Category Astronomy/Space

A new analysis of the Hubble constant to show that the Gaussian Processes data reconstruction technique may not actually be independent of all cosmological models — and that it may be time to question the validity of model independence itself.

The technique of Gaussian Processes (GP) is widely used to reconstruct cosmological parameters, most notably the expansion rate of the universe, using observational data. For many cosmologists, the crowning achievement of this approach is its ‘model independence’ — meaning it can be applied universally across all models...

Forming planets are one possible explanation for the rings and gaps observed in disks of gas and dust around young stars. But this theory has trouble explaining why it is rare to find planets associated with rings. New supercomputer simulations show that after creating a ring, a planet can move away and leave the ring behind...

A near-Earth asteroid named Kamo`oalewa could be a fragment of our moon, according to a new paper published in Nature Communications Earth and Environment by a team of astronomers led by the University of Arizona.

Kamooalewa is a quasi-satellite -- a subcategory of near-Earth asteroids that orbit the sun but remain relatively close to Earth. Little is known about these objects because they are faint and difficult to observe. Kamooalewa was discovered by the PanSTARRS telescope in Hawaii in 2016, and the name — found in a Hawaiian creation chant — alludes to an...

Using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT), astronomers have discovered a small black hole outside the Milky Way by looking at how it influences the motion of a star in its close vicinity...