There is a new proposed definition of planet that works far better for objects in other solar systems. In our solar system, objects are close enough that we can check the orbit and see if has been cleared of other objects. This is problematic if we can only infer rough properties of what could be …
Larger telescopes are better because we can see better and capture more light, so NASA is developing liquid based space telescopes that would let us build 50 meter telescopes for the cost of 10 meter telescopes. The future of space-based UV/optical/IR astronomy requires ever larger telescopes. The highest priority astrophysics targets, including Earth-like exoplanets, first …
Astronomers decided to look for partially constructed Dyson spheres and other megastructures around stars. They determined that half-built Dyson spheres or megastructures would be easy to see with our telescopes. They made a fairly comprehensive search and found seven candidate stars. The candidate stars are all white dwarfs. They also eliminated stars where other astrophysical …
Researchers estimate that the number of captured free-floating planets in the outer solar system with mass strictly greater than that of Mars is ∼1.2 and that the number of such planets with a strict cutoff at the mass of Mercury is ∼2.4. When they instead adopt logarithmic bins centered at the Mars mass and the …
The Solar system is bigger than NASA thought. There are a lot of huge objects at the edge of the solar system that we have not seen but can indirectly estimate. When astronomers say Kuiper Belt Object think larger asteroid belt beyond Neptune. This larger belt includes Pluto and its moon and they are far …
Here is update on the analysis of the remains of interstellar meteor IM1. There was a paper claiming the IM1 remains were coal ash but that is disproved. The detection threshold of surveys which rely on reflected sunlight sets the minimum size of a detectable object as a function of its distances from the observer …
Using first-principle lattice simulations, researchers demonstrate that in the background of a strong magnetic field (around 10^20 Tesla – 100 million trillion Tesla aka 100 quintillion), the electroweak sector of the vacuum experiences two consecutive crossover transitions associated with dramatic changes in the zero-temperature dynamics of the vector bosons and the scalar Higgs particles, respectively. …
In 1989, the NASA Voyager team showed false color images of Neptune so that we could see the clouds in the atmosphere. NASA did also show the unaltered images at the same time in 1989. The research paper showed black and white photos and again showed one false color image. The deep blue false color …
NASA NIAC willl investigate the details of building a high-resolution, long-baseline, optical imaging interferometer on the lunar surface in conjunction with the Artemis Program. A lunar infrastructure can happen over the next few years through the NASAArtemis Program and the SpaceX Lunar Starsihp. The study of a lunar surface-based interferometer will be a huge step …
Ocean planets are a proposed class of low-density, terrestrial exoplanets with substantial liquid water layers. They may exist in a variety of climactic states including ice free, partially ice covered, or completely frozen over at their surfaces. Researchers call ocean-bearing planets with ice-covered surfaces as cold ocean planets. Cold ocean planets may be plentiful in …
Researchers have modeled the dynamics of an equatorial explosion powered by a millisecond magnetar formed from the core collapse of a massive star. Magneto-centrifugally-driven, relativistic magnetar winds might be powerful enough to produce an ultra-relativistic blade (“lamina”) that successfully carves its way through the dense stellar interior of another star. They present high-resolution numerical special-relativistic …