Posted on Aug 17, 2022 in Astrobiology, Astronomy, Cosmology, Dark Energy, Dark Matter, Early Universe, Extraterrestrial Life, Hubble Tension, James Webb Space Telescope, Multiverse, NASA, Science, Space News, Technology, Universe
Today’s stories include The true story behind Carl Sagan’s cult classic, Contact to Is the Multiverse religion by another name to Will China be the first nation to discover extraterrestrial life, and much more.
Could primordial black holes from the beginning of time explain ‘dark matter’ the mysterious missing mass in the Universe? asks Aeon. “Evidence has grown over the past century that there must be something out there besides the stuff that makes up our tables, our planet, even ourselves. An early hint, in the 1970s, came from the astronomer Vera Rubin, who showed that stars at the edges of galaxies rotate faster than we’d expect from just the mass we can see through telescopes.
Could Dark Matter Be a Source of Light In the Universe? asks The Daily Galaxy. “A discovery in 2014 suggested that the source of light in the universe from known populations of galaxies and quasars is not nearly enough to explain observations of intergalactic hydrogen. The filaments of hydrogen and helium that bridge the vast reaches of empty space between galaxies that astronomers use as a “light meter” yielded a stunning 400 percent discrepancy.”
NASA’s Lucy Team Discovers Moon Around Asteroid Polymele, reports NASA. “Even before its launch, NASA’s Lucy mission was already on track to break records by visiting more asteroids than any previous mission. Now, after a surprise result from a long-running observation campaign, the mission can add one more asteroid to the list.”
Roman Space Telescope top challenge for new NASA astrophysics director, reports Space News. “NASA is starting efforts to plan for the next flagship mission after Roman, currently envisioned as a large infrared, optical and ultraviolet space telescope designated IROUV. A new effort, the Great Observatories Mission and Technology Maturation Program or GOMAP, is getting underway to define science goals and advance key technologies need for the mission.”
Violent ripples reverberating across spacetime might finally reveal how quickly our universe is expanding, reports CNet.–“In 2019, a conference held at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics in California concluded with a fraught statement: “We wouldn’t call it a tension or a problem but rather a crisis.”
Most planets in the Universe are orphans without parent stars. Known as orphaned planets, rogue planets, or planets without parent stars, these “outliers” might be the most common planet of all, reports Big Think. “Many of the early-stage planets that form around stars will get ejected, destined to roam the Universe forever as rogue, or orphaned, planets. These rogue planets could be thousands of times as numerous as stars.”
“Eye of Heaven” –Thoughts of China’s Astronomers on Advanced Extraterrestrial Life reports The Daily Galaxy. “With China poised to lead the world in AI and supercomputers, astronomers are wondering if it will also be the first advanced nation to discover extraterrestrial life? Perhaps the world’s largest single-dish radio observatory, China’s new FAST Radio Telescope –Tiyan, the “Eye of Heaven”– will provide an answer as it prepares to explore a frontier in radio astronomy — using radio waves to locate exoplanets, which may harbor extraterrestrial life.”
The true story behind Carl Sagan’s cult classic, Contact –Do aliens dream about meeting us, too? asks Big Think.
Scientists blast atoms with Fibonacci laser to make an ‘extra’ dimension of time reports Ben Turner for Live Science. “By firing a Fibonacci laser pulse at atoms inside a quantum computer, physicists have created a completely new, strange phase of matter that behaves as if it had two dimensions of time.”
What Is the Black Hole Information Paradox? A Primer, reports Scientific American.
NASA’s Big Rocket Reaches Launchpad. Next Stop: The Moon--The Space Launch System and Orion capsule will launch on Aug. 29 to formally start the Artemis moon exploration program, reports New York Times Science.
Notorious dark-matter signal could be due to analysis error–Observations that physicists have so far failed to replicate could be the result of misinterpreted data, reports Davide Castelvecchi for Nature. “Physicists have shown that an underground experiment in South Korea can ‘see’ dark matter streaming through Earth — or not, depending on how its data are sliced. The results cast further doubt on a decades-old claim that another experiment has been detecting the mysterious substance.”
Look at What Happens When Two Galaxies Collide–The stars sail past one another, and the night sky would probably be fabulous, reports Marina Koren for The Atlantic. ““The sky would be filled with newly formed stars, and we would be able to see warped streams of stars, gas, and dust stretching across the sky.” The view would be especially stunning if you lived along the outer edges of the galaxy, where the night sky would be less crowded with stars than at the busy galactic center.”
The Multiverse is religion by another name –The false assumption the Multiverse relies on is that something which exists requires an explanation, reports Big Think. “The Multiverse has been proposed as an answer to the question, “Why does our Universe exist?” Its proponents believe the Multiverse can explain our origins without having to reference God. But the Multiverse is in no way falsifiable, and the arguments in its support are nearly identical to the arguments for God. Not all questions need to be answered in order to be meaningful.”
Curated by The Daily Galaxy Editorial Staff
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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
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