Universe Today

The planet Saturn is arguably the most recognizable planetary object in the entire solar system because of its massive rings. Anytime a child is asked what their favorite planet is, the answer is often “The one with the rings!” But, while Saturn’s rings are its most striking feature, the famed planet has a myriad of other unique features that often get overlooked, specifically its polar activity. This includes a long-known rotating hexagon in its north polar region, but what kinds of activity could be occurring in Saturn’s southern polar region, and what could this teach scientists about planetary formation and evolution?

Researchers have found that if black holes have certain features, known as "hair," then we could prove it by observing the gravitational ringdown of merging black holes. Future studies could test the no-hair theorem of general relativity.

Our Sun is the very reason life exists on our small, blue planet. It provides solar radiation that warms the planet and ignites the intricate biochemical processes like photosynthesis producing oxygen for life to breathe. However, while the Sun is known for giving life, it can also potentially take it away with its solar flares, geomagnetic storms, and solar radiation storms, all of which are referred to as space weather. But how can space weather be forecasted so industries can better prepare and protect their assets, including Earth infrastructure, satellites, and even human safety?

A new study led by researchers from Caltech demonstrates the effectiveness of Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) as a tool for measuring cosmological distances and the clustering of matter.

Most of our experience with the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) has been focused on capturing radio signals that alien species have sent out, whether intentionally or unintentionally. That creates a huge “synchronicity” problem - what if there aren’t any alien civilizations broadcasting radio signals now, but there were a billion years ago? The Milky Way is around 13 billion years old - hoping that we exist at the same time as an alien civilization that happens to be actively messaging is a huge leap of faith. But, according to a new paper available in pre-print on arXiv and submitted to the International Journal of Astrobiology by Lewis J Pinault, as associated researcher at the SETI Institute, and his co-authors, we could take a completely alternative approach to trying to find alien civilizations - by looking for evidence of them in lunar dirt.