Two years ago, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) made headlines with its announcement of the first direct image of a black hole. Science magazine named the image its Breakthrough of the Year. Now the EHT collaboration is back with another groundbreaking result: a new image of the same black hole, this time showing how it […]
ASU astrophysicists Steven Desch and Alan P. Jackson set out to explain the odd features of ‘Oumuamua and have determined that it is likely a piece of a Pluto-like planet from another solar system. The mysterious pancake-shaped object dubbed ‘Oumuamua (Hawaiian for “messenger from afar arriving first”) generated considerable controversy earlier this year with the publication […]
Enlarge / Artist’s conception of the Earth-sized planet and its atmosphere. (credit: NASA, ESA, and R. Hurt (IPAC/Caltech)) The atmosphere most planets start with is often not the same as the one they end up with. Most of the gas present at the formation of a solar system will be hydrogen and helium. But a […]
Enlarge / “Exploded” view of the new computer model of the Antikythera mechanism, showing how it might have worked. (credit: Tony Freeth) Scientists have long struggled to solve the puzzle of the gearing system on the front of the so-called Antikythera mechanism—a fragmentary ancient Greek astronomical calculator, perhaps the earliest example of a geared device. […]
Enlarge / The remains of a shredded star formed an accretion disk around the black hole whose powerful tidal forces ripped it apart. This created a cosmic particle accelerator spewing out fast subatomic particles. (credit: DESY, Science Communication Lab) Roughly 700 million years ago, a tiny subatomic particle was born in a galaxy far, far […]
Harvard astronomers have a new theory about the origin of the comet that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Some 66 million years ago, a catastrophic event occurred that wiped out three-quarters of all plant and animal species on Earth, most notably taking down the dinosaurs. An errant asteroid from the asteroid belt has been […]
The eVscope on its tripod outside of Shelbyville, Illinois. [credit: Eric Bangeman ] When you work with the world’s best space reporter, it’s hard not to be caught up in his enthusiasm for the starry skies. Unfortunately for me, light pollution in my Chicago suburb makes stargazing, watching the Perseid meteor showers, and checking out […]
Enlarge / While we know of locations with ice on Mars, not all of them are located in places we’d want to land. (credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona) Over the last couple of decades, plans to return to the Moon for longer stays or to go to Mars have gradually moved away from sci-fi tinged “what […]
Enlarge (credit: NASA) In September of last year, a paper announced a startling finding: evidence that a highly unstable chemical is present in the atmosphere of Venus. Since the chemical is expected to be destroyed rather quickly in the Venusian environment, its presence seems to imply that there was a steady source of the chemical, […]
Enlarge / This quasar is over two billion light years away, yet is bright enough to outshine far closer galaxies. (credit: NASA/ESA) Active galaxies are some of the brightest objects in the Universe. These galaxies send out enormous jets of matter at near light speed, all powered by matter falling into the supermassive black hole […]