Category Astronomy/Space

Artist rendition of interior compositions of planets around the stars Kepler 102 and Kepler 407. The picture shows what minerals are likely to occur several different depths. Kepler 102 is Earth-like, dominated by olivine minerals, whereas Kepler 407 is dominated by garnet, so less likely to have plate tectonics. Credit: Robin Dienel, Carnegie DTM

What makes a rocky planet Earth-like? Astronomers and geoscientists have joined forces using data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) to study the mix of elements in exoplanet host stars, and to consider what this reveals about their planets...

Galaxy cluster. Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO, TIFR/NCRA/GMRT, NAOJ/Subaru: R. van Weeren et al

An international team of astronomers, including Lancaster’s David Sobral, has discovered a cosmic one-two punch never seen before. 2 of the most powerful phenomena in the Universe – a supermassive black hole and the collision of giant galaxy clusters – have combined to create a stupendous cosmic particle accelerator. By combining data from some of the best X-ray, optical and radio telescopes in the world, researchers have found out what happens when matter ejected by a giant black hole is swept up in the merger of two enormous galaxy clusters.

This cosmic double whammy is found in a pair of colliding galaxy clusters called Abell 3411 and Abell 3412 located about 2 billion light years from Earth...

Photo Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute

Using a model similar to what meteorologists use to forecast weather on Earth and a computer simulation of the physics of evaporating ices, a new study has found evidence that snow and ice features previously only seen on Earth, have been spotted on Pluto. “Penitentes” which are formed by erosion, are bowl-shaped depressions with spires around the edge, and are several metres high.

The groundbreaking research, done in collaboration with researchers at NASA and Johns Hopkins University, indicates that these icy features may exist on other planets where environmental conditions are similar...

New research confirms the role Type Ia supernovae, like G299 pictured above, play in measuring universe expansion. Courtesy ofNASAdownload

New research by cosmologists at the University of Chicago and Wayne State University confirms the accuracy of Type Ia supernovae in measuring the pace at which the universe expands. The findings support a widely held theory that the expansion of the universe is accelerating and such acceleration is attributable to a mysterious force known as dark energy. The findings counter recent headlines that Type Ia supernova cannot be relied upon to measure the expansion of the universe.

Using light from an exploding star as bright as entire galaxies to determine cosmic distances led to the 2011 Nobel Prize in physics...