How do you weigh a planet you can’t see? Astronomers may have the answer and it involves “reading between the rings,” the bright beautiful structures exoplanets create. Continue ReadingHow do you study an invisible exoplanet? Astronomers discover planetary ‘fingerprints’ in the rings around stars
Multi-billion dollar space telescope programs aren’t only feats of aerospace engineering. They also feature “lies, damn lies, and statistics”. Or at least statistics. They definitely feature those, as does all good observational astronomy. The problem with statistics is, in order to get a clear definitive answer, you need lots of samples. And, to put it mildly, it’s hard to find lots of samples of planets with alien life on them. And even harder to prove that the signals we think are caused by alien life aren’t caused by some other non-biological process. Or at least that’s the theory underpinning a new paper available in pre-print on arXiv from David Kipping of Columbia University (and Cool Worlds YouTube fame).
3D simulations reveal how shockwaves from stellar explosions and winds may carve hub-and-spoke structures in molecular clouds, shaping star formation in the Milky Way. Continue ReadingShockwaves from dying stars may sculpt ‘cosmic wagon wheel’ stellar nurseries, simulations reveal
Conspiracy theories, print media, and James (sorry, Jimmy) Bond collide in an all-too-brief extension of Mulder and Scully’s world. Continue Reading‘The Lone Gunmen’ at 25: the underrated ‘X-Files’ spin-off that aspired to be ‘Mission: Impossible’ with geeks
Satellites zoomed-in on the aftermath of the New Glenn rocket explosion at Blue Origin’s LC-36 launchpad, and the extent of the damage is visible from orbit. Continue ReadingRocket goes boom, satellite cameras zoom: Explosive Blue Origin damage is visible from space
The physics of neutron stars are almost too fantastic to believe. Something the weight of two Suns compacted to a sphere the size of a city. Each teaspoon of its material would weigh billions of tons. If you’ve done any reading on the topic, you’ve heard these facts before. But despite the intense interest these extreme objects hold, we are still actively learning lots about them. One of the most pertinent outstanding questions is where is the line between becoming a neutron star and becoming a black hole when a star dies. A new paper by researchers at the HUN-REN Wigner Research Centre for Physics in Hungary describes what they believe to be a definitive answer to that question – between 2.2 and 2.3 solar masses.
The universe is full of fascinating structures, and some of the most striking take shape inside the giant clouds where stars are born. There, streams of gas appear to converge from all directions toward a dense central hub, like spokes meeting at the center of a wheel. New simulations show why this is, and why star formation overall is so inefficient.
NASA’s X-59 jet is on the verge of finally breaking the sound barrier as the agency looks forward to the aircraft’s first supersonic flight this month. Continue ReadingNASA’s X-59 jet is ready to break the sound barrier for the 1st time this month
Mattel’s musclebound response to ‘Star Wars’ had a life of its own Continue ReadingIt had the power! The weird origins of He-Man, Skeletor, and the ‘Masters of the Universe’
Jupiter helped create the different rocky bodies in the Solar System. The massive gas giant created a planet-induced pressure bump in the gas in the disk surrounding the young Sun. This pressure bump filtered different types of dust at different times, leading to the formation of planetesimals with different compositions at different times.
Forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predict a below-normal number of named storms in the upcoming 2026 Atlantic hurricane season. Continue ReadingThe 2026 hurricane season has begun. Will this year be calmer?
4.5 billion years ago was an interesting time for the Earth. The atmosphere was thick and what we would now think of as toxic. The Moon, which was freshly formed, looks much more massive than it does today and faintly glows with the residual heat from its own creation. And the floor was literally lava. Everywhere. If there were any children alive at the time, they would have no chance of winning that game. But for a long time, scientists had thought this molten phase of the Earth didn’t last long. But according to a new paper, available in preprint on arXiv by researchers at the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, it might have lasted for upwards of half a billion years.
When astronomers discovered the first planet outside our solar system, it was orbiting a pulsar, one of the most extreme, radiation-blasted environments imaginable. Not exactly the kind of place you’d expect to find a planet, let alone a representative one. The first confirmed exoplanet was an oddity, a product of the fact that pulsar timing is extraordinarily sensitive, not a reflection of what planets are typically like.
The TRAPPIST-1 system, located about 41 light years from Earth, has been a focal point of much exoplanetary discussion – mainly because it has 7 confirmed planets orbiting a dim M-dwarf star. Two of those planets – TRAPPIST-1e and -1f – are thought to be in the star’s habitable zone. However, the habitable zone of M-dwarfs is so close to the star itself the planets are likely tidally locked to it, meaning they have a permanent day and night side, with a “twilight terminator” in between. Armed with that knowledge, scientists have been attempting to model the climate on these two exoplanets, and a new paper from Jacob Haqq-Misra of Blue Marble Space uses a new type of climate model to accurately do so with much less computational power.
Our solar system has two ice giants, Uranus and Neptune, but there may have been a third. According to a new study published in the journal Icarus, this extra world might have triggered a violent planetary shuffling billions of years ago that could have disrupted some of Jupiter’s and Uranus’s moons and possibly led to the formation of others.
The city spectacle is back for 2026 — and don’t worry you’ll have another chance to see it in July. Continue ReadingManhattanhenge is back! | Space photo of the day for June 1, 2026
Occasionally I see references in Astronomy to the speed of something as “supersonic.” I’m having trouble reconciling this term with velocities typically found among astronomical objects. Wouldn’t “relativistic” be closer to the truth? Anything close to sonic speeds in Earth’s atmosphere wouldn’t cover much distance in outer space. Peter IanchiouTucson, Arizona One would certainly thinkContinue reading “What does the term ‘supersonic’ mean in astronomy?” The post What does the term ‘supersonic’ mean in astronomy? appeared Continue ReadingWhat does the term ‘supersonic’ mean in astronomy?
The focus of this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is an active spiral galaxy on a journey lasting hundreds of millions of years. The galaxy Messier 88 (M88), also known as NGC 4501, is located about 63 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices (Berenice’s Hair).
Venus, Jupiter and Mercury headline a spectacular month of planetary viewing. Continue Reading3 bright planets light up June’s night sky — Here’s where and when to look
In the 1870s, real-estate mogul James Lick established a trust of $700,000 (around $1.2 billion today) for the purpose of constructing the world’s most powerful telescope. By August 1875, he had selected the peak of Mount Hamilton, near San Jose, California, as his site, taking advantage of the clear air at the high elevation. ConstructionContinue reading “June 1, 1888: Lick Observatory changes hands” The post June 1, 1888: Lick Observatory changes hands appeared first on Continue ReadingJune 1, 1888: Lick Observatory changes hands
