Space: Structures and Features
Published

Astronomers develop novel way to 'see' the first stars through the fog of the early Universe      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A team of astronomers has developed a method that will allow them to 'see' through the fog of the early Universe and detect light from the first stars and galaxies.

Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Why Jupiter doesn't have rings like Saturn      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Because it's bigger, Jupiter ought to have larger, more spectacular rings than Saturn has. But new research shows Jupiter's massive moons prevent that vision from lighting up the night sky.

Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Global map of lunar hydrogen: Data confirms role water played in moon's formation      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Using data collected over two decades ago, scientists have compiled the first complete map of hydrogen abundances on the Moon's surface. The map identifies two types of lunar materials containing enhanced hydrogen and corroborates previous ideas about lunar hydrogen and water, including findings that water likely played a role in the Moon's original magma-ocean formation and solidification.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

A new method to detect exoplanets      (via sciencedaily.com) 

In recent years, a large number of exoplanets have been found around single 'normal' stars. New research shows that there may be exceptions to this trend. Researchers suggest a new way of detecting dim bodies, including planets, orbiting exotic binary stars known as Cataclysmic Variables (CVs).

Space: Structures and Features
Published

'Black hole police' discover a dormant black hole outside our galaxy      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A team of international experts, renowned for debunking several black hole discoveries, have found a stellar-mass black hole in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a neighbor galaxy to our own. The researchers found that the star that gave rise to the black hole vanished without any sign of a powerful explosion.

Environmental: Wildfires
Published

Cats injured in wildfires at risk of deadly blood clots      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Cats injured in California wildfires are at risk of forming deadly blood clots, according to new research.

Environmental: Wildfires
Published

California's trees are dying, and might not be coming back      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The State of California is banking on its forests to help reduce planet-warming carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. But that element of the state's climate-change solution arsenal may be in jeopardy, as new research reports that trees in California's mountain ranges and open spaces are dying from wildfires and other pressures -- and fewer new trees are filling the void.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Neutrino factories in deep outer space      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Highly energetic and difficult to detect, neutrinos travel billions of light years before reaching our planet. Although it is known that these elementary particles come from the depths of our Universe, their precise origin is still unknown. Researchers are now shedding light on one aspect of this mystery: neutrinos are thought to be born in blazars, galactic nuclei fed by supermassive black holes.

Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

NASA Reveals Webb Telescope's first images of unseen universe      (via sciencedaily.com) 

NASA has revealed groundbreaking new views of the cosmos from the James Webb Space Telescope. The images include the deepest infrared view of our universe that has ever been taken.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Undead planets: The unusual conditions of the first exoplanet detection      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The first ever exoplanets were discovered 30 years ago around a rapidly rotating star, called a pulsar. Now, astronomers have revealed that these planets may be incredibly rare.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

The ultimate fate of a star shredded by a black hole      (via sciencedaily.com) 

In 2019, astronomers observed the nearest example to date of a star that was shredded, or 'spaghettified,' after approaching too close to a massive black hole. That tidal disruption of a sun-like star by a black hole 1 million times more massive than itself took place 215 million light years from Earth. Luckily, this was the first such event bright enough that astronomers could study the optical light from the stellar death, specifically the light's polarization, to learn more about what happened after the star was torn apart.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Shedding new light on dark matter      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A team of physicists has developed a method for predicting the composition of dark matter -- invisible matter detected only by its gravitational pull on ordinary matter and whose discovery has been long sought by scientists.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

8000 kilometers per second: Star with the shortest orbital period around black hole discovered      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A newly discovered star only takes four years to travel around the black hole at the center of our galaxy.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Gemini North spies ultra-faint fossil galaxy discovered on outskirts of Andromeda      (via sciencedaily.com) 

An unusual ultra-faint dwarf galaxy has been discovered on the outer fringes of the Andromeda Galaxy thanks to the sharp eyes of an amateur astronomer. Follow-up by professional astronomers revealed that the dwarf galaxy -- Pegasus V -- contains very few heavier elements and is likely to be a fossil of the first galaxies.

Environmental: Wildfires
Published

California's Dixie Fire shows impact of legacy effects, prescribed burns      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The 2021 Dixie Fire burned over nearly 1 million acres in California and cost $637 million to suppress, making it the largest and most expensive wildfire to contain in state history. Fire history largely determined how severely the wildfire burned, and low-severity fire treatments had the largest impact on reducing the worst effects of the fire, according to a research team.

Environmental: Wildfires
Published

Study reveals an unprecedented change in Europe's fire regime      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A study reveals an unprecedented change in the fire regime in Europe which is related to climate change. The affected areas are in Southern, Central and Northern Europe but this historical change in Europe's fire regime is more intense in the Mediterranean area.

Environmental: Wildfires
Published

Climate change will increase chances of wildfire globally -- but humans can still help reduce the risk      (via sciencedaily.com) 

New research highlights how the risk of wildfire is rising globally due to climate change -- but also, how human actions and policies can play a critical role in regulating regional impacts. The study shows that anthropogenic climate change is a 'push' factor that enhances the risk of wildfires globally.

Environmental: Wildfires
Published

Wildfires may have sparked ecosystem collapse during Earth's worst mass extinction      (via sciencedaily.com) 

New research reveals that wildfires may have been a key contributor to the total collapse of land ecosystems during Earth's worst mass extinction event over 250 million years ago.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Falling stardust, wobbly jets explain blinking gamma ray bursts      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astrophysicists have developed the first 3D simulation of the entire evolution of a jet -- from its birth by a rotating black hole to its emission far from the collapsing star. Simulation shows that as the star collapses, its material falls on the disk that swirls around the black hole. This falling material tilts the disk, and, in turn, tilts the jet, which wobbles as it struggles to return to its original trajectory. The wobbling jet explains the longstanding mystery of why gamma ray bursts blink and shows that these bursts are even rarer than previously thought.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Physicists confront the neutron lifetime puzzle      (via sciencedaily.com) 

To solve a long-standing puzzle about how long a neutron can 'live' outside an atomic nucleus, physicists entertained a wild but testable theory positing the existence of a right-handed version of our left-handed universe. They designed a mind-bending experiment to try to detect a particle that has been speculated but not spotted. If found, the theorized 'mirror neutron' -- a dark-matter twin to the neutron -- could explain a discrepancy between answers from two types of neutron lifetime experiments and provide the first observation of dark matter.