Subterms
Liquid brine can hang around on Mars’ surface, a new study suggests, but conditions may not be great for life as we know it. That’s bad news for any Earth-based microorganisms determined to colonize the Red Planet, but good news for humans who don’t want to contaminate Mars with microbes hitching a ride on robot […] More
Talk about sibling rivalry. Most of the smallest galaxies are “dead,” making no new stars. Now, computer simulations reveal why it is so hard for a tiny galaxy to rejuvenate itself: The galaxy’s existing stars fight the birth of any new ones, even after fresh fuel for star formation falls into the galaxy. These simulations […] More
The closest black hole to the solar system ever spotted may be just 1,000 light-years away. This newfound dark neighbor is at least 4.2 times as massive as the sun, and lives with two ordinary stars whose funny orbits gave the black hole’s presence away, astronomers report May 6 in Astronomy & Astrophysics. Astronomers expect […] More
Microbes can live and grow in an atmosphere of pure hydrogen, lab experiments show. The finding could widen the range of environments where astronomers seek signs of alien life. “We’re trying to expand people’s view of what should be considered a habitable planet,” says exoplanet astronomer Sara Seager of MIT (SN: 10/4/19). “It seems to […] More
The sun might be a magnetic slacker. A census of stars similar to the sun shows that our own star is less magnetically active than others of its kind, astrophysicists report in the May 1 Science. The result could support the idea that the sun is in a “midlife crisis,” transitioning into a quieter phase […] More
In the most comprehensive lunar map yet, the moon looks like it’s been playing paintball. Each splash of color identifies a discrete rock or sediment formation, including craters, basins and ancient lava fields. For instance, “the darker, more earth tones are these highland-type terrains, and the reds and the purples tend to be more of […] More
Counting universes ought to be easy. By definition, you can stop at 1. Trouble is, definitions change. A century ago, the “universe” was defined as the Milky Way galaxy. Heretics who disagreed had long been ridiculed— until science staged what became known as the Great Debate, on April 26, 100 years ago. On that date, […] More
The barred spiral galaxy NGC 1300 is one of the most spectacular galaxies in the heavens, but the dramatic bar that pierces its heart produces few if any stars — even though the bar abounds with the raw material for creating them. New computer simulations may explain the paradox in this and other galaxies with […] More
