Astronomy and Planetary Science Thread

[Flyaway]

Strange Seeds Appear to Be Growing Into Massive Black Holes

In a new paper published in the journal Nature this week, Max Planck Institute astrophysicist Sunmyon Chon and his colleagues delve into this possibility by simulating the earliest stages of the universe. They found that the rapidly-forming black holes could be emitting light while accreting material, appearing as the mysterious red dots, or “seeds,” picked up by the James Webb.

 

[Flyaway]

Webb reveals the hidden forces that drive chaotic weather on a distant world

Webb revealed that the complex weather on a distant, fast-spinning world can be explained by just two surprisingly simple patterns.

 

[Flyaway]

Dark energy may be changing, and 3,000 exploding stars are adding to the mystery

Dark energy is the name for whatever pushes the universe apart faster and faster, and the standard picture treats its strength as fixed.

At the University of Queensland, astronomers have now rebuilt three decades of exploding stars into one catalog, the largest of its kind.

Set against an unchanging dark energy, the catalog fits worse than before.

The standard model isn’t in trouble yet. But the best record of these explosions anyone has built no longer matches a fixed dark energy comfortably.

Ryan Camilleri, a PhD candidate at UQ’s School of Mathematics and Physics, led the work.

“We’ve rebuilt 3 decades of astronomical observations into a single, consistent framework,” Camilleri said.

 

[Flyaway]

Self-consistent 1D Modelling Of Jupiter’s Upper Atmosphere As An Exoplanet Analogue

Jupiter’s upper atmosphere provides a real-world laboratory for validating first-principles models of giant gaseous exoplanets and for constraining the key physical processes that govern them.

We extended the 1D first-principles thermo-chemical planetary upper atmosphere model Kompot to simulate hydrogen-rich atmospheres of giant exoplanets and benchmarked it against the archetype giant planet Jupiter.

 

[Flyaway]

Complex Water Systems Revealed On Early Mars

A new study reveals that Jezero Crater’s enigmatic ‘Margin Unit’ was shaped by a complex sequence of ancient lakes, groundwater systems, and hydrothermal fluids.

When NASA’s Perseverance rover reached the inner edge of Mars’ Jezero Crater in September 2023, mission scientists were surprised by what they found. Called the “Margin Unit,” the geologic area stretches along the shoreline of an ancient Martian lake, so they expected sedimentary rocks, which would have formed as layers of sand piled on top of each other over millennia.

Composed of clay and silt, sedimentary rocks on Earth are good at preserving past microbial life. The scientists were especially intrigued by strong signals of carbonate minerals detected by Mars orbiters. On Earth, carbonates frequently form in shallow ocean and lake environments capable of supporting life.

Instead, the rover team found igneous rock, which can form deep underground from magma or from volcanic activity at the surface. Igneous rocks are excellent record-keepers, particularly because mineral crystals within them preserve details about the precise moment they formed.

In this case, they preserved an astonishingly complex record of water activity on early Mars. In fact, these rocks showed signs of having interacted with water on at least three separate occasions, with each encounter further altering their chemistry and appearance. The findings were published Monday in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.

 

[Flyaway]

This Is What a Godlike Civilisation Would Look Like

View: https://youtu.be/QW_jlUn4gA8

 

[NMaude]

The most magnets in the universe, from Astrum:

In December 2024, astronomers caught a rare superluminous supernova in action, and it did something unexpected. It kept pulsing. Scientists raced to explain what made this cosmic explosion so unusual. Was this our first ever glimpse at the birth of a magnetar - one of the most extreme objects in the universe?​

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlmj5ThgWbY
0:00 Superluminous Supernova
2:35 How Bright Was It?
8:10 Supernova “Chirps”
9:37 Is It a Magnetar?
16:28 General Relativity
20:17 What Else Could It Be?

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References:
“SN2024afav: A Superluminous Supernova”, via iop.org https://astrumspace.info/snafav
“Universe's Brightest Stellar Explosions”, via science.org https://astrumspace.info/brightsn
“Mysterious Power Source for Superluminous Supernovae Revealed”, via lco.global https://astrumspace.info/lcosp
“What Is a Magnetar?”, via sciencefocus.com https://astrumspace.info/magnetar1
“Astronomers Capture Birth of a Magnetar”, via berkeley.edu https://astrumspace.info/berkmag
“Chandra Studies Extraordinary Magnetar”, via nasa.gov https://astrumspace.info/nasamag
“Discovery of Magnetars”, via nasa.gov https://astrumspace.info/discmag
“Discovery of Cyclotron Resonance Features in SGR 1806-20”, via nasa.gov https://astrumspace.info/sgr1806
“General Relativity and Supernova Astrophysics”, via ucsb.edu https://astrumspace.info/sngr
“Lense–Thirring Precessing Magnetar Engine”, via nature.com https://astrumspace.info/ltpengine


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Credits:
Writer: Clementine Cheetham
Video Editor: Nick Shishkin
Audio Editor: James Horsley
Researcher: Shourya Shrivastava
Script Editor: Damaris McColgan
Thumbnail Designers: Peter Sheppard, Juane Dames
Publishing Lead: Georgina Brenner
Production Coordinator: Rose Unwin
Edit Producer: Poppy Pinnock
Head of Astrum: Jess Jordan
Creator of Astrum: Alex McColgan

With special thanks to:
NASA/ESO/ESA
https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/astrum
#Astrum #Space #Magnetar

 

[Flyaway]

Is a nearby advanced alien civilization out there waiting to pounce on Earth? Unlikely, says new study

Science fiction suggests that life on other planets, if it exists, is likely far more advanced than life on Earth.

A recent study suggests otherwise.

 

[Flyaway]

Space Rocks Carry Hundreds of Thousands of Complex Organic Molecules—and We Just Photographed Them

Scientists have known for a while that meteorites contain the “building blocks” of life - complex organic molecules such as amino acids, simple sugars, or even the chemical rungs of DNA. But anyone who has taken an organic chemistry class knows there are plenty of other carbon-based molecules out there, and a new study from Joseph W. Frye-Jones of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and Florida State, which was published in The Planetary Science Journal, found tens of thousands of types of previously unseen organic compounds in two of the world’s most famous meteorites.

 

[Brett Davidson]

Is a nearby advanced alien civilization out there waiting to pounce on Earth? Unlikely, says new study

From the abstract:

photon energy of wavelengths 400–1100 nm

Oh that old chestnut again (head/desk interface). Of course chlorophyll doesn't do well under M-type stars, and in other news, water is wet.

They completely ignore retinal-using organisms which would outcompete chlorophyll-using organisms. The obvious question you ask is 'what exploitable energy sources exist?', NOT 'could my begonias grow as well there as they do in my back yard?' or 'can a fish live up a pine tree?'

 

[Flyaway]

Sun: new evidence of superflares

Superflares: Sun-like stars can release more energy in massive solar flares than trillions of hydrogen bombs.
A look at the Sun: Researchers at the MPS have found new evidence that our star can hold its own as compared to other stars.
Sunspots: Dark regions on the Sun are often the starting points for solar flares. The larger the sunspot, the more powerful its explosive potential.
A look into the past: The giant sunspot of 1947 had enough energy to trigger a superflare. The Sun is therefore, in principle, capable of producing superflares.