Jul 26, 2019 Conventional redshift observations seems to indicate that the Universe is expanding faster today than it did in the past. As written in a previous Picture of the Day, “dark energy” is a force that is thought to drive the expansion of the Universe. However, like “dark matter”…
Jul 25, 2019 Titan could be a youthful object. The wine of youth does not always clear with advancing years; sometimes it grows turbid.— Carl Jung Planetary scientists maintain that Titan’s nitrogen and methane atmosphere must be constantly replenished, because ultraviolet light from the distant Sun dissociates gas molecules. Theories…
Jul 24, 2019 Stars are conventionally thought to form in regions of high density. According to a recent press release from the Nobeyama Radio Observatory, astronomers detected “1000 times” fewer instances of “star birth” than their astrophysical models predict. Since common ideas about stars require them to form in regions…
Jul 22, 2019 The most distant object in the Universe? Astronomers announced that the Hubble Space Telescope and the twin, 10-meter Keck telescopes, detected an object 13.1 billion light-years from Earth, making it the most distant object ever detected. Virtually every astronomer bases his or her understanding of the Universe…
Jul 19, 2019 FRBs are not gravity bombs. About ten years ago, astronomers discovered what they call a “Fast Radio Burst”, or FRB. It was estimated that the event released more energy in five milliseconds than the Sun puts out in a month. The source was said to be a…
Jul 18, 2019 Blackened dune fields can be found on Mars. Martian atmospheric density is less than 1% that of Earth. It is almost entirely composed of carbon dioxide, although nitrogen and argon make up about 3%, with trace elements less than .01%. The temperature varies from a maximum of…
Jul 17, 2019 Stars are born where regions of space accumulate dense electric charge. Stars are concentrations of electricity that result from Birkeland currents and electric charge separation in space. Therefore, conventional models of stellar evolution reveal almost nothing about how stars are born and behave. Red giant stars, as…
Jul 16, 2019 Thunderstorms act like particle accelerators, launching massive discharges downward to the ground and upward to space. Earth is an electrically charged object: it maintains an electric field at its surface between 50 and 200 volts per meter: for every meter above the ground the voltage increases. As…
Jul 15, 2019 Mars is dry and barren. “It’s not going to do any good to land on Mars if we’re stupid.”— Ray Bradbury The surface of Mars is mostly iron and silicon, with quantities of oxygen bound into the regolith. Its atmosphere is 95% carbon dioxide, with a scant…
Jul 12, 2019 In previous Pictures of the Day, evidence for plasma discharges on planets and moons was discussed. Electrical activity in the form of lightning bolts and diffuse clouds of charged particles could be the agents for bizarre conditions on celestial bodies. Many dwarf planets and moons might have…
