Space: Structures and Features
Published

Search reveals eight new sources of black hole echoes      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astronomers discovered eight new echoing black hole binaries in our galaxy, enabling them to piece together a general picture of how a black hole evolves during an outburst. The findings will help scientists trace a black hole's evolution as it feeds on stellar material.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Spinning stars shed new light on strange signal coming from galactic center      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have found an alternative explanation for a mysterious gamma-ray signal coming from the center of the galaxy, which was long claimed as a signature of dark matter.

Geoscience: Earthquakes
Published

Space-based system using GPS satellites could warn of incoming tsunamis      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new method for detecting tsunamis using existing GPS satellites orbiting Earth could serve as an effective warning system for countries worldwide, according to a new study.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Classifying exoplanet atmospheres opens new field of study      (via sciencedaily.com) 

An international team of researchers examined data for 25 exoplanets and found some links among the properties of the atmospheres, including the thermal profiles and chemical abundances in them. These findings will help establish a generalized theory of planet formation which will improve our understanding of all planets, including the Earth.

Geoscience: Earthquakes Geoscience: Volcanoes
Published

Volcanoes at fault if the Earth slips      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new study has attributed the root cause of the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes to specific geological damage. A relatively large dip-slip displacement was discovered at the site. The Futagawa strike-slip fault is a vertical break in the ground tracing a line southwest originating from Mount Aso.

Geoscience: Earthquakes
Published

Earliest geochemical evidence of plate tectonics found in 3.8-billion-year-old crystal      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Plate tectonics may be unique to Earth and may be an essential characteristic of habitable planets. Estimates for its onset range from over 4 billion years ago to just 800 million years ago. A new study reports evidence of a transition in multiple locations around the world, 3.8-3.6 billion years ago, from stable 'protocrust' to pressures and processes that look a lot like modern subduction, suggesting a time when plates first got moving.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Dying stars' cocoons might explain fast blue optical transients      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Using a newly developed model, astrophysicists present a new theory to explain fast blue optical transients, a new class of transients that has boggled researchers since their discovery in 2018. In the new study, astrophysicists find that FBOTs could result from the actively cooling cocoons that surround jets launched by dying stars.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Astronomers identify likely location of medium-sized black holes      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Intermediate-mass black holes are notoriously hard to find but a new study indicates there may be some at the center of dense, star clusters located throughout the universe. A study now sheds new light on when and where black holes of about 100-100,000 solar masses could form and how they came into being.

Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Why Venus rotates, slowly, despite sun's powerful grip      (via sciencedaily.com) 

If not for the soupy, fast-moving atmosphere on Venus, Earth's sister planet would likely not rotate. Instead, Venus would be locked in place, always facing the sun the way the same side of the moon always faces Earth.

Geoscience: Earthquakes
Published

Neural network model helps predict site-specific impacts of earthquakes      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

In disaster mitigation planning for future large earthquakes, seismic ground motion predictions are a crucial part of early warning systems. The way the ground moves depends on how the soil layers amplify the seismic waves (described in a mathematical site 'amplification factor'). However, geophysical explorations to understand soil conditions are costly, limiting characterization of site amplification factors to date. Using data on microtremors in Japan, a neural network model can estimate site-specific responses to earthquakes based on subsurface soil conditions.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Nova outbursts are apparently a source for cosmic rays      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The MAGIC telescopes have observed the nova RS Ophiuchi shining brightly in gamma rays at extremely high energy. The Gamma rays emanate from protons that are accelerated to very high energies in the shock front following the explosion. This suggests that novae are also a source of the ubiquitous cosmic radiation in the universe which consists mainly of protons rich in energy, which race through space at almost the speed of light.

Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

Hubble sheds light on origins of supermassive black holes      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astronomers have identified a rapidly growing black hole in the early universe that is considered a crucial 'missing link' between young star-forming galaxies and the first supermassive black holes. They used data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to make this discovery.

Geoscience: Earthquakes Geoscience: Volcanoes
Published

A swarm of 85,000 earthquakes at the Antarctic Orca submarine volcano      (via sciencedaily.com) 

In a remote area, a mix of geophysical methods identifies magma transfer below the seafloor as the cause.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Simulating supernova remnants, star formation in earthbound lab      (via sciencedaily.com) 

When triggered by some external agent, shockwaves can propagate through molecular clouds of gas and dust to create pockets of dense material. At a certain limit, that dense gas and dust collapses and begins to form new stars. Researchers modeled this interaction using a high-power laser and a foam ball. The foam ball represents a dense area within a molecular cloud. The high-power laser creates a blast wave that propagates through a surrounding chamber of gas and into the ball, where the team observed the compression using X-ray images.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Hunting for gravitational waves from monster black holes      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Our universe is a chaotic sea of ripples in space-time called gravitational waves. Astronomers think waves from orbiting pairs of supermassive black holes in distant galaxies are light-years long and have been trying to observe them for decades, and now they're one step closer.

Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

Hubble probes extreme weather on ultra-hot Jupiters      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astronomers have discovered bloated Jupiter-sized worlds that are so precariously close to their parent star they are being roasted at seething temperatures above 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. That's hot enough to vaporize most metals, including titanium. They have the hottest planetary atmospheres ever seen. Hubble astronomers are reporting on bizarre weather conditions on these sizzling worlds. It's raining vaporized rock on one planet, and another one has its upper atmosphere getting hotter rather than cooler because it is being 'sunburned' by intense ultraviolet (UV) radiation from its star.

Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

'Prenatal' protoplanet upends planet formation models      (via sciencedaily.com) 

An international research team has discovered a new planet so young that it has yet to emerge from the womb of matter where it is forming. This is the youngest protoplanet discovered to date. It's location and the surrounding patterns of matter suggest that an alternative method of planet formation may be at work. This discovery could help to explain the histories and features of extrasolar planets seen around other stars.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Methane could be the first detectable indication of life beyond Earth      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new study assesses the planetary context in which the detection of methane in an exoplanet's atmosphere could be considered a compelling sign of life.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Ancient helium leaking from core offers clues to Earth's formation      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Helium-3, a rare isotope of helium gas, is leaking out of Earth's core, a new study reports. Because almost all helium-3 is from the Big Bang, the gas leak adds evidence that Earth formed inside a solar nebula, which has long been debated.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Mysterious death of carbon star plays out like six-ring circus      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Scientists studying V Hydrae (V Hya) have witnessed the star's mysterious death throes in unprecedented detail. The team discovered six slowly-expanding rings and two hourglass-shaped structures caused by the high-speed ejection of matter out into space.