Category: Astronomy

Cosmic Neutrino Background – The Oldest Light in The Universe Found

A neutrino is a neutral particle with very low mass, possibly zero. It has spin 1/2 and so is a fermion. It does not interact with the strong force or the electromagnetic force, but does interact with the weak force (and with gravity if it turns out to have mass). The cosmic neutrino background (CNB) is the universe’s background particle radiation composed of neutrinos. Like the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB), the CNB is a relic of the big bang, and while the CMB dates from when the universe was 380,000 years old, the CNB decoupled from matter when the universe was 2 seconds old. It is estimated that the CNB has a temperature of 1.9 kelvins or lower. Neutrinos are notoriously difficult to detect, and because the cosmic neutrinos are so cold, the CNB might never be observed directly.

A Nasa space probe measuring the oldest light in the Universe has found that cosmic neutrinos made up 10% of matter shortly after the Big Bang.

Five years of study data also shows that the first stars took over half a billion years to light up the Universe.

WMAP launched in 2001 on a mission to measure remnants of light left over from the Big Bang.

Scientists say it is collecting a “treasure trove” of information about the Universe’s age, make-up and fate.

=> Cosmic ‘treasure trove’ revealed

WR 104 Star: Earth May be Right In The Line of Fire

WR 104 is a Wolf-Rayet star located 8000 light years from Earth. It is a binary star with a class OB companion. One of the most energetic explosive events known is a supernova. These occur at the end of a star’s lifetime, when its nuclear fuel is exhausted and it is no longer supported by the release of nuclear energy. If the star is particularly massive, then its core will collapse and in so doing will release a huge amount of energy. This will cause a blast wave that ejects the star’s envelope into interstellar space.

binary Pinwheel system Wolf-Rayet 104
( Image Credit: University of Sydney)

WR 104’s supernova going to produce jets from their rotational poles. It is possible that WR 104 may even produce a Gamma ray burst, though it is not possible to predict with certainty at this time. Earth may be right in the line of fire. According to this report:

Though the risk may be remote, there is evidence that gamma ray bursts have swept over the planet at various points in Earth’s history with a devastating effect on life. A 2005 study showed that a gamma-ray burst originating within 6,500 light years of Earth could be enough to strip away the ozone layer and cause a mass extinction. Researchers led by Adrian Melott at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, U.S., suggest that such an event may have been responsible for a mass extinction 443 million years ago, in the late Ordovician period, which wiped out 60 per cent of life and cooled the planet

Biggest Dark Matter Detected

According to wikipedia, Dark matter is a hypothetical form of matter of unknown composition that does not emit or reflect enough electromagnetic radiation to be observed directly, but whose presence can be inferred from gravitational effects on visible matter. Structures larger than galaxies, as well as Big Bang cosmology, dark matter accounts for the vast majority of mass in the observable universe. Now a new giant sheets of dark matter detected:

The most colossal structures in the universe have been detected by astronomers who tuned into how the structures subtly bend galactic light. The newfound filaments and sheets of dark matter form a gigantic features stretching across more than 270 million light-years of space–three times larger than any other known structure and 2,000 times the size of our own galaxy. Because the dark matter, by definition, is invisible to telescopes, the only way to detect it on such grand scales is by surveying huge numbers of distant galaxies and working out how their images, as seen from telescopes, are being weakly tweaked and distorted by any dark matter structures in intervening space.

=> Giant Sheets of Dark Matter Detected

Hundreds of undiscovered worlds in outer parts of our Solar System

This is really a good news. A galaxy is a massive, gravitationally bound system consisting of stars, an interstellar medium of gas and dust, and dark matter. Our Sun and Earth are part of the Milky Way galaxy. Basically the Sun is one of the stars in the Milky Way galaxy; the Solar System includes the Earth. Now scientist suggests more than half the Sun-like stars in the Milky Way could have similar planetary systems just like our solar system. In other words there may be many more worlds in our galaxy. From BBC news site:

Rocky planets, possibly with conditions suitable for life, may be more common than previously thought in our galaxy, a study has found.

New evidence suggests more than half the Sun-like stars in the Milky Way could have similar planetary systems.

There may also be hundreds of undiscovered worlds in outer parts of our Solar System, astronomers believe.

Future studies of such worlds will radically alter our understanding of how planets are formed, they say.

Planet-hunters set for big bounty

TVLM513-46546: A New Magnetic Star Found

A dwarf star with a surprisingly magnetic personality and a huge hot spot covering half its surface area is showing astronomers that life as a cool dwarf is not necessarily as simple and quiet as they once assumed.

Using four of the world’s most powerful telescopes, astronomers have found a bizarrely magnetic star with some very strange features. The M-type dwarf has a massive “hot spot”, which covers half of its surface area, and an unusually active magnetic field. The star lies about 35 light-years away in the constellation Boötes. If these strange “anomalies” turn out to be common for M-type stars, astronomers will have a radically altered view of the ultracool dwarfs.

According to Dr. Edo Berger, Princeton University:

We find a hot spot that covers half of the surface of the star like a giant lighthouse that rotates in and out of our field of view. We still do not know why only half of the star is lit up in hydrogen and if this situation remains unchanged over days, weeks, years, or centuries.

TVLM513-46546 - Gemini Observatory/ Dana Berry, SkyWorks Digital Animation
(Image credit: Artist’s rendition of what the magnetic fields and surface might look like on TVLM513-46546. Gemini Observatory artwork by Dana Berry, SkyWorks Digital Animation.)

This is amazing news. QuickFacts about TVLM513-46546

  • Mass is about 8-10% that of the Sun
  • Luminosity is about 0.02% that of the Sun’s brightness
  • Spectral Type is M9 dwarf
  • Age is at least 1 billion years old
  • Located about 35 light years away in constellation Bootes
  • Surface temperature is about 2400K (2127 Celsius)
  • Rotation period about 2 hours

=> More information: Odd Little Star has Magnetic Personality

Parallel Universes

Scientists now believe there may really be a parallel universe (multiverse) – in fact, there may be an infinite number of parallel universes, and we just happen to live in one of them. Many consider it as science fiction and fantasy idea.

IN AUGUST, radio astronomers announced that they had found an enormous hole in the universe. Nearly a billion light years across, the void lies in the constellation Eridanus and has far fewer stars, gas and galaxies than usual. It is bigger than anyone imagined possible and is beyond the present understanding of cosmology. What could cause such a gaping hole? One team of physicists has a breathtaking explanation: “It is the unmistakable imprint of another universe beyond the edge of our own,” says Laura Mersini-Houghton of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Parallel Universes

More information about Parallel Universes and new Evidence supporting idea…

=> Great ‘cosmic nothingness’ found

=> Multiverse

=> What are Parallel Universes?