Astrophysics

A New Type of Dyson Sphere May Be Nearly Impossible to Detect

Over fifty years ago, physicist Freeman Dyson proposed an awesome, if slightly insane, idea: That an advanced alien civilization might construct a massive, energy-harvesting sphere around its star, and bunk up inside. Scientists have never given up on Dyson spheres—we’ve even conducted a few legitimate searches for their infrared heat signatures. Now, physicists Ibrahim Semiz…

Tech News Maddie Stone Mar 28

As It Turns Out, We Really Are All Starstuff

“The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars,” Carl Sagan famously said in his 1980 series Cosmos. “We are made of starstuff.” Above: Hubble image of the Crab Nebula supernova remnant captured with the…

io9 Jason Major – Universe Today Mar 24

Could The Death Star Destroy A Planet?

And how much energy would it actually need? So there’s this classic scene (maybe you’ve seen it) where the “Death Star” sidles up to Alderaan, and it is all like “Hey Planetoid, you lookin’ fine tonight” and then it fires up the superlaser and destroys the entire orb in a single blast. “BOOM”. Shortly followed…

io9 Fraser Cain – Universe Today Mar 19

How Do We Know Dark Matter Exists?

Dark matter can’t be seen or detected by any of our instruments, so how do we know it really exists? Imagine the Universe was a pie, and you were going to slice it up into tasty portions corresponding to what proportions are what. The largest portion of the pie, 68% would go to dark energy,…

io9 Fraser Cain – Universe Today Mar 12

The Truth Behind Interstellar‘s “Scientifically Accurate” Black Hole

You’ve probably heard that the black hole in Interstellar was a simulation of unprecedented scientific accuracy. You may also have heard that its creation led to an “amazing scientific discovery” having to do with the shape of its accretion disk, which loops over and under its dark, central shadow. Neither of these claims is true.…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Feb 17

Physics Valentines (And Anti-Valentines), For Those You Love (And Hate)

The staff of symmetry has created a fun set of physics-themed Valentines to share with the people you love. And because ours is a universe that contains both matter and antimatter, they’ve created a complementary set of anti-Valentines, for the people you love to hate. My favorite Valentine/anti-Valentine pair appears above. The cards are designed…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Feb 11

Astrophysicists Find That Cities Grow Just Like Galaxies

We’ve all looked out at the night sky and wondered at how much the stars look like strings of cities. But there’s more than a passing resemblance—according to a team of astrophysicists who compared the two, there’s a much deeper connection at work. We aren’t just made of stars, we act like them too. A…

Tech News Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan Jan 20

This Active Herculean Galaxy Is A Beautiful Start To The New Year

Start the year off with something beautiful: this is Hercules A, a galaxy 1.9 billion light years away. This beauty hides a bite: its central black hole is a devouring monster 1,000 times the mass of our own Sagittarius A* with screaming jets nearly a million light years out. https://gizmodo.com/the-milky-way-s-black-hole-has-shot-out-its-brightest-f-5958424 Top image: Composite of Hercules…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Jan 1

This Supernova Remnant Is a Festive Holiday Bauble

Dear Great Observatories: Don’t ever stop sending these beautiful images home of our universe in all its diverse wonder. This optical/X-ray composite of supernova remnant SNR 0509-67.5 is a delicate bubble tracing a shockwave of excited gas, and too pretty for words. Contextual image of SNR 0509-67.5’s location within the Large Magellanic Cloud. Image credit:…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Dec 27

This Dying Star Is The Center Of The Coldest Place In The Universe

Until NASA’s Cold Lab comes online in 2016, the coldest place in the universe is a faint scattering of gas and dust 5,000 light years away in the Centaurus constellation. The Boomerang Nebula is just 1 degree above absolute zero, colder than the natural background temperature of space. https://gizmodo.com/nasa-is-creating-the-coldest-spot-in-the-universe-1515817649 Top image: Boomerang Nebula as seen…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Dec 18

This Galactic Collision Is A Beautiful Spawning Ground For Supernovae

Dear Universe: You’ve really outdone yourself with this impressive, dynamic light display of NGC 2207 and IC 2163 colliding 130 million light years away. Thank you. Composite image of NGC 2207 and IC 2163 collision. Click for massive version. Image credit: NASA/CXC/SAO/S.Mineo et al [X-ray]; NASA/STScI [optical]; NASA/JPL-Caltech [infrared] The composite image layers data from…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Dec 11

An Over-stuffed Galaxy Slows Down Star Production

Every time we think we have galactic dynamics figured out, the universe throws a new curveball at us. In a new image, two galaxies consumed a conspicuously-absent third. Galactic cannibalism is nothing new, but its chilling impact on star formation is. Top image: Galaxies NGC 3226 (top) and NGC 3227 (bottom) as seen in X-ray…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Dec 7

Why We Should Keep Trying to Time Travel

H.G. Wells coined the term “time machine” all the way back in 1895, just a decade before Einstein published his groundbreaking paper on special relativity that would begin show how time travel is possible. The fascination with using technology to look into the past or the future hasn’t faded in the last century. And as…

Space & Spaceflight Adam Clark Estes Nov 20

Does The Universe Need Black Holes?

Black holes are some of the most mysterious objects in our universe — but are they also among the most necessary? Image: Artist’s concept of a growing black hole at the center of a faraway galaxy. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) Astrophysicist James Geach stopped by today to answer our questions about the formation and evolution of galaxies, including…

io9 Ria Misra Nov 12

Yes, Time Travel Is Possible; Here’s How

Time travel’s been one of man’s wildest fantasies for centuries. It’s long been a popular trend in movies and fiction, inspiring everything from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol to H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine to the Charlton Heston shrine that is The Planet of the Apes. And with the opening of Interstellar today—n0t to spoil…

Space & Spaceflight Adam Clark Estes Nov 5

Turbulence Prevents Star Formation In Galaxy Clusters

Galaxy clusters are large clouds of hot gas, seemingly-ideal places to observe gas cooling and condensing into stars. Yet, we don’t see that happening. Here’s a look at how black holes and turbulence are conspiring to keep galaxy clusters underpopulated with hot new stars. Top image: Perseus (left) and Virgo (right) glow extremely brightly in…

Tech News Mika McKinnon Nov 2

Stare Into The Raging Heart Of The Biggest Sunspot In 24 Years

The sun is spoiling us for superlatives. Last night, giant sunspot AR 2192 – the largest sunspot astronomers have observed in nearly 25 years – erupted in an X3.1-class solar flare, the most powerful of four flares to burst from the region since October 19th. The shot you see above was captured by Sergio Castillo…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Oct 25

Can You Guess What This Is An Image Of?

Hint: It’s not a brain. Solution below! This image shows a cross-sectional snapshot of a simulated supermassive star going supernova, approximately one day after the star’s interior began expanding outward. The star’s helium core can be seen powering fluid instabilities and the mix of heavy elements throughout the star’s interior. This image is the work…

io9 Robbie Gonzalez Oct 10

Astronomers Discover A Supermassive Black Hole Inside A Tiny Galaxy

In a finding that could turn supermassive black hole formation theories upside-down, astronomers have spotted one of these beasts inside a tiny galaxy just 157 light-years across — about 500 times smaller than the Milky Way. Artist’s conception of a supermassive black hole in a galaxy’s center. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech The clincher will be if the…

io9 Elizabeth Howell – Universe Today Sep 18

What Would It Be Like To Fall Into A Black Hole?

Let’s say you happened to fall into the nearest black hole. What would you experience and see? And what would the rest of the Universe see as this was happening? Let’s say you decided to ignore some of my previous advice. You’ve just purchased yourself a space dragon from the Market on the Centauri Ringworld,…

io9 Fraser Cain – Universe Today Sep 7

A New Type of Dyson Sphere May Be Nearly Impossible to Detect

As It Turns Out, We Really Are All Starstuff

Could The Death Star Destroy A Planet?

How Do We Know Dark Matter Exists?

The Truth Behind Interstellar‘s “Scientifically Accurate” Black Hole

Physics Valentines (And Anti-Valentines), For Those You Love (And Hate)

Astrophysicists Find That Cities Grow Just Like Galaxies

This Active Herculean Galaxy Is A Beautiful Start To The New Year

This Supernova Remnant Is a Festive Holiday Bauble

This Dying Star Is The Center Of The Coldest Place In The Universe

This Galactic Collision Is A Beautiful Spawning Ground For Supernovae

An Over-stuffed Galaxy Slows Down Star Production

Why We Should Keep Trying to Time Travel

Does The Universe Need Black Holes?

Yes, Time Travel Is Possible; Here’s How

Turbulence Prevents Star Formation In Galaxy Clusters

Stare Into The Raging Heart Of The Biggest Sunspot In 24 Years

Can You Guess What This Is An Image Of?

Astronomers Discover A Supermassive Black Hole Inside A Tiny Galaxy

What Would It Be Like To Fall Into A Black Hole?

The ‘Mass Effect’ Show is Getting Rewritten to Get Greenlit

See the Early Stages of How ‘Project Hail Mary’ Brought Rocky to Life

‘Cognitive Surrender’ Is a New and Useful Term for How AI Melts Brains

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