Universe Today

A team of scientists are preparing to use NASA's upcoming Habitable Worlds Observatory to answer one of the most profound questions of all time: How does life begin? Rather than searching for individual signs of life, the team plan to study patterns across dozens of exoplanets to test competing theories about the origins of life; from scenarios where life is so rare we might be alone within 33 light-years, to theories predicting that life emerges wherever basic conditions exist. This approach could transform perhaps our oldest question into testable science, potentially revealing whether our biosphere is an accident or part of a universe teeming with life.

Astronomers have discovered hundreds of exoplanets on extremely short orbits of less than 10 days. Our Solar System has nothing like this, and these planets are so close to their stars that they can disrupt the stars' magnetic fields. Scientists think this can induce stellar flaring, and researchers have detected the first example of exoplanet-induced stellar flaring.

The search for habitable exoplanets boils down to the search for water. Exoplanet scientists lack the technological capability to detect surface water on exoplanets from great distances, so instead they can only search for planets in habitable zones where surface water is likely. But what if we could directly detect the surface water itself?

With the recent first light milestone for the Vera Rubin observatory, it's only a matter of time before one of astronomy’s most long-awaited surveys begins. The Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) is set to start on November 5th, and will scan the sky of billions of stars for at least ten years. One of the most important things it hopes to find is evidence (or lack thereof) of primordial black holes (PBHs), one of the primary candidates for dark matter. A new paper from researchers at Durham University and the University of New Mexico looks at the difficulties the LSST will have in finding those enigmatic objects, especially the statistical challenges, and how they might be overcome.

It's cold in space, but overheating is a bigger problem than low temperatures. That's because the only way to regulate a spacecraft's heat is through radiation, or slowing down its computing. Engineers have tested a new type of heat sink in space that contains a wax-based phase change material that melts within the normal operating temperature range of the electronics, absorbing heat and then helping to radiate it away. The heat sink was part of a CubeSat launched in August 2024.

When the JWST was being built, some labelled it as the Hubble's successor. In some ways it is, even though the Hubble is still performing important science observations. When the two telescopes team up, we get the best of both.

An international team of scientists led by the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) proposed a new method for living beyond Earth. Their experiment demonstrated how bioplastic structures can be grown using algae, which would be rugged enough to survive the hostile Martian environment.