Category Astronomy/Space

The nearest single star to the Sun hosts an exoplanet at least 3.2 times as massive as Earth — a so-called super-Earth. Data from a worldwide array of telescopes, including ESO’s planet-hunting HARPS instrument, have revealed this frozen, dimly lit world. The newly discovered planet is the second-closest known exoplanet to the Earth and orbits the fastest moving star in the night sky. This image shows an artist’s impression of the planet’s surface.
Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser

A planet has been detected orbiting Barnard’s Star , a mere 6 light-years away. This breakthrough is a result of the Red Dots and CARMENES projects, whose search for local rocky planets has already uncovered a new world orbiting our nearest neighbour, Proxima Centauri.

The planet, designated Barnard’s Star b, now steps i...

Sketch of dimensional reduction.
Credit: David Weir

With the help of computer simulations, particle physics researchers may be able to explain why there is more matter than antimatter in the Universe. The simulations offer a new way of examining conditions after the Big Bang, and could provide answers to some fundamental questions in particle physics.

In the Standard Model of particle physics, there is almost no difference between matter and antimatter. But there is an abundance of evidence that our observable universe is made up only of matter – if there was any antimatter, it would annihilate with nearby matter to produce very high intensity gamma radiation, which has not been observed...

This view of Earth’s horizon was taken by an Expedition 7 crew member onboard the International Space Station, using a wide-angle lens while the Station was over the Pacific Ocean.
Credit: NASA

Earth’s water may have originated from both asteroidal material and gas left over from the formation of the Sun, according to new research. The new finding could give scientists important insights about the development of other planets and their potential to support life. In a new study in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, a journal of the American Geophysical Union, researchers propose a new theory to address the long-standing mystery of where Earth’s water came from and how it got here.

The new study challenges widely-accepted ideas about hydrogen in Earth’s water by suggesting the elem...

Dr Domenico Vicinanza of Anglia Ruskin University and Dr Genevieve Williams have used data sonification techniques to make an audio track of the 5,000th Mars Sunrise captured by the Mars rover Opportunity.

Academics transform photo of landmark Mars sunrise into a piece of music. Scientists have created the soundtrack of the 5,000th Mars sunrise captured by the robotic exploration rover, Opportunity, using data sonification techniques to create a two-minute piece of music. Researchers created the piece of music (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loXhsglsG-w) by scanning a picture from left to right, pixel by pixel, and looking at brightness and colour information and combining them with terrain elevation. They used algorithms to assign each element a specific pitch and melody...