Natural sciences

A team of astronomers has proposed peering into the inconspicuous region between host stars and their soot lines to find habitable worlds beyond our solar system.First Full-Color Images From Webb Space TelescopeThere are few known habitable worlds—planets that reside in the so-called Goldilocks Zone of their star systems—compared to the number of exoplanets known to science. But there may be as many as 300 million habitable worlds in our galaxy alone, according to the SETI Institute.Habitable worlds are of importance not…

Long tubes, strong magnets, and bright lasers. Is that all it takes to entice the shyest particles in the universe to reveal themselves?First Full-Color Images From Webb Space TelescopePhysicists working on the ALPS II experiment certainly hope so, as they kicked off their search for axionic (or axion-like) dark matter on Tuesday, May 23. ALPS (Any Light Particle Search) is a 820-foot experiment at the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, or DESY.ALPS II is looking for elementary particles that have as of yet eluded human…

After a prolonged absence from the gravitational-wave-detection scene, the massive LIGO project is back up and running.First Full-Color Images From Webb Space TelescopeThe Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) works in conjunction with the Virgo detector in Italy and the KAGRA detector in Japan to suss out gravitational waves—perturbations in the fabric of spacetime caused by interactions of massive objects.The collaboration made monumental news in 2016 when it first made a gravitational wave…

The prospect of receiving an alien signal is both exhilarating and daunting, and we’ll actually get to experience it on Wednesday—or at least, a simulation of such a thing, as a group of scientists and artists carry out a fascinating SETI experiment.First Full-Color Images From Webb Space TelescopeOn May 24 at 3:00 p.m. ET, the European Space Agency’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) will transmit an encoded message to Earth. A trio of ground-based radio observatories will attempt to receive the signal when it arrives 16…

The spiraling arms of the Pinwheel galaxy.Image: NASA, ESA, K. Kuntz (JHU), F. Bresolin (University of Hawaii), J. Trauger (Jet Propulsion Lab), J. Mould (NOAO), Y.-H. Chu (University of Illinois, Urbana) and STScI; CFHT Image: Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope/J.-C. Cuillandre/Coelum; NOAO Image: G. Jacoby, B. Bohannan, M. Hanna/NOAO/AURA/NSFIn the ever-changing cosmic goo that is the universe, the biggest stars end their lives in enormous explosions called supernovae. These bursts are so bright that they are visibleacross…

Unistellar’s automated eQuinox 2 is the latest addition to the growing family of smart telescopes, making it possible for backyard astronomers to easily capture clear views of space, even in severely light-polluted conditions. The cost may pose a barrier, as does the absence of an eyepiece, but on balance this telescope has much to offer, whether you’re an experienced astrophotographer or someone who’s just getting started.What Is Planet Nine and Why Can’t We Find It?Unistellar eQuinox 2 Smart TelescopeThe telescope makes…

A celestial object appears in an old telescopic plate (left) but is strangely missing in a later plate (right).Image: B. Villarroel et al. (2019)Research from last year identified around 100 vanishing stars, which, as the name suggests, are, uh, vanishing stars. More technically known as red transients, these stars initially appear as dim red dots that get progressively brighter and then disappear from view, in an unexplained process that lasts less than an hour.“Unless a star collapses directly into a black hole, there…

Photo: John Moore (Getty Images)First Full-Color Images From Webb Space TelescopeThe famous first image of a black hole just got two times sharper. A research team used artificial intelligence to dramatically improve upon its first image from 2019, which now shows the black hole at the center of the M87 galaxy as darker and bigger than the first image depicted.I’m an astronomer who studies and has written about cosmology, black holes and exoplanets. Astronomers have been using AI for decades. In fact, in 1990, astronomers…

Astronomers have seen the most energetic cosmic explosion yet, which they believe resulted from a gas cloud being disrupted by a supermassive black hole.First Full-Color Images From Webb Space TelescopeThe explosion (dubbed AT2021lwx) happened billions of light-years away and was first spotted in 2020. But now it’s lasted over three years, indicating the sheer amount of material involved in the event. The team’s research describing the explosion was published today in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical…

Are we closer to the “Holy Grail” of clean energy? Silicon Valley wants you to believe. Warning! Microsoft Wants ChatGPT to Control Robots NextThis week, nuclear fusion startup Helion announced that it had inked a first-of-its-kind deal with Microsoft to provide 50 megawatts of power from a yet-to-be built power plant, all within the next five years. Unlike nuclear fission, the process that powers all the nuclear power plants existing today, nuclear fusion could create potentially unlimited energy. It’s a dream that…