Researchers estimate that the number of captured free-floating planets in the outer solar system with mass strictly greater than that of Mars is ∼1.2 and that the number of such planets with a strict cutoff at the mass of Mercury is ∼2.4. When they instead adopt logarithmic bins centered at the Mars mass and the …
The Solar system is bigger than NASA thought. There are a lot of huge objects at the edge of the solar system that we have not seen but can indirectly estimate. When astronomers say Kuiper Belt Object think larger asteroid belt beyond Neptune. This larger belt includes Pluto and its moon and they are far …
Here is update on the analysis of the remains of interstellar meteor IM1. There was a paper claiming the IM1 remains were coal ash but that is disproved. The detection threshold of surveys which rely on reflected sunlight sets the minimum size of a detectable object as a function of its distances from the observer …
Using first-principle lattice simulations, researchers demonstrate that in the background of a strong magnetic field (around 10^20 Tesla – 100 million trillion Tesla aka 100 quintillion), the electroweak sector of the vacuum experiences two consecutive crossover transitions associated with dramatic changes in the zero-temperature dynamics of the vector bosons and the scalar Higgs particles, respectively. …
In 1989, the NASA Voyager team showed false color images of Neptune so that we could see the clouds in the atmosphere. NASA did also show the unaltered images at the same time in 1989. The research paper showed black and white photos and again showed one false color image. The deep blue false color …
NASA NIAC willl investigate the details of building a high-resolution, long-baseline, optical imaging interferometer on the lunar surface in conjunction with the Artemis Program. A lunar infrastructure can happen over the next few years through the NASAArtemis Program and the SpaceX Lunar Starsihp. The study of a lunar surface-based interferometer will be a huge step …
Ocean planets are a proposed class of low-density, terrestrial exoplanets with substantial liquid water layers. They may exist in a variety of climactic states including ice free, partially ice covered, or completely frozen over at their surfaces. Researchers call ocean-bearing planets with ice-covered surfaces as cold ocean planets. Cold ocean planets may be plentiful in …
Researchers have modeled the dynamics of an equatorial explosion powered by a millisecond magnetar formed from the core collapse of a massive star. Magneto-centrifugally-driven, relativistic magnetar winds might be powerful enough to produce an ultra-relativistic blade (“lamina”) that successfully carves its way through the dense stellar interior of another star. They present high-resolution numerical special-relativistic …
Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks is a Halley-type periodic comet that was first discovered by Jean-Louis Pons on July 12, 1812 and then independently rediscovered by William Robert Brooks in 1883. It has an orbital period of about 71.3 years. Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks will make its return in 2024 and it is expected to reach its maximum brightness (potentially …
NASA has a catalog of many large comets and some of them are nearly as large or larger than the Chicxulub impactor (Dinosaur killer). Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle takes 133 years to orbit the Sun once. Swift-Tuttle last reached perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) in 1992 and will return again in 2125. Swift-Tuttle is a large …
The James Webb Space Telescope had a weak detection of the microbial life biomarker, dimethyl sulfide. There is a 1 in 66 chance that it was instrument noise. There will be a follow up analysis with the MIRI (Mid Infrared Instrument) on the James Webb. This should scan the exoplanet K2-18B at the wavelengths for …