For decades, computer models of galaxy formation have relied on an important shortcut: preventing the simulated gas inside galaxies from cooling below ca. 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit, hotter than the surface of the sun. Modeling colder gases requires tracking much more complex physics and chemistry, so a workaround was needed. But cold gas is exactly where … Read more
Planets orbiting two stars were expected to be everywhere. Instead, astronomers have discovered only a few, according to a new study. Einstein’s general theory of relativity We may be quietly wiping out many of them. For years, this gap has puzzled scientists. The numbers simply didn’t add up, as binary stars are common in galaxies … Read more
Credit: ESO/L. Calçada, CC BY One of the largest known stars in the universe underwent a dramatic change in 2014 and may be preparing to explode, a new study has revealed. A study published today in Nature Astronomy and led by Gonzalo Muñoz Sánchez of the National Observatory of Athens claims that the giant star … Read more
Ordinary matter, the atoms that make up stars, planets, and living things, make up only about 15% of the total matter in the universe. The rest is thought to be due to dark matter, but it has not been directly detected. However, more than half of that 15% remains unexplained, leaving gaps in cosmological models. … Read more
Based on the Big Bang cosmology and the LCDM model, the most widely accepted models for the beginning of the universe, scientists theorize that a huge cloud of neutral hydrogen permeated the universe. From this material, the first stars and galaxies rapidly formed over the next several hundred eons, an event that astronomers and cosmologists … Read more