Light pollution blots out the night sky for billions of people around the world, but there are still places where the night remains untouched by humans.
Minimum light pollution, dark cloudless nights, wide open air, and high altitudes are all factors…
Category: Astronomy
There’s a race to discover dark matter, and it’s deep underground
/https%3A%2F%2Fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fstory%2Fthumbnail%2F76614%2F9addb678-47da-462b-9894-a91ce5c17103.jpg)
In the heart of an Italian mountain, scientists are building a machine. Deep in a former gold mine, tucked in the Black Hills of South Dakota, another team is doing the same.
They’re looking for a signal: a spark of light and free electrons. Evidence of dark matter
It’s never been detected in a lab. But scientists believe it’s more plentiful than “ordinary” matter. A lot more. Everything made of atoms — known as baryonic matter, the stuff we’re made of — is thought to make up less than 5 percent of the universe. Dark matter makes up another 25 percent. The rest is dark energy, a mysterious force that repels gravity and explains why the expansion of the universe is accelerating. Read more…
More about Astronomy, Dark Matter, Universe, Big Bang, and Science
View More There’s a race to discover dark matter, and it’s deep undergroundThree baby planets hanging around a star discovered by astronomers
Finding young planets in our galaxy is still very much at the forefront of science.
But with the help of the world’s most expensive ground-based telescope, two teams of astronomers are convinced they’ve found not one, but three baby planets.
SEE ALSO…
Hungry, hungry black hole would take only two days to eat the mass of our sun
/https%3A%2F%2Fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fcard%2Fimage%2F774024%2Fe0ab024c-482d-49d7-9337-1eff2b9f38e5.jpg)
Even black holes get hungry.
Astronomers have just discovered a black hole that’s growing faster than any other black hole yet found in the universe.
If the sun were to fall into this incredibly dense cosmic object, it would only take two days for the black hole to devour it, the scientists behind the new discovery have said.
The supermassive black hole — which is located billions of light-years away — is thought to be the mass of 20 billion suns and grows by about 1 percent every 1 million years, according to the new study detailing the discovery of the black hole. Read more…
More about Space, Science, Astrophysics, Black Holes, and Astronomy
A distant galaxy doesn’t seem to contain any dark matter, and that’s really weird
/https%3A%2F%2Fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fcard%2Fimage%2F743241%2F4e1b51aa-a53a-4491-a40f-fff90e78a0f9.png)
Billions of years ago, our Milky Way galaxy pulled itself together.
Our home condensed from gas that gathered in our small part of the universe, swirled together thanks to gravity provided by dark matter — the mysterious substance that makes up 85 percent of matter in the universe and doesn’t interact with regular matter.
That dark matter allowed the Milky Way’s gas — i.e. the “normal” matter — of our galaxy to condense and form stars.
Researchers have thought for some time that, for the most part, galaxies need to form with the help of dark matter because of the extra gravity the mysterious, plentiful substances provides. Read more…
More about Space, Science, Astronomy, Space Exploration, and Dark Matter
Discover your own planets Google-style with AstroNet
You may remember that in December, a pair of new planets was discovered via machine learning, using NASA data and Google Brain ingenuity. If you’re interested in doing the same, the team behind the system has just released the code they used to accomplish this astronomical achievement, which they call AstroNet. Read More
Scientists uncover a signal sent out by the first stars in the universe
For millions of years after the Big Bang, the universe was a cold place filled with hydrogen and helium created at the dawn of the universe.
And then, suddenly, there was light.
For the first time, a team of astronomers think they’ve detected a…
That planet circling Proxima Centauri may not be that great of a place to live
/https%3A%2F%2Fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fcard%2Fimage%2F722340%2F333db5a5-de04-4ad1-a243-b37f16eb438c.jpg)
The closest planet to Earth outside of our solar system might not be a place you’d want to visit.
Researchers have found that the planet — called Proxima b — was likely bathed in radiation after its host star (comparable to our sun), Proxima Centauri, emitted a huge flare in March.
“March 24, 2017 was no ordinary day for Proxima Cen,” Meredith MacGregor, the lead author of the new study detailing the flare said in a statement.
“It’s likely that Proxima b was blasted by high energy radiation during this flare.”
Proxima Centauri became more than 1,000 times brighter than usual during the flare, according to a new study published in the journal Astrophysical Journal Letters. Read more…
More about Space, Science, Astronomy, Proxima Centauri, and Proxima B
The Altairduino is the modern Altair replica of your dreams
Anyone who fondly remembers the Altair revolution probably wasn’t there. But that doesn’t stop us nerds from romanticizing one of the coolest proto-computers ever made. Originally sold as a way to interact with the magical 8800 chip back in January 2017, the Altair is one of the first usable home computers although it had no keyboard, mouse, or screen. For early geeks it was… Read More
That interstellar asteroid probably isn’t aliens, but the hunt continues
/https%3A%2F%2Fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fcard%2Fimage%2F677044%2Fa5cf13a0-5827-4b0b-b9cf-f0ab72ac5a21.jpg)
Well, it should come as no surprise, but the interstellar asteroid astronomers discovered in October doesn’t appear to be a piece of alien technology.
According to initial observations made by a radio telescope on Wednesday, the asteroid, named ‘Oumuamua, doesn’t appear to have any obvious “artificial signals” coming from it.
But the hunt isn’t over yet.
SEE ALSO: A group of scientists will listen for alien signals coming from that interstellar asteroid
Researchers still have to comb through a fair bit of the data gathered by the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia to see if there might be some sign of alien technology to be found. However, it’s not exactly looking promising. Read more…
More about Space, Science, Astronomy, Space Exploration, and Interstellar Asteroid
Fireballs shoot across sky as Leonid meteor shower peaks
/https%3A%2F%2Fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fcard%2Fimage%2F654615%2Fecc40d31-3c76-4f85-b218-1825f75fc44a.jpg)
The Leonids meteor shower has been active for the past two weeks and this weekend the cosmic debris show is hitting its peak.
Leonids, named for the constellation Leo where the shower appears to originate from, started earlier this month and should give something of a show over the next few days. It’s true peak appeared to be Friday morning — early. It will continue until the beginning of December.
Already some impressive displays have lit up the night sky. This particular meteor shower occurs when crossing the debris of Comet Temple/Tuttle, which orbits the sun every 33 years. Read more…
More about Space, Science, Astronomy, Meteors, and Meteor Shower
View More Fireballs shoot across sky as Leonid meteor shower peaksScientists found a new Earth-sized planet nearby…and it might be habitable
Forget Mars, scientists have discovered a new Earth-sized, possibly habitable, planet just eleven light years away. Known as Ross 128b, the newly discovered planet orbits a life friendly red dwarf star that is an estimated seven billion years old…
View More Scientists found a new Earth-sized planet nearby…and it might be habitable