Tag: Universe Today

Supermassive Black Holes Can’t Swallow Dark Matter

A modelled accretion disk around a black hole. Image credit: Michael Owen, John Blondin (North Carolina State Univ.). Source: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap050312.html

Apparently, black holes and dark matter don’t play well together. Broadly speaking, black holes can be considered to be a significant portion of the “missing mass” in the universe, but dark matter is distinguished as “non-baryonic matter”. It seems that this mysterious non-baryonic matter is being used to explain a huge number of unexplained cosmic mysteries, but in the case of supermassive black holes, dark matter plays a very small role insofar as being used as black hole food…
Continue reading “Supermassive Black Holes Can’t Swallow Dark Matter”

Daily Roundup: Astronomy and Physics in the Arctic is More Popular than You Think

The EISCAT installation in Svalbard, High Arctic. Image credit: Me!

Svalbard has always had a special place in my heart. Way back in 2002, I spent a life changing five months living in this magical part of the world. Whilst I wouldn’t say it was easy, it was definitely something I will remember for the rest of my life. This is what the Arctic does to you, it embeds itself into your memory and imagination, and I had the amazing fortune to study up there as a student.

Suddenly, two stories come along involving the research being carried out (quite literally) on top of the world; I couldn’t resist talking about the important work currently being carried out up there…
Continue reading “Daily Roundup: Astronomy and Physics in the Arctic is More Popular than You Think”

Daily Roundup: The Solar Wind Strips Mars Bare. Look Out Venus, You’re Next!

Venus atmosphere is being eroded by the Sun. Image credit: ESA

We are very lucky here on Earth, we have a powerful magnetic field, known as the magnetosphere surrounding us and our atmosphere, protecting us from the worst that the Sun can throw at us. Other planets in our Solar System ain’t so lucky. Poor old Mars has been damaged beyond repair by the constant erosion by the solar wind, dragging most of its atmosphere into space. Now, Earth’s planetary sister, Venus, is showing signs of atmospheric leakage… where will it end?
Continue reading “Daily Roundup: The Solar Wind Strips Mars Bare. Look Out Venus, You’re Next!”

Daily Roundup: “It Ain’t Water On Mars” and Some Want UK Astronauts, But Others Don’t

Simulations of dry debris flow and water flow when compared with HiRISE observations. Figure credit: Jon Pelletier, University of Arizona

There has been much debate surrounding observations by the artificial satellites orbiting Mars, but with one discovery, the debate was… non-debatable. Liquid water was flowing (albeit quickly) across the Martian surface intermittently, creating river-like channels flowing down crater sides. But that was until a group of University of Arizona scientists tackled the situation. To their surprise it wasn’t water that was flowing, it was something entirely different…
Continue reading “Daily Roundup: “It Ain’t Water On Mars” and Some Want UK Astronauts, But Others Don’t”

Daily Roundup: Universe Today Articles (4)

Space Shuttle Endeavour is preparing for a May 11th launch. Image credit: NASA. Source: http://www.nasa.gov

A mixed bag for today’s Universe Today articles. For starters, NASA has asked the ESA Mars orbiter, Mars Express, to help out when NASA’s Phoenix Mars Mission approaches the Red Planet in May this year. Along with NASA’s Mars Reconnaisance Orbiter and Mars Odyssey missions, Mars Express will aid tracking duties as the lander begins its critical descent. Great international/interplanetary cooperation! But, back on Earth…
Continue reading “Daily Roundup: Universe Today Articles (4)”

Question of the Day: Were Moons Nix and Hydra Adopted by Pluto and Charon?

The Pluto-Charon system. Image credit: NASA/HST

OK, here are two questions on everybody’s lips:
1) Could we be wiped out by an asteroid in the near future?
2) Are Pluto and Charon’s kids adopted?

Well, #1 has probably been asked a few times (most likely during crappy movies like Deep Impact), but #2? I’m hoping this is the first time it’s ever been asked… and it’s a very important question… well, kinda.
Continue reading “Question of the Day: Were Moons Nix and Hydra Adopted by Pluto and Charon?”

Daily Roundup: Universe Today Article

Just the one article this time for the Universe Today. Todays article covers a recent US satellite mission carrying out some cool experiments in space. This orbiting mini-lab is carrying out tests on a new nanotech sensor that is sensitive to poisons in air (useful for spaceships, protecting astronauts), and possibly even more interesting, experiments on a new electrochromic film that could be wrapped around spaceships to keep them warm or cool them down. The wonders never cease…

Snippet: Space Debris is Becoming a Serious Problem, but Google Earth is Watching

Space junk as plotted in the Google Earth software.

Every time a rocket launches, a spaceship orbits, an astronaut drops some trash or the US blows up a satellite, debris is created. Space debris (a.k.a. space junk) is a nasty side-effect of our push into space, but it isn’t a recent phenomenon. Even the early Gemini missions in the sixties did it, as does the ultra-efficient International Space Station – bits of spacesuits, cameras, nuts, bolts and tools are accidentally (and deliberately) dropped into the vacuum. But it’s only a bit of litter right? Wrong. That’s a hyper-velocity rifle shot, and it’s coming to a spaceship very soon, if we don’t take action now…
Continue reading “Snippet: Space Debris is Becoming a Serious Problem, but Google Earth is Watching”

The Mischievous Nature of Primordial Black Holes

A black hole dining on a star… primordial black holes on the other hand less destructive, but can cause some mayhem nonetheless. Image credit: NASA. Source: http://www.dailygalaxy.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/07/05/black_hole_3_3.jpg

Primordial black holes are strange little critters. They’re not the product of a massive star recently gone supernova and they’re not as exotic as a wormhole, tunnelling a gateway into another dimension. They are very, very old remnants of the very beginning of our Universe. Much like the foamy bubbles left over from washing the dishes, a few bubbles stubbornly hang around on the side of the sink for an hour or so after the water has long gone. Primordial black holes (or PBHs for short) are just that, the leftovers from the very energetic (and very bubbly) Big Bang 14 billion years ago…

…but they’re not done causing trouble quite yet…
Continue reading “The Mischievous Nature of Primordial Black Holes”