Space

An astronomical physicist at IIUM is investigating how to improve the surface coatings on observatory mirrors to make them more sensitive to detecting ripples in the Universe.

When an optical fiber is immersed in liquid, a high temperature, high speed jet is discharged. Researchers expect this to be applied to medical treatment in the future. Now, a research team from Russia and Japan has explored this phenomenon further and revealed the reasons behind the jet formation.

Researchers have shaken up a once accepted timeline for cataclysmic events in the early solar system. Geological and geochemical records indicate that the Earth-Moon system experienced a period of frequent and cataclysmic impacts from asteroids and other bodies. It was thought that this period had a relatively sudden onset, but the researchers have found evidence that this bombardment period may have started much earlier, and decreased in intensity over time.

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) Scientific Collaboration and the Virgo Collaboration (Virgo) announce the detection of gravitational waves from the spectacular collision of two black holes with “forbidden” masses. This marks the first time an intermediate-mass black hole has been observed. Two papers about the event, known as GW190521 have been accepted for publication today in the journal Physical Review Letters and The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Professor Tjonnie Li and Professor Juan Calderon Bustillo of the Department of Physics at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), lead the only group in Hong Kong involved with the work of LIGO, and have been deeply involved in the analysis of this signal.

The quantum chromodynamics (QCD) phase transition in core-collapse supernovae has been examined for the first time, using state-of-the-art multi-dimensional supernova simulations and unique imprints of such a phase transition on the emitted gravitational-wave and neutrino signals have been detected. The findings have been reported in a paper jointly authored by Professor Ming-chung Chu and Dr. Lap-Ming Lin from The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), Dr. Shuai Zha (CUHK PhD 2019) and Professor Evan O’Connor from Stockholm University, and Professor Sean M. Couch from Michigan State University. It was recently published and selected as Editors’ Suggestion in the Physical Review Letters, a top physics journal.

Scientists have found the interstellar organic matter could produce an abundant supply of water by heating, suggesting that organic matter could be the source of terrestrial water.

Hokkaido University, Tohoku University, and Myanmar Aerospace Engineering University (MAEU) have started their first satellite development program from September 1st, 2019.

A new study reveals that asteroid impact sites in the ocean may possess a crucial link in explaining the formation of the essential molecules for life. The study discovered the emergence of amino acids that serve as the building blocks for proteins - demonstrating the role of meteorites in bringing life's molecules to Earth, and potentially Mars.

An international research team has revealed that this ‘super-rotation’ is maintained near the equator by atmospheric tidal waves formed from solar heating on the planet’s dayside and cooling on its nightside.

Neon inside a certain star core can eat so many electrons, it causes the star to collapse into a neutron star and produce a supernova.

Astronomers obtained the first resolved image of disturbed gaseous clouds in a galaxy 11 billion light-years away by using ALMA.

Astronomers have captured new, detailed maps of three nearby interstellar gas clouds containing regions of ongoing high-mass star formation.

A key component of the Prime Focus Spectrograph, the metrology camera, can now make accurate measurements while set up at the bottom of the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii.

Researchers found that dust encircling a young gas giant can create a “safety zone,” which keeps a large moon from falling into the planet as the system evolves.

An international team of astronomers using ALMA has captured the very moment when an old star first starts to alter its environment.

Mayor Cheol-ho Song (Ulsan, South Korea) visited the startup facilities of Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) on January 4, 2020.

While InSight's seismometer has been patiently waiting for the next big marsquake to illuminate its interior and define its crust-mantle-core structure, two scientists, Takashi Yoshizaki and Bill McDonough have built a new compositional model for Mars. They used rocks from Mars and measurements from orbiting satellites to predict the depth to its core-mantle boundary, some 1,800 km beneath the surface and have been able to suggest that its core contains moderate amounts of sulfur, oxygen and hydrogen as light elements.

Planetary scientists using ALMA revealed the secrets of the atmosphere of Titan, the largest moon of Saturn.

The origin of how the Universe created its voids and filaments can now be studied within seconds after researchers developed an artificial intelligence tool called Dark Emulator.

Gravitational waves could contain evidence to prove that neutrino particles reshuffled matter and anti-matter, explains a new study.

Silly questions lead to surprising answers about the fundamental nature of the universe. We might have been getting it wrong this whole time.

Astronomers at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan have analyzed the paths of two objects heading out of the Solar System and determined that they likely originated from outside of the Solar System.

A gassy insulating layer beneath the icy surfaces of distant celestial objects could mean there are more oceans in the universe than previously thought.

Astronomers uncovered the true identity of the fireball spotted on April 29, 2017.

Searching for tiny, ancient black holes proposed by Stephen Hawking to see if they might be dark matter.

Astronomers have cataloged signs of 9 heavy metals in the infrared light from supergiant and giant stars.

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) found a young star surrounded by an astonishing mass of gas.

A distant galaxy more massive than our Milky Way has revealed that the 'cores' of massive galaxies in the Universe had formed already 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang.

Researchers have discovered gigantic clouds of gaseous carbon more than a radius of 30,000 light-years around young galaxies using ALMA.

JAXA and NASA satellite observations show where killer electrons are generated in the Van Allen radiation belts surrounding Earth.