Posted on Jul 5, 2022 in Astrobiology, Astronomy, Astrophysics, Cosmology, Cosmos, Exoplanets, Extraterrestrial Life, Milky Way Galaxy, Multiverse, NASA, Science News, Technology, Universe
Today’s stories range from China rejects NASA accusation it will take over the moon to The Large Hadron Collider will embark on a third run to uncover more cosmic secrets to Scientists find new “exotic” configurations of quarks that may explain how our Universe is formed, and much more.
China rejects NASA accusation it will take over the moon –The U.S. space agency chief said China’s space program was a military one and that China had stolen ideas and technology from others, reports NBC News. “We must be very concerned that China is landing on the moon and saying: ‘It’s ours now and you stay out’,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told German newspaper Bild in an interview published on Saturday. China replied saying it has always called for the building of a community of nations in outer space.
How the Multiverse could break the scientific method –There is nothing more important to science than its ability to prove ideas wrong. “The Multiverse is the fascinating hypothesis that ours is not the only Universe. We can never be certain that the Multiverse exists. Still, we need to venture into the unknown if we are to make any progress. At the core of the debate is the authority of the scientific method itself,” reports Big Think.
Unusual Fossil Galaxy Discovered on Outskirts of Andromeda – Could Reveal History of the Universe, reports SciTechDaily. “A unique ultra-faint dwarf galaxy has been discovered on the outer fringes of the Andromeda Galaxy thanks to the discerning eyes of an amateur astronomer examining archival data processed by NSF’s NOIRLab’s Community Science and Data Center. The dwarf galaxy — Pegasus V — was revealed to contain very few heavier elements and is likely to be a fossil of the first galaxies.”
The Large Hadron Collider will embark on a third run to uncover more cosmic secrets, reports NPR. “Ten years ago, scientists were able to discover the Higgs Boson particle and help make sense of the our universe using the Large Hadron Collider. They did it again in 2018, unlocking new insights on protons. Now, with a new host of questions, they plan to restart the particle accelerator this month to possibly better understand cosmic unknowns like dark matter.”
Icy Water worlds are exoplanets with enough water to form a hydrosphere. “EARTH’S OCEANS ARE one huge, uniform electrolyte solution. They contain salt (sodium chloride) and other nutrients like magnesium, sulfate, and calcium. We can’t survive without electrolytes, and life on Earth might look very different without the oceans’ electrolyte content. It might even be non-existent.”
Pentaquarks: scientists find new “exotic” configurations of quarks that may explain how our Universe is formed, reports The BBC. “Scientists have found new ways in which quarks, the tiniest particles known to humankind, group together. The new structures exist for just a hundred thousandth of a billionth of a billionth of a second but may explain how our Universe is formed.”
10 surprising facts about the Big Bang Theory–It’s the origin of our entire observable Universe, but it’s still not the very beginning of everything, reports Big Think. “The Big Bang was a simple idea that goes back all the way to the 1920s: that the Universe is expanding and cooling now, and therefore, was hotter and denser in the past. Having made a series of successful predictions that no other theory can match, it’s widely accepted as the origin story for our Universe. But the Big Bang is so much more than that.”
Search for habitable exoplanets included in China’s upcoming space missions, reports Brett Tingley for Space.com. The Chinese Academy of Sciences has selected candidates for its next round of space missions, which are projected to launch between 2026 and 2030.
Ancient galaxy’s spin suggests universe’s first stars quickly coalesced into disks, reports Science.com. Result suggests NASA’s Webb telescope will have plenty of galactic targets from the baby universe.
Carbon may not be the only basis for life. We need to look harder. On Earth, carbon can form millions of compounds, while silicon is largely stuck inside rocks. But elsewhere, silicon could form the basis of life, reports Big Think. Science fiction narratives often posit the existence of silicon-based life forms elsewhere in the Universe. We need to be more open-minded and less Earth-centric in our hunt for life in the Cosmos.
Stunning images from the Astronomy Photographer of the Year shortlist revealed, reports Metro.com– “‘Awe-inspiring scenes of the Milky Way rising, galaxies colliding, stellar nurseries, the luminous Aurora Borealis dancing across the night’s sky and Saturn balanced by its moons all feature in the shortlist for this year’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year,’ said a spokesperson from the award.”
The futuristic South Pole Telescope looks far back in time reports the Argonne National Laboratory. “Surveying the cosmos from its isolated position in Antarctica, a collaborative project aims to reveal insights about the universe’s beginnings.”
Ancient meteorite upends our ideas of how Mars formed –Meteorite analysis hints that early Mars got important volatile elements like hydrogen and oxygen from meteorite collisions rather than a cloud of gases, reports New Scientist.
The Largest Alcohol Molecule in Space Near the Center of the Milky Way Has Been Identified, May Lead to a a New Star Formation. “Researchers may have discovered the largest alcohol in space in the form of propanol. For the first time, normal-propanol has been detected in a star-forming region, along with isopropanol that has never been seen in the interstellar form before, according to Science Alert.”
What If the Large Hadron Collider Doesn’t Find Anything Else? asks Nature.com. “On the tenth anniversary of the discovery of the Higgs boson, it’s worth emphasizing that there’s a lot more to particle physics than particle hunting.”Many are disappointed that the LHC hasn’t yet found any hints of something at odds with the standard model that could represent a step towards a more complete theory.”
Who owns Einstein? The battle for the world’s most famous face–Thanks to a savvy California lawyer, Albert Einstein has earned far more posthumously than he ever did in his lifetime. But is that what the great scientist would have wanted, asks Simon Parkin for The Guardian.
Powerful radio pulses originating deep in the cosmos can be used to study hidden pools of gas cocooning nearby galaxies, according to a new study appearing in the journal Nature Astronomy.
10 surprising facts about the Big Bang Theory--It’s the origin of our entire observable Universe, but it’s still not the very beginning of everything, reports Ethan Siegel for Big Think. “The Big Bang was a simple idea that goes back all the way to the 1920s: that the Universe is expanding and cooling now, and therefore, was hotter and denser in the past. Having made a series of successful predictions that no other theory can match, it’s widely accepted as the origin story for our Universe.”
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