Category Astronomy/Space

Liquid water is considered essential for life. Surprisingly, however, stable conditions that are conducive to life could exist far from any sun. A research team from the Excellence Cluster ORIGINS at LMU and the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) has shown that moons around freefloating planets can keep their water oceans liquid for up to 4.3 billion years by virtue of dense hydrogen atmospheres and tidal heating—that is to say, for almost as long as Earth has existed and sufficient time for complex life to develop.

Planetary systems often form under unstable conditions...

Billions of light years away in a remote part of the universe, two neutron stars—the ultradense remnants of dead stars—collided. The catastrophic cosmic event sent light and particles, including a sudden flash of gamma rays, streaming through the universe. These gamma rays traveled for 8.5 billion years before reaching Earth.

In a new study, our team of astrophysicists examined this gamma-ray signal. We learned that the stellar collision it came from was likely caused by an even more catastrophic encounter—a merger between two galaxies.

This is the first time astronomers associated this type of sig...

In 2020, a study confirmed that two planets orbited the nearby red dwarf, GJ 887. Now, astronomers have confirmed the existence of two additional planets orbiting GJ 887 in a new study published in Astronomy and Astrophysics. The new study suggests that one of these newly confirmed planets is in the habitable zone.

The GJ 887 red dwarf system
GJ 887 is a bright red dwarf star about 10.7 light years away from our solar system—a relatively short distance compared to other star systems...

Look up on a clear night and you’ll see the streaks of our new space age. What you don’t see is the growing fallout for the atmosphere that keeps us alive.

A wave of satellite launches and reentries is changing the chemistry and physics of the middle and upper atmosphere.

Studies warn of ozone depletion, stratospheric heating and new metal aerosols from burning spacecraft. The pace is accelerating fast and unless we redesign how we use and retire satellites, we risk swapping one environmental problem (congestion in Earth orbit from too many spacecraft) for another (an atmosphere seeded with rocket soot and satellite ash).

The problem is that most satellites are de-orbited when they reach the end of their lives...