Category Astronomy/Space

The birth of stars from dense clouds of gas and dust may be happening in a completely unexpected way in our own galaxy and elsewhere.

New findings reveal surprising distribution of star-forming cores outside of our galaxy. The birth of stars from dense clouds of gas and dust may be happening in a completely unexpected way in our own galaxy and beyond. This is according to an international team, including scientists from Cardiff University, who have found that long-held assumptions about the relationship between the mass of star-forming clouds of dust and gas and the eventual mass of the star itself may not be as straightforward as we think.

The underlying reasons as to why a star eventually grows to a specific mass has puzzled scientists for some time...

Newly analyzed data from the Galileo spacecraft’s flybys of one of Jupiter’s moons two decades ago is yielding fresh insights: the magnetic field around the moon Ganymede makes it unlike any other in the solar system. Far across the solar system, from where Earth appears merely as a pale blue dot, NASA’s Galileo spacecraft spent eight years orbiting Jupiter. During that time, the hearty spacecraft – slightly larger than a full-grown giraffe – sent back spates of discoveries on the gas giant’s moons, including the observation of a magnetic environment around Ganymede that was distinct from Jupiter’s own magnetic field...

Spectroscopy reveals elements such as gallium in a bacterial sample taken from silica in Yellowstone National Park. (Andrew Gangidine)

Geologists are looking for an elemental biosignature that might help NASA identify life on the red planet during the Mars 2020 rover mission. Doctoral candidate Andrew Gangidine is working with UC geology professor Andrew Czaja to develop a marker for ancient bacterial life on Mars. The research could help scientists put to rest one of our most fundamental mysteries. “We’re trying to answer the question: How rare is life in the universe?” Gangidine said.

Czaja, an assistant professor in UC’s McMicken College of Arts and Sciences, serves on a NASA advisory committee that will decide where on Mars to send the next remote-controlled rover...

Though Mercury may look drab to the human eye, different minerals appear in a rainbow of colors in this image from NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University APL/Carnegie Institution of Washington

Mercury’s crust is thinner than anyone thought, new mathematical calculations reveal. A planetary scientist has used careful mathematical calculations to determine the density of Mercury’s crust, which is thinner than anyone thought. Mercury is small, fast and close to the sun, making the rocky world challenging to visit. Only one probe has ever orbited the planet and collected enough data to tell scientists about the chemistry and landscape of Mercury’s surface. Learning about what is beneath the surface, however, requires careful estimation.

After the probe’s mission end...