Space

Dec 8 2019

A black-hole Sun: planets could also form around black holes

What does a builder of worlds need to form planets? A protoplanetary disk made out of a suitable material in which differences in density can develop, and an object at the center of the system that acts as a common center of gravity and uses its force of attraction to prevent the cloud of material from floating off into infinity. Until now it had been assumed that these conditions were met primarily by stars. But apparently much more exotic planetary systems are also conceivable, as Japanese researchers have now described in a study. The scientists took a closer look…

A place on Earth where everything’s dead

Life

Nov 29 2019

A place on Earth where everything’s dead

So far, the Earth is the only place in the universe where life has been proven to exist. But even on our planet, there are places that life cannot survive. The geothermal fields in the Ethiopian region of Dallol are one of these places. Near the Danakil Depression in northeastern Ethiopia, close to the border with Eritrea, a volcanic explosion in 1926 formed a crater with a diameter of 30 meters (98 ft), exposing hot salt springs. The emerging water is 70°C (158°F) and extremely acidic with a pH value below 1. At the same time, the air temperature…

Fascinating images from the beginning of the universe

Astrophysics

Nov 22 2019

Fascinating images from the beginning of the universe

Next to theory and experiments, simulations are one of the most important tools used in research today. Occasionally, scientists develop theories that cannot be tested using today’s practice or technology. Here, a simulation might then be able to point the theoretical physicist where he or she needs to look. Other times, it might happen that there are two different theories that could be suitable for describing reality. If simulations are built based on both theories, their results can sometimes separate the significant from the useless. And sometimes it also happens that there isn’t any theory yet, only data from…

Could an Earth-like planet also survive in an eccentric solar system?

Life

Nov 14 2019

Could an Earth-like planet also survive in an eccentric solar system?

HR5183 is a yellow dwarf star, not very different from our own Sun and located about 103 light-years from Earth. After more than 20 years of observation, astronomers finally found a planet, of about three times Jupiter’s mass, orbiting the star this past summer. Why did it take so long? The planet, HR5183 b, needs 75 years to complete one orbit around its star. Therefore, the period at which it affects the light curve of its star is also correspondingly long. But what surprised the astronomers even more was the planet’s unusual orbit. HR5183 b comes about as close…

Enceladus

Nov 12 2019

New organic molecules discovered on Saturn’s moon Enceladus

Two years ago, the Cassini probe was sent plummeting into Saturn to its fiery demise – but researchers are still finding new discoveries in the data it sent back. Now, scientists from the Free University Berlin have reported findings from the CDA, the “Cosmic Dust Analyzer,” which was on board Cassini. This instrument was developed in Germany and was designed to study very small particles. The CDA could detect particles with a velocity of 5 kilometers per second and a mass of only 1013 grams (a ten-millionth of a millionth of a gram, which corresponds to a size of two-thousands of…

Will our Solar System soon have its sixth dwarf planet?

Space

Nov 7 2019

Will our Solar System soon have its sixth dwarf planet?

According to the definition of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), dwarf planets are celestial bodies that do indeed have the round shape of a planet, but do not have sufficient mass to dominate the area around their distance to the Sun. The most well-known example of a dwarf planet is surely Pluto (with a diameter of 2400 kilometers (1490 miles)). Eris, Makemake, and Haumea are three other dwarf planets orbiting in the outer regions of our Solar System. At 950 kilometers (590 miles), Ceres is the largest object in the Asteroid Belt and simultaneously the smallest dwarf planet. But…

Saturn is the new King of Moons – and you can help name the moons just discovered!

Space

Oct 31 2019

Saturn is the new King of Moons – and you can help name the moons just discovered!

The fact that a planet – like the Earth – has only one single companion, is rather unusual in our Solar System. With 79 moons, the giant planet Jupiter previously had the most moons. Now, it’s been surpassed by Saturn, which changed from having 62 to 82 moons in one fell swoop. The new moons around the ringed planet were discovered using the Subaru telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. Each of the newcomers has a diameter of about 5 km (3 miles). Seventeen of the twenty are orbiting Saturn in the wrong direction, in what is called a…

Space

Oct 12 2019

A planet that shouldn’t exist

GJ 3512 is a red dwarf. The star is about 31 light-years from us and has only 12% the mass of the Sun. But as far as the size of its companions go, GJ 3512 doesn’t hold back. As a German and Spanish research team has discovered, it has a gas giant with a mass of almost half our Jupiter. “Such stars should actually only have Earth-sized planets or at most super-Earths with slightly more mass,” says Professor Christoph Mordasini of the Physics Institute at the University of Bern, discussing plausible scenarios for the formation of the large exoplanet…