Lifeboat Foundation

Looking like a glittering cosmic geode, a trio of dazzling stars blaze from the hollowed-out cavity of a reflection nebula in this new image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. The triple-star system is made up of the variable star HP Tau, HP Tau G2, and HP Tau G3.

HP Tau is known as a T Tauri star, a type of young variable star that hasn’t begun nuclear fusion yet but is beginning to evolve into a hydrogen-fueled star similar to our sun. T Tauri stars tend to be younger than 10 million years old―in comparison, our sun is around 4.6 billion years old―and are often found still swaddled in the clouds of dust and gas from which they formed.

As with all variable stars, HP Tau’s brightness changes over time. T Tauri stars are known to have both periodic and random fluctuations in brightness. The random variations may be due to the chaotic nature of a developing young star, such as instabilities in the accretion disk of dust and gas around the star, material from that disk falling onto the star and being consumed, and flares on the star’s surface. The periodic changes may be due to giant sunspots rotating in and out of view.

Jupiter’s moon, Europa, has long been hypothesized to contain a vast, liquid water ocean beneath its icy crust. But has this crust remained stationary, or has it moved over millions of years since it could be separated from the ocean below? This is what two recent studies published in The Planetary Science Journal and JGR Planets hope to address as high-resolution images from NASA’s Juno spacecraft revealed some unique surface features on the small moon. These images and studies hold the potential to help scientists better understand what they refer to as “true polar wander” on Europa, which is a hypothesis stating that Europa’s outer icy shell moves freely since it’s allegedly detached from the ocean underneath.

“True polar wander occurs if Europa’s icy shell is decoupled from its rocky interior, resulting in high stress levels on the shell, which lead to predictable fracture patterns,” said Dr. Candy Hansen, who is a co-investigator on Juno, along with being lead author of The Planetary Science Journal study and a co-author on the JGR Planets study. “This is the first time that these fracture patterns have been mapped in the southern hemisphere, suggesting that true polar wander’s effect on Europa’s surface geology is more extensive than previously identified.”

SPECULOOS-3 b is practically the same size as our planet,” said Dr. Michaël Gillon. “A year, i.e. an orbit around the star, lasts around 17 hours. Days and nights, on the other hand, should never end.

What types of exoplanets can dwarf stars possess? This is what a recent study published in Nature Astronomy hopes to address as a team of international researchers announced the discovery of SPECULOOS 3 b, which is an Earth-sized exoplanet located approximately 55 light-years from Earth orbiting an ultra-cool dwarf star. What makes this study unique is astronomers know very little about dwarf stars and the exoplanets that could potentially orbit them, despite the number of dwarf stars outnumbering Sun-like stars throughout the cosmos. This study holds the potential to help astronomers better understand the formation and evolution of exoplanets around smaller stars and what the implications for finding life beyond Earth.

“SPECULOOS-3 b is practically the same size as our planet,” said Dr. Michaël Gillon, who is a professor at the University of Liège and first author of the study. “A year, i.e. an orbit around the star, lasts around 17 hours. Days and nights, on the other hand, should never end. We believe that the planet rotates synchronously, so that the same side, called the day side, always faces the star, just like the Moon does for the Earth. On the other hand, the night side hand, would be locked in endless darkness.”

Continue reading “SPECULOOS Project Discovers Earth-Sized Planet Around Ultra-Cool Star” »

O.o!!! The universe sure interesting because it so complex like a Euclidean hall of mirrors. Much of the universe is still misunderstood because much of what is known is still being understood like the holographic universe which seems to explain most everything but still doesn’t explain what is outside the universe.

Most models for the overall shape and geometry of the Universe—including some exotic ones—are compatible with the latest cosmic observations.

Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser is set to make its inaugural trip to orbit to deliver supplies to the International Space Station.

By Sarah Scoles

With its perpetually upturned pectoral fins, and blunt nose, the Dream Chaser looks more like a killer whale than a spacecraft. But unlike an orca, the Dream Chaser will soon be going to orbit: it’s set to take food and supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) later this year when it travels to space for the first time.

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One day our civilization may settle our whole galaxy, with mighty star empires consisting of millions if not billions of worlds, but what would the centers of such empires be like?

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Continue reading “Cosmic Capitals” »

Astronomers have discovered an enormous, low-density planet named WASP-193b, which is 50% larger than Jupiter but has a cotton candy-like density. This finding challenges current planetary formation theories, as scientists cannot explain how such a planet could form.

Astronomers have discovered a huge, fluffy oddball of a planet orbiting a distant star in our Milky Way galaxy. The discovery, reported on May 14 in the journal Nature Astronomy by researchers from at MIT, the University of Liège in Belgium, and elsewhere, is a promising key to the mystery of how such giant, super-light planets form.

The new planet, named WASP-193b, appears to dwarf Jupiter in size, yet it is a fraction of its density. The scientists found that the gas giant is 50 percent bigger than Jupiter, and about a tenth as dense — an extremely low density, comparable to that of cotton candy.

Gravitational waves can be lensed by massive galaxies so that they repeat, like an echo. Scientists are now readying to snare their first one and explore the cosmic secrets it holds.

By Jonathan O’Callaghan

In response to these problems, the authors of the new paper came up with a simple suggestion: a tweak to Einstein’s theory at different distance scales.

“The modification is very simple: We assume the universal constant of gravitation is different on cosmological scales, compared to smaller (like solar system or galactic) scales,” Afshordi said. “We call this a cosmic glitch.”