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54 Articles

What is dark energy? Ever since the first direct evidence for it was found during supernova observations in 1998, which showed that the universe is expanding at an accelerated rate, astronomers have wondered what this mysterious force could be. This issue, we’ve been wondering the same thing, so we caught up with researchers to find out where we’re at in unravelling its mysteries. Turn to our cover feature to find out more. Elsewhere this issue, we find out what it truly takes to become an interstellar traveller when the time comes for humanity to travel among the stars, take a trip back to Venus to find out the reasoning behind why its so dry, offer up the best stargazing targets this autumn and much more – as always, all your…

Mars Express takes a deep dive into an ancient lake

A Mars orbiter has taken a deep dive into an ancient Martian lake – figuratively, at least. Larger than any lake currently on Earth, the dried-up remnants of this ancient lakebed were captured in incredible detail by the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Mars Express spacecraft, which has been orbiting the Red Planet since 2003. “This patch of Mars – shown in a new view from Mars Express’ High-Resolution Stereo Camera – is known as Caralis Chaos,” ESA scientists said. “We believe that water, and a lot of it, once existed here.” In the Caralis Chaos region lie several now-empty basins that form the remnants of Lake Eridania, an ancient lake that had an area of roughly 1.1 million square kilometres (424,712 square miles) – about the size of Egypt. ESA…

Mars Express takes a deep dive into an ancient lake

Hubble spots a stunning spiral galaxy shining in the ‘Little Lion’

From its vantage point in low-Earth orbit, the Hubble Space Telescope recently captured an intricate portrait of NGC 3430, a classic spiral galaxy that resides 100 million light years from Earth in the constellation of Leo Minor. The galaxy itself is a stunning swirl of gas and dust sculpted into thick lanes that spiral around its centre. Bright blue splotches sprinkled among these arms show regions where new stars are forming. The orange specks seen at the top and bottom of the image show distant background galaxies behind NGC 3430. Just outside the galaxy’s main structure are several other neighbouring galaxies, beyond the frame of this image. One of them is close enough that its gravitational influence has sparked some of the star formation within NGC 3430. Both NGC 3430…

Hubble spots a stunning spiral galaxy shining in the ‘Little Lion’

Ghostly ‘zodiacal light’ glows above the Very Large Telescope in Chile

A newly released image shows a colourful haze glowing above the Paranal Observatory in the Chilean Atacama Desert at sunset. The European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) stands beneath a star-studded sky illuminated by a phenomenon known as zodiacal light, which is observed as a faint glow of diffuse light in the sky scattered by interplanetary dust. In this case, the glow is caused by sunlight reflecting off dust particles in the evening sky. The VLT consists of four telescopes that comprise the world’s most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory. The telescopes work together to capture detailed views of the cosmos and have contributed to a number of significant discoveries with more than two decades of observations, including the first image of an exoplanet. In the new image, a…

Ghostly ‘zodiacal light’ glows above the Very Large Telescope in Chile

Jupiter’s surreal clouds swirl in a new view from NASA’s Juno probe

Vivid clouds swirl across Jupiter’s skies like colourful brush strokes across a painting in a new photo from NASA’s Juno spacecraft. The image, taken during the spacecraft’s 61st close flyby of Jupiter on 12 May 2024, hones in on activity in the planet’s northern hemisphere. Juno was approximately 29,000 kilometres (18,000 miles) above Jupiter’s cloud tops when it captured this new view, highlighting the planet’s persistent storms and colourful bands created by strong winds in its atmosphere. “It provides a detailed view of chaotic clouds and cyclonic storms in an area known to scientists as a folded filamentary region,” NASA officials said. “In these regions, the zonal jets that create the familiar banded patterns in Jupiter’s clouds break down, leading to turbulent patterns and cloud structures that rapidly evolve over…

Jupiter’s surreal clouds swirl in a new view from NASA’s Juno probe

NASA may use lasers to livestream from the Moon one day

Getting a live play-by-play of astronauts in space during future Artemis Moon missions could eventually be possible thanks to laser technology. NASA is testing a space communication method that, instead of using radio waves, uses a laser beam to connect Earth with astronauts on the Moon. The bar has been set for a while, with NASA teams making huge strides in laser communications since an experiment performed in December of 2023. The next round of experiments began in early June and featured connecting NASA’s Pilatus PC-12 plane back to instruments at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland via laser link. Heading into July, the team historically sent a 4K video on a round-trip journey to the International Space Station (ISS) from an aircraft. And 30 July witnessed the completion of…

NASA may use lasers to livestream from the Moon one day

Drugs can partially prevent muscle loss caused by microgravity

Astronauts experience significant muscle loss as a result of being in microgravity, but new drugs designed to create new muscle partially counteract this effect. The results have important implications for both long-duration space missions and the treatment of muscle loss on Earth. Just a week in space accelerates muscle ageing so much that astronauts’ muscles resemble those of people with a condition called sarcopenia. This progressive decline in skeletal muscle takes decades to develop on Earth and typically affects older adults. Astronauts’ muscles weaken in space because they don’t work as hard in space as they do under the incessant weight of Earth’s gravity. Despite following high-intensity exercise regimens, astronauts lose 10 to 20 per cent of their muscle mass, putting them at a higher risk of serious health issues.…

Drugs can partially prevent muscle loss caused by microgravity

A newly found star 30 times the size of the Sun has an unexpected chemical composition

Astronomers have discovered a new star that’s 30 times larger than the Sun and could force a major rethink of stellar evolution theories. The star, designated J0524-0336 and located around 30,000 light years from Earth, has a shockingly high concentration of the element lithium when compared to the Sun at its current age or other stars of similarly advanced ages. This is an issue for our understanding of how stars forge heavier elements via nuclear fusion because lithium is a light element. Current models suggest light elements are lost through this process in favour of heavier elements like carbon and oxygen. Not only is J0524-0336 rich in lithium, but it also has a corresponding lack of heavy elements. Following the discovery of this star, researchers set about revealing its chemical…

A newly found star 30 times the size of the Sun has an unexpected chemical composition

SpaceX refutes reports that its Starship launchpad system polluted Texas waters

SpaceX has strongly refuted a media report claiming the company violated environmental regulations by releasing pollutants related to Starship launches in South Texas. CNBC reported on 12 August that “Elon Musk’s SpaceX violated environmental regulations by repeatedly releasing pollutants into or near bodies of water” through its water deluge system at its Starbase launch facility in South Texas, citing a state agency. The report claims that industrial wastewater is discharged into nearby bodies of water by SpaceX’s deluge system. The report cites a notice of violation of the Clean Water Act issued by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). The related investigation “found that SpaceX discharged industrial wastewater without a permit four times between March and July of this year,” according to CNBC. The deluge system is used for…

SpaceX refutes reports that its Starship launchpad system polluted Texas waters

An ocean’s worth of water may be buried within Mars, but can we get to it?

Enough water to cover the surface of Mars has been discovered within the crust of the Red Planet by NASA’s InSight mission. However, the ocean is buried several kilometres underground. InSight touched down in the Elysium Planitia region on Mars in November 2018 and maintained its mission for four years. Armed with the first seismometer to be taken to the Red Planet, it detected 1,319 marsquakes. Geophysicists Vashan Wright and Matthias Morzfeld of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and professor of planetary science Michael Manga of the University of California, Berkeley, have used that seismometer data to discover water on the planet. They combined the varying speeds of recorded marsquakes – documented as the quakes reverberated through the Red Planet’s interior – to a mathematical model describing the physics of…

An ocean’s worth of water may be buried within Mars, but can we get to it?

Weird ‘watermelon-shaped’ asteroids like Dimorphos and Selam may finally have an explanation

The unusual shapes of the tiny asteroids Dimorphos and Selam have perplexed astronomers for years, but a new study finally explains how they got so strange. It also suggests these bizarrely shaped ‘moonlets’ may be more common than scientists thought. Binary asteroids – pairs of asteroids that are essentially mini versions of the Earth-Moon system – are pretty common in our cosmic neighbourhood. These include the Didymos-Dimorphos duo that headlined NASA’s 2022 Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission. Previous research suggests that such binary asteroids form when a rubble-pile ‘parent’ asteroid composed of loosely held rocks spins so fast that it sheds some of its mass, which coalesces into the second, smaller satellite, or ‘moonlet’ asteroid. Most moonlet asteroids look like upright, blunt-ended rugby balls as they orbit their typically…

Weird ‘watermelon-shaped’ asteroids like Dimorphos and Selam may finally have an explanation

WIN A CELESTRON NEXSTAR 4SE WORTH OVER £599

Featuring high-quality Maksutov-Cassegrain optics, the NexStar 4SE is an ideal telescope for observing and photographing the wonders of space. With a total weight of 9.5 kilograms including the tripod, the ultra-portable 4SE features a precision optical system with a 1,325-millimetre focal length and is the first Maksutov system to ever feature Celestron’s premium StarBright XLT coating. The 4SE includes a camera control feature that allows you to remotely take a series of timed exposures using your DSLR camera, and the tripod features a built-in wedge to help make short-exposure astrophotography a heavenly experience. The NexStar 4SE has all the same features as Celestron’s most advanced computerised Go-To telescopes, including the revolutionary SkyAlign alignment technology, a sky tour feature, a database of nearly 40,000 celestial objects and easy to use hand…

WIN A CELESTRON NEXSTAR 4SE WORTH OVER £599

You have to feel for physicists at the end of the 19th century. After massive advances in physics in the previous 100 years, many thought they had a good handle on the laws of the universe and all that remained for them to do was make more precise measurements. Quickly, the 20th century began to deliver insights that turned this confidence on its head. Arguably, the most shocking of those discoveries came at the end of the century, when it was found that the universe is expanding and that expansion is accelerating. The force behind this was labelled ‘dark energy’, but that’s just a placeholder. Troublingly, dark energy isn’t just an aspect of the cosmos, it’s the dominating aspect. And it’s something that can’t be ignored, as the nature of…

THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF DARK ENERGY

The cosmological constant and vacuum energy The leading candidate for dark energy represents vacuum energy arising from ‘virtual particles’ popping in and out of existence in empty space. The main problem with this candidate is the massive difference between its theoretical value and its observed value. The universal quantum field Researchers struggle to unite cosmology with quantum physics. Another candidate for dark energy arises from quantum mechanics. This suggests that a scalar field permeates the entire universe, replicating the acceleration effects of the cosmological constant. The fifth force of nature Should a dark energy universal scalar field exist, it could represent a fifth force of nature, joining its counterpart gravity, electromagnetism and the strong and weak nuclear forces. This quintessence would differ from the cosmological constant by varying in time.…

WHERE DID DARK ENERGY COME FROM?

0 seconds 1 Before the beginning All the matter and energy in the universe existed within a single infinitesimal point, a gravitational singularity a billionth the size of a proton. Possibly due to a quantum fluctuation, a period of rapid expansion began. 10−43 seconds 2 Grand unification The universe was still at an infinitesimal size. At these incredible energy levels, the universe’s four fundamental forces were unified. Gravity soon separated to act independently, followed by electromagnetism. 10-32 to 10-12 seconds 3 The quark epoch As the universe began to expand, its ‘supercooled’ elementary particles formed as a ‘hot soup’ of ionised plasma. Matter particles interacted with the Higgs field, thus acquiring mass. The four fundamental forces were separated. 10 seconds 4 No more positrons Positrons and electrons annihilated each other,…

WHERE DID DARK ENERGY COME FROM?

THE END OF THE UNIVERSE

Big Freeze Rather than rip apart, there is a theory that the universe will continue to expand and then simply stop. Dark energy will push the universe apart, with the energy inside it becoming more and more spread out, until it reaches a balancing point with dark matter. New stars will be unable to form because the supplies of gas are too thin and there will be a uniform temperature. It will result in the Big Freeze, leaving the universe dead and empty. 1 The beginning As with all these theories, everything starts with the Big Bang, which happened 13.8 billion years ago. 2 Period of expansion The universe has been expanding for billions of years. It began accelerating 6 billion years ago and heat is being dispersed. 3 Continuing…

THE END OF THE UNIVERSE

HOW DARK ENERGY BEHAVES

1 The cosmic tug of war In many ways, dark energy can be considered the ‘evil’ counterpart of gravity. Gravity’s influence draws matter in the galaxy together; dark energy works to push it apart. 2 Holding it together Astronomers calculated that the gravitational influence of visible matter wasn’t enough to hold galaxies together. 3 Dark matter boosts gravity There’s an unseen form of matter exerting its influence. Dark matter accounts for about 80 per cent of the matter in the universe. 4 The dark universe at war As dark matter outweighs ordinary matter, it’s dark matter’s gravitational influence that dark energy is working against. 5 The space between us Dark energy seems to expand the very space between galaxies rather than the galaxies themselves. 6 Where will it all end?…

HOW DARK ENERGY BEHAVES

SPACE DELIVERY SERVICE

Intuitive Machines, a commercial technology company, is producing the Terrestrial Return Vehicle (TRV) in cooperation with NASA, which will quickly return lab experiments and other perishable or time-critical materials from space to Earth. It will fill a pressing need to carry out exciting new experiments and provide a regular delivery of samples from the International Space Station (ISS) to Earth. At the moment it’s frustrating that these materials can only be sent back a couple of times a year and require a long-winded planning procedure. The project is managed by the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), which will be responsible for sending the TRVs to the ISS on commercial resupply service vehicles, their in-orbit operations and their non-flight systems. Intuitive Machines will design the vehicles, obtain…

SPACE DELIVERY SERVICE

BOEING NEEDS TO IMPROVE QUALITY CONTROL ON THE SLS MOON ROCKET

A scathing report from the NASA Office of Inspector General (OIG) has highlighted several critical issues related to the development of the next version of the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket, which will likely delay the Artemis Moon missions. The report, released by NASA’s internal watchdog on 8 August, focuses on the gigantic SLS Block 1B and its Exploration Upper Stage (EUS). Block 1B is designed to increase the amount of cargo SLS can carry to the Moon. The upgraded version is key to NASA’s long-term lunar plans and will be used for Artemis IV, currently scheduled to launch in 2028. The OIG found that work being done by Boeing – the prime contractor for the SLS core and upper stages, as well as the rocket’s flight avionics suite –…

BOEING NEEDS TO IMPROVE QUALITY CONTROL ON THE SLS MOON ROCKET

THE SPACE LAUNCH SYSTEM

1 Booster There are two of these, made up of five cylindrical segments containing the solid fuel and oxidiser. 2 Rocket nozzle Designed to maximise thrust, the exhaust nozzle can be steered to control the direction of thrust. 3 Ignition motor Located at the top of the booster stack, this burns for less than a second to ignite the solid propellant. 4 Attachment to core stage Each solid rocket booster is mated to the core stage by braces at the top and bottom of the booster. 5 Main engines The four RS-25 engines of the core stage are upgraded versions of the Space Shuttle main engines. 6 Core stage The lower part of this huge rocket stage contains the liquid hydrogen tank, while the upper part contains liquid oxygen. 7 Upper stage This has two functions:…

THE SPACE LAUNCH SYSTEM

“This is how we get to Mach 3”

Did you ever apply to be a Canadian Space Agency astronaut? I applied twice. In 2009, it was the first recruitment they had done since 1992 – that’s 17 years. I was there right up to the bitter end. There were four people left for two spots: David Saint-Jacques, Jeremy Hansen, Joshua Kutryk and me. Josh and I obviously weren’t selected on that campaign. Then I played again in 2016. Josh was selected, thankfully, with Jenni Gibbons. And then I got to go over to Virgin Galactic in October 2020. My flight, I think, highlights the benefits of the commercial space industry. We have this chorus of folks that want to participate. Government programs are great, but they have funding limits and seat limits and a lot of other factors.…

“This is how we get to Mach 3”

A NASA TELESCOPE MAY HAVE FOUND ANTIMATTER ANNIHILATING IN POSSIBLY THE BIGGEST EXPLOSION SINCE THE BIG BANG

NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has examined what may have been the most powerful explosion since the Big Bang, discovering a hitherto unseen feature. The feature could be the result of matter and antimatter particles annihilating at 99.9 per cent the speed of light. The blast was an example of a gamma-ray burst (GRB). When it was first seen on 9 October 2022 by NASA’s Fermi and the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, it was designated GRB 221009A. The power of the GRB was soon revealed, and it earned the nickname the ‘Brightest Of All Time’, or the ‘BOAT’. “As long as we have been able to detect GRBs, there is no question that this GRB is the brightest we have ever witnessed by a factor of ten or more,” Wen-fai…

A NASA TELESCOPE MAY HAVE FOUND ANTIMATTER ANNIHILATING IN POSSIBLY THE BIGGEST EXPLOSION SINCE THE BIG BANG

BURSTS FROM DYING STARS

1 Fusion Stars generate energy through nuclear fusion. In massive stars it’s via the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen cycle, which acts as a catalyst for fusion involving hydrogen atoms. 2 Onion layers Nuclear fusion of hydrogen creates helium. Temperatures grow so high that the helium begins to fuse to create oxygen, then nitrogen, carbon, silicon and so on. 3 Living fast Massive stars struggle to stay aloft against the pull of gravity, so they have to generate a lot of energy, which uses up their vast stores of gas in just a few million years. 4 Iron star Massive stars end up with cores of iron, which cannot undergo further nuclear fusion without putting in more energy than is produced. Fusion ceases in the star’s core. 5 Collapse As the massive…

BURSTS FROM DYING STARS

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NASA’S PERSEVERANCE ROVER FINDS POSSIBLE SIGNS OF ANCIENT RED PLANET LIFE

NASA’s Perseverance rover may have found signs of ancient life in a rock on Mars. The mission team’s scientists are ecstatic, but remain cautious, as further analysis is needed to confirm the discovery. The rover has come across an intriguing, arrowhead-shaped rock that hosts chemical signatures and structures that could have been formed by microbial life billions of years ago, when Mars was significantly wetter than it is today. Inside the rock, which scientists have nicknamed Cheyava Falls, Perseverance’s instruments detected organic compounds, which are precursors to the chemistry of life as we know it. Wisping through the length of the rock are veins of calcium sulphate, mineral deposits that suggest water – also essential for life – once ran through the rock. The rover also found dozens of millimetre-sized…

NASA’S PERSEVERANCE ROVER FINDS POSSIBLE SIGNS OF ANCIENT RED PLANET LIFE

INTERSTELLAR TRAVEL AND HOW TO BECOME A SPACE TOURIST

As the spacecraft approaches the planet, things seem quite familiar. Sunlight glints off an expanse of blue ocean, and white clouds are corralled by gusts of wind. But a closer inspection is jarring – the continents are in the wrong places. That’s because, for all its similarities, this isn’t Earth. Instead, we’re looking at the first historic images sent back of another world orbiting a star far beyond the Sun. In days gone by, such ideas were little more than a pipe dream. But the tide is turning. In 2016, the late Stephen Hawking and billionaire Yuri Milner launched their Breakthrough Starshot project to an enthralled press conference. The goal is to one day fire lasers at sails strapped to tiny stamp-sized spacecraft, launching a swarm of explorers to Alpha…

INTERSTELLAR TRAVEL AND HOW TO BECOME A SPACE TOURIST

1 Oxygen supply While the environment inside your craft would have its own oxygen, if you needed to venture outside of your spaceship then breathable air is a must. 2 Visor While most of the journey would be far from any bright light, a visor is important for when you are up close to a star. Without one, the searing light could easily blind you. 3 Communications When you’re encased in a spacesuit, having radio communication with your fellow astronauts is key – especially as you’re too far from Earth for quick help. 4 Water supply Water is a key ingredient for life. You’ll certainly need it if you’re roving out and about once you reach your destination.…

Daedalus In the 1970s, the British Interplanetary Society conducted research into a rocket that could travel between the stars. Their aim was to send their fusion-powered spaceship to reach Barnard’s Star in 50 years. Project Orion This would have used controlled nuclear explosions to propel a craft. The difficulty is that many countries are signed up to an international treaty banning the detonation of nuclear devices in space. Breakthrough Starshot This idea from Hawking and Milner is to send a swarm of tiny probes to the Alpha Centauri system by firing a powerful laser at sails strapped to the miniature machines. Sänger photon rocket Eugen Sänger suggested using antimatter as the propulsion mechanism for a spacecraft in the 1950s, as when antimatter collides with matter it creates energy that could…

Alpha Centauri Distance from Earth: 4.3 light years Current travel time: 30,000 years Interstellar speed travel time: 43 years This three-star system includes Proxima Centauri, which is the nearest star to Earth after the Sun. It’s confirmed there are at least two planets around this star. Barnard’s Star Distance from Earth: 5.96 light years Current travel time: 42,500 years Interstellar speed travel time: 60 years One of the fastest moving stars in the galaxy, this is also the closest star to Earth, after the Sun, that is visible from the Northern Hemisphere. Wolf 359 Distance from Earth: 7.8 light years Current travel time: 55,500 years Interstellar speed travel time: 78 years This red dwarf is located in the constellation of Leo and can only be seen through a large telescope.…

SPACE IS BECOMING AN UNSUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENT IN THE LONG TERM

Space, just beyond the reach of Earth’s atmosphere, is kind of like a teenager’s bedroom – even when you try to clean it, it somehow keeps getting messier. That’s one of the findings from the 2024 Space Environment Report published by the European Space Agency (ESA) on 23 July. The report offers an accounting of satellites and debris in Earth orbit. The ESA’s latest report, which has been published annually since 2017, is like a census for space activities and shows how bad the problem is becoming. According to the data, there are more than 35,000 objects being tracked by surveillance networks, with approximately 26,000 being pieces of debris larger than ten centimetres (four inches) in size. The report suggests that despite an improved effort to mitigate this massive amount…

SPACE IS BECOMING AN UNSUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENT IN THE LONG TERM

SATELLITES VERSUS DEBRIS

OVER 2,000 DISCARDED ROCKET STAGES MORE THAN 2,850 DEFUNCT SATELLITES 26,000+ TRACKED OBJECTS OVER 21,000 UNIDENTIFIED OBJECTS AND FRAGMENTS AROUND 34,000 FRAGMENTS LARGER THAN TEN CENTIMETRES AT LEAST 900,000 FRAGMENTS ONE TO TEN CENTIMETRES IN SIZE OVER 128 MILLION DEBRIS FRAGMENTS UNDER ONE CENTIMETRE AROUND 10,380 WORKING SATELLITES SHARE AN ORBIT WITH OVER 8,800 TONNES OF SPACE DEBRIS ABOUT 26,000 DEBRIS OBJECTS ARE MONITORED FROM EARTH DEBRIS OBJECTS TRAVEL MANY KILOMETRES PER SECOND. IN CASE OF IMPACT, THEY MAY DESTROY WORKING SATELLITES SMALLER OBJECTS THAT CANNOT BE MONITORED ARE ESTIMATED BY STATISTICAL MODELS…

SATELLITES VERSUS DEBRIS

WHEN BLACK HOLES TURN WHITE

Somewhere out there in the vastness of space lurks a black hole smaller than the full stop at the end of this sentence. Minuscule but mighty, it could hold the key to unlocking some of the greatest mysteries in the universe. Black holes are the ultimate cosmic laboratory, a way for physicists to test out their theories in an environment so extreme that space and time are curved and warped. Even light cannot resist their eternal grasp, so we see no light reflected from them at all. We can only spot them when their gravity affects something visible or they merge to create gravitational waves. Few places have such a high amount of energy in such a small space. But what happens if you fall into one? The bad news…

WHEN BLACK HOLES TURN WHITE

MEET THE WHITE HOLE

1 Black hole forms Black holes form when a massive star dies, but primordial black holes are also thought to have appeared shortly after the Big Bang. 2 Sculpting a singularity According to Einstein, an infinitely small, infinitely heavy point called a singularity forms at the bottom. 3 Pushed into the past You’re eventually spat out of a white hole – an object you can never return through. 4 Wormhole A bridge opens up between the present and the past, known as an Einstein-Rosen bridge or a wormhole. 5 Spinning singularities A rotating black hole would form a ringshaped singularity with a hole in the middle rather than a single point.…

MEET THE WHITE HOLE

QUANTUM LOOP GRAVITY

1 Space-time loops In direct contrast to general relativity, loop quantum gravity says space and time aren’t smooth, but made of a series of ’stitches’. 2 Black hole pressure As a black hole collapses, the pressure forces the loops together as matter approaches the point of a singularity. 3 Black hole pressure Before a singularity is reached, the black hole bounces outwards to form a white hole, and matter is thrown outwards.…

QUANTUM LOOP GRAVITY

OUR HUNT FOR THE WHITE HOLE

1 Radio waves As a small black hole bounces into a white hole, it should produce radio waves approximately the size of your hand. 2 Journey across the universe Travelling at the speed of light, they still take billions of years to cross the universe and enter the Milky Way. 3 Parabolic reflector They hit the large part of the radio dish, which is shaped to bring radio waves to a common focus. 4 Subreflector A smaller reflector is placed at the common focus point to collect and send the corralled radio waves downwards. 5 The feed horn The radio waves pass through the feed horn, which as its name suggests feeds the signal deeper down into the radio telescope. 6 Analysis by astronomers Only after these stages can astronomers…

OUR HUNT FOR THE WHITE HOLE

THE MOON’S THIN ATMOSPHERE IS MADE BY CONSTANT METEORITE BOMBARDMENT

It’s easy to imagine the Moon as an atmosphereless hunk of rock orbiting Earth. However, while lacking breathable air, our planet’s loyal natural satellite companion does have a thin and wispy atmosphere. Scientists have long puzzled over the existence of this tenuous atmosphere, or ‘exosphere’, and have searched for the main process that sustains it, but new research indicates that this tenuous lunar atmosphere owes its existence to renewal and replenishment caused by the violent bombardment of space rocks upon the Moon. The team behind the research suggests that the Moon’s atmosphere is mainly sustained – and has been for billions of years – by this assault causing a phenomenon called impact vaporisation. This process occurs when impacts kick up lunar soil, vaporising materials that either escape to space or…

THE MOON’S THIN ATMOSPHERE IS MADE BY CONSTANT METEORITE BOMBARDMENT

WHY IS VENUS SO DRY?

Venus is an especially interesting planet for many reasons, but there’s a particular thirst among astronomers to discover why this world is so incredibly dry. It’s a hot planet with a mean temperature of 462 degrees Celsius (863 degrees Fahrenheit), which makes it hotter than Mercury, so a largely bone-dry desert landscape may well be expected. Yet scientists think oceans once flowed on Venus in a similar vein to the stretches of water on Earth. But what happened to it all? Dr Eryn Cangi, a research scientist at the University of Colorado Boulder, is keen to get to the bottom of the mystery. On the one hand, she appreciates that we largely know what happened to the surface water on Venus, of which there is now none. On the other…

WHY IS VENUS SO DRY?

HOW WATER IS LOST HIGH IN VENUS’ ATMOSPHERE

1 Left to plough on alone Hydrodynamic processes account for the initial huge loss of water early in the planet’s life, leaving the surface of Venus dry. But some hydrogen was left behind in the atmosphere, only to later disappear. How this could have happened became the basis of a new study. 2 Breaking up is easy to do HCO+ is produced in the atmosphere of Venus from hydrogen, carbon and oxygen. When they are found by electrons, the ions end up splitting into two. This produces hydrogen atoms, shown in orange in this artist’s impression, as well as carbon monoxide molecules, which are coloured purple. 3 Leaving it all behind Once the ions have split, the hydrogen atoms are energised, giving them enough momentum to be able to exceed…

HOW WATER IS LOST HIGH IN VENUS’ ATMOSPHERE

WHY DOES VENUS HAVE CLOSE TO NO WATER?

A greenhouse effect boils it off Most of Venus’ water was boiled off early in its life. Strong sunlight broke the water into hydrogen and oxygen high in the atmosphere, and as an indirect greenhouse gas, the hydrogen helped warm the planet. Eventually, the hydrogen would have escaped due to hydrodynamic loss, removing a key ingredient for water. But once enough hydrogen escaped, temperature rises would halt. And with some hydrogen left behind, the question is how did Venus continue to lose the little water it has? The remaining water is subsequently lost The answer may lie in an unstable ion called HCO+, a positively charged combination of hydrogen, carbon and oxygen atoms. When these ions bond with free electrons, it leads to ‘dissociative recombination’. HCO+ splits into a hydrogen…

NASA SHUTS DOWN ITS NEOWISE ASTEROID HUNTER AFTER ALMOST 15 YEARS IN SPACE

A prolific asteroid-hunting mission has come to an end. NASA engineers sent a final command to the Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) on 8 August, ordering the probe to turn off its transmitter after nearly 15 years of operation. “The NEOWISE mission has been an extraordinary success story as it helped us better understand our place in the universe by tracking asteroids and comets that could be hazardous for us on Earth,” Nicola Fox, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA, said. “While we are sad to see this mission come to an end, we are excited for the future scientific discoveries it has opened by setting the foundation for the next-generation planetary defence telescope.” NEOWISE launched in December 2009 with a different name and a different…

NASA SHUTS DOWN ITS NEOWISE ASTEROID HUNTER AFTER ALMOST 15 YEARS IN SPACE

EXOPLANETS Do stars smaller than the Sun generally host smaller planets than the ones in the Solar System? The Sun is a typical star, but many smaller stars exist in the universe. Red dwarfs are the smallest stars, with only 10 to 50 per cent the size of the Sun. Over the past two decades, many planets have been detected around such red dwarf stars. Surprisingly, these planets are not much different from the planets found around Sun-like stars. Many of them are rocky, Earth-like planets like, for example, the seven planets detected around the TRAPPIST-1 star and the two around Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Sun. On the other hand, a significant fraction of them are large gas giant planets like Jupiter. In fact, some red dwarf…

SATURN THREW A COMET OUT OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM

Scientists have discovered a comet travelling one way out of the Solar System after a close encounter with Saturn. The comet, designated Comet A117uUD, was only discovered on 14 June 2024 by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS). Yet researchers were able to use 142 observations of the comet to ‘wind back’ its orbit around the Sun. This revealed that A117uUD met up with Saturn, the second-largest planet in the Solar System, famous for its bright and distinctive rings, in 2022 and was changed forever. This meeting with the gas giant put the comet on a highly flattened or elliptical orbit that will fling it out into interstellar space beyond the influence of the Sun. Using models to fast forward the path of A117uUD, the team found that it…

SATURN THREW A COMET OUT OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM

15 AUTUMN STARGAZING TARGETS

After the long, light, star-starved nights of summer, when many astronomers and skywatchers go into hibernation, autumn is finally here, and the sky is once again dark enough to see lots of amazing and beautiful things in the sky after the Sun has set. Here is a selection of some of the many star patterns, glittering star clusters and misty, faraway galaxies that can be seen in the sky at this time of year with the naked eye or binoculars. Wrap up warm and go and find them! 1 MESSIER 31: THE ANDROMEDA GALAXY Look to the upper left of the Great Square of Pegasus on a dark, Moon-free autumn night and you’ll see a misty smudge of light. This is actually Messier 31, a galaxy of around a trillion…

15 AUTUMN STARGAZING TARGETS

MAGNETIC FIELDS ON THE SUN COULD SOLVE A LONG-STANDING SOLAR HEATING MYSTERY

Scientists have long wondered why the hot soup of charged particles in our Sun’s atmosphere gets hotter moving away from the surface of the Sun. New research may have the answer, finding the superhot nature of the Sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona, could be due to the intriguing behaviour of small-scale waves in this nebulous plasma. These waves, known to scientists as kinetic Alfvén waves (KAWs), are wave-like vibrations of magnetic fields manifested by motions in the Sun’s photosphere. The findings could provide an important clue to decoding the physics-defying coronal heating mystery of why the corona is hundreds of times hotter than the visible solar ‘surface’, or photosphere, that radiates all the light we see from the Sun. The team behind this research, led by Syed Ayaz, a researcher…

MAGNETIC FIELDS ON THE SUN COULD SOLVE A LONG-STANDING SOLAR HEATING MYSTERY

THE SUN’S EFFECT ON THE PLANETS

1 Neptune Aurorae were spotted by Voyager. But the distinct offset between the planet’s magnetic field and its rotational axis means these weak light displays can be found across the surface. 2 Uranus On Uranus the solar wind excites atmospheric hydrogen to create its aurorae, which can be found close to its geographical equator as the planet orbits on its side. 3 Saturn Saturn’s poles are regularly lit up by strong aurorae, though as they are in the ultraviolet and infrared parts of the spectrum they would be invisible to us. 4 Jupiter Recent data from Juno suggests Jupiter’s powerful blue aurorae are not entirely powered by the same solar wind mechanism behind aurorae on the other planets. 5 Mars Mars’ small size and weak gravitational hold left it unable to cling…

THE SUN’S EFFECT ON THE PLANETS

Conjunction An alignment of objects at the same celestial longitude. The conjunction of the Moon and the planets is determined with reference to the Sun. A planet is in conjunction with the Sun when it and Earth are aligned on opposite sides of the Sun. Declination (Dec) How high an object will rise Dec measures north and south in degrees, arcminutes and arcseconds. There are 60 in the sky. Like Earth’s latitude, arcseconds in an arcminute and 60 arcminutes in a degree. Opposition When a celestial body is in line with Earth and the Sun. During opposition, an object is visible for the whole night, rising at sunset and setting at sunrise. At this point in its orbit, the celestial object is closest to Earth, making it appear bigger and…

THIS MONTH’S PLANETS

PLANET OF THE MONTH MARS Constellation: Taurus Magnitude: +0.7 AM/PM: PM Our planet of the month this issue is Mars. It’s been given that honour because it’s bright, easy to find in the sky and has a lot of interesting things going on around it. Mars is famously known as the Red Planet. However, that nickname is a bit misleading. When you look at Mars in the sky, you’ll see that it shines with more of a marmalade or topaz orange colour than fire engine or blood red. Its colour is due to the fine iron oxide dust that covers its surface, in some places so thickly that over millions of years the soft Martian winds have blown it into rippling dunes. This month Mars will be an evening object,…

THIS MONTH’S PLANETS

There are many features on the Moon that have acquired ‘celebrity’ status because they are genuinely impressive. But other features aren’t given the same credit or attention because they are overshadowed by their more impressive neighbours. One such feature is a walled plain called Albategnius, which can be found almost in the centre of the Moon’s face as we see it from Earth. If you’re not familiar with this feature, that’s no huge surprise. Albategnius is overshadowed by three huge and very famous features directly to its west: Ptolemaeus, Alphonsus and Arzachel. Linked together and forming a striking sight in both small binoculars and large telescopes, these three craters are very popular observing targets, which is why poor Albategnius, just to their east, is usually overlooked. It’s a shame, because…

NAKED EYE AND BINOCULAR TARGETS

1 Capella (Alpha Aurigae) The brightest star in Auriga, yellow-white Capella is also known as the ‘Goat Star’. Shining at magnitude +0.07, almost as bright as better known Vega, it’s the eighth-brightest star in the sky and the closest first-magnitude star to the Pole Star. 2 Epsilon Aurigae This huge blue supergiant star, 2,000 light years away, dims every 27 years for a period of two years as something huge and unseen passes in front of it, most likely a dust ring around a companion star. 3 The Pleiades (Messier 45) The Pleiades is a cluster of stars 430 light years away from Earth. The naked eye can see its seven brightest stars – hence its nickname the ‘Seven Sisters’ – but it actually contains many hundreds of glittering blue-white stars. 4…

NAKED EYE AND BINOCULAR TARGETS

TACKLE THE SIGHTS OF THE GREAT SQUARE

The Andromeda Galaxy (Messier 31) is one of the most famous and most frequently observed and photographed deep-sky objects in the whole of the night sky, and rightly so. Easily visible to the naked eye as a smudge of light larger than the Moon, even a small telescope transforms it into a beautiful misty oval, while larger instruments reveal hints of its spiral structure, its bright central core and a pair of fainter satellite galaxies nearby. But a short star hop away from this celestial celebrity lies a handful of other objects worthy of telescope owners’ attention. Much smaller, much fainter and much harder to see, they are nonetheless worth tracking down because they are so different to big, brash Messier 31. A couple of this month’s challenges really are…

TACKLE THE SIGHTS OF THE GREAT SQUARE

NORTHERN HEMISPHERE

Autumn provides a stunning selection of open and globular star clusters, galaxies and a smattering of nebulae. If you have a telescope of at least small to medium aperture, galaxies such as the circumpolar Fireworks Galaxy in the constellation of Cepheus and the ever-beautiful Andromeda Galaxy in the constellation of Andromeda, as well as the nearby Triangulum Galaxy in Triangulum, will make ideal targets. Before dawn, keen observers will be able to capture Messier 74 in Pisces and Messier 77 in Cetus. Meanwhile, the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules and Messier 92 are easily visible through telescopes. This month, observers can also turn their instruments to star-forming regions such as the Heart and Soul Nebula in Cassiopeia and the North America Nebula and Veil Nebula in Cygnus, while double star…

NORTHERN HEMISPHERE

CANON EOS 6D MARK II

The original Canon EOS 6D saw the birth of a new breed of camera – one that introduced beginner, enthusiast and amateur photographers to the idea of an accessible full-frame system. For those of us who baulk at the idea of spending thousands on pro or semi-pro systems, the 6D offered an affordable alternative, and one that drew positive recognition from the industry and the photography community. The Canon EOS 6D Mark II looks to update the original 6D with a far more modern specification list, and although the Mark II is in itself a few years old now, it’s still a relevant and worthwhile consideration for many of us looking to get more serious about our picture taking. Although there are some compromises to be made, the price alone…

CANON EOS 6D MARK II

RED-LIGHT HEADLAMPS

Nitecore HC65 V2 Cost: £89.95 /$84.95 From: Nitecore 1 The brightest light here can shine at 1,750 lumens and gives you a 165-metre (541-foot) beam. It has been designed to preserve battery life and runs for 28 hours on a single charge on its lowest setting of 50 lumens, as opposed to the predecessor HC65, which ran for 16 hours on a single charge. It has five brightness levels and three light sources. It uses a USB C port for charging, which is now more common than the micro USB found on other models, and it also charges quicker. You can remove the battery, so you have the option of taking multiple charged batteries and swapping them if you need to. It’s on the more expensive end of this list,…

RED-LIGHT HEADLAMPS

THE APOLLO 1 CREW

Following the success of the Mercury and Gemini programs in the 1960s, NASA set about planning a series of manned missions to the Moon that would become known as the Apollo missions, under direction of John F. Kennedy to land a man on the Moon by 1970. Apollo 1 was to be the first manned mission, and although it wouldn’t travel to the Moon itself, it was intended to test important technologies in Earth orbit with Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee on board. Tragically, the spacecraft was destroyed in a cabin fire during a launchpad test. Each of the three astronauts had been influential during NASA’s space exploration program in the run up to Apollo 1. Grissom was the second American in space aboard Liberty Bell 7,…

THE APOLLO 1 CREW

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