Showing 20 articles starting at article 41
< Previous 20 articles Next 20 articles >
Categories: Anthropology: Early Humans, Space: Astronomy
Published Vivid portrait of interacting galaxies marks Webb's second anniversary



Two for two! A duo of interacting galaxies commemorates the second science anniversary of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, which takes constant observations, including images and highly detailed data known as spectra. Its operations have led to a 'parade' of discoveries by astronomers around the world.
Published Insight into one of life's earliest ancestors revealed in new study



Researchers have shed light on Earth's earliest ecosystem, showing that within a few hundred million years of planetary formation, life on Earth was already flourishing.
Published Scientific definition of a planet says it must orbit our sun; A new proposal would change that



The International Astronomical Union defines a planet as a celestial body that orbits the sun, is massive enough that gravity has forced it into a spherical shape, and has cleared away other objects near its orbit around the sun. Scientists now recognize the existence of thousands of planets, but the IAU definition applies only to those within our solar system. The new proposed definition specifies that the body may orbit one or more stars, brown dwarfs or stellar remnants and sets mass limits that should apply to planets everywhere.
Published 'A history of contact': Geneticists are rewriting the narrative of Neanderthals and other ancient humans



Using genomes from 2,000 living humans as well as three Neanderthals and one Denisovan, an international team mapped the gene flow between the hominin groups over the past quarter-million years.
Published Dark matter in dwarf galaxy tracked using stellar motions



The qualities and behavior of dark matter, the invisible 'glue' of the universe, continue to be shrouded in mystery. Though galaxies are mostly made of dark matter, understanding how it is distributed within a galaxy offers clues to what this substance is, and how it's relevant to a galaxy's evolution.
Published The origins of dark comets



Up to 60% of near-Earth objects could be dark comets, mysterious asteroids that orbit the sun in our solar system that likely contain or previously contained ice and could have been one route for delivering water to Earth, according to a new study.
Published Strong evidence for intermediate-mass black hole in Omega Centauri



Most known black holes are either extremely massive, like the supermassive black holes that lie at the cores of large galaxies, or relatively lightweight, with a mass of under 100 times that of the Sun. Intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) are scarce, however, and are considered rare 'missing links' in black hole evolution.
Published Found with Webb: A potentially habitable icy world



A international team of astronomers has made an exciting discovery about the temperate exoplanet LHS 1140 b: it could be a promising 'super-Earth' covered in ice or water.
Published Stench of a gas giant? Nearby exoplanet reeks of rotten eggs, and that's a good thing



An exoplanet infamous for its deadly weather has been hiding another bizarre feature -- it reeks of rotten eggs, according to a new study of data from the James Webb Space Telescope.
Published Ancient dingo DNA shows modern dingoes share little ancestry with modern dog breeds



A study of ancient dingo DNA revealed that the distribution of modern dingoes across Australia, including those on K'gari (formerly Fraser Island), pre-dates European colonization and interventions like the dingo-proof fence.
Published Fresh wind blows from historical supernova



A mysterious remnant from a rare type of supernova recorded in 1181 has been explained for the first time. Two white dwarf stars collided, creating a temporary 'guest star,' now labeled supernova (SN) 1181, which was recorded in historical documents in Japan and elsewhere in Asia. However, after the star dimmed, its location and structure remained a mystery until a team pinpointed its location in 2021. Now, through computer modeling and observational analysis, researchers have recreated the structure of the remnant white dwarf, a rare occurrence, explaining its double shock formation. They also discovered that high-speed stellar winds may have started blowing from its surface within just the past 20-30 years. This finding improves our understanding of the diversity of supernova explosions, and highlights the benefits of interdisciplinary research, combining history with modern astronomy to enable new discoveries about our galaxy.
Published Moon 'swirls' could be magnetized by unseen magmas



Mysterious, light-colored swirls on Moon's surface could be rocks magnetized by magma activity underground, laboratory experiments confirm.
Published Extinct humans survived on the Tibetan plateau for 160,000 years



Bone remains found in a Tibetan cave 3,280 m above sea level indicate an ancient group of humans survived here for many millennia.
Published A new pulsar buried in a mountain of data



Astronomers have discovered the first millisecond pulsar in the stellar cluster Glimpse-CO1.
Published Tiny bright objects discovered at dawn of universe baffle scientists



A recent discovery by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) confirmed that luminous, very red objects previously detected in the early universe upend conventional thinking about the origins and evolution of galaxies and their supermassive black holes.
Published Too many missing satellite galaxies found



Bringing us one step closer to solving the 'missing satellites problem,' researchers have discovered two new satellite galaxies.
Published New class of Mars quakes reveals daily meteorite strikes



An international team of researchers combine orbital imagery with seismological data from NASA's Mars InSight lander to derive a new impact rate for meteorite strikes on Mars. Seismology also offers a new tool for determining the density of Mars' craters and the age of different regions of a planet.
Published The density difference of sub-Neptunes finally deciphered



The majority of stars in our galaxy are home to planets. The most abundant are the sub-Neptunes, planets between the size of Earth and Neptune. Calculating their density poses a problem for scientists: depending on the method used to measure their mass, two populations are highlighted, the dense and the less dense. Is this due to an observational bias or the physical existence of two distinct populations of sub-Neptunes? Recent work argues for the latter.
Published First case of Down syndrome in Neanderthals documented in new study



A new study documents the first case of Down syndrome in Neanderthals and reveals that they were capable of providing altruistic care and support for a vulnerable member of their social group.
Published Pillars of creation star in new visualization from NASA's Hubble and Webb telescopes



Made famous in 1995 by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, the Pillars of Creation in the heart of the Eagle Nebula have captured imaginations worldwide with their arresting, ethereal beauty. Now, NASA has released a new 3D visualization of these towering celestial structures using data from NASA's Hubble and James Webb space telescopes. This is the most comprehensive and detailed multiwavelength movie yet of these star-birthing clouds.