# data[].attributes.body
Reading #6--Things to do:

Read Article

Complete Mark up the Text Assignment

Complete Quiz #6 by November 4.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Astronomers have spotted a tiny, faint moon orbiting a dwarf planet at the outer fringes of our Solar System. The little satellite was found circling around Makemake, a dwarf planet in the large region of icy bodies located beyond Neptune called the Kuiper Belt. Nicknamed MK2, the moon is thought to only be 100 miles wide, a little over one-tenth the size of its host Makemake, which is just 870-miles wide.
The moon is thought to only be 100 miles wide
MK2 was picked up by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in April 2015. The spacecraft's Wide Field Camera 3 has a high enough resolution, able to discern faint objects located near super bright ones. That's similar to how researchers were able to spot MK2 next to Makemake, even though the moon is 1,300 times fainter than the dwarf planet. It's the same way researchers were able to discover Pluto's smaller moons in 2005, 2011, and 2012, according to NASA.

The discovery of MK2 makes Makemake fit in a bit more with other dwarf planets. Many of the largest Kuiper Belt objects are known to have moons, but Makemake, which is the third largest known object beyond Neptune, didn't seem to have one. Now that a moon has been discovered, Makemake shares even more similarities to fellow dwarf planet Pluto, NASA says, as the two bodies are both known to be covered in frozen methane.

There's still more to learn about MK2 and its relationship with its host dwarf planet. Astronomers will continue to observe the moon to find out the true shape of its orbit and how many times it circles Makemake in a given period. Studying MK2 more in depth could reveal more about the overall density of the dwarf planet system, and the moon's orbital path may hold clues as to where MK2 came from.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A tiny moon was found orbiting a dwarf planet at the edge of our Solar System

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Astronomers have spotted a tiny, faint moon orbiting a dwarf planet at the outer fringes of our Solar System. The little satellite was found circling around Makemake, a dwarf planet in the large region of icy bodies located beyond Neptune called the Kuiper Belt.

# data[].attributes.body
Reading #5--Things to do:

Read Article

Complete Mark up the Text Assignment

Complete Quiz #5 by October 21

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Hundreds of hidden nearby galaxies have been studied for the first time, shedding light on a mysterious gravitational anomaly dubbed the Great Attractor.

Despite being just 250 million light years from Earth-very close in astronomical terms-the new galaxies had been hidden from view until now by our own galaxy, the Milky Way.

Using CSIRO's Parkes radio telescope equipped with an innovative receiver, an international team of scientists were able to see through the stars and dust of the Milky Way, into a previously unexplored region of space.

The discovery may help to explain the Great Attractor region, which appears to be drawing the Milky Way and hundreds of thousands of other galaxies towards it with a gravitational force equivalent to a million billion Suns.

Lead author Professor Lister Staveley-Smith, from The University of Western Australia node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR), said the team found 883 galaxies, a third of which had never been seen before.

"The Milky Way is very beautiful of course and it's very interesting to study our own galaxy but it completely blocks out the view of the more distant galaxies behind it," he said.

Professor Staveley-Smith said scientists have been trying to get to the bottom of the mysterious Great Attractor since major deviations from universal expansion were first discovered in the 1970s and 1980s.

"We don't actually understand what's causing this gravitational acceleration on the Milky Way or where it's coming from," he said.

"We know that in this region there are a few very large collections of galaxies we call clusters or superclusters, and our whole Milky Way is moving towards them at more than two million kilometres per hour."

The research identified several new structures that could help to explain the movement of the Milky Way, including three galaxy concentrations (named NW1, NW2 and NW3) and two new clusters (named CW1 and CW2).

University of Cape Town astronomer Professor Renée Kraan-Korteweg said astronomers have been trying to map the galaxy distribution hidden behind the Milky Way for decades.

"We've used a range of techniques but only radio observations have really succeeded in allowing us to see through the thickest foreground layer of dust and stars," she said.

"An average galaxy contains 100 billion stars, so finding hundreds of new galaxies hidden behind the Milky Way points to a lot of mass we didn't know about until now."

Dr. Bärbel Koribalski from CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science said innovative technologies on the Parkes Radio telescope had made it possible to survey large areas of the sky very quickly.

"With the 21-cm multibeam receiver on Parkes we're able to map the sky 13 times faster than we could before and make new discoveries at a much greater rate," she said.

The study involved researchers from Australia, South Africa, the US and the Netherlands, and was published today in the Astronomical Journal.

More information:

The International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) is a joint venture between Curtin University and The University of Western Australia with support and funding from the State Government of Western Australia.

Professor Lister Staveley-Smith is ICRAR's Director of Science at UWA and the Deputy Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics (CAASTRO).

Dr Bärbel S. Koribalski is a CSIRO Science Leader, leading the HI group at CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science. Dr Koribalski and Prof Staveley-Smith are the principal investigators of WALLABY, the ASKAP HI All-Sky Survey.

The 'Great Attractor' is a diffuse concentration of mass 250 million light-years away, that's pulling our galaxy, the Milky Way, and hundreds of thousands of other galaxies towards it.

CSIRO's Parkes telescope, or "the Dish", is a 64-metre radio telescope located in New South Wales, Australia. The telescope has been in operation since 1961 and continues to be at the forefront of astronomical discovery.

Original publication details:

'The Parkes HI Zone of Avoidance Survey', published in the Astronomical Journal February 9th, 2016. Available at this link.

Contacts

Images & animations:

Click the image below for a full resolution version.

Hidden Galaxies Animation
Download link
An animation showing the location of the galaxies discovered in the 'Zone of Avoidance'. Until now this region of space has remained hidden from view because of the gas and dust of the Milky Way which blocks light at optical wavelengths from reaching telescopes on Earth. By using CSIRO's Parkes radio telescope to detect radio waves that can travel through our galaxy's gas and dust, hundreds of new galaxies have been found in the region of space known to astronomers as the 'Zone of Avoidance'. This animation has been created using the actual positional data of the new galaxies and randomly populating the region with galaxies of different sizes, types and colours. Credit: ICRAR. Music by Holly Broadbent.

Annotated version of Hidden Galaxies Animation
Download link
An annotated animation showing the location of the galaxies discovered in the 'Zone of Avoidance'. Until now this region of space has remained hidden from view because of the gas and dust of the Milky Way which blocks light at optical wavelengths from reaching telescopes on Earth. By using CSIRO's Parkes radio telescope to detect radio waves that can travel through our galaxy's gas and dust, hundreds of new galaxies have been found in the region of space known to astronomers as the 'Zone of Avoidance'. This animation has been created using the actual positional data of the new galaxies and randomly populating the region with galaxies of different sizes, types and colours. Credit: ICRAR. Music by Holly Broadbent.

Raw Data Visualisation
Download link
A visualisation showing the coordinates of the new 'hidden galaxies'. At the centre is Earth. Blue represents galaxies found in other surveys and other colours show the locations of the new galaxies. Credit: ICRAR

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Scientists discover hidden galaxies behind the Milky Way - ICRAR

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Scientists discover hidden galaxies behind the Milky Way Hundreds of hidden nearby galaxies have been studied for the first time, shedding light on a mysterious gravitational anomaly dubbed the Great Attractor. Despite being just 250 million light years from Earth-very close in astronomical terms-the new galaxies had been hidden from view until now by our ...

# data[].attributes.body
Reading # 4--Things to do:

Read Article

Complete Mark up the Text Assignment

Complete Quiz #4 by September 23.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Are black holes real? A team of astronomers has found indirect evidence of a supermassive black hole's event horizon, providing further proof that these wacky objects actually exist in nature.

There are many wild ideas in science. But the theory of black holes - those objects so massive and compact that nothing, not even light, can escape - definitely makes the top of the list in my book.

Although the evidence for these grandiose objects is convincing, it isn't 100% conclusive. So in a field that's skeptical by nature, some astronomers are still working to answer are black holes real? and to prove that black holes are not just the concoction of theorists whose mathematics got away from them. When it comes to "something this extraordinary, we have to work harder before we're willing to accept it," says Ramesh Narayan (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics). It's the carefully balanced dichotomy of wild ideas and obstinate suspicion that enables science to slowly zigzag toward the truth.

Are Black Holes Real?

Now, a team of scientists including Avery Broderick (Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Canada), Narayan, and others has found further evidence of these elusive objects. The team peered into the very heart of M87, an elliptical galaxy whose supermassive black hole is 6 billion times heavier than the Sun. There, the astronomers saw indirect evidence for the monster's event horizon: the point of no return that outlines the black hole itself.

The team used three radio telescopes in California, Arizona, and Hawai'i to make the observations, which are part of the still-developing Event Horizon Telescope project. Their goal was to distinguish whether this object truly has an event horizon, which is characteristic of only a black hole, or if it actually has a surface.

As material streams onto any massive object, it heats up and emits torrents of high-energy photons. So the gas around the massive object should be extremely bright. But there will be a noticeable difference in that brightness depending on whether the object has a surface or an event horizon.

"If there's a surface, then the stuff that falls in will splash onto the surface," says co-author John Kormendy (University of Texas at Austin). And this splash will cause the material to glow even hotter and brighter. But if there isn't a surface - like in the case of an event horizon - then from our perspective, the material eventually vanishes and therefore can't keep boosting the glow.

So an object with an event horizon should appear darker than an equally massive object with a surface.

Under this assumption, the next few steps are relatively straightforward (but far from simple). First, the team measured the amount of material falling onto M87's supermassive black hole. Second, the team calculated the expected brightness for an object with a surface. That number came in at roughly 100 billion times brighter than the Sun. Third, the team checked to see if their observations matched the expected brightness. If so, then the object has a surface. If not, then the object likely has an event horizon.

The team found an object that appeared darker than expected (by at least an order of magnitude) for an object with a surface. "So we conclude that the stuff is falling through an event horizon and giving out a lot less light than it would if it was bashing into a surface," says Kormendy.

Black Holes Proven? Not Quite Yet.

Although very few astronomers doubt the existence of black holes, this result adds one more thread to the long spool of evidence that answers the question, "Are black holes real?" And that black holes exist in nature. Previous studies looked at stellar mass black holes and the Milky Way's own supermassive black hole, Sgr A*, and also found no evidence of a surface. The new M87 result expands the list of missing surfaces to heavier black holes beyond our galaxy.

It might not be the final nail in the coffin; the team is its own critic. "I will be the first to agree that this is not totally foolproof," says Narayan. "It's kind of proving something to be true, by proving that the opposite is not true. We're proving that there is no surface so we're saying there must be a horizon. That logical step is not 100% safe."

The next nail in the coffin will come once the Event Horizon Telescope project is completed. In the next few years, the telescope will include antennas that span from the South Pole to North America, essentially creating a single Earth-size telescope that will cut through the gas and dust enshrouding these supermassive black holes and image the silhouette of the event horizon itself.
Reference:
Avery Broderick et al. "The Event Horizon of M87." Posted to arXiv.org April 5, 2015.

For more information on the Event Horizon Telescope project check out our February 2012 digital issue of Sky & Telescope magazine.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Are Black Holes Real? Best Evidence Yet Points to 'Yes' | Sky & Telescope

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Are black holes real? A team of astronomers has found indirect evidence of a supermassive black hole's event horizon, providing further proof that these wacky objects actually exist in nature. There are many wild ideas in science.

# data[].attributes.headline
Astronomers say 10 years to find other life in the universe

# data[].attributes.subject
Astronomers say 10 years to find other life in the universe

# data[].attributes.body
Reading # 2--Things to do:

Read Article

Complete Mark up the Text Assignment

Complete Quiz #2 by August 26..

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The discovery of life outside our solar system could be just 10 years away, astronomers have said after they found further evidence suggesting two "precious" exoplanets are similar to Earth.

The planets, which orbit a star called Trappist-1 about 39 light-years away, are in the so-called Goldilocks Zone, suggesting the temperature is 'just right' for liquid water to exist - far enough away from the star that it does not evaporate, but close enough that it is not permanently frozen.

Their discovery was revealed in May, but interest has now ramped up with the announcement in the journal that astronomers have found they are rocky planets like Mars, Venus or Earth, rather than gas giants like Jupiter or Saturn.

The next stage is to look for signs of gases that are only given off by living organisms, which can potentially be detected by analysing the light.

One of the researchers, Dr Julien de Wit, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told The Independent: "These are the first planets that combine the three key properties we have been looking for for quite a long time: one, they are Earth-sized; two, temperature, they could have liquid water; and third, they are close enough and around the right type of star for us to actually check that out [whether they have life].

"That's why these planets are really precious. We really hope we are going to find out more about these planets.

"We can say that these planets are rocky. Now the question is, what kind of atmosphere do they have?"

He said that astronomers should be able to find out more about the planets after the James Webb Space Telescope is launched in 2018.

"In five to 10 years we will be able to say if they are habitable, to check if they are the right temperature and with water," he said.

"And then the next step forward is to assess whether they are inhabited... to look for traces of gas that can only be produced by life. This can be done in the next 10 to 25 years.

"If there are clear biomarkers, it's feasible we could answer that question [whether there is life]."

However Dr de Wit cautioned it would "difficult to assess the level of intelligence" of any life on the planets.

"The biomass could be a huge amount of bacteria, for example," he said.

And, whatever it is, it might well be radically different from life on Earth.

The planets are "tidally locked" to their star, meaning the sun would always be in the same position in the sky. One side of the planet would be in eternal daylight, the other in eternal night, much like our Moon.

And the star, an "ultracool dwarf", produces mostly infrared light, which is outside the spectrum visible to humans. If astronauts were to land on one of the planets, they were barely be able to see with only a 'dark' red light.

"If there were to be life... it could be exotic," Dr de Wit said.

However it is this kind of light that allows astronomers to make the observations that allowed them to discover the planets were rocky ones that could have an atmosphere like Earth, Venus or Mars.

If intelligent life with the same level of technology as we have exists on the planets, they would not be able to make the same observations about Earth.

The star was named after the Trappist telescope in Chile which first discovered the planetary system and the researchers are now trying to raise money to build more telescopes to speed up the search and also start scanning the skies in the northern hemisphere.

"It really is an exciting time," Dr de Wit said. "It's not unlikely we will start to tackle fundamental questions in the next 20 to 25 years."

Reuse content

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
We could be just 10 years away from finding life outside our solar system

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The discovery of life outside our solar system could be just 10 years away, astronomers have said after they found further evidence suggesting two "precious" exoplanets are similar to Earth.

# data[].attributes.body
Reading #1-Things to do:

Read Article

Complete Mark up the Text Assignment

Complete Quiz #1 by August 12.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Big Bang theory is an effort to explain what happened at the very beginning of our universe. Discoveries in astronomy and physics have shown beyond a reasonable doubt that our universe did in fact have a beginning. Prior to that moment there was nothing; during and after that moment there was something: our universe. The big bang theory is an effort to explain what happened during and after that moment.

According to the standard theory, our universe sprang into existence as "singularity" around 13.7 billion years ago. What is a "singularity" and where does it come from? Well, to be honest, we don't know for sure. Singularities are zones which defy our current understanding of physics. They are thought to exist at the core of "black holes." Black holes are areas of intense gravitational pressure. The pressure is thought to be so intense that finite matter is actually squished into infinite density (a mathematical concept which truly boggles the mind). These zones of infinite density are called "singularities." Our universe is thought to have begun as an infinitesimally small, infinitely hot, infinitely dense, something - a singularity. Where did it come from? We don't know. Why did it appear? We don't know.

After its initial appearance, it apparently inflated (the "Big Bang"), expanded and cooled, going from very, very small and very, very hot, to the size and temperature of our current universe. It continues to expand and cool to this day and we are inside of it: incredible creatures living on a unique planet, circling a beautiful star clustered together with several hundred billion other stars in a galaxy soaring through the cosmos, all of which is inside of an expanding universe that began as an infinitesimal singularity which appeared out of nowhere for reasons unknown. This is the Big Bang theory.

Big Bang Theory - Common Misconceptions
There are many misconceptions surrounding the Big Bang theory. For example, we tend to imagine a giant explosion. Experts however say that there was no explosion; there was (and continues to be) an expansion. Rather than imagining a balloon popping and releasing its contents, imagine a balloon expanding: an infinitesimally small balloon expanding to the size of our current universe.

Another misconception is that we tend to image the singularity as a little fireball appearing somewhere in space. According to the many experts however, space didn't exist prior to the Big Bang. Back in the late '60s and early '70s, when men first walked upon the moon, "three British astrophysicists, Steven Hawking, George Ellis, and Roger Penrose turned their attention to the Theory of Relativity and its implications regarding our notions of time. In 1968 and 1970, they published papers in which they extended Einstein's Theory of General Relativity to include measurements of time and space. 1, 2 According to their calculations, time and space had a finite beginning that corresponded to the origin of matter and energy." ³ The singularity didn't appear in space; rather, space began inside of the singularity. Prior to the singularity, nothing existed, not space, time, matter, or energy - nothing. So where and in what did the singularity appear if not in space? We don't know. We don't know where it came from, why it's here, or even where it is. All we really know is that we are inside of it and at one time it didn't exist and neither did we.

Big Bang Theory - Evidence for the Theory
What are the major evidences which support the Big Bang theory?

First of all, we are reasonably certain that the universe had a beginning.

Second, galaxies appear to be moving away from us at speeds proportional to their distance. This is called "Hubble's Law," named after Edwin Hubble (1889-1953) who discovered this phenomenon in 1929. This observation supports the expansion of the universe and suggests that the universe was once compacted.

Third, if the universe was initially very, very hot as the Big Bang suggests, we should be able to find some remnant of this heat. In 1965, Radioastronomers Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson discovered a 2.725 degree Kelvin (-454.765 degree Fahrenheit, -270.425 degree Celsius) Cosmic Microwave Background radiation (CMB) which pervades the observable universe. This is thought to be the remnant which scientists were looking for. Penzias and Wilson shared in the 1978 Nobel Prize for Physics for their discovery.

Finally, the abundance of the "light elements" Hydrogen and Helium found in the observable universe are thought to support the Big Bang model of origins.

Big Bang Theory - The Only Plausible Theory?
Is the standard Big Bang theory the only model consistent with these evidences? No, it's just the most popular one. Internationally renown Astrophysicist George F. R. Ellis explains: "People need to be aware that there is a range of models that could explain the observations....For instance, I can construct you a spherically symmetrical universe with Earth at its center, and you cannot disprove it based on observations....You can only exclude it on philosophical grounds. In my view there is absolutely nothing wrong in that. What I want to bring into the open is the fact that we are using philosophical criteria in choosing our models. A lot of cosmology tries to hide that." ⁴

In 2003, Physicist Robert Gentry proposed an attractive alternative to the standard theory, an alternative which also accounts for the evidences listed above. ⁵ Dr. Gentry claims that the standard Big Bang model is founded upon a faulty paradigm (the Friedmann-lemaitre expanding-spacetime paradigm) which he claims is inconsistent with the empirical data. He chooses instead to base his model on Einstein's static-spacetime paradigm which he claims is the "genuine cosmic Rosetta." Gentry has published several papers outlining what he considers to be serious flaws in the standard Big Bang model. ⁶ Other high-profile dissenters include Nobel laureate Dr. Hannes Alfvйn, Professor Geoffrey Burbidge, Dr. Halton Arp, and the renowned British astronomer Sir Fred Hoyle, who is accredited with first coining the term "the Big Bang" during a BBC radio broadcast in 1950.

Big Bang Theory - What About God?
Any discussion of the Big Bang theory would be incomplete without asking the question, what about God? This is because cosmogony (the study of the origin of the universe) is an area where science and theology meet. Creation was a supernatural event. That is, it took place outside of the natural realm. This fact begs the question: is there anything else which exists outside of the natural realm? Specifically, is there a master Architect out there? We know that this universe had a beginning. Was God the "First Cause"? We won't attempt to answer that question in this short article. We just ask the question:

Does God Exist?

1. Steven W. Hawking, George F.R. Ellis, "The Cosmic Black-Body Radiation and the Existence of Singularities in our Universe," Astrophysical Journal, 152, (1968) pp. 25-36.

2. Steven W. Hawking, Roger Penrose, "The Singularities of Gravitational Collapse and Cosmology," Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, series A, 314 (1970) pp. 529-548.

3. Mark Eastman, Chuck Missler, The Creator: Beyond Time and Space, (1996) p. 11.

4. W. Wayt Gibbs, "Profile: George F. R. Ellis," Scientific American, October 1995, Vol. 273, No.4, p. 55.

5. See https://www.halos.com/reports/ext-2003-022.pdf

6. See https://www.halos.com/reports/arxiv-1998-rosetta.pdf and https://www.halos.com/reports/ext-2003-021.pdf; see also https://www.halos.com/reports/arxiv-1998-redshift.pdf and https://www.halos.com/reports/arxiv-1998-affirmed.pdf

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Big Bang theory is an effort to explain what happened at the very beginning of our universe. Discoveries in astronomy and physics have shown beyond a reasonable doubt that our universe did in fact have a beginning. Prior to that moment there was nothing; during and after that moment there was something: our universe.

# data[].attributes.body
Reading # 3--Things to do:

Article

Complete Mark up the Text Assignment

Complete Quiz #3 by September 9.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
from research organizations
Credit: S. Skillman, Y-Y. Mao, KIPAC/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Our universe came to life nearly 14 billion years ago in the Big Bang -- a tremendously energetic fireball from which the cosmos has been expanding ever since. Today, space is filled with hundreds of billions of galaxies, including our solar system's own galactic home, the Milky Way. But how exactly did the infant universe develop into its current state, and what does it tell us about our future?

These are the fundamental questions "astrophysical archeologists" like Risa Wechsler want to answer. At the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC) of Stanford and the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, her team combines experimental data with theory in computer simulations that dig deeply into cosmic history and trace back how matter particles clumped together to form larger and larger structures in the expanding universe.

"Most of our calculations are done at KIPAC, and computing is a crucial aspect of the collaboration between SLAC and Stanford," says Wechsler, who is an associate professor of physics and of particle physics and astrophysics.

Wechsler's simulated journeys through spacetime use a variety of experimental data, including observations by the Dark Energy Survey (DES), which recently discovered a new set of ultra-faint companion galaxies of our Milky Way that are rich in what is known as dark matter. The gravitational pull from this invisible form of matter affects regular matter, which plays a crucial role in the formation and growth of galaxies.

Dark energy is another key ingredient shaping the universe: It inflates the universe like a balloon at an ever-increasing rate, but researchers don't know much about what causes the acceleration.

Two future projects will give Wechsler and other researchers new clues about the mysterious energy. The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), whose science collaboration she is leading, will begin in 2018 to turn two-dimensional images of surveys like DES into a three-dimensional map of the universe. The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), whose ultrasensitive 3,200-megapixel digital eye is being assembled at SLAC, will start a few years later to explore space more deeply than any telescope before.

"Looking at faraway galaxies means looking into the past and allows us to measure how the growth and distribution of galaxies were affected by dark energy at different points in time," Wechsler says. "Over the past 10 years, we've made a lot of progress in refining our cosmological model, which describes many of the properties of today's universe very well. Yet, if future data caused this model to break down, it would completely change our view of the universe."

The current model suggests that the universe is fated to expand forever, turning into a darker and darker cosmos faster and faster, with galaxies growing farther and farther apart. But is this acceleration a constant or changing property of spacetime? Or could it possibly be a breakdown of our theory of gravity on the largest scales? More data will help researchers find an answer to these fundamental questions.

Cite This Page:

Below are relevant articles that may interest you. ScienceDaily shares links and proceeds with scholarly publications in the TrendMD network.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
astrophysics; cosmology; dark matter; big bang; astronomy; galaxies; space telescopes; black holes

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The universe: Learning about the future from the distant past

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Our universe came to life nearly 14 billion years ago in the Big Bang -- a tremendously energetic fireball from which the cosmos has been expanding ever since. Today, space is filled with hundreds of billions of galaxies, including our solar system's own galactic home, the Milky Way.

# data[].attributes.body
Reading #7--Things to do:

Read Article

Complete Mark up the Text Assignment

Complete Quiz #7 by November 18.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Scientists have discovered an unexpected mineral in a rock sample at Gale Crater on Mars, a finding that may alter our understanding of how the planet evolved.

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, has been exploring sedimentary rocks within Gale Crater since landing in August 2012. In July 2015, on Sol 1060 (the number of Martian days since landing), the rover collected powder drilled from rock at a location named "Buckskin." Analyzing data from an X-ray diffraction instrument on the rover that identifies minerals, scientists detected significant amounts of a silica mineral called tridymite.

This detection was a surprise to the scientists, because tridymite is generally associated with silicic volcanism, which is known on Earth but was not thought to be important or even present on Mars.

The discovery of tridymite might induce scientists to rethink the volcanic history of Mars, suggesting that the planet once had explosive volcanoes that led to the presence of the mineral.

Scientists in the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) Division at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston led the study. A paper on the team's findings has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"On Earth, tridymite is formed at high temperatures in an explosive process called silicic volcanism. Mount St. Helens, the active volcano in Washington State, and the Satsuma-Iwojima volcano in Japan are examples of such volcanoes. The combination of high silica content and extremely high temperatures in the volcanoes creates tridymite," said Richard Morris, NASA planetary scientist at Johnson and lead author of the paper. "The tridymite was incorporated into 'Lake Gale' mudstone at Buckskin as sediment from erosion of silicic volcanic rocks."

The paper also will stimulate scientists to re-examine the way tridymite forms. The authors examined terrestrial evidence that tridymite could form at low temperatures from geologically reasonable processes and not imply silicic volcanism. They found none. Researchers will need to look for ways that it could form at lower temperatures.

"I always tell fellow planetary scientists to expect the unexpected on Mars," said Doug Ming, ARES chief scientist at Johnson and co-author of the paper. "The discovery of tridymite was completely unexpected. This discovery now begs the question of whether Mars experienced a much more violent and explosive volcanic history during the early evolution of the planet than previously thought."

To learn more about the ARES Division, go to: http://ares.jsc.nasa.gov/aboutares/index.cfm

Journal Reference:

Richard V. Morris, David T. Vaniman, David F. Blake, Ralf Gellert, Steve J. Chipera, Elizabeth B. Rampe, Douglas W. Ming, Shaunna M. Morrison, Robert T. Downs, Allan H. Treiman, Albert S. Yen, John P. Grotzinger, Cherie N. Achilles, Thomas F. Bristow, Joy A. Crisp, David J. Des Marais, Jack D. Farmer, Kim V. Fendrich, Jens Frydenvang, Trevor G. Graff, John-Michael Morookian, Edward M. Stolper, Susanne P. Schwenzer. Silicic volcanism on Mars evidenced by tridymite in high-SiO₂ sedimentary rock at Gale crater. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2016; 201607098 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1607098113

Cite This Page:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
mars; nasa; space exploration; space missions; solar system; astronomy; pluto; space probes

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
NASA scientists discover unexpected mineral on Mars

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Scientists have discovered an unexpected mineral in a rock sample at Gale Crater on Mars, a finding that may alter our understanding of how the planet evolved. NASA's Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, has been exploring sedimentary rocks within Gale Crater since landing in August 2012.

# data[].attributes.body
Reading # 8--Things to do:

Read Article

Complete Mark up the Text Assignment

Complete Quiz #8 by December 2

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Now one of the leading exoplanet hunters is being recognized for his contributions to science.

On Tuesday, Harvard University astronomy professor David Charbonneau was honored as one of three winners of the 2016 Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists for his methods of discovering exoplanets.

The honor comes after NASA's Kepler spacecraft, a mission Charbonneau has participated in, discovered more than 1,284 planets in May, doubling the number of planets previously confirmed by the probe.

The importance of exoplanets

The recent exoplanet findings reveal that worlds smaller than Earth are pretty common in our galaxy, contrary to what scientists originally believed.

Since the discovery of thousands of exoplanets -- worlds that orbit a star outside of our solar system -- Charbonneau explained that we need to start looking for chemical signatures that may indicate life in these "Goldilocks" exoplanets located in habitable zones.

"By studying alien worlds, we may find the first direct evidence of life beyond Earth, a sign that our living planet is, yet again, one among many," Charbonneau told CNN.

The main characteristics Charbonneau and other astronomers are looking for in these exoplanets are liquid water and atmospheric oxygen, ingredients that are essential for supporting life.

Since traveling to these exoplanets is impossible -- it's beyond our current technology -- how do we figure out which worlds have oxygen or liquid water?

The answer is telescopes, Charbonneau said.

Two large telescopes could help us narrow our search for life soon, Charbonneau said. The Giant Magellan Telescope in Chile will be one of the biggest telescopes to focusits sight on analyzing exoplanets, and NASA is launching the James Webb space telescope in 2018, which is essentially like a giant version of the Hubble telescope. It will be able to look at exoplanets clearly without the interference of our atmosphere.

Is something really out there?

Scientists at the SETI Institute have been listening for signals from space for decades.

And obviously, we haven't made contact with aliens yet. Some astronomers argue that if there is intelligent life somewhere in the universe, it will take at least 1,500 years to make contact because of the vastness of space.

But that isn't discouraging Charbonneau.

The life he's searching for isn't the science fiction kind we've seen in movies and literature.

"We are talking about life that changes the planet," he said. "If you were look at the solar system, you would see something is really different about the third planet. You would see a lot of oxygen. And you know oxygen is very reactive, and that would be surprising. We're looking for those chemical signatures."

Charbonneau said he's open minded about the possibility that life exists somewhere in space.

"I am ready for the possibility. But I'm also open to the possibility that life is a rare occurrence," he said. "That doesn't mean there isn't life in the universe, but maybe not in a nearby star."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
exoplanet hunter seeks life on other worlds - cnn

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Exoplanet hunter seeks life on other worlds

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Now one of the leading exoplanet hunters is being recognized for his contributions to science. On Tuesday, Harvard University astronomy professor David Charbonneau was honored as one of three winners of the 2016 Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists for his methods of discovering exoplanets.