Posted on May 23, 2022 in Astrobiology, Astronomy, Astrophysics, Cosmology, Exoplanets, Extraterrestrial Life, James Webb Space Telescope, Milky Way Galaxy, Origin of Life, Science, Space News, Technology, Universe
Today’s stories range from “They are Not Ours” Says Michio Kaku –Over 400 declassified UFO sightings defy the ‘normal laws of physics’ to Webb telescope is set to solve mysteries of our solar system, and much more. “The Galaxy Report” brings you news of space and science that has the capacity to provide clues to the mystery of our existence and adds a much needed cosmic perspective in our current Anthropocene Epoch.
Webb telescope is nearly set to solve mysteries of our solar system, reports Thaddeus Cesari, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “The Webb team recently completed the first test to track a moving object. The test verified that Webb could conduct moving target science! As we move forward through commissioning, we will test other objects moving at various speeds to verify we can study objects with Webb that move throughout the solar system.”
Shards of the Planet Mercury May Be Hiding on Earth--New research explains how meteorites called aubrites may actually be shattered pieces of the planet closest to the sun from the early days of the solar system, reports Jonathan O’Callaghan for The New York Times.
Pulitzer Prize for Staff of Quanta Magazine, notably Natalie Wolchover for coverage that revealed the complexities of building the James Webb Space Telescope, designed to facilitate groundbreaking astronomical and cosmological research.
World’s Astronomers on the Significance of the First Image of Milky Way’s Supermassive Black Hole–“Several of the world’s leading astronomers and scientists emailed their thoughts to The Daily Galaxy on the significance of the fist image by the Event Horizon Collaboration of our Galaxy’s supermassive black hole. Their comments validate Albert Einstein’s observation that “the scientific imagination is a preview of coming attractions,” reports The Daily Galaxy.
Pairs of giant planets may make their star systems ultra-habitable –Simulations of more than 140,000 possible planetary systems show that pairs of giant planets like Jupiter and Saturn may make their star systems more hospitable to habitable Earth-like worlds, reports New Scientist.
Milky Way’s black hole was the ‘birth cry’ of radio astronomy, reports the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. “he first image of the supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy brings radio astronomy back to its celestial birthplace. The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) made the new, landmark image of the same region from which came the first cosmic radio waves ever detected. That detection, by Bell Telephone Laboratories engineer Karl Jansky in 1932, was the beginning of radio astronomy.”
Seventy-Year-Old Astronomy Photos May Be Clues to Alien Visitors, reports Inverse. ““We found one image where nine stars were out there, and they vanished. And they are not there half an hour earlier, and they are not there six days later,” says Beatriz Villarroel, a postdoctoral researcher at the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics. ‘And you wonder, ‘Is this real?’”
“They are Not Ours” Michio Kaku –Over 400 declassified UFO sightings defy the ‘normal laws of physics. — Theoretical physics professor Michio Kaku discusses the hundreds of UFO encounters that Pentagon officials recently unveiled, on ‘Cavuto Live.’
What would an antimatter black hole teach us?–Everything is made of matter, not antimatter, including black holes. If antimatter black holes existed, what would they do? asks Ethan Siegel in his podcast for Big Think.
Hubble Peers Through The Mysterious Shells of This Gigantic Elliptical Galaxy, reports Carolyn Collins for Universe Today. “At about two and a half times larger than our Milky Way Galaxy, it’s really a behemoth with a strange structure – mostly featureless and nearly round, but with layered shells wrapped around the central core. Astronomers want to know what caused these shells. The answer might be in what this galaxy represents: a vision of the future Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy.
A century ago, Alexander Friedmann envisioned the universe’s expansion –He saw that Einstein’s equations predicted multiple cosmic scenarios, including a Big Bang, reports Science News. ““The new vision of the universe opened by Friedmann,” writes Russian physicist Vladimir Soloviev in a recent paper, “has become a foundation of modern cosmology.”
Alien civilizations like us ‘extremely rare’ in the universe, reports The Metro –“It took the best part of four billion years to go from the origin of life on Earth to a civilization. ‘That’s a third of the age of the age of the universe, and that is a long time, so that may indicate that microbes may be common, but things like us may be extremely rare,’ says British astrophysicist Brian Cox.
Stronger gravity in the early universe may solve a cosmological conundrum, reports Paul Sutter for Space.com –“The inflationary epoch that caused our universe to rapidly expand in its earliest moments may be connected to the modern era of dark energy, thanks to a phantom component of the cosmos that changes the strength of gravity as the universe evolves, a physicist proposes in a new paper.”
How Many Humans Can the Solar System Support? –What if asteroids were raw materials for bodies? What if you dismantled all of Jupiter to build us new homes? asks Slate.com
NASA Mission Finds Tonga Volcanic Eruption Effects Reached Space –When the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha‘apai volcano erupted on Jan. 15, 2022, it sent atmospheric shock waves, sonic booms, and tsunami waves around the world. Now, scientists are finding the volcano’s effects also reached space. Analyzing data from NASA’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer, or ICON, mission and ESA’s Swarm satellites, scientists found that in the hours after the eruption, hurricane-speed winds and unusual electric currents formed in the ionosphere.
Pulsars may power cosmic rays with the highest-known energies in the universe –Their magnetic environs are perfect for boosting particles to ultrahigh energies, reports Science News.
Professor Brian Cox: Maybe humans are the Martians--Cox has reflected on the possibility that humans could be Martians – rather than the suspected life forms on the planet of Mars.The renowned physicist told the BBC’s Sunday Morning program there were still lots of unknowns and suggested that life on Earth could have originated elsewhere.
Black Hole Collision Might’ve Sent Invisible Abyss Hurtling Through Space –Two black holes smashed into each other. The force may have been powerful enough to boot the resulting object into deep space, reports CNET.
Where Did Life on Earth Come from, exactly? It’s one of the most fundamental questions that scientists have yet to fully explain, and it offers a tantalizing premise for Hollywood screenwriters and directors to explore through science fiction — albeit not always accurately. One film that tackled this topic head-on was Ridley Scott’s Prometheus, the 2012 sci-fi movie that served as a prequel of sorts to the Alien franchise, reports Inverse.
Curated by The Daily Galaxy Editorial Staff
The Galaxy Report newsletter brings you twice-weekly news of space and science that has the capacity to provide clues to the mystery of our existence and add a much needed cosmic perspective in our current Anthropocene Epoch.
Yes, sign me up for my free subscription.
Recent Galaxy Reports:
Unmistakable Signal of Alien Life to What Happens if China Makes First Contact?
Clues to Alien Life to A Galaxy 100 x Size of Milky Way
Cracks in Einstein’s Theory of Gravity to Colossal Shock Wave Bigger than the Milky Way
Monster Comet Arriving from the Oort Cloud to Black Hole Apocalypse
Enigmas of Stephen Hawking’s Blackboard to Why the Universe and Life Exist
Einstein’s Critics to NASA Theologians Prepare for Alien Contact
Mind-Bending New Multiverse Theory to Dark-Matter Asteroids of the Milky Way
Mysterious Expanding Regions of Dark Matter to Are Black Holes Holograms?
Read about The Daily Galaxy editorial team here