Paleontology: Dinosaurs
Published

Shaking the dinosaur family tree: How did 'bird-hipped' dinosaurs evolve?      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have conducted a new analysis of the origins of 'bird-hipped' dinosaurs -- the group which includes iconic species such as Triceratops -- and found that they likely evolved from a group of animals known as silesaurs, which were first identified two decades ago.

Paleontology: Dinosaurs
Published

Discovery of extinct prehistoric reptile that lived among dinosaurs      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have discovered a new extinct species of lizard-like reptile that belongs to the same ancient lineage as New Zealand's living tuatara. A team of scientists describe the new species Opisthiamimus gregori, which once inhabited Jurassic North America about 150 million years ago alongside dinosaurs like Stegosaurus and Allosaurus. In life, this prehistoric reptile would have been about 16 centimeters (about 6 inches) from nose to tail -- and would fit curled up in the palm of an adult human hand -- and likely survived on a diet of insects and other invertebrates.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

It's a planet: New evidence of baby planet in the making      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astronomers have developed a new technique to identify small planets hidden in protoplanetary disks.

Geoscience: Geomagnetic Storms Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Where do high-energy particles that endanger satellites, astronauts and airplanes come from?      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astrophysicists show how and when specific particles form and offers clues to questions that have troubled scientists since the 1940s.

Paleontology: Dinosaurs
Published

What killed dinosaurs and other life on Earth?      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Determining what killed the dinosaurs 66 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous Period has long been the topic of debate, as scientists set out to determine what caused the five mass extinction events that reshaped life on planet Earth in a geological instant. Some scientists argue that comets or asteroids that crashed into Earth were the most likely agents of mass destruction, while others argue that large volcanic eruptions were the cause. A new study reports that volcanic activity appears to have been the key driver of mass extinctions.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Astronomy: Is over-eating to blame for bulges in Milky Way bar?      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new simulation conducted on the world's most powerful supercomputer dedicated to astronomy has produced a testable scenario to explain the appearance of the bar of the Milky Way. Comparing this scenario to data from current and future space telescopes will help clarify the evolution of our home Galaxy.

Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Could more of Earth's surface host life?      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Of all known planets, Earth is as friendly to life as any planet could possibly be -- or is it? If Jupiter's orbit changes, a new study shows Earth could be more hospitable than it is today.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Physicists invoke the cosmological collider to explain why matter, and not antimatter, dominates the universe      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Early in its history, shortly after the Big Bang, the universe was filled with equal amounts of matter and 'antimatter' -- particles that are matter counterparts but with opposite charge. But then, as space expanded, the universe cooled. Today's universe is full of galaxies and stars which are made of matter. Where did the antimatter go, and how did matter come to dominate the universe? This cosmic origin of matter continues to puzzle scientists. Physicists have now opened a new pathway for probing the cosmic origin of matter by invoking the 'cosmological collider.'

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Hubble finds spiraling stars, providing window into early universe      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Stars are the machines that sculpt the universe, yet scientists don't fully know how they form. To understand the frenzied 'baby boom' of star birth that occurred early in the universe's history, researchers turned to the Small Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. This nearby galaxy has a simpler chemical composition than the Milky Way, making it similar to the galaxies found in the younger universe, when heavier elements were more scarce. This allows it to serve as a proxy for the early universe. Two separate studies -- the first with the Hubble Space Telescope, and the second with the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope -- recently came to the same conclusion. Using different methods, the independent teams found young stars spiraling into the center of a massive star cluster called NGC 346 in the Small Magellanic Cloud. This river-like motion of gas and stars is an efficient way to fuel star birth, researchers say. The teams' results show that the process of star formation in the Small Magellanic Cloud is similar to that in our own Milky Way.

Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Surprise finding suggests 'water worlds' are more common than we thought      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new study suggests that many more planets may have large amounts of water than previously thought--as much as half water and half rock. The catch? All that water is probably embedded in the rock, rather than flowing as oceans or rivers on the surface.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Two new temperate rocky worlds discovered      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astronomers have just announced the discovery of two 'super-Earth' planets orbiting LP 890-9, a small, cool star located about 100 light-years from Earth.

Space: Structures and Features Space: The Solar System
Published

Planetary heist: Astronomers show massive stars can steal Jupiter-sized planets      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Jupiter-sized planets can be stolen or captured by massive stars in the densely populated stellar nurseries where most stars are born, a new study has found.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Gamma rays from neighboring galaxy related to millisecond pulsars      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Physicists and astronomers have studied gamma rays caused by the Sagittarius Dwarf, a small neighboring galaxy of our Milky Way. They showed that all the observed gamma radiation can be explained by millisecond pulsars, and can therefore not be interpreted as a smoking gun signature for the presence of dark matter.

Space: Exploration Space: Structures and Features
Published

NASA's Webb takes its first-ever direct image of distant world      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astronomers have used NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to take a direct image of a planet outside our solar system. The exoplanet is a gas giant, meaning it has no rocky surface and could not be habitable. The image shows how Webb's powerful infrared gaze can easily capture worlds beyond our solar system, pointing the way to future observations that will reveal more information than ever before about exoplanets.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Full 3-D view of binary star-planet system      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astronomers using the VLBA have produced a full, 3-D view of a binary star system with a planet orbiting one of the stars. Their achievement promises important new insights into the process of planet formation.

Paleontology: Dinosaurs
Published

Discovery and naming of Africa's oldest known dinosaur      (via sciencedaily.com) 

An international team of paleontologists has discovered and named a new, early dinosaur. The skeleton -- incredibly, mostly intact -- was found over the course of two digs, in 2017 and 2019.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

ALMA witnesses deadly star-slinging tug-of-war between merging galaxies      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

While observing a newly-dormant galaxy, scientists discovered that it had stopped forming stars not because it had used up all of its gas but because most of its star-forming fuel had been thrown out of the system as it merged with another galaxy. What's more, if proven common, the results could change the way scientists think about galaxy mergers and deaths.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

ALMA discovers birth cry from a baby star in the Small Magellanic Cloud      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have observed 'baby stars' in the Small Magellanic Cloud, having an environment similar to the early universe. Toward one of the baby stars, they found molecular outflow, which has similar properties to those seen in the Milky Way galaxy, giving a new perspective on the birth of stars.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

Discovery of the oldest visible planetary Nebula hosted by a 500-million-year-old Galactic cluster -- a rare beauty with a hot blue heart      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Astronomers have discovered a rare celestial jewel -- a so-called Planetary Nebula (PN) inside a 500 million-year-old Galactic Open Cluster (OC) called M37 (also known as NGC2099). This is a very rare finding of high astrophysical value.

Space: Structures and Features
Published

X-shaped radio galaxies might form more simply than expected      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Using new simulations, astrophysicists implemented simple conditions to model the feeding of a supermassive black hole and the organic formation of its jets and accretion disk. When the researchers ran the simulation, the simple conditions organically and unexpectedly led to the formation of an X-shaped radio galaxy. Surprisingly, the researchers found that the galaxy's characteristic X-shape resulted from the interaction between the jets and the gas falling into the black hole.