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Euclid mission data release spans more than 900 million galaxies

Euclid mission data release spans more than 900 million galaxies

By Will Dunham Nov 12 (Reuters) - The European Space Agency has released its first big collection of data from the orbiting Euclid telescope's mission to map the universe's large-scale structure, including observations of more than 900 million galaxies, as scientists investigate the puzzling cosmic

NASA's Hubble and Roman Telescopes Collaborate to Study Gravitational Lensing and Dark Matter

NASA's Hubble and Roman Telescopes Collaborate to Study Gravitational Lensing and Dark Matter

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the newly launched Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope are collaborating to study gravitational lensing, a phenomenon where massive objects bend and magnify light from distant galaxies. Hubble has captured a diverse gallery of gravitational lenses, which will serve as targets for follow-up observations by Roman. Gravitational lensing allows astronomers to view objects much farther away and helps in understanding the distribution of mass, including invisible dark matter, in foreground galaxies. While Hubble provides high-resolution views in visible and ultraviolet light, Roman, primarily observing in infrared, offers a much wider field of view, enabling it to capture more lenses. This collaborative approach aims to build a comprehensive picture of the cosmos and test theories about dark matter.

Hubble Telescope Images Gravitational Lenses to Test Dark Matter Theories

Hubble Telescope Images Gravitational Lenses to Test Dark Matter Theories

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has captured a diverse collection of gravitational lenses, which are being used to test theories about dark matter, specifically the cold dark matter theory. Gravitational lensing occurs when the gravity of a massive foreground object, like a galaxy, bends and magnifies light from a more distant background object. Researchers are using these high-resolution images to detect small imperfections in the lensed galaxy arcs, which could indicate the presence of small clumps of dark matter. The cold dark matter theory predicts the existence of many such clumps, ranging from a million to a billion solar masses. By studying the distortion of these lensed galaxies, astronomers can determine the quantity and distribution of mass in the foreground galaxy, including its invisible dark matter. These observations are also laying the groundwork for follow-up studies by the new Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which launched in August 2026, and will help in building an AI tool for efficient...

Canadian Researchers Propose Alternative Cosmological Model Challenging Dark Matter and Dark Energy

Canadian Researchers Propose Alternative Cosmological Model Challenging Dark Matter and Dark Energy

Canadian researchers, including physicists Rajendra Gupta and Nikolaos Samaras from the University of Ottawa, have developed an alternative cosmological model called CCC+TL, which challenges the standard model's reliance on dark matter and dark energy. This new model combines the Covarying Coupling Constants and 'Tired Light' hypotheses, suggesting that fundamental physical constants can change over time and photons lose energy as they travel through space. According to this theory, phenomena typically attributed to dark matter and dark energy could be explained by these changing constants, eliminating the need for additional invisible components. The CCC+TL model estimates the age of the universe at 26.7 billion years, nearly double the standard model's estimate of 13.8 billion years. The researchers have tested their model against various astronomical observations, including primary nucleosynthesis, cosmic chronometers, and galaxy rotation curves, with some promising initial results.

Europe's Hera spacecraft begins close inspections of an asteroid rammed by NASA in a 2022 test

Europe's Hera spacecraft begins close inspections of an asteroid rammed by NASA in a 2022 test

A European spacecraft has begun close inspections of a harmless asteroid rammed by NASA four years ago in a planetary defense test

Independent Re-analysis Confirms M87* Black Hole's Iconic Ring Shape, Validating General Relativity

Independent Re-analysis Confirms M87* Black Hole's Iconic Ring Shape, Validating General Relativity

A new, independent re-analysis of data from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) has confirmed the iconic ring structure of the M87* black hole, originally imaged in 2019. This re-analysis, conducted by a research team led by Samuel Lai of Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), utilized an original image-reconstruction method combining 'closure invariants' with generative AI. The study, published in Nature on November 11, 2026, stably reproduced a ring structure approximately 42 microarcseconds in diameter, consistent with the initial EHT findings. This confirmation addresses previous skepticism regarding the image's reliance on specific processing methods and reinforces the accuracy of general relativity in describing spacetime around black holes.

Researchers Discover Rare Star System Emitting Radio Signals Every Eight Minutes

Researchers Discover Rare Star System Emitting Radio Signals Every Eight Minutes

Scientists at the Curtin University node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) have identified a unique star system, GPM J071507−114153, that emits radio pulses every eight minutes. This system comprises a white dwarf, which is the dense remnant of a dead star, orbiting a G-type star similar to our Sun. This discovery marks the first time radio pulses have been detected from a white dwarf in orbit with a Sun-like star; typically, such pulses are observed in systems involving smaller, cooler red dwarf stars. Lead author Dr. Sam McSweeney, a commissioning scientist with the Square Kilometre Array Observatory, confirmed that the pulsations originate from near or on the white dwarf itself, based on clear orbital movement. Associate Professor Natasha Hurley-Walker, a co-author, noted that these pulses allowed the team to detect stellar flares on the Sun-like star and observe a 'stellar prominence'—a large loop of plasma—as the white dwarf passed behind it. The detection involved exten...

Euclid Space Telescope Releases Unprecedented Data, Advancing Cosmology Research

Euclid Space Telescope Releases Unprecedented Data, Advancing Cosmology Research

The European Space Agency's (ESA) Euclid space telescope has released its first major dataset, providing an unprecedented view of the Universe. This initial release includes images covering an area of sky nearly 10,000 times the size of the full Moon, containing approximately 900 million galaxies and 60 million quasars. The dataset comprises about 2.5 trillion pixels and 1.7 million gigabytes of data. Launched on July 1, 2023, Euclid's mission is to create the largest and most detailed map of the Universe ever made. According to Leiden astronomer Koen Kuijken, Euclid is a wide-field telescope, capturing over a hundred times more sky in a single image than the Hubble or James Webb Space Telescopes. It produces around 20 new images daily and aims to map a third of the entire sky over its six-year mission. These observations allow astronomers to look far back in time, with some galaxies in the dataset existing when the Universe was only 700 million years old.

NASA Astrophysicists Detail How LISA Observatory Will Detect New Exoplanets Using Gravitational Waves

NASA Astrophysicists Detail How LISA Observatory Will Detect New Exoplanets Using Gravitational Waves

NASA astrophysicists have published two new studies detailing how the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) observatory, currently under development, will detect a unique population of exoplanets throughout our galaxy. LISA is designed to detect gravitational waves, which are tiny ripples in space-time caused by orbiting masses. The primary targets for LISA are expected to be double white dwarf systems, which are binary systems of white dwarfs in tight orbits. If an exoplanet orbits within one of these systems, its presence will imprint a detectable signature on the gravitational wave signal. This method is analogous to the radial velocity method used with light, where a planet's gravitational tug causes its host star to wobble. For gravitational waves, this wobble will manifest as 'sidebands'—secondary signals at higher and lower frequencies than the primary signal, carrying information about the planet's presence. The mission, led by the European Space Agency (ESA) with significant contributions from...

Webb Telescope Reveals Metal-Rich Gas Fueling Milky Way's Central Black Hole

Webb Telescope Reveals Metal-Rich Gas Fueling Milky Way's Central Black Hole

Observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have revealed that the gas swirling around Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, is unusually rich in 'metals' (elements heavier than hydrogen and helium). Researchers at McGill University's Trottier Space Institute, led by Nicole Ford, found that this metal-rich gas, likely supplied by exploded stars, offers clues to why Sgr A* consumes material more slowly than other supermassive black holes. The chemical composition of the gas, which includes elements like carbon, oxygen, iron, and gold, influences how quickly it cools, directly affecting the black hole's accretion rate. The study also noted that the gas composition is similar to that of stars orbiting Sgr A*, suggesting a shared origin.

Hubble Space Telescope Captures Ancient Star Cluster M30, Offering Clues to Milky Way's Formation

Hubble Space Telescope Captures Ancient Star Cluster M30, Offering Clues to Milky Way's Formation

The Hubble Space Telescope has captured a detailed image of Messier 30 (M30), a globular star cluster located approximately 27,500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Capricornus. This cluster, a dense collection of tens of thousands to millions of stars held together by gravity, contains stars nearly as old as the universe itself, estimated to be between 11.5 billion and 13.5 billion years old. The universe is approximately 13.8 billion years old. M30 is one of at least 150 such ancient stellar gatherings within our Milky Way galaxy. The image, released by ESA on November 5, showcases a dazzling display of blue, gold, and orange stars, providing astronomers with a cosmic time capsule to study the early conditions of the universe.

Astronomer Dr. Ruth Angus Discusses Exoplanet Discoveries and Habitability

Astronomer Dr. Ruth Angus Discusses Exoplanet Discoveries and Habitability

Dr. Ruth Angus, an astronomer and associate curator and professor of astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History, addressed various questions about exoplanets. She explained that exoplanets are planets outside our solar system orbiting other stars, with over 6,000 discovered so far. Dr. Angus detailed methods for detecting exoplanets, primarily the transit method, where a planet passes in front of its star causing a dimming of light, and the radial velocity method, which observes the star's wobble due to a planet's gravitational pull. She clarified that super-Earths are planets slightly more massive than Earth and discussed the hypothesis of a 'Planet Nine' beyond Neptune. The astronomer also confirmed the possibility of planets orbiting two suns, known as circumbinary planets, citing Kepler-16b as an example. She touched upon extreme exoplanets, including those as hot as stars, those with eccentric orbits causing extreme temperature swings, and planets that are disintegrating.