Aug 12, 2019 The Sun shocks the Solar System. Not in the way that astronomers think, however. Instead of “shockwaves” racing by the planets, it is electric shocks that are detected. The Magnetospheric Multiscale satellites were launched March 12, 2015 on a mission to study Earth’s electromagnetic fields. The MMS…
Aug 9, 2019 BepiColombo continues its long journey. The BepiColombo mission was launched October 20, 2018 on a joint mission to Mercury. The mission will consist of two satellites: the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO). MPO is designed to study Mercury’s composition, while MMO will…
Aug 8, 2019 How does the Sun produce heat and light enough to sustain life on Earth? Spectrograms of the Sun reveal that it is made-up almost entirely of hydrogen (71%), helium (27%) and some minute percentages of oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, carbon, and six other elements. Every element is present…
Aug 7, 2019 Quasars are not gravitational entities, they are electrical. According to a recent press release, Lizelke Klindt, a PhD researcher in Durham University’s Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy, said: “How quasars develop has been the cause of significant uncertainty. What our results suggest is that quasars undergo a brief…
Aug 6, 2019 There are many carbon-based molecules in space and on rocky bodies. Tholins are large organic molecules found off the Earth, sometimes in space and sometimes in some of the coldest environments. They do not exist naturally on Earth, because they would be immediately dissociated by ultraviolet light and…
Aug 5, 2019 When science journals discuss the behavior of planetary nebulae, the typical opinion involves gas and dust “blowing” through them. In many cases, a nebula is described as “star forming” when intense X-ray radiation, or extreme ultraviolet light, indicate to astronomers that nuclear fusion is occurring within the…
Aug 2, 2019 Why are volcanoes on Mars found in linear groups? According to conventional theories, volcanoes on Earth form when the plates that make up the Earth’s crust move over upwelling magma plumes. Magma naturally seeks out the weakest areas in the confining strata, allowing it to erupt onto…
Aug 01, 2019 Why are stars so unalike? “If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking.”— George S. Patton It is a mystery to astronomers why stars exhibit such distinctive characteristics, because the stars, including the Sun, are thought to form from the same mix of elements in a…
Jul 30, 2019 Dust storms occasionally engulf Mars. On Mars, dust storms are not diffuse and separated like those on Earth, they are caused by tornado-like whirlwinds whose tops reach higher than Mt. Everest. They appear to draw surface dust up through thousands of sky-high funnels and carry it for…
Jul 29, 2019 Are there thousands of exoplanets? Exoplanets are thought to be in orbit around various stars in the Milky Way. In the past, it was impossible to see them, because starlight is so bright that it obscures dim, reflecting bodies like planets. Twenty years ago, astronomer Geoff Marcy,…
