Space

Astronomers Acknowledge The Sun’s Evil Twin Exists And Is Heading Our Way

Published

3 years ago

August 29, 2021

Astronomers have been on the lookout for the Sun’s ‘evil’ twin ever since the 1980s, when a scientist named Richard Muller theorized about the massive extinction events occurring on earth roughly every 26 million years. Today, researchers seem closer then ever to unraveling this mystery.

Members of the scientific community are well aware of these events, and it’s widely accepted that they were caused by impacting comets and asteroids. These almost regular events, Muller proposed, were caused by none other than the Sun’s twin, dubbed Nemesis after the Greek goddess of divine retribution.

His idea became very controversial across the years, since astronomers have found no trace of the star after decades of sky surveys, that is until now. But, before going into details about the newly acquired evidence, let’s have a look at Muller’s theory.

According to him, there is another star orbiting our sun every 26 million years at a length of 1 to 3 light years from our sun. It may seem very far, but it’s not that much on a galactic scale where the closes known star – Proxima Centauri, is just 4.2 light years away from us.

When Nemesis approaches the sun on its irregular orbit, it disrupts the Ort Cloud – a conglomeration of comets, asteroids and meteors located approximately 1 light year away from the Sun, just at the edge of our solar system. As a result of the collision, these celestial bodies are sent hurtling towards the inner system.

Nemesis is described as a brown dwarf. In other words, it is a failed star, too tiny to sustain nuclear fusion, gassy, dark and hard to spot, but seemingly with an ardent desire to smack everything interfering with its path.

It’s no wonder Muller’s idea was subject to disbelief, since no one was able to spot this rogue star, nor find a similar star to orbit at such a great distance. However, a new mathematical model from UC Berkeley has unveiled just that. Even more, data suggest that almost every star is born with a companion, not excluding our sun.

The team of astronomers at Berkeley have scouted the Perseus Cloud – a stelar fabric approximately 600 light years away, to count the single and binary star systems. A total of 45 single-star systems and 19 binary-star systems were identified.

After analyzing various sets of data, they reached the conclusion that wide binary systems where two stars are further than 500 astronomical units (AU) apart, the stars were younger than 500,000 years. The rest of the stars between 5000,000 and 1 million years, all stood closer, at about 200 AU.

The Perseus cloud appears in the sky as a black spot, since it’s made up of dense gas and dust that blocks light from stars inside and behind it (Credit: FORS Team, 8.2-meter VLT Antu, ESO)

This survey is more than just a coincidence to researchers involved, and believe they have stumbled across a cosmic pattern.

“This has not been seen before or tested, and is super interesting,” notes Sarah Sadavoy, lead author of the study. “We don’t yet know quite what it means, but it isn’t random and must say something about the way wide binaries form.”

Craving for additional answers, the team underwent a series of computer simulations to outline several scenarios. Data showed that all stars with masses compared to that of the Sun come into existence as part of a wide binary system.

With the passing of time, around 60 percent of them break up and arrange into single-star systems, while the others approach and turn into tight binaries.

This being said, although no traces of Nemesis were found so far, the sun is likely to have a wandering evil twin that’s lurking beyond the solar system somewhere within the Milky Way.

“We are saying, yes, there probably was a Nemesis, a long time ago,” said Steven Stahler, co-author of the study.

“We ran a series of statistical models to see if we could account for the relative populations of young single stars and binaries of all separations in the Perseus molecular cloud, and the only model that could reproduce the data was one in which all stars form initially as wide binaries. These systems then either shrink or break apart within a million years.”

With the latest report from last year of disturbed objects hurtling towards the inner solar system, we can expect nemesis to arrive anytime soon, although probably not during our lifetime. But, i guess we’ll never know.

The study is available online, and will soon feature in the monthly notices of the royal astronomical society.

Space

NASA Discovers Hyper-Speed Object That Could Break Free from the Milky Way

Published

4 weeks ago

August 20, 2024

According to NASA, a rogue, hyper-speed object, which is over
27,306 times the size of Earth, is hurtling so fast through our galaxy
that it might break free of the Milky Way.

Scientists say they have determined that the mysterious object was
cruising at a breakneck one million miles per hour when they spotted it
more than 400 light years from Earth. One light-year is equal to six
trillion miles.

Could this latest find be connected to the fake alien invasion that has long been in the pipeline?

The Mail Online reorts: While experts have not determined what the newfound celestial body is, they speculated it is a ‘brown dwarf,’ a star which is larger than a planet but lacks the mass to sustain long-term nuclear fusion in its core like Earth’s sun.

If the object confirmed as a brown dwarf, it would be first-ever to
be documented in a chaotic, hyper-speed orbit capable of breaking free
from our home galaxy.

A coalition of citizen-scientists with NASA’s ‘Backyard Worlds: Planet 9’ projectwere the first to spot the celestial body, the US space agency confirmed this week.

‘I can’t describe the level of excitement,’ German citizen-scientist Martin Kabatnik, a long-time member of NASA’s Backyard Worlds program, said in statement.

‘When I first saw how fast it was moving,’ the Nuremberg-based
researcher confessed, ‘I was convinced it must have been reported
already.’

Backyard Worlds citizen-scientists Martin Kabatnik, Thomas P. Bickle
and Dan Caselden were the first to spot this million mph object a few
years ago, earning the hyper-speed object the catalogued name CWISE
J124909.08+362116.0.

According to astronomer Dr Kyle Kremer,
who has collaborated with them on better understanding the object,
several astrophysics theories could explain how the object, CWISE J1249
for short, could have gotten to its incredible speed.

In one theory, CWISE J1249 rocketed out of a two star or binary star
system after its ‘white dwarf’ sister star died off — collapsing in an
explosive runaway nuclear fusion reaction called a supernova.

Another viable theory has it that CWISE J1249 originated inside a
tight cluster of starts called a ‘globular cluster’ where it was flung
free via the pull of a black hole.

‘When a star encounters a black hole binary,’ Dr Kremer said in a
NASA statement on the discovery, ‘the complex dynamics of this
three-body interaction can toss that star right out of the globular
cluster.’

Space

Polish astronaut prepares for 2025 flight to ISS

Published

1 month ago

August 6, 2024

Source: Instagram@astro_slawosz

Sławosz Uznański will be the second Pole in space and the first to fly to the International Space Station (ISS).

Uznański revealed that his mission to the ISS is planned for 2025 and will last about two weeks. He will launch from Cape Canaveral on a rocket provided by SpaceX. This journey not only represents a significant milestone for Uznański but also for Polish space exploration.

Last year, Uznański was officially selected for this mission, after which he commenced his training at the European Space Agency’s facility in Cologne, Germany. Initially planned for 2024, the mission faced delays, but new details have recently emerged on Uznański’s social media profiles.

Będzie się działo! 🚀🧑🏻‍🚀
W ten weekend 👉🏻 przeprowadzam się do Houston 🇺🇸 W poniedziałek zaczynam szkolenie w @Axiom_Space, a następnie w @SpaceX i @NASA 💪🏻🧑🏻‍🚀

🇵🇱 Polska misja na 🛰️ Międzynarodowej Stacji Kosmicznej odbędzie się w 2025 roku i będzie się skupiać na testach polskich… pic.twitter.com/BS47jpoOEI

— Slawosz Uznanski (@astro_slawosz) August 2, 2024

During his two-week stay on the ISS, he will focus on Polish scientific projects and technology tests, including artificial intelligence applications in space and studies on the effects of microgravity on the human immune system.

The European Space Agency (ESA) and the Polish Space Agency (POLSA) received numerous project proposals for Uznański’s mission. Due to limited space, only seven were selected, highlighting the extensive interest and potential impact of this mission.

Uznański will travel to the ISS in SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule, a vehicle regularly used by NASA for transporting astronauts. The Crew Dragon will be mounted atop a Falcon 9 rocket, with the launch also set to take place at Cape Canaveral. While the exact launch date is yet to be confirmed, preparations are in full swing.

In a move to further his training, Uznański has relocated to Houston, Texas. Starting Monday, he will begin a new training phase at Axiom Space, a partner in the mission, followed by sessions at NASA and SpaceX facilities. This mission not only propels Uznański into space but also significantly advances Poland’s stature in the global aerospace sector.

VIA:Interia