https://phys.org/space-news/ en-us The latest science news on astronomy, astrobiology, and space exploration from Phys.org. ESA's XMM-Newton and NASA's Chandra spacecraft have detected three young neutron stars that are unusually cold for their age. By comparing their properties to different neutron star models, scientists conclude that the oddballs' low temperatures disqualify around 75% of known models. This is a big step towards uncovering the one neutron star "equation of state" that rules them all, with important implications for the fundamental laws of the universe. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-young-cool-lessons-neutron-stars.html Astronomy Thu, 20 Jun 2024 12:52:03 EDT news638106721 For the first time, a phenomenon astronomers have long hoped to image directly has been captured by the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope's Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam). In this stunning image of the Serpens Nebula, the discovery lies in the northern area of this young, nearby star-forming region. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-webb-image-alignment-bipolar-jets.html Astronomy Thu, 20 Jun 2024 12:17:29 EDT news638104643 Four and a half billion years ago, our solar system was a cloud of gas and dust swirling around the sun, until gas began to condense and accrete along with dust to form asteroids and planets. What did this cosmic nursery, known as a protoplanetary disk, look like, and how was it structured? https://phys.org/news/2024-06-iron-meteorites-hint-infant-solar.html Planetary Sciences Thu, 20 Jun 2024 11:41:04 EDT news638102461 Drones are being raced against the clock at Delft University of Technology's "Cyber Zoo" to test the performance of neural-network-based AI control systems planned for next-generation space missions. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-drone-neural-network-ai-space.html Space Exploration Thu, 20 Jun 2024 10:48:15 EDT news638099289 Supermassive black holes pose unanswered questions for astronomers around the world, not the least of which is "How do they grow so big?" Now, an international team of astronomers, including researchers from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, has discovered a powerful rotating, magnetic wind that they believe is helping a galaxy's central supermassive black hole to grow. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-supermassive-black-hole-baby-star.html Astronomy Thu, 20 Jun 2024 10:48:02 EDT news638099278 Photographing faint objects close to bright stars is incredibly difficult. Yet, by combining data from ESA's Gaia space telescope with ESO's GRAVITY instrument on the ground, scientists managed just that. They took the first pictures of so far unseen dim companions of eight luminous stars. The technique unlocks the tantalizing possibility to capture images of planets orbiting close to their host stars. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-scientists-hidden-companions-bright-stars.html Astronomy Thu, 20 Jun 2024 10:15:04 EDT news638097302 Using the Magellan Telescopes in Chile, astronomers have performed photometric observations of a giant elliptical galaxy known as NGC 4696. The observations reveal that the galaxy has a complex globular cluster system. The finding was detailed in a paper published June 12 on the pre-print server arXiv. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-galaxy-ngc-hosts-complex-globular.html Astronomy Thu, 20 Jun 2024 09:30:55 EDT news638094651 A French-Chinese telescope satellite will blast off this weekend on a mission to hunt down gamma-ray bursts, the most powerful explosions in the universe. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-french-chinese-probe-universe-biggest.html Astronomy Thu, 20 Jun 2024 08:04:16 EDT news638089445 Titan, Saturn's largest moon, is the only other planetary body in the solar system that currently hosts active rivers, lakes, and seas. These otherworldly river systems are thought to be filled with liquid methane and ethane that flows into wide lakes and seas, some as large as the Great Lakes on Earth. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-titan-strong-erode-coastlines-lakes.html Planetary Sciences Wed, 19 Jun 2024 14:00:01 EDT news638004482 Earth's protective atmosphere has sheltered life for billions of years, creating a haven where evolution produced complex lifeforms like us. The ozone layer plays a critical role in shielding the biosphere from deadly UV radiation. It blocks 99% of the sun's powerful UV output. Earth's magnetosphere also shelters us. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-earth-atmosphere-defense-nearby-supernovae.html Astronomy Planetary Sciences Wed, 19 Jun 2024 12:29:53 EDT news638018990 As space travel becomes more common, it is important to consider the impacts of space flight and altered gravity on the human body. Led by Dr. Ana Diaz Artiles, researchers at Texas A&M University are studying some of those impacts, specifically effects on the eye. The findings are published in the journal npj Microgravity. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-impacts-space-astronauts-eye-health.html Space Exploration Wed, 19 Jun 2024 12:25:14 EDT news638018711 A new study published in Physical Review Letters explores the possibility that a strongly supercooled, first-order phase transition in the early universe could explain gravitational wave signals observed by pulsar timing arrays (PTAs). https://phys.org/news/2024-06-supercooled-phase-transitions-gravitational.html Astronomy Wed, 19 Jun 2024 09:30:02 EDT news638006608 Astronomers from India and Thailand have observed a young nearby open cluster known as Berkeley 59. Results of the observational campaign, published June 12 on the pre-print server arXiv, deliver essential information regarding low-mass stellar and substellar content of this cluster. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-explore-stellar-content-nearby-young.html Astronomy Wed, 19 Jun 2024 08:47:16 EDT news638005631 When stars collapse, they can leave behind incredibly dense but relatively small and cold remnants called neutron stars. If two stars collapse in close proximity, the leftover binary neutron stars spiral in and eventually collide, and the interface where the two stars begin merging becomes incredibly hot. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-simulations-reveal-hot-neutrinos-neutron.html Astronomy Tue, 18 Jun 2024 12:45:57 EDT news637933554 Scientists around the world are constantly on the hunt for planets outside our solar system that could potentially provide a habitable environment for life. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-earth-small-planets.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 18 Jun 2024 12:17:05 EDT news637931822 A discovery by researchers at the University of Houston has revealed a massive energy imbalance on Saturn, shedding new light on planetary science and evolution and challenging existing climate models for the solar system's gas giants. The findings appear in the publication Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-scientists-massive-energy-imbalance-saturn.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 18 Jun 2024 11:31:04 EDT news637929061 If liquid water exists today on Mars, it may be too deep underground to detect with traditional methods used on Earth. But listening to earthquakes that occur on Mars—or marsquakes—could offer a new tool in the search, according to a team led by Penn State scientists. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-marsquakes-reveal-liquid-underground-red.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 18 Jun 2024 09:59:04 EDT news637923542 Astronomers have performed a comprehensive chemical study of a Galactic globular cluster known as Terzan 6. Results of the study, presented in a research paper published June 11 on the pre-print server arXiv, could advance our knowledge about the properties and nature of this cluster. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-chemical-composition-globular-cluster-terzan.html Astronomy Tue, 18 Jun 2024 09:27:22 EDT news637921637 In late 2019, the previously unremarkable galaxy SDSS1335+0728 suddenly started shining brighter than ever before. To understand why, astronomers have used data from several space and ground-based observatories, including the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (ESO's VLT), to track how the galaxy's brightness has varied. In a study out today, they conclude that they are witnessing changes never seen before in a galaxy—likely the result of the sudden awakening of the massive black hole at its core. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-astronomers-massive-black-hole-awaken.html Astronomy Tue, 18 Jun 2024 09:00:01 EDT news637858101 Astronomers believe that at the heart of most, if not all, galaxies sits a titanic black hole with a mass that is millions or even billions of times that of our sun. These supermassive black holes cannot be directly created through the collapse of a massive star, as is the case with stellar mass black holes with masses tens of times that of the sun, as no star is large enough to birth such a huge object. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-astronomers-black-holes-mergers-ancestors.html Astronomy Mon, 17 Jun 2024 14:01:45 EDT news637851703 A recent study has investigated teleparallel gravity and its potential to resolve tension surrounding the expansion of the universe in a way that general relativity can't. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-einstein-theory-gravity-recipe-relieve.html Astronomy Mon, 17 Jun 2024 14:01:40 EDT news637851698 A team of scientists used the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope to parse the composition of the Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant located 6,500 light-years away in the constellation Taurus. With the telescope's MIRI (Mid-Infared Instrument) and NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera), the team gathered data that are helping to clarify the Crab Nebula's history. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-scientists-crab-nebula-james-webb.html Astronomy Mon, 17 Jun 2024 12:19:32 EDT news637845567 A research team led by Prof. Wang Wenzhong from the School of Earth and Space Sciences of the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), in collaboration with international scholars, studied the fractionation behavior of nitrogen isotopes during the accretionary evolution of terrestrial planets. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-uncover-nitrogen-early-evolution-earth.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 17 Jun 2024 11:03:03 EDT news637840981 A multi-institutional team of planetary scientists has learned more about the early composition of the solar system by studying a meteorite named Northwest Africa 14250. In their study, published in the journal Science Advances, the group used a scanning tunneling microscope to learn more about the isotopic makeup of clasts inside the sample. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-meteorite-northwest-africa-reveals-composition.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 17 Jun 2024 10:30:01 EDT news637838534 In a discovery that challenges the conventional understanding of cosmology, scientists at Case Western Reserve University have unearthed new evidence that could reshape our perception of the cosmos. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-mond-dark-rotation-galaxies-stay.html Astronomy Mon, 17 Jun 2024 10:14:45 EDT news637838082 Research staff at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya—BarcelonaTech (UPC) and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (CNS-BSC) have analyzed historical observations since the 17th century and developed numerical models to explain the longevity and nature of Jupiter's Great Red Spot. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-age-jupiter-great-red.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 17 Jun 2024 10:00:04 EDT news637837201 Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers from the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) have discovered a new supernova. Designated SN 2023adsy, the newfound stellar explosion is the most distant Type Ia supernova so far detected. The finding was detailed in a research paper published June 7 on the pre-print server arXiv. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-ia-supernova.html Astronomy Mon, 17 Jun 2024 08:54:15 EDT news637833250 For more than a decade, Western University planetary geologist Gordon "Oz" Osinski has led expeditions to Kamestastin Lake in Labrador. The environment is a perfect training ground because the properties and rock formations—created by the violent impact (and extreme heat) of an asteroid 36 million years ago—uniquely mimic the surface on the moon. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-quebec-lake-meteorite-impact-yields.html Planetary Sciences Fri, 14 Jun 2024 11:50:01 EDT news637584160 Observational astronomy shows that newly discovered young stellar objects (YSOs) in the immediate vicinity of the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* located in the center of our galaxy behave differently than expected. They describe similar orbits to already known young evolved stars and are arranged in a particular pattern around the supermassive black hole. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-high-baby-stars-circle-supermassive.html Astronomy Fri, 14 Jun 2024 11:01:04 EDT news637581661 An international team of astronomers reports the discovery of a new Earth-sized exoplanet that orbits an ultracool dwarf star located just 54.6 light years away. The newfound alien world, designated SPECULOOS-3 b, is slightly smaller but much hotter than our planet. The finding was reported in a paper published May 15 in the journal Nature Astronomy. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-astronomers-earth-sized-exoplanet-orbiting.html Planetary Sciences Fri, 14 Jun 2024 09:23:47 EDT news637575824