Category Astronomy/Space

In 2024, NASA’s Perseverance rover found surprising levels of Nickel in the Martian bedrock of an ancient river channel, called Neretva Vallis, which flowed into the Jezero crater. A new study, published in Nature Communications, has taken a closer look at the data collected from the region and researchers are seeing what could be remnants of ancient Martian life.

Nickel as a biosignature
Although nickel is not typically thought of as a major component of human life, it is important in many microbial metabolism functions...

A Southwest Research Institute-led study found that protons and heavy ions react differently to solar magnetic reconnection events, revealing a more complex magnetic engine powering the solar wind. Magnetic reconnection converts magnetic energy into explosive kinetic energy, powering solar events and causing space weather that impacts Earth...

Giant black holes may be secretly controlling how entire clusters of galaxies grow. A blazing supermassive black hole can influence far more than its own galaxy. Scientists found that quasars emit radiation strong enough to shut down star formation in nearby galaxies millions of light-years away. This could explain why some galaxies near early quasars appear faint or missing. The finding suggests galaxies grow and evolve together, not in isolation.

Powerful radiation from active supermassive black holes, which are believed to sit at the center of most galaxies, can do more than shape their own surroundings. A new study led by Yongda Zhu at the University of Arizona suggests these black holes can also slow the formation of stars in galaxies located millions of light-years away.

“...

Using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), an international team of astronomers has discovered an extrasolar planet orbiting TOI-4616—a nearby M-dwarf star. The newfound alien world, which received designation TOI-4616 b, is slightly larger than Earth. The finding was reported in a research paper published March 11 on the arXiv pre-print server.

Launched in 2018, TESS is in the process of scanning about 200,000 of the brightest stars near the sun, searching for potential transiting exoplanets. To date, it has identified more than 7,900 candidate exoplanets (TESS Objects of Interest, or TOI), of which 760 have been confirmed.

Nearby M dwarf draws attent...