. These interactions can strip gas from galaxies, redistribute galactic material, and influence the formation of new stars.

The findings from Z8338 suggest that crossing gas streams may be a common occurrence in merging galaxy clusters, and that these interactions play a significant role in shaping the overall structure of clusters. By studying these processes in detail, astronomers can gain a better understanding of how galaxy clusters grow and evolve over billions of years. Additionally, this research sheds light on how galaxies lose their gas as they move through clusters, which is a key factor in determining their future star-forming potential.

The results from Z8338 offer a unique glimpse into how turbulent forces within galaxy clusters can create new structures and lead to the formation of stars and planets. As NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory continues to observe more galaxy clusters, astronomers hope to uncover further examples of these fascinating processes, helping to build a more complete picture of how the universe's largest structures evolve over time.

These jets, named Porphyrion, originate from a supermassive black hole located 7.5 billion light-years away. The scale of these jets is unprecedented, stretching across a distance equivalent to 140 Milky Way galaxies. This discovery provides new insights into the power of black holes and how they may have shaped the cosmic web that structures the universe.

Formation and Stability of Black Hole Jets

The formation of black hole jets remains one of the most intriguing phenomena in astrophysics. These jets are created when material from the accretion disk of a supermassive black hole is accelerated along magnetic field lines and launched into space at nearly the speed of light. However, the newly discovered Porphyrion jets are remarkable not only for their size but for their stability over billions of years. According to Hardcastle, this system is also notable because it is "one of the most powerful we know about, with a fast rate of matter infall onto the black hole." This rate of infall is crucial for sustaining such large and powerful jets.

For black hole jets to reach such massive lengths, they must remain stable for a long period of time. The Porphyrion jets have persisted for approximately a billion years, an extraordinary feat considering the turbulent conditions of the early universe. Intergalactic space was denser during the time when Porphyrion existed, which should have introduced instabilities that would disrupt the jets. "Both pen-and-paper work and numerical simulations of jet physics suggest that jets are unstable structures: once disturbed, the disturbances tend to grow and not diminish," explained Martijn Oei, an astronomer from Leiden University and Caltech who led the study. Yet, Porphyrion has defied these expectations, maintaining its structure over a vast period of time and space.

The size and stability of these jets are not only remarkable but also raise important questions about how black holes and their surrounding environments interact over cosmic time scales. Oei made a striking analogy to help illustrate the scale of the discovery: "If we shrink the jets to the size of the Earth and the black hole accordingly, the black hole would have the size of 0.2 millimeters: the size of an amoeba or a mite on your skin." This comparison underscores the sheer scale of these jets relative to the black hole from which they emerge.

The Role of Black Hole Jets in Shaping the Cosmic Web

The discovery of Porphyrion is not just significant because of its size but also for what it reveals about the cosmic web—the large-scale structure of the universe, composed of filaments of dark matter and gas that connect galaxies across vast distances. These jets extend well beyond their host galaxy and may influence the evolution of not only their own galaxy but also nearby galaxies and cosmic structures. According to Oei, Porphyrion shows "that small things and large things in the universe are intimately connected. We are seeing a single black hole that produces a structure of a scale similar to that of cosmic filaments and voids."

The cosmic web consists of interconnected filaments of dark matter, with galaxies forming at the intersections of these filaments, while vast voids separate them. The researchers suspect that the Porphyrion jets might have played a role in heating the gas within these voids and contributing to the formation of magnetic fields observed in these regions. "These jets could be responsible for the strangely high temperatures detected in voids and the magnetic field structures found therein," Oei suggested.

This discovery also suggests that such large jets were likely more common in the early universe than previously thought, potentially playing a significant role in shaping the cosmic web as we observe it today. The scale of Porphyrion is so vast that it spans 66 percent of the radius of the void in which it sits. This raises the possibility that such jets might have been responsible for distributing energy and magnetic fields across intergalactic space, influencing galaxy formation on a much larger scale than previously believed.

Implications for Black Hole and Galaxy Evolution

The discovery of the Porphyrion jets offers new insights into the co-evolution of galaxies and supermassive black holes, a relationship that has long fascinated astronomers. It is widely believed that galaxies and their central black holes evolve together, with the energy from black hole jets influencing the growth of both the host galaxy and neighboring galaxies. "This discovery shows that their effects can extend much farther out than we thought," said George Djorgovski, an astronomer at the California Institute of Technology.

What makes the Porphyrion jets even more intriguing is that they were produced by a radiative-mode black hole, a type of black hole that emits large amounts of radiation rather than focusing energy into jets. This is unusual because it was previously thought that radiative-mode black holes could not produce jets of this size. The fact that these jets formed and persisted for billions of years despite this state suggests that there may be other mechanisms at play that allow such large jets to remain active over long time periods. "It may be that this particular source just had the perfect conditions for long life," Hardcastle explained.

Future Research and Discoveries

The discovery of Porphyrion marks a significant advancement in our understanding of black hole jets and their role in shaping the universe. However, researchers believe that there may be even larger jets waiting to be discovered. According to Oei, "Galaxies with giant jets are more common than we realize... Once the instruments improve in the coming few years, I expect that many more galaxies with giant jets will be found." Future telescopes, such as the upcoming Square Kilometer Array, are expected to detect even more of these structures, allowing scientists to study their influence on the cosmic web and the evolution of galaxies.

As technology advances and researchers continue to study systems like Porphyrion, they hope to answer fundamental questions about the stability of black hole jets, their impact on intergalactic space, and their role in the broader history of the universe. The scale and longevity of the Porphyrion jets provide a glimpse into the extreme processes that shape the cosmos, offering a new perspective on how galaxies and supermassive black holes have evolved together over billions of years.

However, cracks have begun to form in this once-reliable framework. Discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) show mature galaxies forming too soon after the universe's supposed origin. Other anomalies, like the “Hubble tension” and the late emergence of dark energy, suggest that cosmology might be facing a crisis.

A New Gravitational Perspective

While some scientists hope to tweak the LCDM model to fix these issues, findings in general relativity offer a completely different direction. In 2011, Jun Ni uncovered new solutions to the Einstein field equations for neutron stars, later expanded by Lubos Neslušan, Jorge deLyra, and others. These solutions—known as the Ni-Neslušan-deLyra configurations—challenge standard cosmological ideas.

Unlike conventional models, these solutions describe a shell-like structure with a central void, where a repulsive gravitational field causes matter to be attracted toward the shell. This setup produces gravitational redshifts and blueshifts, depending on the direction light travels within the shell, deviating from the standard flat Minkowski spacetime associated with spherical shells.

Resolving LCDM Tensions

All the tensions in the LCDM model, including Hubble tension and supernova dimming, might be explained if our observable universe were concentrated in a thick Ni shell. The Milky Way is near the centre in what is known as the KBC Void. Though this positioning conflicts with the cosmological principle, evidence from quasar counts and other observational anomalies might support it.

In this Ni shell universe, the Hubble redshift could be due to gravitational redshift caused by the shell, not just spacetime expansion. The Hubble tension would be explained by changes in gravitational forces as one moves away from the centre, and the concept of dark energy would no longer be necessary.

Hybrid Models and Beyond

The Ni solution could potentially merge with LCDM in a hybrid approach, similar to Rajendra Gupta’s “CCC + TL” model. Supernova dimming could result from Ni redshifts, making objects appear farther than they actually are. However, the Ni model may extend much deeper than just resolving current cosmological tensions.

Recent observations of high mass density at early stages of the universe suggest it may have so much mass that it resembles a black hole. In this scenario, a new cosmological model could arise, where spacetime consists of photonic filaments that interconnect all masses, an idea proposed by Arto Annila and colleagues. These filaments, composed of overlapping photon pairs, could play a key role in how gravity operates.

A Universe as a Black Hole?

In this black hole cosmology, all radiation would be confined within the cosmic interior. The CMB could have originated from gravitational energy trapped during the formation of the shell, possibly leading to a cosmological cycle for gravity and a force similar to Einstein’s cosmological constant, Λ.

Gravity, in this model, would arise from the absorption of CMB photon energy in spacetime filaments, pulling masses together. Meanwhile, the Λ force would return absorbed energy to photons, pushing masses apart. This setup matches the Ni solutions, where gravity and Λ are driven by inward-moving redshifted waves and outward-moving blue shifted waves, respectively.

A Ni shell black hole universe is also testable. If valid, the CMB temperature within the shell would be about 29 K, with the lowest temperature near the centre approaching 0 K. Our current CMB temperature of 2.73 K could indicate that the Milky Way is offset from the universe’s centre. Measuring CMB temperatures at different locations could provide a simple and direct test of this model.

[caption id="attachment_8272" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Ni black hole universe with CMB cycle for gravity and Λ. A CMB wave moving inwardly from the shell is redshifted.[/caption]

A New Perspective on Black Holes

If the universe itself functions like a black hole, it suggests all black holes share the same structure, including a shell configuration and gravity/Λ cycles. Regardless of a black hole’s mass, they would produce the same “maximum luminosity,” irrespective of size.

For smaller black holes, this process would require more energy to prevent collapse. In rapidly rotating black holes, the Ni shell might collapse into a torus, which could explain the striking images of supermassive black holes.

A recent breakthrough from the Flatiron Institute's Center for Computational Astrophysics (CCA) in New York City highlights this potential, where AI was employed to determine five crucial cosmological parameters with unparalleled precision.

These parameters, essential for describing the universe's large-scale structure and evolution, were extracted using innovative AI techniques that could also help resolve the long-debated Hubble tension. This study, published in Nature Astronomy on August 21, 2024, marks a pivotal advancement in cosmology, offering new insights into the universe's fundamental workings.

Unlocking the Universe's 'Settings'

Cosmological parameters serve as the foundational "settings" that dictate how the universe behaves on the grandest scales. These parameters include the densities of ordinary matter (baryons), dark matter, and dark energy, as well as conditions immediately following the Big Bang, such as the universe's opacity and clumpiness. Traditionally, these parameters have been estimated by examining the large-scale distribution of galaxies across the cosmos. However, this approach often overlooks finer details that could provide more accurate measurements.

The team at CCA, recognizing the limitations of traditional methods, turned to AI to extract these parameters from smaller scales within the data, something that had previously been unachievable. They trained their AI model on 2,000 simulated universes, each with different cosmological settings. This rigorous training allowed the AI to develop an understanding of how galaxies should appear based on the specific settings of these simulated universes. By introducing real-world observational challenges into the simulations—such as atmospheric distortion and imperfections in telescope optics—the researchers ensured that the AI could handle the complexities of actual astronomical data.

Once the AI was trained, it was applied to data from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), which includes observations of over 100,000 galaxies. The results were remarkable. The AI managed to estimate the universe's "clumpiness" parameter with less than half the uncertainty of previous methods. This degree of precision is unprecedented and demonstrates the power of AI to refine our understanding of the universe's fundamental characteristics.

Practical Implications and the Value of AI

The practical implications of this AI-driven approach are vast. Cosmological surveys like BOSS, which span large portions of the sky and collect data on hundreds of thousands of galaxies, represent significant investments in both time and money. As Shirley Ho, a co-author of the study and a leading astronomer at CCA, pointed out, "Each of these [telescope] surveys costs hundreds of millions to billions of dollars. The main reason these surveys exist is because we want to understand these cosmological parameters better. So if you think about it in a very practical sense, these parameters are worth tens of millions of dollars each."

Given the substantial resources involved, extracting the maximum amount of information from these surveys is crucial. The AI method developed by the CCA team allows astronomers to do precisely that. By using AI to analyze small-scale details within the data, the researchers were able to achieve results that would traditionally require far more data. Specifically, the AI's precision was equivalent to what would be expected from a conventional analysis using four times as many galaxies. This efficiency not only saves resources but also enhances the overall value of the data collected, pushing the boundaries of what is possible in cosmological research.

Addressing the Hubble Tension

One of the most intriguing potential applications of this AI-powered method is its ability to address the Hubble tension—a significant and ongoing discrepancy in measurements of the universe's expansion rate. The Hubble constant, a critical parameter that describes how quickly the universe is expanding, has been measured using various methods that yield different results. This inconsistency has led to considerable debate among scientists and has raised questions about whether our current models of the universe are complete.

The AI approach offers a new tool to explore this tension with greater precision. As ChangHoon Hahn, the study's lead author and a researcher at Princeton University, explained, "If we measure the quantities very precisely and can firmly say that there is a tension, that could reveal new physics about dark energy and the expansion of the universe." By incorporating data from upcoming cosmic surveys, which will provide even more detailed observations, researchers hope to determine whether the Hubble tension can be resolved within the framework of existing models or if it points to new physics that could fundamentally alter our understanding of the universe.

The potential to resolve the Hubble tension is not just an academic exercise; it could have profound implications for our understanding of the universe's fate. If the tension is confirmed and understood, it might lead to new insights into dark energy—the mysterious force driving the universe's accelerated expansion—and could reshape our models of cosmology in significant ways.

At 2 a.m. local time, clocks will be set back one hour, marking the shift from daylight saving time to what is commonly referred to as "winter time." This time change gives most people an extra hour of sleep but also brings about earlier sunsets, signaling the start of the darker, colder months ahead.

Understanding Daylight Saving Time and Its Purpose

Daylight saving time (DST) was originally introduced as a way to make better use of daylight during the longer days of spring and summer. By moving the clock forward in the spring, an extra hour of daylight is added to the evening, reducing the need for artificial lighting and helping to conserve energy. This practice was first widely adopted during World War I and later became standard in many countries, including the United States.

However, as the season changes and the days grow shorter, the benefits of daylight saving time diminish, leading to the annual "fall back" to standard time in early November. This return to standard time means that evenings will become darker earlier, a change that can impact daily routines and outdoor activities.

States and Territories that Will Remain on Standard Time

While the majority of the United States observes daylight saving time, adjusting their clocks twice a year, there are some exceptions. Several states and U.S. territories have chosen to remain on standard time year-round, opting out of the daylight saving time changes altogether.

• Hawaii: Due to its location near the equator, where daylight hours do not vary significantly throughout the year, Hawaii does not observe daylight saving time. The state's consistent climate and minimal daylight variation make the practice unnecessary.
• Arizona (excluding the Navajo Nation): Arizona also does not participate in daylight saving time, primarily due to its extreme summer heat. By staying on standard time, the state reduces the exposure to intense afternoon heat, lowering the demand for air conditioning and conserving energy. The Navajo Nation, which spans parts of Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico, does observe daylight saving time to maintain consistency across its territory.
• U.S. Territories: Several U.S. territories, including Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, do not observe daylight saving time. These territories, located in tropical regions with minimal daylight variation, remain on standard time throughout the year, finding no benefit in shifting the clocks.

Looking Ahead: the Future of Daylight Saving Time in the U.S.

The practice of daylight saving time has been a subject of debate for years. Proponents argue that it provides energy savings and benefits outdoor activities, while opponents point to the disruption of twice-yearly clock changes and question its overall efficacy. In recent years, some states have considered making daylight saving time permanent, which would eliminate the need for the biannual time changes. However, such a change would require federal approval, and for now, most states will continue to observe the current system.

As November 3rd approaches, residents in states that observe daylight saving time will prepare to set their clocks back and adjust to the earlier nightfall. Meanwhile, those in states and territories that remain on standard time will continue their routines without any changes, highlighting the diverse approaches to time management across the United States.

Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering have created a new process that could generate water directly on the Moon, significantly reducing the need for Earth-based resupply missions. This breakthrough could play a key role in establishing permanent human settlements on the lunar surface.

Turning Lunar Soil into Water: The Science Behind It

The innovative water-extraction process relies on heating lunar regolith, which is rich in hydrogen implanted by the solar wind over billions of years. When heated to extreme temperatures—above 1,200 Kelvin (930°C/1700°F)—this hydrogen reacts with the oxygen present in lunar minerals to form water vapor. This vapor can then be collected and condensed into liquid water, providing a potential lifeline for astronauts on future missions. Prof. Wang Junqiang, one of the leading researchers behind this technique, noted that "our findings suggest that the hydrogen retained in lunar regolith is a significant resource for obtaining H₂O on the Moon."

A key component of this process is ilmenite (FeTiO₃), a common mineral found in the Moon's soil. Ilmenite contains high concentrations of hydrogen due to its unique crystal structure, which allows solar wind particles to become trapped in sub-nanometer tunnels. When this mineral is heated, it releases the hydrogen necessary to form water. Based on their research, scientists estimate that more than 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of water can be produced from one ton of lunar soil, which is enough to meet the daily water needs of approximately 50 people. This discovery could provide a sustainable solution for future lunar bases, drastically reducing the need for Earth-based water supplies.

Implications for Lunar Colonization and Space Exploration

The implications of this water-extraction breakthrough are profound, particularly as space agencies around the world, including NASA, China’s National Space Administration (CNSA), and the European Space Agency (ESA), ramp up efforts to establish permanent outposts on the Moon by the early 2030s. These outposts are likely to be located in the southern polar region of the Moon, where scientists have detected significant deposits of water ice in permanently shadowed craters. This new method could be a game-changer for such outposts, allowing for the production of water directly on the lunar surface rather than relying on the difficult and expensive process of transporting it from Earth.

Moreover, the water produced using this method could serve multiple purposes beyond just drinking. It can be split into its constituent elements, hydrogen and oxygen, through electrolysis. The oxygen can then be used for breathing and life support systems, while the hydrogen can be used as fuel for rockets or other energy needs. This self-sustaining cycle could enable more extended missions on the Moon and even serve as a blueprint for missions to Mars and beyond.

However, the process does face some challenges, particularly regarding its reliance on sunlight. Water extraction from lunar soil can only occur during the lunar day, which lasts for approximately two weeks. This is followed by a two-week lunar night, during which the Moon's surface is plunged into darkness, making it impossible to continue the extraction process using solar power alone. To overcome this limitation, scientists are exploring potential solutions, such as using solar mirrors to redirect sunlight onto the Moon’s surface during its night phase or even deploying satellites to provide continuous energy.

Future Challenges and Opportunities for ISRU Technology

Despite the challenges, the successful development of this water extraction method marks a significant step forward in humanity’s quest to establish a sustainable presence on the Moon. In-situ resource utilization (ISRU) technologies, which focus on using local resources to generate essential supplies like water, oxygen, and fuel, are critical for reducing the costs and complexities of space exploration. By eliminating the need to transport large quantities of these resources from Earth, ISRU could make long-term lunar missions far more viable and cost-effective.

This breakthrough also opens the door to further innovations in space exploration. Future missions could expand the use of ISRU technologies to extract other valuable materials from the Moon, such as metals for construction or even helium-3, a rare isotope that could potentially be used in nuclear fusion reactors to generate energy. As researchers continue to refine this water-extraction process, they are laying the groundwork for more self-sufficient space missions that could eventually support human settlements on Mars and beyond.

The potential applications of this technology are vast, and its success could fundamentally change the way we approach space exploration. With the Moon serving as a proving ground, ISRU technologies could become an integral part of future space missions, enabling humanity to explore deeper into the solar system than ever before.

Recent groundbreaking research suggests that a specific type of dark matter, known as self-interacting dark matter, could be the missing piece in the puzzle of how black holes come together. This invisible force could be secretly fuelling the epic collisions of these cosmic behemoths, unlocking mysteries that scientists have been scratching their heads over for years!

A Cosmic Mystery Hiding in Plain Sight

Supermassive black holes are found at the heart of nearly every galaxy, and astronomers believe they've grown to their massive sizes through eons of devouring material and merging with other black holes. But there's been one gigantic mystery—how do these black holes merge when they get close but aren't quite there yet?

Astronomers hit a dead end when trying to explain how black holes lose enough energy to collide after coming within about three light-years of each other. Known as the “final parsec problem,” this space oddity has stumped the brightest minds for years.

[caption id="attachment_7772" align="alignnone" width="864"] This figure shows the driving force of a supermassive black hole merger as a function of the distance between the black holes (from right to left, the black holes are moving closer together).[/caption]

Could Dark Matter Help Black Holes Merge?

Now, a recent study published in Physical Review Letters suggests that self-interacting dark matter might be the unlikely hero solving the final parsec conundrum. Dark matter, which doesn’t interact with light but makes up most of the universe’s mass, could be playing a far more active role than we thought.

By tweaking their models to include dark matter that interacts with itself, the researchers found that the final parsec problem vanished like a magician's trick. As supermassive black holes drift toward each other in merging galaxies, this specific form of dark matter could act like a cosmic sponge, soaking up the energy that prevents black holes from smashing together.

The Universe’s Gravitational Whisper

Even more exciting, this model could explain a bizarre “background hum” of gravitational waves—cosmic ripples in space-time—that astronomers detected last year using a pulsar timing array. The researchers behind the new study claim that dark matter could be subtly altering these gravitational waves, offering tantalizing hints at its true nature.

They’re calling it: dark matter might not just be the silent partner of the universe—it could be the secret to understanding how supermassive black holes unite in their deadly dance. And as pulsar timing arrays continue to collect data, we could be on the brink of confirming it.

So, what’s next? In the next few years, new observations could reveal whether self-interacting dark matter is indeed the final answer to one of astronomy’s biggest questions. One thing’s for sure—the universe is far from done surprising us.

This image showcases the N11 nebula, a region rich in star formation activity and brimming with clouds of ionized gas and dust. Located 160,000 light-years from Earth, the LMC is a dwarf galaxy with a star formation rate far exceeding that of our own Milky Way.

The nebula, spanning roughly 1,000 light-years across, features complex patterns of bright and dark clouds, woven together like threads of sparkling candy floss.

A Stellar Nursery in the Large Magellanic Cloud

The N11 nebula stands out as one of the most active regions for star formation in the Large Magellanic Cloud, second only to the renowned Tarantula Nebula. Despite the LMC’s relatively small size, its regions of intense star formation make it a crucial area of study for astronomers.

The Hubble image reveals colossal gas bubbles, created by the forces of young, massive stars that are pushing out their stellar winds. These winds, combined with the explosive energy of supernovae, have carved out cavities within the nebula’s gas and dust.

“The Hubble images revealed expansive cavities formed by the intense forces of star birth and death,” noted NASA, emphasizing how these processes shape the surrounding environment. As the stars grow and die, they leave behind these voids, adding complexity to the already intricate structures within the nebula.

Unveiling the Chemistry of Star Formation

Regions like N11 are particularly fascinating for astronomers because their chemical composition closely resembles that of the giant star-forming regions that existed only a few billion years after the Big Bang. This makes N11 and other similar nebulae natural laboratories for studying the processes of star formation that dominated the early universe. According to NASA, “N11 offers astronomers a unique glimpse into the conditions present in the early universe.”

The cherry-pink hue seen in the Hubble image is due to the ionization of hydrogen gas within the nebula, which is being energized by the radiation from the young stars embedded within the cloud. These stars are in the early stages of their lifecycles, and their radiation is strong enough to strip electrons from surrounding hydrogen atoms, creating the glowing effect visible in the images. This vibrant color makes nebulae like N11 visually stunning and scientifically invaluable.

The Importance of N11 in Understanding Stellar Evolution

The Large Magellanic Cloud plays a vital role in our understanding of stellar evolution. The N11 region, in particular, has been instrumental in revealing how the life cycles of stars, from their birth in dense clouds of gas and dust to their explosive deaths as supernovae, can influence the surrounding environment. These processes not only shape the nebulae themselves but also contribute to the overall chemical enrichment of the galaxy.

Astronomers are keenly interested in how the birth and death of stars within regions like N11 impact the structure and composition of the galaxy as a whole. NASA emphasized, “By studying N11 and similar nebulae, scientists are able to better understand the broader mechanisms that drive stellar evolution and galaxy formation.”

The large bubbles visible in the Hubble images are a direct result of these stellar life cycles. The powerful winds generated by young stars blow away the surrounding material, creating vast cavities within the nebula. Similarly, when a massive star reaches the end of its life and explodes as a supernova, the resulting shockwaves can clear out even larger areas, leaving behind the characteristic bubbles that are now visible to us through Hubble's lens.

Looking to the Early Universe

N11 and similar regions in the Large Magellanic Cloud are particularly valuable to astronomers because they provide a glimpse into the processes that were prevalent during the early universe. “These nebulae mirror the chemical makeup of the first star-forming regions that existed just a few billion years after the Big Bang,” NASA noted.

By studying these nebulae, astronomers can learn more about the conditions that shaped the formation of the first stars and galaxies.

The ongoing study of these stellar nurseries offers critical clues about the origins of the universe itself. As scientists continue to analyze Hubble's images and data, they are uncovering new details about the fundamental processes that govern the birth and death of stars, as well as the role these stars play in shaping the galaxies around them.

Thanks to increased solar activity, the stunning auroras will once more be visible across large parts of the U.S., stretching far beyond its usual locations near the poles.

What Causes the Northern Lights?

The northern lights are a result of the interaction between Earth’s magnetic field and charged particles from the sun. These particles are carried toward Earth by solar wind, and when they collide with molecules in the Earth's atmosphere, they release energy in the form of light—creating the bright, swirling colors of the aurora. The process is similar to a natural light show, with vivid greens, purples, pinks, and reds lighting up the night sky.

This week’s heightened visibility of the northern lights is being driven by an increase in geomagnetic storms, which are triggered by solar particles released from the sun during coronal mass ejections and solar flares. According to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), the recent spate of solar activity has significantly intensified the auroras, making them visible much farther south than usual.

Where and When to Catch the Auroras

While the auroras are typically confined to regions near the Arctic, this week, they are expected to be visible across much of the northern United States, and in some cases, as far south as California and Oregon. The best chances of seeing the lights will be in clear, dark skies, away from city lights.

Here are the states where the northern lights are expected to be visible:

• Maine
• New Hampshire
• Vermont
• New York
• Massachusetts
• Connecticut
• Pennsylvania
• New Jersey
• Michigan
• Wisconsin
• Minnesota
• North Dakota
• South Dakota
• Montana
• Idaho
• Wyoming
• Iowa
• Ohio
• Indiana
• Illinois
• Oregon
• Washington
• California

These states represent areas where, if the skies are clear, residents may have the opportunity to witness the auroras over multiple nights this week. The ideal viewing times are typically between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m., but it’s essential to check local conditions for the best chance of catching a glimpse.

Why Now? The Science Behind This Week’s Auroras

The geomagnetic storms responsible for the enhanced visibility of the northern lights this week have been unusually strong due to a series of solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). These powerful bursts of solar energy are part of the sun’s natural 11-year cycle of solar activity. When the sun enters a more active phase, as it has in recent months, the intensity of solar flares and CMEs increases, leading to more frequent and more intense auroras on Earth.

“Since August 10, no less than five solar flares have triggered this series of geomagnetic storms,” reported Space.com. These geomagnetic storms increase the likelihood that people living in latitudes much farther south than usual will get the rare chance to see the auroras.

More Auroras in the Coming Years

Even if you miss the northern lights this week, there will be many more opportunities in the near future. According to scientists, solar activity is expected to remain elevated over the next few years, meaning that auroras will be more common and visible across larger swaths of the globe.

“The next three or four years, we should see some fine displays of aurora,” said Bob Leamon, a solar physicist at the University of Maryland Baltimore County and NASA. This period of heightened solar activity offers a unique chance for a new generation of sky watchers to experience the beauty of the auroras firsthand, especially in areas that rarely get to see them.

For now, if you’re located in one of the states forecasted to have aurora visibility this week, be sure to find a dark spot away from city lights, keep an eye on the sky, and let the solar storm put on a show that you won’t soon forget.

This large, sunshade-like component is designed to shield the telescope from unwanted light, ensuring the clarity and accuracy of its observations once it is deployed in space.

These recent tests mark an essential milestone in the telescope's development, bringing the project one step closer to its anticipated launch.

The Role of the Deployable Aperture Cover

The Deployable Aperture Cover plays a crucial role in the Roman Space Telescope's mission. Unlike the hard aperture covers used on earlier space telescopes like the Hubble, the DAC is made from reinforced thermal blankets and is designed to remain folded during launch. Once the telescope reaches orbit, the cover will deploy using three booms that extend upward, providing a protective shield that helps maintain the telescope's sensitivity to faint light from distant cosmic objects.

According to Matthew Neuman, a mechanical engineer working on the DAC at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, "With a soft deployable like the Deployable Aperture Cover, it’s very difficult to model and precisely predict what it’s going to do — you just have to test it." This underscores the importance of the environmental tests that the DAC has undergone, which simulate the extreme conditions it will face in space.

Environmental and Acoustic testing

The DAC recently underwent a series of environmental tests in NASA Goddard’s Space Environment Simulator, a massive chamber that mimics the vacuum and temperature extremes of space. During these tests, the DAC was subjected to temperatures as low as minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 70 degrees Celsius), far colder than the expected operational temperature of minus 67 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 55 degrees Celsius). This rigorous testing ensures that the DAC will function properly even in unexpectedly harsh conditions.

In addition to the thermal tests, the DAC was also exposed to acoustic testing to simulate the intense noise and vibrations it will encounter during launch. The cover was subjected to sound levels of up to 138 decibels, which is louder than a jet plane taking off at close range. These tests were critical to verify that the DAC can withstand the stresses of launch without compromising its ability to deploy once in orbit.

Brian Simpson, the project design lead for the DAC, noted, "This was probably the environmental test we were most nervous about. If there’s any reason that the Deployable Aperture Cover would stall or not completely deploy, it would be because the material became frozen stiff or stuck to itself." The successful completion of these tests provides confidence that the DAC will perform as required, ensuring that the Roman Space Telescope can carry out its scientific mission without obstruction.

Next Steps for the Roman Space Telescope

With the environmental and acoustic tests completed, the DAC will now undergo its final phases of testing, which include measuring its natural frequency and its response to the vibrations during launch. Following these tests, the DAC will be integrated with the Roman Space Telescope’s other subsystems, including the Outer Barrel Assembly and Solar Array Sun Shield, in preparation for the telescope’s launch.

The Roman Space Telescope, managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, is set to explore a wide range of astrophysical phenomena, from dark energy and dark matter to exoplanets and distant galaxies. The successful deployment of the DAC is vital for the telescope to achieve its full observational potential, ensuring that it can capture clear and precise images of the cosmos.

As the project moves closer to its final stages, the successful testing of components like the DAC highlights the meticulous engineering and testing required to prepare such a sophisticated instrument for space. These developments bring the scientific community one step closer to the wealth of discoveries that the Roman Space Telescope is expected to deliver.

The Lunar Utility Navigation with Advanced Remote Sensing and Autonomous Beaming for Energy Redistribution, or LUNARSABER, is a 100-meter-tall lunar tower designed to provide power, light, and communication for lunar missions.

Multifunctional Capabilities of the Lunar Tower

The lunar tower is designed to serve as a central hub for power, communications, and lighting on the Moon. It could support the Artemis base and form part of a mesh network with other points of interest on the lunar surface. The tower is equipped with solar panels that can generate up to 100 kW of power.

There are two deployment methods for these panels: one that envelops the tower's metallic structure and another that deploys booms holding traditional solar panels to track the Sun's movement.

This design ensures that the tower can efficiently capture solar energy from multiple angles, maximizing its power generation capability. The tower’s height also allows it to stay illuminated by the sun for longer periods, even at the poles where sunlight is sparse, ensuring a consistent energy supply.

Engineering the Tower: The DIABLO System

Building a 100-meter-tall lunar tower on the Moon poses significant challenges, but Honeybee Robotics has leveraged existing technology to address them. The Deployable Interlocking Actuated Bands for Linear Operations (DIABLO) system uses a rolled piece of metal that bends into a deployable cylindrical structure capable of supporting heavy payloads.

This structure serves as the base for the lunar tower, enabling the tower to stand tall and stable on the lunar surface. The DIABLO system's modular nature allows it to be compactly stored during transport and then deployed to its full height once on the Moon. This innovative approach bypasses the logistical challenges of transporting large structures through space, making the deployment of significant infrastructure feasible with current rocket technology.

Power Beaming and Asset Tracking

The lunar tower can beam power to other devices and track them using a series of sensors. This capability is crucial for providing power to assets such as rovers and astronauts' spacesuits, especially in areas that remain in shadow. Power beaming technology, recently tested successfully by Caltech and the US Naval Research Laboratory, allows the tower to transmit power over vast distances.

The tower uses microwave or laser-based systems to send energy to receiving units on rovers or other equipment. This method of power transfer eliminates the need for cumbersome and potentially unreliable physical power cables. Moreover, the lunar tower's ability to track devices ensures efficient energy delivery, optimizing power distribution across various lunar operations.

Communication and Illumination

The lunar tower also functions as a lunar cell phone tower, enabling wireless communication between various assets on the Moon. This capability allows different rovers and astronauts to coordinate their activities effectively.

The tower creates a local network that facilitates seamless data transfer and communication, essential for synchronizing complex tasks and ensuring mission safety. Additionally, the lunar tower is equipped with floodlights that provide visible light, allowing operations to continue during the two-week lunar night.

These lights are strategically placed to illuminate critical areas, enhancing visibility and safety for astronauts and automated systems alike. The consistent illumination also aids in scientific observations and experiments, which would otherwise be hampered by the long periods of darkness.

Creating a Mesh Network on the Moon

By deploying multiple lunar towers in a line-of-sight mesh, engineers can ensure constant solar power and communication across the lunar surface. This network would enable continuous power transmission and communication with Earth, even for missions on the far side of the Moon.

Strategic placement of the towers would ensure that at least one is always in sunlight, facilitating uninterrupted power supply to the Artemis base.

This approach effectively creates a lunar grid, where power and data can be relayed from one tower to another, overcoming the geographical limitations of the Moon’s terrain. Such a network would be critical for long-term lunar habitation, supporting various mission scenarios and providing a robust infrastructure for future exploration.

The Swiss Army Knife of Lunar Exploration

Vishnu Sangiepalli, the principal investigator on the LUNARSABER project, described it as a "Swiss Army Knife" for lunar exploration due to its versatility and multifunctionality. The lunar tower's ability to solve multiple problems with a single infrastructure piece makes it a valuable asset for future lunar missions.

Its modular and scalable design means it can be adapted for various mission needs, from supporting a small outpost to enabling large-scale lunar bases.

The lunar tower’s multifunctionality reduces the need for multiple specialized units, thereby simplifying logistics and maintenance. This adaptability ensures that the infrastructure can evolve with the mission’s requirements, making it a cornerstone of sustained lunar exploration efforts.

Implications for Future Research

The lunar tower represents a significant advancement in lunar infrastructure, offering a comprehensive solution to the challenges of power, communication, and illumination on the Moon.

This innovative technology has the potential to enhance the sustainability and efficiency of NASA's Artemis missions, paving the way for a permanent human presence on the lunar surface.

With its ability to address multiple operational needs, the lunar tower is poised to become a critical component of future lunar exploration, supporting the ambitious goals of returning humans to the Moon and establishing a foothold for further space exploration.

The lunar tower concept by Honeybee Robotics presents a multifaceted solution to the various challenges of lunar exploration. By integrating power generation, communication, and illumination capabilities, this infrastructure is set to play a pivotal role in ensuring the success and sustainability of NASA's Artemis missions and beyond.

As technology advances and further research is conducted, the deployment of such lunar towers will likely become a standard practice, supporting the long-term human presence on the Moon and facilitating future missions deeper into space.

These new images showcase the largest known spiral galaxy in the universe, located over 522,000 light-years across in the constellation Pavo.

Unveiling NGC 6872: A Giant Among Galaxies

NGC 6872, a barred spiral galaxy, was first identified as the largest known spiral galaxy based on data from NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer. Spanning an impressive 522,000 light-years, it is more than five times the size of the Milky Way. This galaxy has intrigued astronomers for years, offering insights into the structure and dynamics of massive spiral galaxies.

The Chandra X-ray Observatory, launched on July 23, 1999, has captured thousands of images of this and other celestial objects, contributing significantly to our understanding of the universe. "For a quarter century, Chandra has made discovery after amazing discovery," said Pat Slane, director of the Chandra X-ray Center, emphasizing the observatory’s contributions to exploring cosmic phenomena.

The galaxy's immense size and distinct features make it a focal point for studying the evolutionary paths of spiral galaxies and their interactions with surrounding space.

Chandra's Contributions to X-ray Astronomy

Since its launch, Chandra has been pivotal in observing X-ray emissions from exploded stars, galaxy clusters, and supermassive black holes. The observatory returns data to the Chandra X-ray Center at Harvard University's Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, enabling scientists to study the high-energy universe in unprecedented detail.

Among its notable achievements are capturing images of the aftermath of exploded stars and photographing the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. These observations have been instrumental in advancing our knowledge of dark matter, dark energy, and black holes.

"Chandra's discoveries have continually astounded and impressed us over the past 25 years," said Eileen Collins, commander of the space shuttle Columbia mission that launched Chandra. The high-resolution data from Chandra has provided insights into the behavior of black holes, the composition of galaxy clusters, and the remnants of supernovae, further enriching our understanding of the cosmos.

A Spectacular Visual Celebration

To commemorate this milestone, NASA released 25 images, including stunning views of the Peacock Galaxy. These images, a blend of X-ray data from Chandra and optical data from other telescopes, reveal intricate details of NGC 6872.

The images showcase a swirl of red, blue, and purple hues, highlighting different elements and structures within the galaxy. The new photos also include views of other notable celestial objects like the Crab Nebula and Cassiopeia A, supernova remnants known for their striking appearance and significant scientific interest.

The detailed imagery provides a visual testament to Chandra’s capabilities and the ongoing exploration of the cosmos. The vibrant colors and detailed structures captured in these images offer both aesthetic beauty and scientific value, illustrating the dynamic processes occurring in the universe.

Reflecting on Chandra’s Legacy

As Chandra celebrates its 25th year in orbit, it continues to be a cornerstone of NASA’s astrophysics missions. The observatory has been crucial in investigating mysteries that were unknown when it was built, such as exoplanets and dark energy. "Astronomers have used Chandra to investigate mysteries that we didn't even know about when we were building the telescope," Slane noted.

The observatory’s ability to capture high-energy phenomena in the universe has made it an invaluable tool for astronomers worldwide. The continued operation and discoveries of Chandra highlight the importance of sustained investment in space telescopes and the far-reaching impact of their scientific findings. Chandra's legacy is not just in its discoveries but in its ability to inspire future generations of astronomers and scientists to explore the unknown.

Anticipating Future Discoveries

The legacy of the Chandra X-ray Observatory sets a high standard for future missions. As we look forward to the next generation of space telescopes, including the James Webb Space Telescope, the foundational work of Chandra will inform and enhance new explorations.

The images and data collected by Chandra over the past 25 years have not only expanded our understanding of the universe but also paved the way for future discoveries. The continued study of galaxies like NGC 6872 will help scientists unravel the complexities of galactic formation and evolution, contributing to a deeper understanding of our place in the cosmos.

The advancements in technology and observational techniques promise to open new frontiers in astronomy, building on Chandra's remarkable achievements and pushing the boundaries of what we know about the universe.

By examining the processes involved in galaxy formation and the current state of the universe, scientists are shedding light on this complex and fascinating subject.

Understanding Galaxy Formation

Galaxies are massive collections of stars, gas, and dark matter that formed billions of years ago. Our own Milky Way galaxy, for instance, is about 13.6 billion years old. The James Webb Space Telescope has allowed us to peer back to some of the first galaxies in the early universe, providing a glimpse into the processes that created these vast cosmic structures.

Galaxy formation began in the early universe through a gradual process that started almost immediately after the Big Bang. Tiny pockets of higher-than-average density emerged and grew over the next few hundred million years, primarily through the accumulation of dark matter and later, regular matter.

As regular matter gathered into these dense regions, it compressed, fragmented, and gave birth to the first stars. These protogalaxies continued to consume gas, merge with neighbors, and grow into the fully formed galaxies we see today. In many senses, this initial phase of galaxy formation is complete.

There are no more protogalaxies, or primordial clouds of gas waiting to form new galaxies, in the present-day universe. What we see today are mature galaxies that have evolved over billions of years. The early processes that led to galaxy formation involved significant interactions and mergers, which were more common in the denser early universe.

Current Star Formation and Galaxy Evolution

While the initial process of galaxy formation is largely finished, star formation within galaxies continues to this day. This ongoing process contributes to the evolution and growth of existing galaxies. Recent surveys and studies have shown that there are more small, medium, and large galaxies today than there were billions of years ago. This increase is due to ongoing star formation and the merging of smaller galaxies into larger ones.

The appearance of new stars within galaxies is a pivotal step in their evolution. These new stars light up and make the galaxies visible, adding to the stellar mass and altering the dynamics of the galaxies. The continued merging of smaller galaxies into larger ones also plays a significant role in the evolution of galaxies.

This process leads to the formation of larger, more complex structures and contributes to the diversity of galaxies observed in the universe today. The continued interaction and merging of galaxies are driven by gravitational forces, leading to more complex and varied structures.

The Role of Dark Matter in the Formation of Galaxies

Dark matter plays a crucial role in the formation and evolution of galaxies. It is believed to make up about 27% of the universe's mass-energy content. Dark matter provides the necessary gravitational pull to gather and hold together the ordinary matter that forms stars and galaxies. Without dark matter, galaxies would not have enough mass to stay intact and would be torn apart by their own rotational speeds.

Recent studies using the James Webb Space Telescope have provided more detailed observations of dark matter's influence on galaxy formation. These observations help scientists refine their models of how galaxies formed and evolved over billions of years. The intricate dance between dark matter and ordinary matter continues to be a key area of research, providing insights into the fundamental forces shaping our universe.

The Future of Galaxy Formation

Despite the ongoing processes of star formation and galaxy merging, the formation of entirely new galaxies is becoming increasingly rare. The expansion of the universe, driven by dark energy, is accelerating, making it harder for material to clump together and form new galaxies. The peak of star formation occurred billions of years ago, and while new galaxies continue to light up, the rate of their emergence is slowing down.

Astronomers predict that star formation will continue for hundreds of billions of years, but at a decreasing rate. As the universe ages, the conditions that allowed for the rapid formation of galaxies in the early universe are no longer present.

However, the galaxies that exist today will continue to evolve, with ongoing star formation and merging events shaping their structures and properties. "We see galaxies forming stars today, but the rates are much lower than they were during the peak of star formation," said a leading astronomer.

The future of galaxy formation will be influenced by the balance between dark matter, dark energy, and the availability of gas and dust for star formation. The ongoing study of these factors will help astronomers understand how galaxies will continue to change over time.

This intriguing idea has led some scientists to speculate whether such structures could account for the universe's missing mass. However, despite the excitement, many experts remain skeptical about the existence of Dyson spheres and their role in explaining astronomical phenomena.

The Concept of Dyson Spheres

The idea of Dyson spheres was first proposed by physicist Freeman Dyson in 1960, inspired by the science fiction novel "Star Maker" by Olaf Stapledon. Dyson suggested that an advanced extraterrestrial civilization might construct enormous structures around their stars to capture solar energy.

These structures, while blocking visible light from the star, would emit infrared radiation, potentially making them detectable by astronomers. "It could just be normal old astrophysics at play," said astrophysicist and science writer Dr. Ethan Siegel, highlighting the need for extraordinary evidence to support the existence of such megastructures.

The concept gained significant attention with the discovery of the mysterious star KIC 8462852, also known as Boyajian's star, which exhibited irregular and significant dips in brightness. Some speculated that these could be caused by an incomplete Dyson sphere, though this remains unconfirmed.

Missing Mass in the Universe

Astronomers have long been puzzled by the missing mass in the universe. There are two types of missing mass: dark matter, which is necessary to explain the gravitational behavior of galaxies, and regular matter, primarily composed of hydrogen and helium, which appears to be in short supply based on current observations.

While dark matter is believed to consist of exotic particles, the missing regular matter remains a mystery. Some have proposed that enormous filaments of gas stretching between galaxies might account for it.

Could Dyson Spheres Account for the Missing Mass?

Despite the fascinating nature of Dyson spheres, they are unlikely to account for the missing mass in the universe. Complete Dyson spheres, which would entirely encircle a star, are deemed impractical due to the immense amount of material required and the gravitational instability such structures would face.

Even if constructed, these spheres would likely be very thin and unstable, making them implausible. More plausible are Dyson swarms or rings, networks of solar-energy-collecting satellites orbiting a star. These structures would only capture a small fraction of a star's light, making them easier to construct but far less likely to account for the missing mass. Additionally, if such swarms were common, their infrared radiation should be detectable by telescopes like the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). However, no such evidence has been found to suggest they are widespread.

Recent Observations and Skepticism

A recent study published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society reported the discovery of seven stars with unusual infrared signatures, potentially indicative of Dyson spheres. These stars, located within 1,000 light years of Earth, exhibit heat signatures that cannot yet be fully explained.

However, many experts remain skeptical. Dr. Janna Levin, a theoretical cosmologist at Barnard College, suggested that these signatures could be due to natural astrophysical phenomena such as planetary collisions or young stars with surrounding material. "Heat signatures are so generic in nature that it’s far from a smoking gun and there are many possible natural explanations," Levin told Salon.

Astrophysicist Dr. Erik Zackrisson, one of the study's co-authors, echoed this skepticism, noting that while these stars are the best candidates for Dyson spheres so far, other explanations such as dust from cosmic events or background sources are also plausible. "They are the best Dyson sphere candidates we've come across so far, but this does not mean that they are Dyson spheres, or even that Dyson spheres represent the most likely explanation for the phenomenon we're seeing," Zackrisson said.

The Scientific Value of the Search

Despite the doubts, the search for Dyson spheres holds significant scientific value. It encourages the exploration of unconventional ideas and fosters interdisciplinary research combining astrophysics, history, and other fields. The potential discovery of alien megastructures would be a groundbreaking achievement, transforming our understanding of the universe and the existence of advanced extraterrestrial civilizations.

"What could be more exciting and existentially terrifying than the discovery of alien life?" Levin pondered, emphasizing the importance of keeping an open mind while maintaining scientific rigor. Dr. Siegel added, "It's important to keep an open mind, and it's easy to understand why the most wild possibilities excite us. But without stronger evidence, this is just another example of people getting hyped up over what's almost certainly going to be a big nothing-burger."

In conclusion, while Dyson spheres remain a captivating theoretical concept, their existence as a solution to the universe's missing mass is highly unlikely. The ongoing search for these megastructures, however, continues to inspire scientific inquiry and the pursuit of understanding the cosmos.

This groundbreaking project, named the Landolt mission, involves deploying a mini satellite equipped with lasers that will mimic the light from stars and other celestial objects, offering a new tool for astronomers to calibrate their instruments with unprecedented precision.

NASA's Landolt Mission and Its Objectives

The Landolt mission, named in honor of the late astronomer Arlo Landolt, who was known for creating influential stellar brightness catalogs, is scheduled to launch in 2029. The mission features a toaster-sized device equipped with eight lasers, designed to emit light at a known rate of photons.

This artificial star will orbit Earth from a height of 22,236 miles, moving at the same rate as Earth’s rotation, thus appearing fixed in the night sky. This stationary position will make it an easy and reliable target for ground-based telescopes.

The primary goal of the mission is to enhance the precision of measurements of stars' brightness, a critical factor in understanding various cosmic phenomena. As Tyler Richey-Yowell, a postdoctoral researcher at Lowell Observatory, explains, "This is really new for us to have some sort of artificial star up there that we can go and rely on and use." This level of precision is difficult to achieve with natural stars, as their exact light emission is unknown and Earth’s atmosphere absorbs and distorts some of their light.

Improving the Accuracy of Astronomical Measurements

One of the mission's key objectives is to improve telescope calibration significantly. By using the artificial star's consistent and well-defined brightness levels, astronomers can eliminate much of the guesswork involved in current calibration methods. Jamie Tayar, an assistant professor of astronomy at the University of Florida, highlighted the importance of this mission, stating, "Much of our comprehension of the universe hinges on our ability to gauge the brightness of celestial objects."

The artificial star will help astronomers measure the light emitted from stars with up to ten times more accuracy than current methods. This increased accuracy will enable more precise assessments of stellar properties such as size, magnitude, and age. Tayar noted, "For each star, you need to know exactly how much energy is coming from the star, and exactly how far away the planet is, and so on," underscoring the mission's potential to advance our understanding of exoplanets and their habitability.

Broader Implications of NASA's 'Artificial Star' for Astronomy

The Landolt mission is expected to have far-reaching implications for various areas of astronomy. By providing a reliable calibration source, it will aid in studying phenomena ranging from nearby stars to distant supernovae. This could also help address one of the biggest challenges in cosmology: accurately determining the universe's expansion rate. Current methods yield slightly different values, and this mission could provide the data needed to resolve these discrepancies.

Understanding the expansion rate is crucial for studying dark energy, the mysterious force believed to drive the universe's accelerated expansion. The data obtained from the Landolt mission could help astronomers better understand this force and its implications for the future of the universe.

Tyler Richey-Yowell summarized the mission's potential impact, saying, "So really anything from small, tiny planets to the whole scale of the universe relies on our understanding of stars and how bright they are and what kind of light they're emitting. I really do think it will be revolutionary for astronomy."

The Landolt mission represents a significant advancement in astronomical research, providing a new tool to enhance the accuracy of stellar measurements. As the mission progresses, it promises to offer insights that could transform our understanding of the cosmos, from the smallest exoplanets to the vast expanses of the universe

These findings challenge existing models and provide a deeper understanding of the gas giant's atmospheric dynamics and energy balance.

Seasonal Heat Imbalance on Saturn

Saturn's atmospheric phenomena are significantly influenced by its seasonal heat imbalance. Unlike Earth, where seasonal energy changes are relatively moderate, Saturn experiences drastic variations. This is due to its large orbital eccentricity, which causes significant differences in the amount of solar energy the planet absorbs at different points in its orbit. As Saturn swings between its closest and farthest distances from the sun over its 30-year orbit, these variations lead to substantial changes in atmospheric temperature and turbulence.

According to researchers at the University of Houston, data from Cassini indicates that Saturn's energy imbalance is driven by these seasonal shifts. During certain times of the year, the planet emits more heat into space than it absorbs from the sun, primarily due to internal heat from its core. This internal heat, a remnant of the planet's formation, creates temperatures as high as 15,000 degrees Fahrenheit (8,300 degrees Celsius) deep within Saturn, hotter than the surface of the sun.

Cassini's Observations and Findings

The Cassini spacecraft, which arrived at Saturn in 2004, provided unprecedented observations of the planet's seasons. Initially, Saturn was in the midst of a southern summer, with its south pole tilted towards the sun, while the northern hemisphere was enveloped in winter darkness. Cassini observed three seasons in Saturn's northern hemisphere—spring, summer, and winter—each lasting about seven Earth years.

These observations showed that Saturn’s heat emissions varied with the seasons, with more heat radiating from the hemisphere experiencing summer. "We believe our discovery of this seasonal energy imbalance necessitates a reevaluation of those models and theories," said Xinyue Wang, who led the new study. The study, led by Liming Li and Xinyue Wang from the University of Houston, highlighted the importance of including these seasonal energy imbalances in models describing the climates and evolutions of gas giants like Saturn.

Implications for Planetary Science

The insights gained from Cassini's data have significant implications for our understanding of planetary atmospheres. The seasonal energy imbalance on Saturn not only affects its climate but also plays a crucial role in the development of its massive storms. These storms, driven by the planet’s internal heat and seasonal energy variations, can encircle the entire planet, creating spectacular and turbulent weather patterns. "Not only does this give us new insight into the formation and evolution of planets, but it also changes the way we should think about planetary and atmospheric science," said Liming Li.

The study's findings also suggest that similar energy imbalances may exist on other gas giants, such as Uranus, which has a high orbital eccentricity and a significant axial tilt. Future missions to these planets could further explore these phenomena, providing a broader understanding of how energy imbalances affect planetary climates and atmospheric dynamics.

Investigating the Role of Energy Imbalance in Storm Development

The data also suggests that Saturn’s unbalanced energy budget plays a key role in the development of giant storms, which are a dominant weather phenomenon in the planet’s atmospheric system. These storms are driven by the substantial internal heat and the varying amounts of solar energy absorbed by the planet. "To our knowledge, the role of energy budget in the development of moist, convective storms on Earth has not been fully examined, so we plan to investigate that as well to see if there’s a connection," said Xinyue Wang.

Broader Implications for Understanding Gas Giants

The Cassini mission has paved the way for future explorations of gas giants. Researchers are now turning their attention to Uranus, with plans for a flagship probe mission in the next decade. This mission aims to investigate Uranus's expected strong energy imbalance, driven by its unique orbital and axial characteristics. "Our data suggests these planets will have significant energy imbalances as well, especially Uranus, which we predict will have the strongest imbalance due to its orbital eccentricity and very high obliquity," Wang added.

The ongoing research into Saturn’s seasonal energy imbalance and its atmospheric effects underscores the dynamic and complex nature of planetary systems. As scientists continue to analyze data from past missions and prepare for future explorations, our understanding of the solar system's gas giants will undoubtedly deepen, revealing more about their formation, evolution, and current behavior.

Utilizing a decade's worth of X-ray data from NASA's NuSTAR telescope, these findings provide new insights into the enigmatic environment surrounding this colossal cosmic entity.

Discovering Hidden Flares and Echoes

Grace Sanger-Johnson, a postbaccalaureate researcher at MSU, discovered nine previously undetected X-ray flares from Sagittarius A* by meticulously analyzing ten years of data. These flares are high-energy bursts that illuminate the immediate vicinity of the black hole, an area typically shrouded in darkness due to the immense gravitational pull that even light cannot escape.

"We are sitting in the front row to observe these unique cosmic fireworks at the center of our own Milky Way galaxy," said Shuo Zhang, Sanger-Johnson's advisor. The flares provide a rare opportunity to study the black hole's surroundings and better understand the extreme conditions present there.

While Sanger-Johnson focused on the flares, Jack Uteg, an undergraduate researcher in the MSU Honors College, studied X-ray echoes from a nearby molecular cloud known as "the Bridge." These echoes offer a glimpse into Sgr A*'s activity over the past centuries.

By examining nearly 20 years of data from NuSTAR and the European Space Agency’s X-ray Multi-Mirror (XMM) Newton observatory, Uteg found that the cloud's brightness is likely a delayed reflection of past X-ray outbursts from the black hole.

"The brightness we see is most likely the delayed reflection of past X-ray outbursts from Sgr A*," Uteg explained. This analysis helps reconstruct a timeline of the black hole's past behavior, revealing that Sgr A* was significantly more active around 200 years ago.

The Significance of These Findings

These discoveries are crucial for understanding the dynamic environment at the heart of our galaxy. Black holes are notoriously difficult to study directly due to their intense gravitational fields, which distort light and other signals.

However, by examining the effects of these fields on surrounding matter, scientists can infer important details about black hole activity. Sanger-Johnson and Uteg's work exemplifies this approach, shedding light on both the immediate and historical behaviors of Sgr A*.

"Grace and Jack’s contributions are a source of immense pride," said Shuo Zhang, assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at MSU. "Their work exemplifies MSU’s commitment to pioneering research and fostering the next generation of astronomers. This research is a prime example of how MSU scientists are unlocking the universe’s secrets, bringing us closer to comprehending the nature of black holes and the dynamic environment at the heart of our galaxy."

Understanding Black Hole Flares

The newly discovered flares are dramatic bursts of high-energy light that occur when the black hole ingests material, such as gas clouds or stars. These flares provide valuable data about the physical conditions near the event horizon, the boundary beyond which nothing can escape the black hole's gravity. When a black hole consumes matter, the material is heated to extreme temperatures as it accelerates and spirals inward, emitting intense X-rays and other radiation in the process. This radiation is what scientists observe as flares.

Flares are typically brief, lasting from a few minutes to a few hours, but they can release an enormous amount of energy during that time. The energy output of these flares can be equivalent to that of millions of suns. Sanger-Johnson’s analysis, which involved sifting through data from 2015 to 2024, revealed the characteristics of these flares, helping to build a comprehensive database for future research. Each flare provides a snapshot of the dynamic processes occurring near the black hole, offering clues about the behavior of the accreting material and the physics of the extreme environment.

"We hope that by building up this bank of data on Sgr A* flares, we and other astronomers can analyze the properties of these X-ray flares and infer the physical conditions inside the extreme environment of the supermassive black hole," Sanger-Johnson said. By studying the timing, intensity, and frequency of these flares, researchers can infer details about the rate at which the black hole is consuming material and the nature of the surrounding accretion disk. This information is crucial for developing models of black hole growth and activity.

This innovative approach aims to enhance our understanding of the universe and prepare for future groundbreaking discoveries.

Utilizing Supercomputers for Cosmic Simulations

Leveraging the immense computational power of supercomputers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, scientists have created nearly four million simulated images of the universe. These simulations are designed to replicate the observations that will be made by NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile.

Michael Troxel, an associate professor of physics at Duke University, led the simulation campaign as part of a broader project known as OpenUniverse. The team has already released a 10-terabyte subset of this data, with the remaining 390 terabytes expected to be available later this year.

The simulations were generated using Argonne's now-retired Theta supercomputer, which completed the task in about nine days—an endeavor that would have taken approximately 300 years on a standard laptop. “Using Argonne’s now-retired Theta machine, we accomplished in about nine days what would have taken around 300 years on your laptop,” said Katrin Heitmann, a cosmologist and deputy director of Argonne’s High Energy Physics division. This achievement underscores the critical role of supercomputing in pushing the boundaries of cosmological research.

Preparing for Future Observations

These simulations are groundbreaking as they incorporate the performance characteristics of the telescopes' instruments, providing the most accurate preview yet of how Roman and Rubin will observe the cosmos. The Vera C. Rubin Observatory is slated to begin operations in 2025, while NASA's Roman Space Telescope is set to launch by May 2027.

The precision of these simulations is crucial because the telescopes will gather data to identify subtle features that could help solve some of cosmology's biggest mysteries, including the nature of dark matter and dark energy.

“OpenUniverse lets us calibrate our expectations of what we can discover with these telescopes,” explained Jim Chiang, a staff scientist at DOE’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. This preparation allows scientists to refine their data processing methods and analysis techniques, ensuring they are ready to interpret real data as soon as it becomes available. By understanding the instrument signatures imprinted on the images and ironing out data processing methods now, researchers will be well-equipped to decipher future data correctly and make significant discoveries from even the weakest signals.

NASA-Led Collaboration Drives Innovation in Astronomical Simulations

The scale of this simulation required a massive collaborative effort from multiple organizations. The project brought together experts from the DOE, Argonne, SLAC, NASA, and several universities, demonstrating the power of teamwork in tackling complex scientific challenges. “Few people in the world are skilled enough to run these simulations,” said Alina Kiessling, a research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the principal investigator of OpenUniverse. “This massive undertaking was only possible thanks to the collaboration between the DOE, Argonne, SLAC, and NASA, which pulled all the right resources and experts together.”

The simulations cover the same patch of the sky, about 0.08 square degrees, roughly equivalent to a third of the area covered by a full Moon. The full simulation, to be released later this year, will span 70 square degrees, an area equivalent to 350 full Moons. By overlapping the data from both telescopes, scientists can take advantage of Rubin’s broader view and Roman’s sharper, deeper vision, resulting in more comprehensive and accurate astronomical observations.

Impact on Future Research

These simulations not only offer a sneak peek into the potential discoveries of Roman and Rubin but also serve as a rehearsal for scientists. By simulating the types of data these telescopes will produce, researchers can refine their analysis techniques and processing pipelines, ensuring they are ready to make significant discoveries when the real data starts coming in. This preparation is crucial for making efficient use of the large datasets expected from these telescopes.

The collaborative effort also involves developing simulation tools to prepare for the massive datasets expected from Roman. These tools, along with the OpenUniverse project, aim to streamline data processing and analysis, making it more accessible and efficient for scientists. “We made phenomenal strides in simplifying these pipelines and making them usable,” Kiessling said. Partnerships with institutions like Caltech/IPAC’s IRSA (Infrared Science Archive) are crucial in making simulated data accessible now, so researchers will already be familiar with the tools when they start working with real data.

Increasing Understanding of the Universe

The Roman and Rubin simulations offer scientists a unique opportunity to compare observations from both telescopes. This dual approach allows researchers to combine Rubin's wide-field surveys with Roman's high-resolution, deep-field images, yielding insights that neither telescope could achieve alone. This comprehensive strategy will improve constraints on dark matter and dark energy and enhance our understanding of the universe’s evolution.

Connecting the simulations enables scientists to explore ways to resolve multiple objects that blend together in Rubin’s images and apply those corrections over its broader coverage. This combined use of data will allow for more accurate and detailed analyses, improving our understanding of the universe's large-scale structure and the underlying physics governing it.

These discoveries were made as part of the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES) program, which has already identified the most distant galaxy ever observed, JADES-GS-z14-0. The findings were announced during a press conference at the 244th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Madison, Wisconsin.

Discovering Ancient Stellar Explosions

The JWST's powerful capabilities allowed scientists to detect approximately 80 objects that changed brightness over time, most of which were identified as supernovae.

These stellar explosions occur when massive stars reach the end of their life cycles. The data, collected over a year and compared with older observations, revealed a significantly higher number of supernovae in the early Universe than previously known. "Webb is a supernova discovery machine," said Christa DeCoursey, a graduate student at the University of Arizona. "The sheer number of detections plus the great distances to these supernovae are the two most exciting outcomes from our survey."

Significance of Webb's Discoveries

Before the JWST, only a few supernovae were known to exist above a redshift of 2, which corresponds to when the Universe was just 3.3 billion years old.

The new JADES sample contains many supernovae that exploded when the Universe was less than 2 billion years old, including the farthest ever spectroscopically confirmed supernova at a redshift of 3.6.

This means the star exploded when the Universe was only 1.8 billion years old. "This is really our first sample of what the high-redshift universe looks like for transient science," said Justin Pierel, a NASA Einstein Fellow at the Space Telescope Science Institute.

The findings suggest that these early supernovae could be fundamentally different from those we observe in the nearby Universe, offering insights into the nature of the early cosmos.

The ability to detect such distant supernovae has profound implications for our understanding of the Universe’s history. The JWST's observations show that supernovae were more common in the early Universe than previously thought.

This increased frequency of supernovae suggests that the early Universe was a more dynamic and violent place, with frequent stellar explosions playing a crucial role in the evolution of galaxies. These supernovae would have injected heavy elements into the surrounding space, contributing to the formation of new stars and planets.

The discovery of supernovae at such high redshifts also challenges our understanding of the timing and processes involved in star formation. The presence of these supernovae indicates that massive stars were forming and dying very early in the Universe’s history, much earlier than some models had predicted. This finding helps astronomers refine their models of star formation and the lifecycle of stars in the early Universe.

Moreover, some of the newly discovered supernovae are Type Ia supernovae, which serve as "standard candles" for measuring vast distances across the cosmos. These supernovae always burn with the same brightness, allowing astronomers to calculate distances by comparing their apparent and actual brightness.

The team found at least one Type Ia supernova at a redshift of 2.9, meaning it exploded when the Universe was 2.3 billion years old.

This discovery surpasses the previous record of a spectroscopically confirmed Type Ia supernova at a redshift of 1.95. "We’re essentially opening a new window on the transient universe," said STScI Fellow Matthew Siebert. "Historically, whenever we've done that, we've found extremely exciting things — things that we didn't expect."

The identification of these distant supernovae provides critical data for measuring the expansion rate of the Universe. By studying the light from these supernovae, astronomers can gain insights into how fast the Universe has been expanding over time.

This information is vital for understanding the nature of dark energy, the mysterious force driving the accelerated expansion of the Universe. The JWST's ability to observe these supernovae at such great distances allows scientists to trace the expansion history of the Universe further back in time than ever before.

Understanding the Universe's Expansion

One of the significant outcomes of the survey is the identification of Type Ia supernovae, which serve as "standard candles" for measuring vast distances across the cosmos. These supernovae always burn with the same brightness, allowing astronomers to calculate distances by comparing their apparent and actual brightness.

The team found at least one Type Ia supernova at a redshift of 2.9, meaning it exploded when the Universe was 2.3 billion years old. This discovery surpasses the previous record of a spectroscopically confirmed Type Ia supernova at a redshift of 1.95. "We’re essentially opening a new window on the transient universe," said STScI Fellow Matthew Siebert. "Historically, whenever we've done that, we've found extremely exciting things — things that we didn't expect."

This new hypothesis challenges the current understanding within the Standard Model of particle physics and the widely accepted Lambda Cold Dark Matter (Lambda CDM) model.

The massive galaxy cluster known as "El Gordo" has been central to this groundbreaking discovery. If confirmed, these findings could revolutionize our comprehension of dark matter and its fundamental properties, significantly impacting the field of cosmology.

The Enigma of El Gordo

El Gordo, officially designated ACT-CL J0102-4915, is an exceptionally massive galaxy cluster located approximately 7 billion light-years from Earth. This cluster, whose name means "the Fat One" in Spanish, consists of two smaller sub-clusters colliding at incredible speeds of several million miles per hour.

The mass of El Gordo is equivalent to 3 million billion suns, making it one of the most massive galaxy clusters known. Researchers from Italy's Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati (SISSA) have been using El Gordo as a cosmic laboratory to explore the nature of dark matter. The cluster's unique properties and extreme conditions provide an ideal setting for testing theories about dark matter interactions.

Challenging the Standard Model

The Standard Model of particle physics and the Lambda CDM model suggest that dark matter does not interact with itself or with visible matter except through gravity. However, recent observations of El Gordo have revealed behaviors that the Standard Model cannot explain.

In these models, when galaxy clusters collide, the gas component behaves differently from the dark matter component, with the gas dissipating energy and lagging behind the dark matter and galaxies. Riccardo Valdarnini, the lead author of the study, noted, "According to the currently accepted standard cosmological model, the present baryonic matter density of the universe can account for only 10% of its total matter content.

The remaining 90% is in the form of dark matter." This discrepancy highlights the need for alternative models that can account for the observed phenomena in massive galaxy clusters like El Gordo.

The Self-Interacting Dark Matter Model

The Self-Interacting Dark Matter (SIDM) model proposes that dark matter particles can collide and interact with each other, exchanging energy in the process. This model can potentially explain the peculiar behaviors observed in El Gordo.

Valdarnini's team conducted a series of hydrodynamical simulations to replicate the conditions within El Gordo and observed that the relative separations between different mass centroids in the cluster align with the SIDM model. "The most significant result of this simulation study is that the relative separations observed between the different mass centroids of the 'El Gordo' cluster are naturally explained if the dark matter is self-interacting," Valdarnini stated.

These findings suggest that dark matter may not be entirely collisionless, as previously thought, but could have more complex interactions that affect its distribution in galaxy clusters.

Observations and Simulations

Observations of El Gordo show that it consists of two merging sub-clusters, designated as the northwestern (NW) and southeastern (SE) sub-clusters. X-ray images of the supercluster reveal a single X-ray peak in the SE sub-cluster and two faint, elongated tails that stretch beyond this peak.

Notably, the X-ray peak precedes the SE dark matter peak, and the Brightest Cluster Galaxy (BCG) in El Gordo is offset from the SE's mass centroid. In the NW sub-cluster, the peak density of galaxies is also spatially offset from the corresponding mass peak.

These anomalies suggest that dark matter may have collisional properties. The detailed hydrodynamical simulations conducted by Valdarnini's team aimed to reproduce these observations and test the viability of the SIDM model. By adjusting various parameters, the researchers were able to match the observed features of El Gordo, providing strong support for the idea that dark matter can interact with itself.

Implications for Cosmology

The findings from El Gordo present a significant challenge to the Lambda CDM model, which posits that dark matter is cold and collisionless.

If dark matter is indeed self-interacting, it could fundamentally alter our understanding of the universe's structure and evolution. "This suggests that present SIDM models should be considered as only a low-order approximation and that the underlying physical processes that describe the interaction of dark matter in major cluster mergers are more complex than can be adequately represented by the commonly assumed approach based on the scattering of dark matter particles," Valdarnini concluded.

These new insights could lead to the development of more sophisticated models that better capture the true nature of dark matter and its role in the cosmos.

These stars, located in the Magellanic Clouds, have provided new insights into stellar magnetism and the magnetic properties of stars in different galactic environments. This landmark discovery, achieved using advanced telescopic and observational technologies, opens new frontiers in the study of cosmic magnetism and its impact on star formation and evolution.

Groundbreaking Discovery in the Magellanic Clouds

The Magellanic Clouds, satellite galaxies of the Milky Way, have long been a focus of astronomical research due to their proximity and unique properties. Using data from the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope and other sophisticated instruments, researchers identified several massive magnetic stars in these galaxies.

This discovery is significant because it marks the first time that such stars have been observed outside the Milky Way, providing a comparative framework for understanding stellar magnetism across different galactic environments.

These magnetic stars were identified through their unique spectral signatures and the polarization of their emitted light, indicating the presence of strong magnetic fields. By studying these stars, scientists can gain insights into the role of magnetic fields in stellar evolution and the broader cosmic magnetic landscape. This research has implications for understanding the lifecycle of stars, from their formation in molecular clouds to their ultimate fate as supernovae or compact remnants like neutron stars and magnetars.

Characteristics and Importance of Magnetic Stars

Magnetic stars are characterized by their exceptionally strong magnetic fields, which are orders of magnitude greater than those of typical stars. These magnetic fields influence various aspects of the stars' behavior and evolution, including their rotational dynamics, surface activity, and interaction with surrounding interstellar material.

The recent detection of magnetic stars in the Magellanic Clouds allows astronomers to study these phenomena in a new context, enhancing our understanding of how magnetic fields affect star formation and evolution in different galactic settings.

These stars' magnetic fields can affect their light emissions, leading to distinctive spectral lines that serve as signatures of their magnetic nature. Studying these magnetic properties provides valuable information about the internal processes of stars and their interactions with their environments. The discovery in the Magellanic Clouds also suggests that such magnetic stars might be more common in the universe than previously thought, prompting further searches in other galaxies.

Implications for Astrophysics

The discovery of magnetic stars outside the Milky Way provides valuable insights into the magnetic processes that govern the universe. Magnetic fields play a crucial role in shaping a wide range of cosmic phenomena, from the birth and death of stars to the behavior of galaxies.

Understanding these processes in different galactic environments helps astronomers build more accurate models of stellar and galactic evolution. The magnetic stars in the Magellanic Clouds offer a unique opportunity to study these processes in a setting distinct from our own galaxy, thereby broadening our understanding of the universe's fundamental forces.

In addition to advancing our knowledge of magnetic fields in stars, this discovery also has broader implications for astrophysics. By studying magnetic stars in different galaxies, researchers can explore how variations in galactic environments influence the properties and behavior of stars. This can lead to new insights into the formation and evolution of galaxies themselves, shedding light on the complex interplay between stars, magnetic fields, and the interstellar medium.

Continued Exploration and Research

The identification of magnetic stars in the Magellanic Clouds is just the beginning of a new era in stellar magnetism research. Future studies will focus on finding more magnetic stars in other galaxies, using advanced observational techniques and instruments.

By building a larger sample of extragalactic magnetic stars, scientists aim to understand the frequency and nature of their magnetic activity and how these stars lose energy. This research will help develop a comprehensive picture of magnetic phenomena in different cosmic settings, enhancing our ability to model and predict the behavior of stars and galaxies.

Advancements in observational technology, such as the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope, have been crucial in making these discoveries possible. These instruments provide the high-resolution data needed to detect and study the faint signals of magnetic fields in distant stars.

Continued investment in such technologies will be essential for furthering our understanding of the universe's magnetic landscape and its impact on cosmic evolution.

Recent discoveries by the Euclid space telescope have identified seven new rogue planets, bringing fresh insights into these fascinating objects.

Recent Discoveries Reveal More Rogue Planets in Our Galaxy

The Euclid space telescope has recently identified seven new rogue planets, shedding light on these mysterious celestial bodies.

Starless and forever alone: more 'rogue' planets discovered.

The Euclid space telescope has discovered seven more rogue planets, shining a light on the dark and lonely worlds floating freely through the universe untethered to any starhttps://t.co/igWPh8LJHY pic.twitter.com/PInTPMRaob

— AFP News Agency (@AFP) May 29, 2024

Rogue planets, or starless planets, drift through space without orbiting any star, existing in perpetual night. This discovery hints that the Milky Way could house trillions of such planets.

These findings add a new dimension to our understanding of planetary systems and the vastness of our galaxy. Such a significant number of rogue planets challenges previous notions about the formation and evolution of planetary systems, suggesting that planet formation is more common and varied than once thought.

Understanding Rogue Planets

Rogue planets are unique because they are not bound to any star. Unlike Earth, which orbits the sun, rogue planets wander through space without a fixed orbit. This wandering existence makes them elusive and difficult to detect, as they do not emit light on their own and are only visible when they pass in front of stars or other bright objects.

The recent discovery by the Euclid telescope adds to our understanding of these planets and suggests there could be trillions more in the Milky Way. This raises questions about how many of these planets could potentially support life and what their existence tells us about the formation of planetary systems. Their discovery helps astronomers refine models of how planets form and migrate within and beyond their home systems.

Characteristics and Locations

The seven newly discovered rogue planets are located in the Orion Nebula, about 1,500 light-years from Earth. These gas giants are at least four times the mass of Jupiter, making them some of the largest rogue planets ever detected. Their presence in a star-forming region highlights the diversity of planetary formation processes in the universe.

The Orion Nebula, a stellar nursery, is known for its active star formation, and finding rogue planets here indicates that planet formation can be a messy process with many planets being ejected from their nascent systems. This discovery in such a well-studied region also provides a unique opportunity to study these planets in more detail and understand their properties and origins. Understanding their mass, composition, and trajectory can offer clues about the violent dynamics that can lead to a planet becoming rogue.

Formation Theories

Scientists propose two main theories for the formation of rogue planets. Some may form in the outer regions of a solar system before being ejected into interstellar space due to gravitational interactions with other planets or passing stars. Others might be a natural byproduct of the star formation process itself, forming directly in interstellar space rather than around a star.

These discoveries offer valuable insights into planetary and star formation. Understanding these processes can help us learn more about the early stages of planet development and the dynamics that can lead to planets becoming rogue. The fact that such large gas giants can be ejected suggests that smaller, rocky planets might also be wandering the galaxy, potentially bearing the chemical ingredients for life.

Potential for Life

Despite extreme cold and darkness, rogue planets might harbor life. Without the heat of a nearby star, potential life would rely on internal energy sources such as radioactive decay and tidal heating. On Earth, geothermal vents support life in the deep ocean, suggesting similar conditions might exist on rogue planets. While complex life forms are unlikely, microbial life could thrive.

This opens up exciting possibilities for the search for life beyond our solar system and challenges our ideas about the conditions necessary for life. The presence of subsurface oceans heated by internal geothermal energy could provide habitats for extremophiles, organisms that thrive in extreme conditions, extending the possible locations for life in the universe.

Binary Systems

Some rogue planets exist in binary systems, where two planets orbit each other. This adds complexity to our understanding of these celestial objects and their potential interactions.

The existence of such systems suggests that even rogue planets can have dynamic and complex relationships, providing new insights into the variety of planetary systems that can exist.

These binary rogue planets might also help scientists understand the gravitational dynamics that allow such systems to form and persist without a central star to stabilize their orbits.

Increased Solar Activity

The Aurora Borealis is a direct consequence of solar activity. The sun's 11-year cycle, which is currently approaching its peak, known as the solar maximum, is expected to enhance the frequency and intensity of auroras. The peak of this cycle leads to increased solar storms, which interact with Earth's magnetic field to produce the stunning auroral displays.

Solar storms occur when the sun emits a large burst of charged particles. When these particles reach Earth, they can disturb the planet's magnetic field, leading to the spectacular light shows known as auroras. This increase in solar activity is not only a boon for sky watchers but also a reminder of the powerful and sometimes disruptive forces at play in our solar system.

Aurora Borealis: Key Viewing Dates and Conditions

For those eager to witness this celestial spectacle, the key dates to mark on your calendar are June 5-7. During these nights, conditions are expected to be optimal for aurora sightings. To maximize your chances of seeing the northern lights, seek out dark, clear skies away from urban light pollution. The best time to observe the aurora borealis phenomenon is around midnight when the sky is at its darkest.

Viewing the auroras requires a bit of planning and patience. Light pollution from cities can significantly hinder your chances of seeing the lights, so it's best to travel to rural areas with minimal artificial lighting. Additionally, checking local weather forecasts for clear skies is crucial, as cloud cover can obscure the view.

The Science Behind the Lights

Auroras occur when charged particles from the sun collide with atoms in Earth's atmosphere. These collisions release energy in the form of light, creating the mesmerizing aurora displays. The colors seen in the auroras depend on the type of gas particles involved; oxygen produces green and red lights, while nitrogen results in blue and purple hues.

The process begins with solar wind, a stream of charged particles released from the sun's upper atmosphere. When these particles reach Earth, they are drawn towards the poles by the planet's magnetic field. Upon entering the atmosphere, they collide with gas atoms, causing the atoms to become excited and emit light. This natural phenomenon not only creates a visual feast but also provides scientists with valuable data on solar and atmospheric interactions.

Recent Sightings and Predictions

Recent geomagnetic storms have already provided some lucky observers with a glimpse of the auroras. In mid-May, residents of Wisconsin were treated to a rare sighting of the northern lights due to an intense solar storm. These events highlight the increasing solar activity as we approach the solar maximum.

Scientists predict that the next few years will offer numerous opportunities to observe the auroras, thanks to the heightened solar activity. However, predicting the exact timing and intensity of solar storms remains challenging. Solar storms can also have significant impacts on Earth's infrastructure, potentially disrupting communications, power grids, and satellite operations.

In addition to the spectacular visual displays, the increased solar activity has practical implications. For instance, airlines may need to alter flight paths to avoid higher radiation levels, and satellite operators must be vigilant to protect their assets from geomagnetic disturbances. Understanding and forecasting these solar events are crucial for mitigating their impacts on modern technology.

These images showcase the telescope's ability to delve into the mysteries of the universe, such as studying rogue planets and exploring dark matter and dark energy. With its sophisticated instruments and ambitious mission objectives, Euclid is set to revolutionize our understanding of the universe's hidden components.

Euclid's Mission and Objectives

Launched with the aim of unraveling the secrets of the dark universe, Euclid is designed to map billions of galaxies across more than one-third of the sky. Its primary objectives include understanding the nature of dark energy and dark matter, which together make up 95% of the universe's content.

By studying these elusive components, scientists hope to gain insights into the fundamental structure and evolution of the universe. Euclid's mission spans six years, during which it will provide high-resolution images and extensive data to help answer some of the most profound questions in cosmology.

First Science Images

Euclid's first images highlight its impressive capabilities. The telescope's Early Release Observations targeted 17 astronomical objects, ranging from nearby star-forming regions to distant galaxy clusters.

These images are four times sharper than those from ground-based telescopes and cover large patches of sky in both visible and infrared light. The clarity and detail of these images are crucial for studying the fine structures and distributions of galaxies, stars, and other celestial phenomena.

Key Observations

Galaxy Cluster Abell 2390

This image reveals over 50,000 galaxies, showcasing the effects of gravitational lensing, where the light from distant objects is bent and distorted by gravity. This phenomenon helps astronomers study the distribution of dark matter in the cluster.

Star-Forming Region Messier 78

Euclid's infrared camera peered deep into this vibrant star nursery, uncovering hidden regions of star formation and mapping complex filaments of gas and dust. These observations provide insights into the processes that trigger star formation.

Spiral Galaxy NGC 6744

Euclid captured the entire galaxy, detailing its spiral structure and providing insights into star formation and the distribution of different star populations. This helps in understanding the lifecycle of stars and the evolution of galaxies.

Galaxy Cluster Abell 2764

This image highlights a cluster comprising hundreds of galaxies, allowing scientists to study the cluster's outskirts and the interactions between galaxies. Such interactions can lead to galaxy mergers and influence the growth of galaxies over time.

Dorado Group of Galaxie

Euclid captured ongoing interactions between galaxies, showcasing tidal tails and shells resulting from these interactions. These features are key to understanding the dynamics and evolution of galaxy groups.

Studying Rogue Planets

One of the most intriguing aspects of Euclid's mission is its ability to search for rogue planets—free-floating planets not bound to any star. By examining star-forming regions and other areas, Euclid aims to detect these elusive objects, which are challenging to study with traditional methods.

Early observations have already revealed the potential for finding rogue planets with masses as low as four times that of Jupiter. Discovering and studying rogue planets can provide new insights into planet formation and the dynamics of planetary systems.

Scientific Impact and Future Research

The initial findings from Euclid are just the beginning of its six-year mission. The telescope will continue to map the universe, providing a wealth of data for scientists to analyze. The images and data will help refine our understanding of the universe's structure, the formation and evolution of galaxies, and the nature of dark matter and dark energy. Euclid's comprehensive surveys and detailed observations are expected to lead to numerous scientific discoveries and advancements.

By combining visible and infrared observations, the telescope can capture a wide range of cosmic phenomena, from faint distant galaxies to bright nearby stars. This dual capability allows for a more complete picture of the universe, revealing details that would otherwise be missed. The data collected by Euclid will be instrumental in testing and refining cosmological models, helping to answer fundamental questions about the universe's past, present, and future.

Collaborative Efforts

Euclid's mission involves a large international collaboration, with contributions from numerous space agencies, research institutions, and scientists worldwide. This collaborative effort is crucial for processing and analyzing the vast amounts of data generated by the telescope. By pooling resources and expertise, the scientific community can maximize the return on investment and ensure that the data leads to groundbreaking discoveries.

The collaboration also includes partnerships with other space missions and observatories, allowing for complementary observations and cross-validation of findings. This integrated approach enhances the overall scientific output and ensures that Euclid's data is used to its fullest potential.

NASA and JAXA's XRISM Mission: Overcoming Challenges to Continue X-ray Astronomy

In September 2023, JAXA launched the X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM), and the spacecraft's sensors, designed in partnership with NASA, have begun their primary science mission. XRISM is equipped with two instruments for X-ray astronomy.

In January, project scientists reported that XRISM was functioning properly with the exception of an aperture door, also known as a gate valve, for the Dewar on its imaging equipment, Resolve, which failed to open. The apparatus can still operate with the door closed; however, the door, composed of beryllium, does attenuate certain X-rays at lower energies.

At the time, efforts were made to open the gate valve. However, during a May 7 meeting of the National Academies' Board on Physics and Astronomy, Mark Clampin, director of NASA's astrophysics division, stated that those activities would be put on hold for the next year and a half.

“We decided that the best course of action right now is to move forward with the science program for the next 18 months,” he said, saying that the instrument is still doing “really great science” despite the valve being stuck in place. “We believe that the best approach is to spend the next 18 months collecting science data with this mission before another attempt is made to try to dislodge the gate valve.”

The valve was supposed to be moved out of the way through two non-explosive actuators. “We believe, based on the information that we have been given by the Japanese, that there is probably a snag on a harness attached to one of the non-explosive actuators, which is preventing the valve from moving out of the way.”

One reason for the delay, he explained, is the difficulty of working with the harness at cryogenic temperatures. The potential harness solutions, he said, include controlling the temperature of a portion of the sensor and introducing “some kind of perturbation” into it in order to shake the harness loose. “We believe right now the lowest-risk approach is to continue getting science, and we'll come back to the gate valve in 18 months.”

NSF Astronomy Budget Issues

Clampin briefly mentioned budget difficulties in his presentation, including plans to consider changes to the functioning of the Chandra X-Ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope to minimize expenses. Those efforts are ongoing, he stated, with no significant information on their status.

NASA isn't the only organization having trouble funding large astronomy programs. Later in the board meeting, R. Chris Smith, interim director of the National Science Foundation's astronomical sciences division, announced that the agency had just decided to cease work on a significant ground-based astrophysics project.

The project, known as CMB-S4, aimed to build an observatory in the South Pole to investigate the cosmic microwave background, a signature of the Big Bang at microwave wavelengths, in order to better comprehend the universe's early history, as well as dark matter and energy. It was ranked as one of the top priorities for ground-based facilities in both the Astro2020 decadal assessment and a separate review of particle-physics priorities.

Smith announced during the board meeting that NSF had opted not to take CMB-S4 into the next phase of development, known as Major Facility Design Stage, at this time. He emphasized the necessity for NSF to make investment in overall infrastructure in the South Pole.

“The agency must prioritize the recapitalization of the critical infrastructure at the South Pole,” he stated. That effort, he said, would support a wide spectrum of science done at the South Pole, not just astrophysics, and that CMB-S4 may proceed at a later, unspecified date.

The agency's funding has a role in this decision. The NSF requested $11.3 billion for fiscal year 2024 but received less than $9.1 billion. Smith stated that NSF is still developing an operating plan for 2024, with no details on how it will affect activities at its many divisions, including astronomical sciences.

This also has an impact on how the NSF addresses the highest ground-based astronomical priority in Astro2020, which is support for the United States Extremely Large Telescope (US-ELT) project.

That would give funds for two huge telescopes now in development: the Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT) and the Giant Magellan Telescope. The NSF would partially fund both telescopes and receive a share of the observing time that would be made available to the larger astrophysics community.

In March, the NSF revealed that the National Science Board had proposed that the NSF sponsor only one of the two telescopes, with a $1.6 billion budget. This occurred at the same time as the report accompanying the final fiscal year 2024 spending bill had wording that “strongly encourages” the NSF to support both US-ELT telescopes.

Smith stated at the board meeting that on May 2, the NSF formally began the process of deciding which of the two large telescope projects to pursue. Sethuraman Panchanathan, the director of the National Science Foundation, has formally authorized the organization to launch an external evaluation that will advise him on whether to sponsor either telescope.

That assessment will look at GMT and TMT's progress since their preliminary design evaluations, as well as how they're minimizing various risks. The evaluation will also look at how moving forward with either telescope might impact total NSF resources.

Smith stated that the review is expected to be finished by September, but did not specify when NSF will formally select one of the telescope projects for agency assistance.

NASA's Chandra Discovers Vent in Milky Way's Core

The recently discovered vent is associated with a chimney-shaped structure located at a right angle in the disk of the Milky Way. The Chandra finding demonstrates how matter is channeled to our galaxy's outer regions through a “tunnel” located at its center.

Throughout the cosmos, a large number of supermassive black holes are ferocious consumers of the surrounding gas, dust, and even stars.

In contrast, Sgr A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, is a light eater. It eats so little matter that, if it were a person, it could survive on one grain of rice every million years. The Chandra discoveries could reveal how this cosmic fussy eater chooses certain materials to ingest while rejecting others.

The vent revealed in Chandra's X-ray measurements of the Galactic Center is situated around 700 light-years from the region's exact core area, near the top of the “chimney.” This chimney was originally identified by the European Space Agency's (ESA) XMM-Newton telescope, which, like Chandra, examines the universe in X-rays.

The image of the Galactic Center depicts blue X-ray data from Chandra that has been improved with observations acquired by the South African MeerKAT radio telescope, which is shown in red.

This radio-wave data shows the effect of magnetic fields that trap the chimney's gas.

The new vent can be observed at the top of the image as a bright blue and white scar against darker blue gas.

In the improved image, which solely includes Chandra data, white ridges of stronger X-rays show. The researchers hypothesize that these are the walls of a cylindrical tunnel through which hot gas travels upwards and away from Sgr A* and its near environs.

NASA's Chandra Reveals Origin of Milky Way's Venting System Near Supermassive Black Hole

The team behind these findings has a notion about how this exhaust vent was developed. They believe that hot gas moving up the chimney causes shockwaves in colder gas, resulting in brighter X-ray vent walls. The researchers believe that the left side of the vent appears brighter in the photograph than the right side because the upward-moving hot gas strikes the left side of the chimney wall more directly and with higher force.

Where is this jet of hot gas originating from? Scientists believe that when material descends toward Sgr A*, the supermassive black hole bursts, pushing the matter up via the chimney and out the vent. What needs to be identified, however, is how frequently matter falls towards Sgr A*.

Prior to these results, research indicated that Sgr A* and its surroundings in the Galactic Center underwent tremendous X-ray flares every few decades. These X-ray flares could play a crucial role in the process of pushing hot gas away from Sgr A*.

Sgr A* also has significantly more rare feeding episodes, which may play an important part in the overall gas-funneling process. Around every 20,000 years, the Milky Way's center supermassive black hole is thought to rip apart and swallow some unfortunate star that has come too close to it.

These occurrences, known as “tidal disruption events” or “TDEs,” result in the explosive release of massive amounts of energy, which is directed upwards into the black hole's chimney along with the remaining stellar debris from the torn star, which Sgr A* would reject as dessert.

The team's Sgr A* study is pre-peer-reviewed and published on the arXiv paper repository.

This Weekend’s stories include What’s on the Horizon for 2023 to The defining problem in the search for ET to A Strange ‘Mini Moon’ Asteroid Orbiting Earth, and much more.

The science events to watch for in 2023–Moon landings, mRNA vaccines and climate finance are among the developments set to shape research in the coming year, reports Nature.

What’s on the Horizon for 2023–Scientific American editors share what scientific events they are paying attention to as 2023 begins. “In 2022 we covered both inspiring and disturbing news—exquisite images from space telescopes, massively reduced reproductive rights in the U.S., efforts to dismantle environmental regulation, a war that laid bare our energy co-dependencies, a Nobel Prize for our Neandertal ancestry, and much more. Here’s some of what we’re paying attention to as 2023 arrives.

Will We Know Alien Life When We See It?–The defining problem in the search for ET, reports Conor Feehly for Nautilus.com–“Stars themselves could meet the criteria to be considered life. A group of scientists, affiliated with NASA, SETI, and universities around the world, outlined a way forward in astrobiological research. They wrote ‘the probability that life in the universe would share a biochemical ancestry with life on Earth quickly diminishes the further away from Earth we explore.’”

Diving for Microbial Time Capsules of Ancient Earth–National Geographic Explorer and researcher, Rosa Vásquez Espinoza, traverses the depths of Lake Huron to understand how life on Earth evolved and what we can do to preserve it.

‘We Have Nothing’ Showing UFOs Are of Alien Origin, Defense Official Says, reports NextGov.com–“So far, data has not shown unidentified anomalous phenomena to be from an alien source, according to defense officials.”

Indigenous people may have created the Amazon’s ‘dark earth’ on purpose--“At archaeological sites across the Amazon River basin, mysterious patches of unusually fertile soil dot the landscape. Scientists have long debated the origin of this “dark earth,” which is darker in color than surrounding soils and richer in carbon. Now, researchers have shown that indigenous Kuikuro people in southeastern Brazil intentionally create similar soil around their villages,” reports Science News.

‘Consciousness’ in Robots Was Once Taboo. Now It’s the Last Word.–The pursuit of artificial awareness may be humankind’s next moonshot. But it comes with a flurry of difficult questions.

Scientists Discovered A Strange ‘Mini Moon’ Asteroid Orbiting Earth, reports MSN. “Has Earth ever had more than one moon? Well, it depends how you define it, but Earth definitely has had other orbiting objects over the years. In fact, three have been confirmed in the 21st century alone. One of those was discovered in December 2022. It’s an asteroid known as 2022 YG, per CNET.”

The promise of batteries that come from trees, reports BBC Future. “As demand for electric vehicles soars, scientists are searching for materials to make sustainable batteries. Lignin, the stuff that makes trees woody, is shaping up to be a strong contender.”

The ozone layer was destroyed during Earth’s biggest mass extinction--Fossils show plants were producing higher levels of sunscreen chemicals to protect against higher ultraviolet light levels at the end of the Permian period, reports New Scientist.

How the war in Ukraine is killing marine mammals, reports BBC Future.”Dolphins and porpoises have been washing up dead on the shores of the Black Sea in unusually high numbers – scientists investigating the strandings are now pointing the finger at increased Russian naval activity due to the war in Ukraine.”

No alien life discovered on Earth, Pentagon says, but search deepens–A new office within the Defense Department is evaluating recent reports of unexplained phenomena and is planning to look at accounts dating back decades, reports The Washington Post.

Homo sapiens and Neanderthals share high cerebral cortex integration into adulthood, reports Nature.com–” unlike our closest living relatives, Homo sapiens retain high levels of covariation between cortical areas into adulthood. “The brain in H. sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis evolved under distinctly higher evolutionary rates than in any other primate, suggesting that natural selection favored a greatly integrated brain in both species.”

Galaxies shockingly similar to our own found near the beginning of the universe by Nasa, reports The Independent. “Such barred galaxies have been seen before, in our own Milky Way. But seeing them this early on in the development of the cosmos will need a rewriting of our galaxies of how galaxies evolve.”

Scientists Just Uncovered A Whole New Layer of Brain Anatomy, reports ScienceAlert. “Researchers from the University of Copenhagen and University of Rochester have identified a layer of tissue that helps protect our gray and white matter, one that hasn’t been distinguished before.”

Half of Earth’s glaciers could melt even if key warming goal is met, study says–New research suggests that even at 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming above preindustrial levels, the Earth will lose nearly half of its glaciers, reports Washington Post.

A New Puzzle Turns Earth Into a Rubik’s Cube, but More Complex—Continental Drift is one of Henry Segerman’s latest efforts to make mathematics “real,” reports the New York Times.

Sync Your Calendar With the Solar System.–Never miss an eclipse, a meteor shower, a rocket launch or any other astronomical and space event that’s out of this world, re[orts The New York Times.

Has the Amazon Reached Its ‘Tipping Point’?–Some Brazilian scientists fear that the Amazon may become a grassy savanna — with profound effects on the climate worldwide, reports The New York Times.

65% of Antarctica’s plants and animals could disappear, scientists say. Its iconic penguins are most at risk, reports Rachel Ramirez for CNN. ““Antarctica is not really contributing to climate change; there’s not a large-scale number of people living there, so the greatest threat to the continent is coming from outside the continent,” Jasmine Lee, lead author of the study, told CNN.”

A Comet Not Seen in 50,000 Years Is Streaking by Earth Soon. Here’s When to Look Up, reports Science Alert. “The comet is called C/2022 E3 (ZTF) after the Zwicky Transient Facility, which first spotted it passing Jupiter in March last year. After traveling from the icy reaches of our Solar System it will come closest to the Sun on January 12 and pass nearest to Earth on February 1.”

Inventor in Baja is testing a plan to cool the Earth by mimicking a volcanic eruption, reports CNBC–“Climate scientists who have been involved with solar geoengineering for a long time say the Make Sunsets balloon launches are not going to generate productive research and that the field needs to be governed by an international body.”

Curated by The Daily Galaxy Editorial Staff

Read about The Daily Galaxy editorial team here

Today’s stories include ALMA Observatory recovering from a devastating cyberattack to Antimatter particles could cross the galaxy without being destroyed to JWST breaks Hubble’s all-time distance record, and much more.

Why scientists can’t give up the hunt for alien life–There will always be “wolf-criers” whose claims wither under scrutiny. But aliens are certainly out there, if science dares to find them, reports Big Think. “The scientific case remains extremely compelling for suspecting that life, and possibly even intelligent life, is out there somewhere. Here’s why we must keep looking.”

“Hell Planet” – How This Super-Earth Got So Scorchingly Hot, reports SciTechDaily. “55 Cnc e (nicknamed “Janssen”), orbits its star so closely that a year lasts just 18 hours, its surface is a giant lava ocean, and its interior may be chock-full of diamond.”

China Maps Out Plans to Put Astronauts on the Moon and on Mars–Chinese officials at a desert rocket base described plans for their new space station and for reusable rockets, as well as travel beyond near-Earth orbit, reports the New York Times.

Spamming Us from Space: SETI, Flying Saucers and the Galactic Internet, reports Aero.com–” How quaint to believe alien tech—or aliens themselves—would even be physical in their nature at all. Or, indeed, that they would be remotely comprehensible.”

She Turns Fluids Into ‘Black Holes’ and ‘Inflating Universes’, reports Thomas Lewton for Quanta. By using fluids to model inaccessible realms of the cosmos, Silke Weinfurtner is “looking for a deeper truth beyond one system.” But what can such experiments teach us?

It’s real! JWST breaks Hubble’s all-time distance record!–Leaving Hubble in the dust, JWST has officially seen a galaxy from just 320 million years after the Big Bang: at just 2.3% its current age, reports Big Think. “Although Hubble showed us the far reaches of the deep Universe as never before, it was fundamentally limited and couldn’t see beyond 400 million years after the Big Bang. JWST was designed, in part, to surpass those limits, but in order to know which objects are truly the earliest, most distant ones, long observations with spectra were required.”

ALMA still recovering from devastating cyberattack, reports Physics Today. “More than a month after a ransomware cyberattack on its computer systems, the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile remains offline. The unprecedented disruption is hindering the research projects of astronomers around the world and is costing the observatory about a quarter of a million dollars a day.”

NASA’s Artemis I Mission Successfully Returns from the Moon–After a 26-day journey that took it to lunar orbit and back, the uncrewed Orion spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on Sunday afternoon, paving the way for future astronaut voyages to Earth’s satellite, reports Nadia Drake for Scientific American. “Artemis is paving the way to live and work in deep space, in a hostile environment—to invent, to create and ultimately to go on with humans to Mars,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told reporters nearly two weeks before the splashdown.

Mysteriously bright flash is a black hole jet pointing straight toward Earth, astronomers say–The observations could illuminate how supermassive black holes feed and grow, reports MIT.

How Star Collisions Forge the Universe’s Heaviest Elements–Scientists have new evidence about how cosmic cataclysms forge gold, platinum and other heavy members of the periodic table, reports Sanjana Curtis for Scientific American.

Astronomers Grapple with JWST’s Discovery of Early Galaxies–Researchers are convinced the James Webb Space Telescope has glimpsed an unexpected population of galaxies in the early universe. Now they’re trying to decide what this means for our understanding of the cosmos, reports Jonathan O’Callaghan for Scientific American.

Antimatter particles could cross the galaxy without being destroyed--Experiments at CERN’s particle collider suggest that antihelium particles created by dark matter in distant space could make it to Earth, reports New Scientist.

NASA may unlock future James Webb Space Telescope data, reports Meghan Bartels for Space.com. “It’s a hot competition to snag time using the observatory, and the winners are rewarded with both the observations and a one-year head start on analyzing them under the current system. But NASA is considering changing that policy and opening fresh data from the $10 billion observatory to the world at large, and scientists are divided.”

Antimatter particles could cross the galaxy without being destroyed--Experiments at CERN’s particle collider suggest that antihelium particles created by dark matter in distant space could make it to Earth, reports New Scientist.

Why Some Scientists Choose China’s Space Station for Research--A project led by researchers from a Swiss university highlights China’s ambition to make the Tiangong outpost broadly available for science, reports Kenneth Chang for the New York Times.

There is no “breakthrough”: NIF fusion power still consumes 150 times more energy than it creates--If you gave me $400 and I gave you $2.50, would you consider yourself wealthier? That’s a financial analogy for the supposed fusion power “breakthrough,” reports Tom Hartsfield for Big Think.

The ten top weird science stories –Science delivered a lot in 2022, including wry smiles, chuckles and disbelief, reports Cosmos.

Curated by The Daily Galaxy Editorial Staff

Read about The Daily Galaxy editorial team here

This weekend’s stories include Why Ghost Particles Crashing Into Antarctica Could Change Astronomy Forever to What is the Shape of the Universe? and much more.

Why the Ghost Particles Crashing Into Antarctica Could Change Astronomy Forever–About 1.2 miles beneath Antarctica, an underground observatory is hunting for “ghost particles.” What it finds could reveal the unseen heart of a distant galaxy, reports CNET. “evidence of 79 “high-energy neutrino emissions” coming from around where NGC 1068 is located, opening the door for novel — and endlessly fascinating — types of physics. “Neutrino astronomy,” scientists call it. “

‘One of the greatest damn mysteries of physics’: we studied distant suns in the most precise astronomical test of electromagnetism yet, reports Michael Murphy, Professor of Astrophysics, Swinburne University of Technology. Our theory of electromagnetism is arguably the best physical theory humans have ever made – but it has no answer for why electromagnetism is as strong as it is. The American physicist Richard Feynman, who helped come up with the theory, urged physicists to “put this number up on their wall and worry about it”.

We Tested Einstein’s Theory of Gravity on the Scale of the Universe, reports Kazuya Koyama, Professor of Cosmology, University of Portsmouth and Levon Pogosian, Professor of Physics, Simon Fraser University for The Conversation. “Our new study, published in Nature Astronomy, has now tested Einstein’s theory on the largest of scales. We believe our approach may one day help resolve some of the biggest mysteries in cosmology, and the results hint that the theory of general relativity may need to be tweaked on this scale.

NASA Has a Theory for Why We Might Be Alone in the Universe, reports David Axe for The Daily Beast. The history and current state of our own species provide some clues.

‘Overweight’ neutron star defies a black hole theory, say astronomers–“Gamma-ray burst from colliding stars unexpectedly gave way to day-long sight of hypermassive body,” reports The Guardian. “Such a massive neutron star with a long life expectancy is not normally thought to be possible,” said Dr Nuria Jordana-Mitjans, an astronomer at the University of Bath. “It is a mystery why this one was so long-lived.”

A Dream of Discovering Alien Life Finds New Hope–For Cornell’s Lisa Kaltenegger and her generation of exoplanet astronomers, decades of planning have set the stage for an epochal detection. Kaltenegger leverages the bizarre life and geology found on Earth to develop a more systematic set of expectations about what might be possible elsewhere. “I’m trying to do the fundamentals,”

Many Military U.F.O. Reports Are Just Foreign Spying or Airborne Trash–Forget space aliens or hypersonic technology; classified assessments show that many episodes have ordinary explanations, reports The New York Times.

15 Times The Speed Of Sound, Fighter Pilots Share Chilling Details Of UFO Sightings That Defied Law Of Physics, reports The EurAsian Times. The latest documentary based on the bizarre ‘Night of the UFOs’ features a chilling audio clip of a Brazilian fighter pilot who encountered one of the many UFOs that appeared over Brazil in May 1986.

What is the shape of the universe? asks Elizabeth Rayne for Live Science.–The universe may be vast, but researchers have multiple points of evidence that reveal its shape. “Physicists think the universe is flat. Several lines of evidence point to this flat universe: light left over from the Big Bang, the rate of expansion of the universe at different locations, and the way the universe “looks” from different angles, experts told Live Science.”

Why the Latest Dark Matter and Dark Energy Calculations Are a Big Deal–We may now have the sharpest-ever measurements of the dark side of our universe. Here’s what that means for science.

Why the multiverse is the movie fantasy for our times--Highly-disputed quantum physics theories rarely receive airtime. But the idea that multiple, even infinite, universes co-exist has taken hold in movie theaters everywhere, reports CNN.

Dark-Matter-Free Galaxies: “We Have No Idea Why They Exist”  reports The Daily Galaxy. “The interesting thing is: we have no idea!” says Pieter van Dokkum, Sol Goldman Professor of Astronomy at Yale University, who wrote in an email to The Daily Galaxy about why ultra-diffuse galaxy DF2 contains no dark matter. “The existence of this galaxy shows that there is another pathway to creating galaxies than our standard picture, but what that might be is anyone’s guess.”

Four ways to spot hints of alien life using the James Webb Space Telescope, reports The Conversation. One way we may be able to is to spot signs of life in the composition of the planet’s atmosphere. We can use a technique called transmission spectroscopy – which divides up light by its wavelength – to search for traces of different gases in starlight as it passes through a planet’s atmosphere

This Nearby Dwarf Galaxy has Been a Loner for Almost the Entire age of the Universe, reports Universe Today.

Black holes don’t always power gamma-ray bursts, new research show, reports University of Bath. “Until now, space scientists have largely agreed that the ‘engine’ powering such energetic and short-lived bursts must always come from a newly formed black hole (a region of space-time where gravity is so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape from it). However, new research by an international team of astrophysicists is challenging this scientific orthodoxy.”

Mimicking Life: A Breakthrough In Non-living Materials, reports Astrobiology. “Chemist Rienk Eelkema and his group try to mimic nature, specifically the chemical reactions in living cells that provide the fuel to control the cell. The toolbox of reactions that drive non-living materials in the same way is limited, Eelkema explains.”

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Today’s stories from our amazing Universe include Predicting ‘Earth-like’ planets around red dwarf stars to What an advanced alien civilization can  teach us about survival to Why Gravity is the biggest challenge to physicists, and much more.

How reality is shaped by the speed of light--“You are trapped in time. You never live in the world as it is but only as you experience it as it was,” reports Adam Frank for Big Think. “When you look at a picture of a galaxy that is 75 million light-years away, you are seeing that galaxy at a time when dinosaurs ruled the Earth. What you perceive as “now” is really layer after layer of light reaching your eye from many different moments in the past.

Predicting ‘Earth-like’ planets around red dwarfs, reports Nature.com –“The Earth is a rocky planet in the so-called classical habitable zone (HZ), with a surface ocean taking up just ~10–4 of its total mass. A study suggests that 5–10% of Earth-sized planets in the HZ around red dwarfs are ‘Earth-like’: rocky, with a small but non-zero amount of water on their surface.”

The Case of the “Missing Exoplanets”, reports Matt Williams for Universe Today. “The number of confirmed exoplanets stands at 5,197 in 3,888 planetary systems, with another 8,992 candidates awaiting confirmation. The majority have been particularly massive planets, ranging from Jupiter and Neptune-sized gas giants, which have radii about 2.5 times that of Earth. Another statistically significant population has been rocky planets that measure about 1.4 Earth radii(“Super-Earths”).

Inside a controversial new idea about consciousness–We are still struggling to account for consciousness. A new hypothesis by psychologist Nicholas Humphrey challenges the basis of the discussion and argues sentience isn’t what we think, reports New Scientist.

If an advanced alien civilization exists, what can they teach us about survival? asks Big Think. “How would it change us to make contact with an intelligent species from elsewhere in the Universe? For one, it would refocus the human tribe, bringing an accelerated and much needed sense of unity to our species. If intelligent aliens survived for millions of years, what are their secrets? By imagining that they do exist, we can plot our own path for survival. 

How to Prepare for Alien First Contact–If a verified signal came tomorrow—”Astrobiologist Dr. Nathalie Cabrol pointed out in her paper Alien Mindscapes—A Perspective on the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (Opens in a new window), “powerful evidence that our solar system is not an exception but simply one out of countless others in the universe.” So we’re not (totally) unique. But is there life out there as we know it? And does it know we’re here?”

The Most Important Discovery of 2022 Is Our Best Bet at Finding Extraterrestrial Life--Thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope, our view of the universe includes evidence of amazing phenomena, including water on an exoplanet, reports Popular Mechanics.

How an Astrophysicist Spends Her Sundays–Jackie Faherty is a people person, but the sky is a “familiar and safe friend,” too, reports The New York Times. “Jackie Faherty knew she wanted to be an astronomer after she saw “Contact,” the 1997 movie based on the novel by the uber-famous astronomer Carl Sagan. “I walked into the theater my freshman year at Notre Dame one person, and walked out a different person,” she said.

Harvard Astrophysicists Confirm Existing Theories of Composition, Expansion of the Universe, reports The Harvard Crimson. ““We’ve essentially doubled our ability to constrain dark energy and the acceleration of the universe compared to the next best analysis of this kind.”

We tested Einstein’s theory of gravity on the scale of the universe – here’s what we found, reports The Conversation. “Everything in the universe has gravity – and feels it too. Yet this most common of all fundamental forces is also the one that presents the biggest challenges to physicists. Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity has been remarkably successful in describing the gravity of stars and planets, but it doesn’t seem to apply perfectly on all scales.”

What would actually happen if we discovered a message from an alien planet? reports Stuart Clark for BBC Science Focus. “I’m optimistic. I’m quite certain that there’s no point in sending a signal that you don’t want to be understood. So it’ll be understandable,” says Sheri Wells-Jensen, associate professor of linguistics at Bowling Green State University, Ohio, and a board member of the Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence (METI) organization.

Earth’s Oldest Stromatolites And The Search For Life On Mars, reports Astrobiology.com –“An article released Friday in the Geological Society of America journal Geology uses a range of advanced two- and three-dimensional analytical techniques to establish the biological origins of Earth’s oldest stromatolites from the 3.48-billion-year-old Dresser Formation, Pilbara, Western Australia.”

‘Overweight’ neutron star defies a black hole theory, say astronomers, reports The Guardian. “Gamma-ray burst from colliding stars unexpectedly gave way to day-long sight of hypermassive body.”

Body found in Chilean desert after search for missing UK astronomer–Prof Tom Marsh, 60, who had been missing since 16 September, described as ‘inspirational academic and mentor’, reports The Guardian. In a statement, Warwick University said no formal identification of the body has yet been made.

Curated by The Daily Galaxy Editorial Staff

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Today’s stories include NASA’s Webb Uncovers Dense Cosmic Knot in The Early Universe to JWST spots smallest galaxy outside our local universe to The Infinite Possibilities in a Tiny Smudge From Outer Space, and much more.

What Is Space?–Imagine the fabric of space-time peeled back layer by layer, reports Thomas Lin for Quanta. “The fundamental nature of space-time remains shrouded in mystery: Where does its structure come from? What do space-time and gravity look like in the subatomic quantum realm?”

Signatures of alien technology could be how humanity first finds extraterrestrial life, reports Macy Huston at Penn State for The Conversation.

Is Early Earth a Model for Emerging Life on Alien Planets? asks The Daily Galaxy. ““The Archean Eon stands out for being so incredibly distant, and incredibly distinct, from modern Earth,” University of Washington astrobiologist, Tyler Robinson, told The Daily Galaxy about the eon when life on Earth likely emerged. “The conditions on this near-alien version of Earth are so unique that the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) should be able to distinguish Archean-like features from signatures more synonymous with modern Earth, Mars, or Venus. 

NASA’s Webb Uncovers Dense Cosmic Knot in The Early Universe–Astronomers looking into the early universe have made a surprising discovery using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope: a cluster of massive galaxies in the process of forming around an extremely red quasar. The result will expand our understanding of how galaxy clusters in the early universe came together and formed the cosmic web we see today.

JWST spots smallest galaxy outside our local universe–The James Webb Space Telescope has glimpsed the smallest galaxy outside our local universe – and it is a thousand times less massive than the Milky Way, reports New Scientist.

Evil doppelgängers, alternate timelines and infinite possibilities: the physics of the multiverse explained, reports Robert Lea for BBC Science Focus. “The word ‘universe’ once described everything that exists. But as our horizons have expanded, many scientists have begun to consider what’s beyond our own cosmos, and whether there may be many other universes lurking tantalizingly out of sight.”

Like the Borg of Star Trek, these ‘aliens’ assimilate DNA from other microbes, reports UC Berkeley. “In an alien world only a meter or two below our feet , researchers have now found large DNA molecules that aren’t quite viruses, which are DNA or RNA wrapped in proteins, but that seem to have infected archaea and acquired along the way a slew of genes from their archaeal hosts.”

The Infinite Possibilities in a Tiny Smudge From Outer Space–Astronomers have captured a poignant view of another planetary system in the making, reports Marina Koren for The Atlantic.

Why Scientists’ Latest Dark Matter and Dark Energy Calculations Are a Big Deal–We may now have the sharpest-ever measurements of the dark side of our universe. Here’s what that means for science, reports CNET.

A Monster Black Hole Has Been Discovered Nearby Silently Minding Its Business, reports Matt Williams for Universe Today.

Have Scientists Found A ‘Mirror World’ Parallel Universe That Explains Everything? The Truth Behind The Headlines, reports Jamie Carter for Forbes.

Juno Delivers Stunning New Views of Great Red Spot –Scientists and the public are dazzled by images from the spacecraft’s close encounter with Jupiter’s largest—and the solar system’s most famous—storm, reports Lee Billings for Scientific American. “Snapped earlier this week by NASA’s basketball court–size solar-powered Juno spacecraft, the new images from just 9,000 kilometers above Jupiter reveal never-before-seen details of the Great Red Spot and its turbulent surroundings that raise just as many questions as they answer.”

The Brightest Gamma-Ray Burst Ever Recorded Rattled Earth’s Atmosphere–The death of a massive star far across the universe affected lightning on our planet and could teach us about the Milky Way, reports Phil Plait for Scientific American.

Jupiter’s Ocean Moon Europa Is Ready for Its Close-up–Fresh data from the Juno probe’s flyby of Europa could help scientists learn whether this icy moon of Jupiter is habitable—or even inhabited, reports Daniel Leonard for Scientific American.

Seeking answers, planetary scientists plot a return to Uranus reports PNAS. “istant and obscure, the giant planets Uranus and Neptune lurk in the dark far from the Sun. Four decades ago they received one fleeting visitor from Earth, Voyager 2. No other spacecraft has ventured there since. -They are the least explored planets in our solar system,” says Heidi Hammel, a planetary scientist at the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy in Washington, DC. 

Experiments Spell Doom for Decades-Old Explanation of Quantum Weirdness–Physical-collapse theories have long offered a natural solution to the central mystery of the quantum world. But a series of increasingly precise experiments are making them untenable, reports Phillip Ball for Quanta.

‘Marshmallow’ world defies expectations for planets orbiting red dwarf stars, reports Robert Lea for Space.com. “Astronomers have discovered a gas giant planet with the density of a marshmallow orbiting a cool red dwarf star located 580 light-years from Earth. The Jupiter-like exoplanet is the lowest-density world ever observed orbiting a red dwarf.”

Exoplanet Ratio Detection Map. “We propose a new statistical method for direct imaging of exoplanets based on a likelihood ratio detection map, which assumes that the noise after the background subtraction step obeys a Laplacian distribution. We compare the method with two detection approaches based on signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) map after performing the background subtraction by the widely used Annular Principal Component Analysis (AnnPCA).”

Why military forces see the moon as a new strategic priority--The US Space Force is already taking steps to protect future bases on the moon. Could this lead to other powers like China escalating their own military activities up there too? asks New Scientist.

Curated by The Daily Galaxy Editorial Staff

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Today’s stories include Black Holes Create Mysterious Vortex ‘Structures’ That Could Open ‘Portals’ Into Dark Matter to The Most Extreme Objects in the Universe to Did Magnetism Shape the Universe? and much more.

Did magnetism shape the universe? An epic experiment suggests it did, reports New Scientist. The idea that magnetism helped shape the universe has been dismissed by scientists for decades, but now new experiments involving plasma that is hotter than the sun are prompting a rethink.

Earth’s surface may be teeming with trillions of dark matter particles, reports New Scientist. When dark matter is captured inside a planet or star, much of it sinks to the middle – but if it sometimes bounces off regular matter, there may be huge amounts of it lurking just beneath the surface.

Life May Have Thrived On Early Mars Until It Drove Climate Change That Caused Its Demise, reports Keith Cowing for Astrobiology. “The study revealed that while ancient Martian life may have initially prospered, it would have rendered the planet’s surface covered in ice and uninhabitable, under the influence of hydrogen consumed from and methane released into the atmosphere.”

Black Holes Create Mysterious Vortex ‘Structures’ That Could Open ‘Portal’ Into Dark Matter, Physicists Propose. The microscopic structure of black holes is poorly understood, physicists say in a new study, and could open a window to solving cosmic mysteries, reports Becky Ferreira for Vice Science.

Spellbinding Images From the Dark Energy Camera–15 images showcase the beauty and awesome size of the cosmos, reports Isaac Schultz for Gizmodo.

The most extreme objects in the universe–The cosmos has a knack for forming extreme — and sometimes weird — objects, reports Astronomy.com. “From stars that burn so hot they make the Sun look almost cool in comparison, to planets with the density of cotton candy, to galaxies so old they existed when the universe was still in its infancy, these are some of the most extraordinary cosmic objects known — even if they may not be record-holders for long.”

A solar gravitational lens will be humanity’s most powerful telescope. What are its best targets? asks by Brian Koberlein for Universe Today. “In a study recently published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, the team modeled the gravitational lensing of the sun to look at the diffraction effects it would have on an image from extended objects such as an exoplanet. They found that a solar-lens telescope would be able to detect a 1 Watt laser coming from Proxima Centauri b, about 4 light-years away.”

The Risk of Misinterpreting JWST Planetary Signals, reports Harvard CfA. Refining current models is essential for unearthing accurate details of exoplanet properties — and signs of life — in data from new telescope. “There is a scientifically significant difference between a compound like water being present at 5 percent versus 25 percent, which current models cannot differentiate,” says corresponding author Julien de Wit, an assistant professor in MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS).

How likely is an Earth-like origin of life elsewhere? asks Paul Scott Anderson for Earth Sky. “we know little to nothing about life on other rocky worlds, even those that might be similar to Earth. Is life a rare occurrence, or is it common? Or somewhere in between? Scientists debate the subject of abiogenesis, the idea of life arising from non-living material. If it can happen on Earth, can it happen elsewhere, too? “

Strange Ripples Have Been Detected at The Edge of The Solar System, reports Michelle Star for ScienceAlert. “Data from a spacecraft orbiting Earth has revealed ripple structures in the termination shock and heliopause: shifting regions of space that mark one of the boundaries between the space inside the Solar System, and what’s outside – interstellar space.”

‘Bit of Panic’: Astronomers Forced to Rethink Early JWST Findings–Revised calibrations for the James Webb Space Telescope’s instruments are bedevilling researchers studying the distant universe, reports Alexandra Witze for Nature magazine.

‘It felt like a funeral’: William Shatner reflects on voyage to space –Recalling the experience almost one year later, the actor admits ‘everything I had expected to see was wrong’ reports The Guardian. “William Shatner expected he would achieve the “ultimate catharsis” after his historic flight into space. Instead, the voyage left him filled with grief, an “overwhelming sadness” and a newfound appreciation for the beauty of Earth, the Star Trek actor has said.”

“Unfolding the Universe: A NASA  JWST VR Experience.” A new VR exhibit takes you inside the James Webb Space Telescope’s images–Artist Ashley Zelinskie has filled a physical gallery with space-inspired sculptures, fog, lasers, and a VR headset.

Underground microbes may have swarmed ancient Mars, reports the AP. “Ancient Mars may have had an environment capable of harboring an underground world teeming with microscopic organisms, French scientists reported Monday. But if they existed, these simple life forms would have altered the atmosphere so profoundly that they triggered a Martian Ice Age and snuffed themselves out, the researchers concluded.

A long-lost rogue planet could explain unexpectedly distant asteroids, reports New Scientist. The outer solar system holds some chunks of ice and rock that orbit so far from the sun it’s hard to imagine how they got there – but an ancient rogue planet may hold the key.

Curated by the Daily Galaxy Editorial Staff

The Galaxy Report newsletter brings you twice-weekly news of space and science that has the capacity to provide clues to the mystery of our existence and add a much needed cosmic perspective in our current Anthropocene Epoch.

Yes, sign me up for my free subscription.

Recent Galaxy Reports:

Unmistakable Signal of Alien Life to What Happens if China Makes First Contact?

Clues to Alien Life to A Galaxy 100 x Size of Milky Way 

Cracks in Einstein’s Theory of Gravity to Colossal Shock Wave Bigger than the Milky Way 

Monster Comet Arriving from the Oort Cloud to Black Hole Apocalypse 

Enigmas of Stephen Hawking’s Blackboard to Why the Universe and Life Exist 

Einstein’s Critics to NASA Theologians Prepare for Alien Contact

Mind-Bending New Multiverse Theory to Dark-Matter Asteroids of the Milky Way 

Mysterious Expanding Regions of Dark Matter to Are Black Holes Holograms

Read about The Daily Galaxy editorial team here

Today’s stories include How One Barren Exoplanet Could ‘Dramatically Narrow’ the Search for Alien Life to The Webb Spots Structures From The Early Universe Never Seen Before to New NASA UFO Team Hopes They’re Not an Adversary, and much more.

Ancient bacteria might lurk beneath Mars’ surface--A New study finds the chances of uncovering life on Mars are better than previously expected, reports Northwestern University. ““If microbes evolved on Mars, they could be capable of surviving until the present day.280 million years that ‘Conan the Bacterium’ could survive buried on Mars. That means returning Mars samples could contaminate Earth. 

Puzzling astronomical observations support an alternative theory of gravity, reports New Atlas. “Astrophysicists have observed some puzzling behavior in star clusters that seem to defy our current understanding of gravity at cosmic scales. Intriguingly, the observations fit with an alternative theory of gravity that could negate the need for dark matter.”

How NASA Launched Its Asteroid Killer. The DART mission, in which a spacecraft knocked an asteroid off course, is a rehearsal for saving the world, reports The New Yorker.

NASA captures the whole universe in illuminating decade-long time lapse, reports SyFy. 

Will Alien technology signal extraterrestrial life, asks Earth Sky. “If aliens looked at Earth, our human technology – from cell towers to fluorescent light bulbs – could signal the presence of life. Can we find life in the universe from alien technologies?”

How One Barren Planet Could ‘Dramatically Narrow’ the Search for Alien Life –We still don’t know where aliens are, but we’re learning where they probably aren’t, reports CNET. “The team explains how an Earth-like planet orbiting the most common type of star in the universe, an M dwarf, seems to have no atmosphere. What this means is perhaps we can conclude that most other Earth-like planets orbiting all those other M dwarfs don’t have atmospheres either.”

Newly found organic molecules on Mars raise the question: Did life make them?–Organic molecules can be produced by living or non-living systems. But the recent findings are very intriguing, reports Dirk Schulze-Makuch for Big Think. “The large diversity of organic molecules detected on Mars is a hint that life once existed there.”

JWST Spots Structures From The Early Universe Never Seen Before, reports IFL Science. “The space observatory has revealed that a far distant known galaxy is not a single object but two. The object is known as MACS0647-JD, and the light we can see today has been travelling since 400 million years after the Big Bang.”

Brightest-Ever Space Explosion Reveals Possible Hints of Dark Matter–A recent gamma-ray burst known as the BOAT — “brightest of all time” — appears to have produced a high-energy particle that shouldn’t exist. For some, dark matter provides the explanation, reports Jonathan O’Callaghan for Quanta.

Why Mars has captured our hopes and fears for millennia. From being the celestial embodiment of warrior gods to housing canal-digging aliens, Mars has uniquely endured in the public consciousness. Even today, the Red Planet still spells adventure, reports Stuart Clark for New Scientist.

NASA Opens Investigation Into Recent UFO Sightings, Hopes They’re ‘Not an Adversary, reports Extreme Tech. “The team is impressively diverse: Two astrophysicists, two policy specialists, two aviation specialists, an oceanographer, an AI startup founder, a science journalist, a planetary scientist, a former NASA astronaut, a telescope scientist, a space infrastructure consultant, an electrical and computer engineer, and a physicist each made the cut.”

Space Force moves to consolidate its intelligence community, reports Federal News Network. “As the Space Force expands and defines the roles of its different commands, one of its top priorities will be intelligence gathering in space. In a service so new no one has had time to wear the shine off their buttons, Space Operations Command (SpOC) will take a major role in the business of spying, satellites and satellite image.”

Are parallel Universes physically real, or just an unsupported idea?–Are you unhappy with how various events in your life turned out? Perhaps, in a parallel Universe, things worked out very differently, reports Big Think. “There are two ways to think about it that are physically well-motivated: in the contexts of inflationary cosmology and quantum physics.”

Curated by The Daily Galaxy Editorial Staff

Your free daily fix of  stories of space and science –a random journey from Planet Earth through the Cosmos– that has the capacity to provide clues to our existence and add a much needed cosmic perspective in our Anthropocene epoch.

Yes, Sign Me Up for “The Galaxy Report” Newsletter

Read about The Daily Galaxy editorial team here

Today’s stories include William Shatner’s Blue Origin Trip Filled Him with ‘Dread’ for Earth to The Hard Problem of Consciousness, and much more.

Black Holes May Hide a Mind-Bending Secret About Our Universe, writes Dennis Overbye for the New York Times. “Take gravity, add quantum mechanics, stir. What do you get? Just maybe, a holographic cosmos. “It may be too strong to say that gravity and quantum mechanics are exactly the same thing,” Leonard Susskind of Stanford University wrote in a paper in 2017. ‘But those of us who are paying attention may already sense that the two are inseparable, and that neither makes sense without the other.'”

William Shatner’s Blue Origin trip filled him with ‘dread’ for Earth amid the ‘vicious coldness of space, reports Fortune on his new book Boldly Go: Reflections on a Life of Awe and Wonder. “When I looked in the opposite direction, into space, there was no mystery, no majestic awe to behold…all I saw was death,” he writes. “I saw a cold, dark, black emptiness. It was unlike any blackness you can see or feel on Earth. It was deep, enveloping, all-encompassing. also felt sadness, he writes, because of the damage being done to the planet.”

NASA finds Earth’s moon didn’t need hundreds of years to form. Try hours–Watch a violent collision simulation that could have spawned the moon. ‘A study published Tuesday in The Astrophysical Journal Letters suggests a bold new idea: The moon could have formed in one swift exchange, with a large chunk of baby Earth and its impactor’s material blown into a wide orbit — in a matter of hours.”

The real problem of consciousness–It looks like scientists and philosophers might have made consciousness far more mysterious than it needs to be, reports Anil K Seth, professor of cognitive and computational neuroscience at the University of Sussex, and co-director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science for Aeon.

Finding Aliens Could Trigger Global Conflict With Dire Consequences: Study, reports Newsweek. “However, according to a paper published in the journal Space Policy, which is a critique of a previous study discussing the geopolitical dangers of detecting extra-terrestrial life, these fears are unfounded.”

Should We Be Searching for Smart Aliens or Dumb Aliens? asks astrophysicist Adam Frank. There are two ways to look for extraterrestrial life. We’ve been focusing on only one, reports The Atlantic. “Dumb life consists of things such as microbes and plants that can proliferate across a planet but are unlike humans as self-conscious, technological thinkers. Smart life consists of creatures like us that build planet-spanning technologies.”

Could an asteroid destroy Earth?, asks Brandon Specktor for Space.com–“Our planet is tougher than you’d think — but humans aren’t. ‘An object bigger than Mars hit Earth early in its history and made the moon, without destroying the Earth,’Brian Toon, a professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder who has studied asteroid impacts.”

Ian Sinks Florida ‘Dome Home’ Built to Survive Hurricanes–A house built from geodesic domes off the coast of Florida was designed to withstand gale-force winds and powerful storm surges but not sea-level rise, reports Scientific American.

California Quakes Mysteriously Preceded by Shifts in Earth’s Magnetic Field, reports Mike McCrae for Nature. “One possible advance sign could involve flickers in the magnetic field that ebbs and flows around our planet. For decades, researchers have debated the merits of hunting for magnetic signatures to imminent tremors, for want of convincing evidence.”

A Martian menu that could transform how we eat on Earth, reports Evan Fraser and Lenore Newman for CNN. “Prepping a Martian meal would be one of the most technically challenging problems our species has ever confronted. A community on Mars would be exposed to punishing radiation and temperatures that could range from minus 220 degrees Fahrenheit to 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Tasty and nutritious meals would be crucial to the psychological as well as the physical health of space pioneers.”

New JWST view showcases our cosmic isolation–With its first view of a protoplanetary disk around a newly forming star, the JWST reveals how alone individual stellar systems truly are, reports Big Think.

This podcast brings Steve Jobs back to life, thanks to AI–In a free-wheeling conversation with Joe Rogan, Jobs talks about Microsoft, Adobe, and much more, reports Interesting Engineering.

The DNA that works like a computer disk –Keeping data safely locked up for millennia could soon be on the table, reports BBC Future. “Radio telescopes and particle accelerators like the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) alone produces 90 petabytes (90 million gigabytes) per year.”

As Omicron mutates wildly the virus shows first signs of convergent evolution, reports Rich Haridy for New Atlas. “Over the last couple of months researchers tracking emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants have started noticing something strange These mutations all seemed to be converging in a way to evade our pre-existing immunity, and a striking study recently appeared speculating the virus has the potential to completely escape our current immune responses.”

This Indigenous Scientist Helped Save Lives as Covid Devastated the Navajo Nation–Crystal Lee grew up the granddaughter of Navajo medicine men. As Covid wreaked havoc on her community, she decided to act reports Tulika Bose for Scientific American.

The life-changing effects of hallucinations –“Illusions brought on by drugs, lights and disease are giving us new insights into the inner workings of our brains. William Park ventured into his own induced hallucination to find out more” for BBC Future.

A new method helped find million-year-old marine DNA in Antarctica — here’s what’s next–The data shows that diatoms were consistently abundant during warm climatic periods, reports Interesting Engineering. “According to the University of Bonn, it shows that DNA can open the pathway to studying long-term responses of ocean ecosystems to climate change.”

Fossils Solve Mystery of an Ancient ‘Alien Goldfish’ –Closer examination of Typhloesus fossils suggests that the organism, which swam 330 million years ago, was similar to modern sea slugs, reports New York Times Science.

Fossils Reveal Pterosaur Relatives Before They Evolved Wings–By reanalyzing earlier specimens, scientists linked small, leggy creatures that roamed 237 million years ago to the reptiles that flew through the dinosaur era, reports New York Times Science. “At a quick glance, they look nothing like a pterosaur,” Dr. Brusatte, a paleontologist at the University of Edinburgh, said. “But a close look at their skeletons and the similarities with pterosaurs became apparent, like invisible ink being held to the light.”

Can solar power from space help solve our energy needs? asks The Guardian. “The latest developments in solar tech offer potential solutions to the energy security crisis – including satellites that would convert sunlight into power for Earth”

How philosophy turned into physics and reality turned into information, reports Peter Evans for The Conversation.

The Physics of Smashing a Spacecraft Into an Asteroid--NASA will soon release the results of its DART mission to find out whether crashing a probe into a space rock can deflect it. Here’s how they’ll do the math, reports Wired.

Curated by the Daily Galaxy Editorial Staff

The Galaxy Report newsletter brings you twice-weekly news of space and science that has the capacity to provide clues to the mystery of our existence and add a much needed cosmic perspective in our current Anthropocene Epoch.

Yes, sign me up for my free subscription.

Recent Galaxy Reports:

Unmistakable Signal of Alien Life to What Happens if China Makes First Contact?

Clues to Alien Life to A Galaxy 100 x Size of Milky Way 

Cracks in Einstein’s Theory of Gravity to Colossal Shock Wave Bigger than the Milky Way 

Monster Comet Arriving from the Oort Cloud to Black Hole Apocalypse 

Enigmas of Stephen Hawking’s Blackboard to Why the Universe and Life Exist 

Einstein’s Critics to NASA Theologians Prepare for Alien Contact

Mind-Bending New Multiverse Theory to Dark-Matter Asteroids of the Milky Way 

Mysterious Expanding Regions of Dark Matter to Are Black Holes Holograms

Read about The Daily Galaxy editorial team here

Today’s stories include Discoveries about Ancient Human Evolution Win 2022 Nobel Prize to  Exotic Atoms Can Transform Into Windows Into The Nature Of The Universe to Is the Universe Fine Tuned for Life and the Mind, and much more.

Super-Earths are bigger, more common and more habitable than Earth itself – and astronomers are discovering more of the billions they think are out there, reports Chris Impey at the University of Arizona. “One planet is 30% larger than Earth and orbits its star in less than three days. The other is 70% larger than the Earth and might host a deep ocean. These two exoplanets are super-Earths – more massive than the Earth but smaller than ice giants like Uranus and Neptune.”

How Exotic Atoms Can Transform Into Windows Into The Nature Of The Universe, reports Discoverr.com. The energy of the vacuum should have a gravitational effect on large atoms. But physicists’ attempts to measure it have puzzlingly come up empty.”

Can stringy physics rescue the universe from a catastrophic transformation? reports Paul Sutter for Space.com. “Our universe may be fundamentally unstable. In a flash, the vacuum of space-time may find a new ground state, triggering a cataclysmic transformation of the physics of the universe. Or not. A new understanding inspired by string theory shows that our universe may be more stable than we previously thought.”

Discoveries about Ancient Human Evolution Win 2022 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine–Svante Pääbo’s work on sequencing the DNA of Neandertals and Denisovans, which won the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, revealed surprising interbreeding among human species, reports Scientific American.

Gamma rays from a dwarf galaxy solve an astronomical puzzle, reports Roland Crocker for Space.com. “A glowing blob known as “the cocoon,” which appears to be inside one of the enormous gamma-ray emanations from the center of our galaxy dubbed the “Fermi bubbles,” has puzzled astronomers since it was discovered in 2012.”

Solving the information paradox could unlock quantum gravity and unification of forces--“Black holes can’t trash info about what they swallow—and that’s a problem,” reports Paul Sutter for Ars Technica.

Is the body key to understanding consciousness? asks The Guardian. “A new understanding of the fundamental connection between mind and body explains phenomena such as phantom limbs, and has surprising implications.”

A protogalaxy in the Milky Way may be our galaxy’s original nucleus –A population of stars at the galactic center is the oldest known in the galaxy, a study finds reports Science News.

Infinity is back. Or rather, it never (ever, ever…) went away. While mathematicians have a good sense of the infinite as a concept, cosmologists and physicists are finding it much more difficult to make sense of the infinite in nature, writes Peter Cameron, for iAi.com. 

Curated by the Daily Galaxy Editorial Staff

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Recent Galaxy Reports:

Unmistakable Signal of Alien Life to What Happens if China Makes First Contact?

Clues to Alien Life to A Galaxy 100 x Size of Milky Way 

Cracks in Einstein’s Theory of Gravity to Colossal Shock Wave Bigger than the Milky Way 

Monster Comet Arriving from the Oort Cloud to Black Hole Apocalypse 

Enigmas of Stephen Hawking’s Blackboard to Why the Universe and Life Exist 

Einstein’s Critics to NASA Theologians Prepare for Alien Contact

Mind-Bending New Multiverse Theory to Dark-Matter Asteroids of the Milky Way 

Mysterious Expanding Regions of Dark Matter to Are Black Holes Holograms

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This weekend’s stories include Should We Really Be Messing with Asteroid Orbits? to  Our Search for Habitable Planets Just Got a Lot Narrower to Did the Brightest-Ever Space Explosion Reveal Hints of Dark Matter? and much more.

Should We Really Be Messing with Asteroid Orbits? asks Caleb Scharf for Nautilus. With one small error or manipulation, cosmic interference would spell disaster. “The technology to prevent asteroids from hitting Earth could also be used to cause asteroids to hit Earth.”

Our Search for Habitable Planets Just Got a Lot Narrower, study suggests, reports Extreme Tech. ” After analyzing a nearby exoplanet, the team has concluded it is unlikely that the most common type of star in the Milky Way is capable of supporting life as we know it.”

Alien life: Leaking radio waves and hidden megastructures could hint at extraterrestrials–Could we describe and search for proof of technology originating from outside of Earth? asks The Conversation.

Want to know if aliens are real? An astrobiologist says, ask a taxi driver–Taxi drivers are connected to the hive mind of humanity. Hence, they have amazing insight into important questions regarding life in the universe, reports Fast Company. Charles Cockell is a professor of Astrobiology at the University of Edinburgh. He shares five key insights from his new book, Taxi from Another Planet: Conversations with Drivers about Life in the Universe.

China’s space station is almost complete — how will scientists use it?--China’s space station Tiangong is almost complete. The third and final module is scheduled to launch into low Earth orbit on Monday. The station, only the second laboratory in orbit, is expected to host more than 1,000 scientific experiments over its lifetime of at least 10 years. These include studying the effects of microgravity on living tissues and the behavior of fires, reports Nature. 

Requiem for a Telescope--Until its collapse last year, the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico spent six decades tuned to the radio stations of the heavens. There is no plan to rebuild it, and astronomers are in mourning. “Dan Werthimer, an astronomer at the University of California, Berkeley, who had used the telescope throughout his career to search for radio signals from extraterrestrial civilizations, lamented the decision to not rebuild. ‘Arecibo was my favorite telescope in the universe,’ he said.”

Brightest-Ever Space Explosion Reveals Possible Hints of Dark Matter–A recent gamma-ray burst known as the BOAT—“brightest of all time”—appears to have produced a high-energy particle that shouldn’t exist. For some, dark matter provides the explanation, reports Jonathan O’Callaghan for Nautilus. “There were so many photons per second that they couldn’t keep up,” said Andrew Levan, an astrophysicist at Radboud University in the Netherlands.

NASA’s InSight Lander Detects Stunning Meteoroid Impact on Mars. reports the JPL. “The agency’s lander felt the ground shake during the impact while cameras aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spotted the yawning new crater from space.”

Astronomers developed a set of equations that can precisely describe the reflections of the Universe that appear in the warped light around a black hole, reports Science Alert.

The Fine Line Between Life and Not Life--If the brain can’t tell the difference between fiction and reality, what can? reports Patrick House for Nautilus. “In the 1974 film Dark Star, an artificial intelligence is taught a few basics of René Descartes’s cogito, ergo sum (“I think, therefore I am”) arguments and, after realizing that its purpose is simply to explode, the AI proceeds to ignore all further human commands and blows up itself, the ship, and the crew.”

This spiral galaxy in the constellation Draco is helping astronomers measure the universe–Two objects in this galaxy serve to build a “Cosmic Distance Ladder,” scientists say, reports Space.com.

Humans communicating with aliens would be ‘like ants trying to talk to people’–Experts from a new BBC film are convinced our species would be mentally inferior, reports The Telegraph.

There May Be 4 Quintillion Alien Artifacts Buzzing in Our Solar System, reports Avi Loeb for Daily Beast. “How many other ‘Oumuamuas could there be in and around the solar system? In a new study that appeared online on Sept. 22 and hasn’t yet been peer-reviewed, Loeb and his coauthor Carson Ezell. What they calculated isn’t the population of alien craft. It’s the population of possible alien craft or other possible artificial objects. Leftover ET rocket parts. Unexplainable fragments of alien technology beyond our understanding. 

Curated by The Daily Galaxy Editorial Staff

Your free daily fix of  stories of space and science –a random journey from Planet Earth through the Cosmos– that has the capacity to provide clues to our existence and add a much needed cosmic perspective in our Anthropocene epoch.

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Read about The Daily Galaxy editorial team here