Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Scientists explain mysterious finger-like features in solar flares      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astronomers have presented a new explanation for the mysterious downward-moving dark voids seen in some solar flares.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Worldwide coordinated search for dark matter      (via sciencedaily.com) 

An international team of researchers has published comprehensive data on the search for dark matter using a worldwide network of optical magnetometers. According to the scientists, dark matter fields should produce a characteristic signal pattern that can be detected  by correlated measurements at multiple stations of the GNOME network.

Mathematics: Puzzles
Published

A new approach to a $1 million mathematical enigma      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Numbers like pi, e and phi often turn up in unexpected places in science and mathematics. Pascal's triangle and the Fibonacci sequence also seem inexplicably widespread in nature. Then there's the Riemann zeta function, a deceptively straightforward function that has perplexed mathematicians since the 19th century. The most famous quandary, the Riemann hypothesis, is perhaps the greatest unsolved question in mathematics, with the Clay Mathematics Institute offering a $1 million prize for a correct proof.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

New treasure trove of globular clusters holds clues about galaxy evolution      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Using observations of Centaurus A, a nearby elliptical galaxy, obtained with the Gaia space telescope and ground-based instruments under the PISCeS survey, a team of astronomers presents an unprecedented number of globular cluster candidates in the outer regions of the galaxy. The findings provide astronomers with an even more detailed picture of galactic architecture and history of collisions and mergers.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Twelve for dinner: The Milky Way’s feeding habits shine a light on dark matter      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astronomers are one step closer to revealing the properties of dark matter enveloping our Milky Way galaxy, thanks to a new map of twelve streams of stars orbiting within our galactic halo.

Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

Are black holes and dark matter the same?      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astrophysicists suggest that primordial black holes account for all dark matter in the universe.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Secret embraces of stars revealed by Alma      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Unlike our Sun, most stars live with a companion. Sometimes, two come so close that one engulfs the other -- with far-reaching consequences. When astronomers used the telescope Alma to study 15 unusual stars, they were surprised to find that they all recently underwent this phase. The discovery promises new insight on the sky's most dramatic phenomena -- and on life, death and rebirth among the stars.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Infant stars identified at the center of our galaxy      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A cosmic object originally classified as a gas and dust cloud actually consists of three stars and could resolve a controversy among astronomers.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Optical cavities could be key to next generation interferometers      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new concept has been developed that has the potential to assist new instruments in the investigation of fundamental science topics such as gravitational waves and dark matter.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Evidence emerges for dark-matter free galaxies      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astronomers have found no trace of dark matter in the galaxy AGC 114905, despite taking detailed measurements over a course of forty hours with state-of-the-art telescopes.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Astronomers discover strangely massive black hole in Milky Way satellite galaxy      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astronomers have discovered an unusually massive black hole at the heart of one of the Milky Way's dwarf satellite galaxies, called Leo I. Almost as massive as the black hole in our own galaxy, the finding could redefine our understanding of how all galaxies -- the building blocks of the universe -- evolve.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Hubble witnesses shock wave of colliding gases in Running Man Nebula      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Mounded, luminous clouds of gas and dust glow in this Hubble image of a Herbig-Haro object known as HH 45. Herbig-Haro objects are a rarely seen type of nebula that occurs when hot gas ejected by a newborn star collides with the gas and dust around it at hundreds of miles per second, creating bright shock waves. In this image, blue indicates ionized oxygen (O II) and purple shows ionized magnesium (Mg II). Researchers were particularly interested in these elements because they can be used to identify shocks and ionization fronts. This object is located in the nebula NGC 1977, which itself is part of a complex of three nebulae called The Running Man. NGC 1977 -- like its companions NGC 1975 and NGC 1973 -- is a reflection nebula, which means that it doesn't emit light on its own, but reflects light from nearby stars, like a streetlight illuminating fog. Hubble observed this region to look for stellar jets and planet-forming disks around young stars, and examine how their environment affects the evolution of such disks.

Mathematics: Puzzles
Published

Just a game? Study shows no evidence that violent video games lead to real-life violence      (via sciencedaily.com) 

As the latest Call of Duty video game is released in the UK today, and with Battlefield 2042 and a remastered Grand Theft Auto trilogy to follow later this month, new research finds no evidence that violence increases after a new video game is released.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Amount of information in visible universe quantified      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have long suspected a connection between information and the physical universe, with various paradoxes and thought experiments used to explore how or why information could be encoded in physical matter. A researcher attempts to shed light on exactly how much of this information is out there and presents a numerical estimate for the amount of encoded information in all the visible matter in the universe -- approximately 6 times 10 to the power of 80 bits of information.

Mathematics: Puzzles
Published

COVID-19 vaccination strategies: When is one dose better than two?      (via sciencedaily.com) 

While most of the COVID-19 vaccines are designed as a two-dose regimen, some countries have prioritized vaccinating as many people as possible with a single dose before giving out an additional dose. In a new study, researchers illustrate the conditions under which a "prime first" vaccine campaign is most effective at stopping the spread of the COVID-19 virus. The team found the vaccine waning rate to be a critically important factor in the decision.

Computer Science: Encryption Mathematics: Puzzles
Published

Using quantum Parrondo’s random walks for encryption      (via sciencedaily.com) 

SUTD has set out to apply concepts from quantum Parrondo's paradox in search of a working protocol for semiclassical encryption.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Part of the Universe’s missing matter found      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Galaxies can receive and exchange matter with their external environment thanks to the galactic winds created by stellar explosions. An international research team has now mapped a galactic wind for the first time. This unique observation helped to reveal where some of the Universe's missing matter is located and to observe the formation of a nebula around a galaxy.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Have we detected dark energy? Scientists say it's a possibility      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Dark energy, the mysterious force that causes the universe to accelerate, may have been responsible for unexpected results from the XENON1T experiment, deep below Italy's Apennine Mountains.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Astronomers solve 900-year-old cosmic mystery surrounding Chinese supernova of 1181AD      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A 900-year-old cosmic mystery surrounding the origins of a famous supernova first spotted over China in 1181AD has finally been solved, according to an international team of astronomers. New research says that a faint, fast expanding cloud (or nebula), called Pa30, surrounding one of the hottest stars in the Milky Way, known as Parker's Star, fits the profile, location and age of the historic supernova.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Astronomers spot the same supernova three times -- and predict a fourth sighting in 16 years      (via sciencedaily.com) 

An enormous amount of gravity from a cluster of distant galaxies causes space to curve so much that light from them is bent and emanated our way from numerous directions. This 'gravitational lensing' effect has allowed astronomers to observe the same exploding star in three different places in the heavens. They predict that a fourth image of the same explosion will appear in the sky by 2037. The study provides a unique opportunity to explore not just the supernova itself, but the expansion of our universe.