A group of scientists has hypothesized that the Milky Way is a contiguous part of a “supercavity,” a vast region of the local universe that is unusually low in matter. According to experts, this assumption could help solve one of the key problems in modern cosmology: explaining the differences in the value of the Hubble constant at different stages of the development of the universe. According to information from the University of St. Andrew in Scotland, this hypothesis suggests that the universe may be expanding faster than normal relativity suggests. However, further studies and experiments ..read more

The Traveler Star traveled 50,000 light years. One of the stars orbiting near the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy comes from outside the galaxy, according to a new study published in the Japan Academy Proceedings Series B. Japan’s National Astronomical Observatory of Japan has reported the first discovery of a star of extragalactic origin near a supermassive black hole. Many stars orbit the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* at the center of our galaxy. However, because of its strong gravity, the environment is too harsh for stars to form. They all must have b ..read more

This experiment gives us hope that farming in space is possible. Japanese experts have successfully grown vegetables in soil that exactly matches soil samples brought back from the asteroid Ryugu in 2020. This was reported by the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri. Researchers from Japan’s Okayama University have thoroughly analyzed sand and rock samples from the asteroid and found large amounts of organic material and silicon within them. This research identified 23 amino acids that make up proteins. Based on the data obtained, scientists reconstructed the composition of the asteroid’s soil. The rese ..read more

Astrophysicists have discovered a gigantic star stream stretching 1.7 million light years through space. This phenomenon was called the Koma River. Experts believe there may be a hole in the stream through which a chunk of dark matter has penetrated. Astronomers have discovered the largest star shower ever recorded. Although this “stellar stream” is unusually weak, this phenomenon, and others like it, have the potential to help uncover the true nature of dark matter. This stream of stars, called the Giant Coma Stream, appears to be unrelated to any particular galaxy in the Coma cluster, locate ..read more

A neutron star is the original core of a very massive star, incredibly compressed and left “naked” without a shell. This happens when this giant star “dies” or simply completes a major stage of evolution. The reason why stars “die” is because they run out of hydrogen, which is necessary for thermonuclear reactions in their cores. Only these processes were able to resist gravity. Without these processes, the core would certainly shrink to its ultimate limit. As it contracts, it gets even hotter. Imagine getting even hotter than nuclear fusion. This causes the star’s shell to expand and eventual ..read more

The fact that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate is probably known to everyone in the modern world and has even spawned jokes. LIFE decided to find out exactly what signs astronomers use to determine this is the case in the universe. An effect called redshift is observed in the universe. This is an amazing physical phenomenon. As a light source moves away from the observer, the light waves it emits appear longer than they actually are. The longest wavelength is that of red light. The shortest are purple and blue, respectively. And the farther away a shiny object is from us, the ..read more

The universe is expanding. This fact was discovered by American astronomer Edwin Hubble in 1929. He discovered that galaxies are moving away from each other at a constant speed that is proportional to their distance. This speed is called the Hubble constant, and it is one of the important parameters in cosmology. However, in recent years, the Hubble constant has become the subject of intense debate among scientists. Different methods for measuring this quantity produce different results that are inconsistent with each other and with theoretical expectations. This leads to one of the biggest my ..read more

From every corner of the universe, planets, stars, stellar debris, and other massive objects begin a complex but inherently unstable gravitational dance. Each mass bends the fabric of spacetime around it, and all other masses move along trajectories determined by this curved spacetime. However, this simple process of one mass moving through space curved by another mass is inherently unstable because the gravitational mass moving through the gravitational field itself emits gravitational radiation, or gravitational waves. One hundred years after the development of general relativity, the LIGO s ..read more

Astronomers have discovered for the first time an accretion disk around a giant star forming outside the Milky Way. HH 1177 is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy and is also the first massive young star to be optically visible. This paper was published in the journal Nature. In gas- and dust-filled regions, massive stars form relatively quickly, making it extremely difficult to track the stages of material accumulation from Keplerian disks to massive (more than 8 solar masses) young stars. is difficult. What can be seen optically can be seen. Several such systems have been discovered ..read more

Chinese astronomers at the Zijinshan Observatory are developing the idea that life could arise in molecular clouds. His new calculations show that conditions in these stellar cradles are suitable for methanogens to survive. Molecular clouds are regions of very high density of substances where molecules can form, especially hydrogen and carbon monoxide. And these are exactly the compounds that methanogens use for important purposes. On Earth, these single-celled organisms live primarily in anoxic conditions and produce methane throughout their lives. As experiments have shown, they can survive ..read more