Topic: Pamela Gay
Dark Energy Search Gets Dynamic

Dark Energy Search Gets Dynamic

At the beginning of our last episode, I mentioned that we’d just learned that new work by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, or DESI, had provided hints that our universe has a changing density of dark energy, but I needed time to look over the research. Well, I’ve looked, and the news is kind of cool, especially if you like mysteries. As the story goes, back in 1998 two different supernovae research teams did a fit to their brightness versus velocity data and found the expansion rate of our universe, which is the source of that measured velocity, appears to be growing over time. This...

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Water on Asteroids

Water on Asteroids

Using data from NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), Southwest Research Institute scientists have discovered, for the first time, water molecules on the surface of an asteroid. Scientists looked at four silicate-rich asteroids using the...

Bennu Descended from an Ocean World

Bennu Descended from an Ocean World

A view of the outside of the OSIRIS-REx sample collector. Sample material from asteroid Bennu can be seen on the middle right. Scientists have found evidence of both carbon and water in initial analysis of this material. The bulk of the sample is located inside....

Black Holes Formed Before Stars

Black Holes Formed Before Stars

An illustration of a magnetic field generated by a supermassive black hole in the early universe, showing turbulent plasma outflows that help turn nearby gas clouds into stars. New findings suggest this process might be responsible for accelerated star formation in...

Mimas’ Baby Ocean

Mimas’ Baby Ocean

In this view captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on its closest-ever flyby of Saturn's moon Mimas, large Herschel Crater dominates Mimas, making the moon look like the Death Star in the movie "Star Wars." Herschel Crater is 130 kilometers, or 80 miles, wide and...

Caught on Camera and Apprehended

Caught on Camera and Apprehended

Mohutsiwa Gabadirwe (center of photo) and Peter Jenniskens (left, kneeling) at the site of the second find of a piece of asteroid 2018 LA recovered in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in central Botswana. Credit: SETI Institute Our Solar System contains a whole lot...

Unexpected Galaxy Photobombs Cluster

Unexpected Galaxy Photobombs Cluster

A color-composite image of PEARLSDG made with JWST NIRCAM data. Individual stars are visible as small points of light in the image. Its somewhat dull color and lack of many bright stars is consistent with its old age and lack of ongoing star formation. Credit: Image...