
Vera Rubin telescope is pointing the world's biggest camera at cosmos
On a mountaintop at the edge of the Atacama Desert in Chile, the world's newest telescope is poised to begin a revolutionary survey of the southern hemisphere's observable universe, one that promises to see more galaxies than ever seen before as well as millions of previously unidentified asteroids roaming our solar system.
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2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Scientists Working to Decode Signal From Earliest Years of Universe
As mysterious as the Big Bang that gave birth to the universe is the brief but tumultuous period that immediately followed it. How did the cosmos transform from a uniform sea of darkness into a chaotic swirl brimming with radiant stars? What were these first stars like, and how were they born? So far, we have very strong suspicions, but no hard answers. One reason is that the light from this period, called the cosmic dawn, is extremely faint, making it nearly impossible to infer the traits of these first cosmic objects, let alone directly observe them. But that's about to change, according to a team of international astronomers. In a new study published in the journal Nature Astronomy, the astronomers argue that we're on the verge of finally decoding a radio signal that was emitted just one hundred millions years after the Big Bang. Known as the 21 centimeter signal, which refers to its distinct wavelength, this burst of radiation was unleashed as the inchoate cosmos spawned the earliest stars and black holes. "This is a unique opportunity to learn how the universe's first light emerged from the darkness," said study co-author Anastasia Fialkov, an astronomer from the University of Cambridge in a statement about the work. "The transition from a cold, dark universe to one filled with stars is a story we're only beginning to understand." After several hundred thousand years of cooling following the Big Bang, the first atoms to form in the universe were overwhelmingly neutral hydrogen atoms made of one positively charged proton and one negatively charged electron. But the formation of the first stars unbalanced that. As these cosmic reactors came online, they radiated light energetic enough to reionize this preponderance of neutral hydrogen atoms. In the process, they emitted photons that produced light in the telltale 21 centimeter wavelength, making it an unmistakeable marker of when the first cosmic structures formed. Deciphering these emissions would be tantamount to obtaining a skeleton key to the dawn of the universe. And drum roll, please: employing the Radio Experiment for the Analysis of Cosmic Hydrogen telescope, which is currently undergoing calibration, and the enormous Square Kilometer Array, which is under construction Australia, the researchers say they've developed a model that can tease out the masses of the first stars, sometimes dubbed Population III stars, that are locked inside the 21 centimeter signal. While developing the model, their key revelation was that, until now, astronomers weren't properly accounting for the impact of star systems called x-ray binaries among these first stars. These are systems where a black hole or neutron star is stripping material off a more ordinary star that's orbiting it, producing light in the x-ray spectrum. In short, it appears that x-ray binaries are both brighter and more numerous than what was previously thought. "We are the first group to consistently model the dependence of the 21-centimeter signal of the masses of the first stars, including the impact of ultraviolet starlight and X-ray emissions from X-ray binaries produced when the first stars die," said Fialkov. "These insights are derived from simulations that integrate the primordial conditions of the universe, such as the hydrogen-helium composition produced by the Big Bang." All told, it's another promising leap forward in the field of radio astronomy, where recent advances have begun to reveal an entire "low surface brightness" universe — and a potentially profound one as well, with the promise to illuminate our understanding of the cosmic dawn as never never before. "The predictions we are reporting have huge implications for our understanding of the nature of the very first stars in the universe," said co-author Eloy de Lera Acedo, a Cambridge astronomer and a principal investigator of the REACH telescope. "We show evidence that our radio telescopes can tell us details about the mass of those first stars and how these early lights may have been very different from today's stars." More on astronomy: Scientists Investigating Small Orange Objects Coating Surface of the Moon
Yahoo
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NASA's New Data Has Scientists Sounding the Alarm on Climate Extremes
The latest satellite data from NASA is painting a troubling picture of Earth's climate, and it's coming into focus faster than expected. According to new research from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, extreme weather events like floods and droughts are not only becoming more common, but also more intense, longer-lasting, and more destructive. The Guardian reported that data from the past five years show these events doubling in intensity compared to averages between 2003 and 2020. Even researchers behind the study admit they didn't anticipate such a dramatic spike. "We were surprised to find the actual population living in rural areas is much higher than the global data indicates," said lead researcher Dr. Bailing Li, who helped compile the figures using NASA's Grace satellite and dam relocation data across 35 countries. The result: a grim confirmation that climate change is fueling a shift in the planet's water systems, and the consequences are just data, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, reveals that global extremes now show a stronger correlation with rising temperatures than with other climate drivers like El Niño. Events are lasting longer, affecting wider areas, and shifting with less predictability—creating what scientists call "hydroclimatic whiplash," sudden transitions from drought to flood or vice versa. What's most worrying isn't just the scale of the change, but how unprepared most of the world remains. Experts say the current infrastructure, especially in water management, was built for a different era—one with a more stable climate. Christopher Gasson of Global Water Intelligence warned that most water systems are facing extremes from both ends—too much water or too little—and that investment must scale quickly to keep up. Meteorologists and climate experts across the globe echoed the concern. Richard Betts of the UK's Met Office called the data "a stark reminder" that what was once theoretical is now reality. He stressed that most societies have built their systems around past weather patterns, leaving them vulnerable to extremes that now fall outside the historical norm. With the World Meteorological Organization predicting an 80% chance that one of the next five years will be Earth's hottest ever, the window for adapting is narrowing. NASA's findings serve as a warning: the planet is heating up, and the consequences are already surging across every New Data Has Scientists Sounding the Alarm on Climate Extremes first appeared on Men's Journal on Jun 22, 2025


Washington Post
4 hours ago
- Washington Post
New marine life database touted as tool for ocean research
Biologists have launched a database of marine animals' body sizes that they say could help preserve biodiversity in Earth's oceans. Why bother measuring animals' body size? In an article in Global Ecology and Biogeography, researchers write that body size affects animals in a multitude of ways, from their behavior and favorite foods to their physiology and habitat choices.