Offbeat: Space Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Cosmology Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

James Webb Telescope catches glimpse of possible first-ever 'dark stars'      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Three bright objects initially identified as galaxies in observations from the James Webb Space Telescope might actually represent an exotic new form of star. If confirmed, the discovery would also shed light on the nature of dark matter.

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

Rare, double-lobe nebula resembles overflowing cosmic 'jug'      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A billowing pair of nearly symmetrical loops of dust and gas mark the death throes of an ancient red-giant star. The resulting structure, said to resemble an old style of English jug, is a rarely seen bipolar reflection nebula. Evidence suggests that this object formed by the interactions between the dying red giant and a now-shredded companion star.

Energy: Nuclear Offbeat: Space Physics: Quantum Physics Space: Astrophysics Space: Structures and Features
Published

Search for dark matter      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists have applied a promising new method to search for dark matter particles in a particle accelerator. The method is based on the observation of the spin polarization of a particle beam in a storage ring COSY.

Ecology: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Landslides
Published

Salinity changes threatening marine ecosystems      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A groundbreaking study reveals the critical yet severely understudied factor of salinity changes in ocean and coastlines caused by climate change.

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

Webb celebrates first year of science with close-up on birth of sun-like stars      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

From our cosmic backyard in the solar system to distant galaxies near the dawn of time, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has delivered on its promise of revealing the universe like never before in its first year of science operations. To celebrate the completion of a successful first year, NASA has released Webb's image of a small star-forming region in the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex.

Offbeat: Space Space: Astrophysics Space: Cosmology Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

Reinventing cosmology: New research puts age of universe at 26.7 -- not 13.7 -- billion years      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Our universe could be twice as old as current estimates, according to a new study that challenges the dominant cosmological model and sheds new light on the so-called 'impossible early galaxy problem.'

Space: Astrophysics Space: Structures and Features
Published

Record-breaking team of citizen scientists contribute data on pinwheel galaxy supernova      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Citizen scientists have set a new record for the SETI Institute and Unistellar, comprising the highest number of observers providing data on a single event. Amateur astronomers conducted a groundbreaking observation of supernova (SN) 2023ixf. The observations, which began just one hour after the supernova's first known appearance, have generated the longest continuous light curve of this supernova gathered by citizen scientists.

Space: Cosmology Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

Webb Telescope detects most distant active supermassive black hole      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have discovered the most distant active supermassive black hole to date with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The galaxy, CEERS 1019, existed about 570 million years after the big bang, and its black hole is less massive than any other yet identified in the early universe.

Space: Cosmology Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

Webb locates dust reservoirs in two supernovae      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have made major strides in confirming the source of dust in early galaxies. Observations of two Type II supernovae, Supernova 2004et (SN 2004et) and Supernova 2017eaw (SN 2017eaw), have revealed large amounts of dust within the ejecta of each of these objects. The mass found by researchers supports the theory that supernovae played a key role in supplying dust to the early universe.

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

New image from James Webb Space Telescope reveals astonishing Saturn and its rings      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Saturn's iconic rings seem to glow eerily in this incredible infrared picture, which also unveils unexpected features in Saturn's atmosphere. This image serves as context for an observing program that will test the telescope's capacity to detect faint moons around the planet and its bright rings. Any newly discovered moons could help scientists put together a more complete picture of the current system of Saturn, as well as its past.

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

Astrophysicists propose a new way of measuring cosmic expansion: Lensed gravitational waves      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The universe is expanding; we've had evidence of that for about a century. But just how quickly celestial objects are receding from each other is still up for debate.

Offbeat: Space Space: Cosmology Space: Structures and Features
Published

First 'ghost particle' image of Milky Way      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists have revealed a uniquely different image of our galaxy by determining the galactic origin of thousands of neutrinos -- invisible 'ghost particles' which exist in great quantities but normally pass straight through Earth undetected. The neutrino-based image of the Milky Way is the first of its kind: a galactic portrait made with particles of matter rather than electromagnetic energy.

Offbeat: Space Space: Cosmology Space: Structures and Features
Published

Earliest strands of the cosmic web      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Galaxies are not scattered randomly across the universe. They gather together not only into clusters, but into vast interconnected filamentary structures with gigantic barren voids in between. This 'cosmic web' started out tenuous and became more distinct over time as gravity drew matter together.

Offbeat: Space Space: Structures and Features
Published

Unveiling the origins of merging black holes in galaxies like our own      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Black holes, some of the most captivating entities in the cosmos, possess an immense gravitational pull so strong that not even light can escape. The groundbreaking detection of gravitational waves in 2015, caused by the coalescence of two black holes, opened a new window into the universe. Since then, dozens of such observations have sparked the quest among astrophysicists to understand their astrophysical origins. Thanks to the POSYDON code's recent major advancements in simulating binary-star populations, a team of scientists predicted the existence of merging massive, 30 solar mass black hole binaries in Milky Way-like galaxies, challenging previous theories.

Offbeat: Space Space: Cosmology Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

Gravitational waves from colossal black holes found using 'cosmic clocks'      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

You can't see or feel it, but everything around you -- including your own body -- is slowly shrinking and expanding. It's the weird, spacetime-warping effect of gravitational waves passing through our galaxy. New results are the first evidence of the gravitational wave background -- a sort of soup of spacetime distortions pervading the entire universe and long predicted to exist by scientists.

Geoscience: Earthquakes Geoscience: Landslides Mathematics: Statistics
Published

Geologists are using artificial intelligence to predict landslides      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Many factors influence where a landslide will occur, including the shape of the terrain, its slope and drainage areas, the material properties of soil and bedrock, and environmental conditions like climate, rainfall, hydrology and ground motion resulting from earthquakes. Geologists have developed a new technique that uses artificial intelligence to better predict where and why landslides may occur could bolster efforts to protect lives and property in some of the world's most disaster-prone areas. The new method improves the accuracy and interpretability of AI-based machine-learning techniques, requires far less computing power and is more broadly applicable than traditional predictive models.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

ALMA digs deeper into the mystery of planet formation      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

An international research team has observed disks around 19 protostars with a very high resolution to search for the earliest signs of planet formation. This survey was motivated by the recent findings that planet formation may be well-underway in the more-evolved proto-planetary disks, but until now there had been no systematic study to search for signs of planet formation in younger protostellar systems.

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

Life after death: Astronomers find a planet that shouldn't exist      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The star would have inflated up to 1.5 times the planet's orbital distance -- engulfing the planet in the process -- before shrinking to its current size at only one-tenth of that distance.

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Space: Cosmology Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

Starlight and the first black holes: researchers detect the host galaxies of quasars in the early universe      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

For the first time, the James Webb Space Telescope has revealed starlight from two massive galaxies hosting actively growing black holes -- quasars -- seen less than a billion years after the Big Bang.