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    Category Astronomy/Space

    Seismic activity on the moon could pose risk to long-term lunar infrastructure

    July 31, 2025, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt samples the boulder at Station 7 located at the base of North Massif in the Taurus-Littrow valley. This large boulder was dislodged by a strong moonquake that occurred about 28.5 million years ago. Credit: NASA/JSC/ASU.

    A new paper reveals that ground acceleration from moonquakes, rather than meteor impacts, was responsible for shifting lunar landscapes at the moon’s Taurus-Littrow valley, where Apollo 17 astronauts landed in 1972. The study also pinpointed a possible cause for those surface changes and assessed damage risk using new models of the quakes—findings that may impact the safety of future lunar missions and the establishment of long-term bases on the moon.

    The paper, authored by Smithsonian Senior Scientist Emeritus Thomas R...

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    Ghost particles may secretly decide the fate of collapsing stars

    July 30, 2025, Categories  Astronomy/Space, Physics

    illustration of blue
    Left Panel: When neutrinos scatter with themselves via standard model interactions the collapsing core of the massive star is relatively cold, and the neutrinos are mostly all electron flavor. In this scenario we may get a supernova explosion leaving, usually, a neutron star remnant
    Right Panel: If neutrinos have “secret” interactions with themselves, then electron neutrinos can be converted to all flavors. This leads to rapid heating, the “melting” of nuclei, and the rapid conversion of most protons to neutrons. We might get a black hole instead of a neutron star remnant. It is not yet clear if we get a supernova explosion.
    (cr: George Fuller lab / UC San Diego)

    Neutrinos are cosmic tricksters, paradoxically hardly there but lethal to stars significantly more massive than the sun...

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    JWST uncovers hidden black holes devouring stars in dusty galaxies

    July 28, 2025, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    The James Webb Space Telescope in front of a tidal disruption event, a black hole shredding a star
    Caption:Astronomers at MIT, Columbia University, and elsewhere have used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to peer through the dust of nearby galaxies and into the aftermath of a black hole’s stellar feast. Credits:Credit: NRAO/AUI/NSF/NASA

    Astronomers at MIT, Columbia University, and elsewhere have used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to peer through the dust of nearby galaxies and into the aftermath of a black hole’s stellar feast.

    In a study appearing today in Astrophysical Journal Letters, the researchers report that for the first time, JWST has observed several tidal disruption events—instances when a galaxy’s central black hole draws in a nearby star and whips up tidal forces that tear the star to shreds, giving off an enormous burst of energy in the process.

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    Complex organic molecules found in young star’s disk hint at cosmic origins of life

    July 28, 2025, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), a team of astronomers led by Abubakar Fadul from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) has discovered complex organic molecules—including the first tentative detection of ethylene glycol and glycolonitrile—in the protoplanetary disk of the outbursting protostar V883 Orionis.

    These compounds are considered precursors to the building blocks of life. Comparing different cosmic environments reveals that the abundance and complexity of such molecules increase from star-forming regions to fully evolved planetary systems. This suggests that the seeds of life are assembled in space and are widespread.

    The findings are published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

    Astronomers have discovered complex organic m...

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