The Cosmic Companion February 8, 2020
The matter in the Universe may be the product of neutrinos, the icy heart of Pluto controls that world's climate, an ancient galaxy lived fast and died young, and the Cocoon galaxy has two cores.
Hello everyone!
In this week’s issue of The Cosmic Companion, we look at how the smallest subatomic particles could be responsible for all the matter in the Universe, the icy heart of Pluto could control the climate on that world, an ancient galaxy is discovered that lived fast and died young, and the Cocoon Galaxy is found to have a rare double core.
Listen and subscribe to Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion through any major podcast provider, including iTunes, Spotify, or TuneIn! Or, listen in at: https://thecosmiccompanion.substack.com.
The Cosmic Companion also offers a premium newsletter, featuring weekly exclusive videos, the astronomy comic of the week, and more. Just $5 a month, or $50 a year! Sign up at: https://thecosmiccompanion.substack.com.
Or, you can buy me a cup of coffee for my work!
Let’s take off!
The Week in Space
How the Tiniest Particles in the Cosmos Saved Us All from Annihilation
By James Maynard
Matter and anti-matter completely annihilate when they meet, erupting into pure energy. If the Universe began with equal amounts of each, why does anything still exist? The answer may lie with the smallest particle of all.
Anti-matter is seen on the surface of the Sun, as it collides with matter, annihilating both partners in subatomic collisions. So, why is matter so prevalent in the Universe, and anti-matter so rare? Image credit: NASA
Ripples in spacetime known as gravitational waves could reveal the answer to one of the greatest questions in the study of the Cosmos — why anti-matter in the early Universe did not completely annihilate every particle of matter and vice versa.
According to widely-accepted models of the Big Bang, the enormous energy of the explosion soon began to freeze into subatomic particles. As the Universe continued to expand and cool, matter and anti-matter formed (theoretically) in equal amounts. Were that the whole story, however, these particles should have eventually wiped each other out of existence.
Read more: http://bit.ly/Tiniest-Particles-Annihilation
Pluto’s ‘Icy Heart’ Controls the Dwarf Planet’s Winds
By Rob Lea
A ‘beating heart’ of frozen nitrogen on the surface of Pluto controls its winds and gives rise to the dwarf planet’s features.
Pluto’s beating heart of frozen nitrogen. Image credit: NASA
New research indicates that Pluto’s nitrogen heart may control its atmospheric circulation and shape its landscape. The structure — known as Tombaugh Regio — nicknamed the ‘heart of Pluto’ due to its distinctive shape, was observed by NASA’s New Horizons mission in 2015, proving that the dwarf-planet is nor as barren as researchers had previously believed.
“Before New Horizons, everyone thought Pluto was going to be a netball — completely flat, almost no diversity,” Tanguy Bertrand, an astrophysicist and planetary scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California. “But it’s completely different. It has a lot of different landscapes and we are trying to understand what’s going on there.”
Read more: http://bit.ly/Pluto-Heart-Winds
Monster Galaxy from Ancient Universe Died Young
By James Maynard
A monster galaxy is spotted from the ancient Universe — it lived fast and died young — what killed XMM-2599?
Looking down into the Keck mirror assembly. Image credit: Andrew Cooper.
A monster galaxy from the early Universe, XMM-2599, lived out its life just a billion years after the Big Bang, before dying a mysterious death when the Universe was just 13 percent of its current age.
Galaxies like the Milky Way produce roughly one new star each year, but XMM-2599 developed a flurry of stars when it first formed, reaching a mass of more than 300 billion Suns. Star production then quickly shut down, making XMM-2599 a “dead galaxy.” Why this fast-living galaxy shut down stellar formation so quickly is a new mystery for astronomers to solve.
Read more: http://bit.ly/Monster-Galaxy-Died-Young
The Strange Double Nucleus of the Cocoon Galaxy
By James Maynard
A galactic collision resulted in the creation of a strange pair of galaxies, and the larger one holds a second hidden core, a new finding reveals.
The galaxy NGC 4490, seen by the Hubble Space Telescope. Red areas are regions of active star formation. Image credit: ESA/Hubble/NASA
Roughly 30 million light years from Earth, the Cocoon Galaxy (also known as NGC 4490) is home to two galactic cores, a new study shows. Optical observations clearly show one core which has long been known to astronomers. However, a second core was recently found by astronomers using radio telescopes, hiding in clouds of gas and dust.
This pair of galaxies are the products of an ancient collision between a spiral galaxy and a barred spiral galaxy (the shape of the present-day Milky Way, but much smaller). The pair, drawn together by gravity, collided, triggering a period of active star building in each cluster of stars.
Read more: http://bit.ly/Double-Nucleus-Cocoon-Galaxy
Read more stories at www.thecosmiccompanion.com
Coming soon: The First Woman on the Moon: The Past and Future History of Women in Space by James Maynard
Thanks for reading!
On the February 18th episode of the Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion podcast, I will be interviewing Dr. Gillian Wilson of the University of California Riverside, about her work on the recent discovery of XMM-2599, a monster galaxy from the early Universe that lived fast and died young. Excerpts will also be heard on the video version of the show. Make sure to listen to this exciting episode!
You can also listen to my new podcast, Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion, available on all major podcast distributors, including iTunes, Spotify, and TuneIn! Or, tune in at: https://thecosmiccompanion.substack.com. You can also add Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion to your flash briefings on Amazon Alexa!
If you want to keep up with the latest updates and news about astronomy and space exploration, visit www.thecosmiccompanion.com, join my Facebook page, subscribe on YouTube, and follow @TheCosmicCompanion on Instagram and @CompanionCosmic on Twitter.
Remember - VIP subscribers receive this newsletter, plus a second weekly newsletter with sneak previews of each video episode of Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion, an astronomy comic of the week, rare space photos, and more! Plans start at just $5!
Do you know someone else who would love this newsletter? Please share! Invest in knowledge with a premium subscription for yourself or a loved one today (including advance viewings of my weekly video show)! Or, I’d love it if you could buy me a cup of coffee - I LOVE coffee!
Thanks for everything and I will see you next week!
Astronomy - Don’t Leave Home Without It!
- James