The early Universe was a strange place. Early in its history—in the first quintillionth of a second—the entire cosmos was nothing more than a stunningly hot plasma. And, according to researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), this soup of quarks and gluons was accompanied by the formation of weird little primordial black holes (PHBs). It’s entirely possible that these long-vanished PHBs could have been the root of dark matter.
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Baby Stars are Swarming Around the Galactic Center
The vicinity of Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), the supermassive black hole at the Milky Way’s center, is hyperactive. Stars, gas, and dust zip around the black hole’s gravitational well at thousands of kilometers per hour. Previously, astronomers thought that only mature stars had been pulled into such rapid orbits. However, a new paper from the University of Cologne and elsewhere in Europe found that some relatively young stars are making the rounds rather than older ones, which raises some questions about the models predicting how stars form in these hyperactive regions.
NASA's Perseverance Mars rover enters new Red Planet territory: 'Bright Angel'
NASA's Perseverance Mars rover has been rerouted across a Red Planet dune field to reach the Marian territory known as "Bright Angel"
The unexpected behavior of pulsing stars could help us measure the universe
New research offers the most precise measurements yet of pulsating Cepheid stars, which may hold clues about the immense size and scale of our universe.
Rotation Curves of Galaxies Stay Flat Indefinitely
In his classic book On the Structure of Scientific Revolutions, the philosopher Thomas Kuhn posited that, for a new scientific framework to take root, there has to be evidence that doesn’t sit well within the existing framework. For over a century now, Einstein’s theory of relativity and gravity has been the existing framework. However, cracks are starting to show, and a new paper from researchers at Case Western Reserve University added another one recently when they failed to find decreasing rotational energy in galaxies even millions of light years away from the galaxy’s center.
Almost a Third of Early Galaxies Were Already Spirals
In the years before the JWST’s launch, astronomers’ efforts to understand the early Universe were stymied by a stubborn obstacle: the light from the early Universe was red-shifted to an extreme degree. The JWST was built with extreme redshifts in mind, and one of its goals was to study Galaxy Assembly.
Join the FAA's virtual public meeting about SpaceX's Starship this evening
The FAA is holding a virtual public meeting this evening (June 17) about the potential environmental impact of SpaceX's Starship operations in Florida, and you can participate.
Shine on, Starliner! Aurora glows green as astronauts test spacecraft ahead of return to Earth June 22 (image, video)
Boeing Starliner has seen its one-week test mission in space double to about two weeks. That allowed time for an incredible aurora show during thruster testing on June 15.
Which Stars are Lethal to their Planets?
Many years ago, there was a viral YouTube video called “History of the entire world, i guess,” which has been an endless source of internet memes since its release. One of the most prominent is also scientifically accurate—when describing why animals couldn’t start living on land, the video’s creator, Bill Wurtz, intones, “The Sun is a deadly laser.”
NASA moon orbiter spots Chinese lander on lunar far side (photo)
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has taken its first look at China's Chang'e 6 spacecraft on the moon's far side.
The universe’s biggest explosions made some of the elements we are composed of. But there’s another mystery source out there
In order to explain the presence of these heavier elements today, it’s necessary to find phenomena that can produce them. One type of event that fits the bill is a gamma-ray burst (GRB) – the most powerful class of explosion in the universe.
NASA’s asteroid sample mission gave scientists around the world the rare opportunity to study an artificial meteor
Meteoroids are difficult objects for aerospace and geophysics researchers like us to study, because we can’t usually predict when and where they will hit the atmosphere. But on very rare occasions, we can study artificial objects that enter the atmosphere much like a meteoroid would.
This long-studied star is actually a stellar duo: 'We were absolutely stunned'
A young star that astronomers have studied for decades has been found to be part of a duo, encircled by a disk of material within which planets may have just begun coalescing.
Something 'kicked' this hypervelocity star racing through the Milky Way at 1.3 million miles per hour (video)
A low-mass star races through the Milky Way at over a million miles per hour, a journey that began with either the supernova explosion of a vampire star or an encounter with black holes.
Spirals Galaxies May Be a Dime a Dozen in the Early Universe
A new study with data from the James Webb Space Telescope found that galaxies may have started forming spirals far earlier than astronomers previously thought.
Preparing ESA's Arctic Weather Satellite for liftoff
With ESA’s Arctic Weather Satellite due to launch in a few weeks, the satellite is now at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California being readied for its big day. Once in orbit, this new mission will show how short-term weather forecasts in the Arctic and beyond could be improved.
Who is Dr. Kovich in 'Star Trek: Discovery'? The mystery explained
With his trademark suit-and-tie an anomaly among the primary-colored "Star Trek: Discovery" uniforms of the 32nd century, Dr. Kovich always looked like a man out of time. But who is he, really?
10 top tips for planning your 2027 solar eclipse trip
From understanding the weather to seeing the Milky Way, here's how to plan a trip to see the total solar eclipse on Aug. 2, 2027.
Where is the center of the universe?
The universe is undeniably vast, and from our perspective, it may seem like Earth is in the middle of everything. But is there a center of the cosmos, and if so, where is it? If the Big Bang started the universe, then where did it all come from, and where is it going?
Fish Could Turn Regolith into Fertile Soil on Mars
What a wonderful arguably simple solution. Here’s the problem, we travel to Mars but how do we feed ourselves? Sure we can take a load of food with us but for the return trip that’s a lot. If we plan to colonise the red planet we need even more. We have to grow or somehow create food while we are there. The solution is an already wonderfully simple ‘biosphere’ style system; a fish tank! New research suggests fish could be raised in an aquatic system and nutrient rich water can fertilise and grow plants in the regolith! A recent simulation showed vegetables could be grown in regolith fertilised by the fish tank water!
