DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ A 'cosmic glitch' in the universe is forcing astronomers to rethink Einstein's theory of relativity
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-20 | by ( Ellyn Lapointe | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Einstein's general theory of relativity states that the curvature of space-time causes gravity. But zoom out to enormous scales like clusters of galaxies spanning billions of light years across, and the laws of Einstein's gravity theory appear to change. A 1% adjustment may not sound like a big deal, but it's enough to suggest that Einstein's theory may need a rethink. Now, with this cosmic glitch, there's a new explanation on the table. NASA/CXC/Univ of Missouri/M.Brodwin et al; NASA/STScI; JPL/CalTechThe fact that this cosmic glitch could potentially help astronomers resolve the Hubble tension is a good sign that it may truly exist.

Persons: —, Albert Einstein's, Robin Wen, Wen, It's, shouldn't, Niayesh Afshordi, there's, Valerio Faraoni, Faraoni, Claire Lamman, DESI Organizations: Service, Business, Waterloo, University of Waterloo, University of British, ESA, Big Bang, NASA, of Missouri, JPL, CalTech, Bishop's University Locations: University of British Columbia

☆ Astronomers say we may live at the center of a cosmic void 2 billion light-years wide that defies the laws of cosmology
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-15 | by ( Jessica Orwig | Ellyn Lapointe | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

But the kicker is that this giant void shouldn't exist in the first place. For example, some people have correctly argued that such a void shouldn't exist in the standard model, which is true. Cosmologists have a value, called the Hubble constant, which they use to help describe how fast the universe's expansion is accelerating. The Hubble constant should be the same value wherever you look, whether it's close by or very far away. NASA/JPL-CaltechAstronomers can't agree on what's causing this discrepancy in the Hubble constant, and the contention has become known as the Hubble tension.

Persons: —, we're, Claire Lamman, Indranil, Andrews, Hubble, Brian Keating, Keating, Banik Organizations: Service, Business, Harvard, Smithsonian Center, Astrophysics, Indranil Banik, University of St, Banik, Royal Astronomical Society, KBC, Hubble, NASA, JPL, Caltech, ESA, Palomar, Sky, UC San Diego, Sky Survey

☆ The largest map of the cosmos hints that dark energy is changing. It could prove Einstein wrong and upend a pillar of modern physics.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-05 | by ( Jessica Orwig | Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

New data from the largest 3-D map of our universe suggests we may be wrong about dark energy. One of the driving forces behind that evolution is also one of our age's biggest mysteries in physics: dark energy. Einstein abandoned the idea as his "greatest blunder" in the 1930s, as astrophysicist Ethan Siegal explains, but a constant dark energy would have vindicated him. "If true, it would be the first real clue we have gotten about the nature of dark energy in 25 years," Adam Riess, a Nobel laureate for his co-discovery of dark energy, told Quanta Magazine. "The idea that dark energy is varying is very natural," Paul Steinhardt, a Princeton University cosmologist, told the magazine.

Persons: —, we're, Michael Levi, Levi, DESI, Marenfeld, Claire Lamman, Albert Einstein's, Einstein, Ethan Siegal, Albert Einstein, Ernst Haas, Adam Riess, Paul Steinhardt, Princeton University cosmologist, Riess, Vera C, Travis Lange, Jacqueline Ramseyer Orrell, NASA's Nancy Grace, Arnaud de Mattia, Mattia Organizations: Service, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, American Physical Society, Princeton University, NASA, Rubin, Accelerator, Atomic Energy Commission Locations: Arizona, Princeton , New Jersey

☆ For Ytasha Womack, the Afrofuture Is Now
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-16 | by ( Katrina Miller | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

And as with many things Afrofuturistic, Ytasha Womack’s fingerprints are all over it. (In 2023, Ms. Womack published “Black Panther: A Cultural Exploration,” Marvel’s reference book examining the films’ influences.) Afrofuturism is a way of thinking about the future, with alternate realities based on perspectives of the African diaspora. People have used imagination to transform their circumstances, to move from one reality to another. And so to claim your imagination — to embrace it — can be a way of elevating your consciousness.

Persons: Womack, “, Octavia Butler, Nyota Uhura, Janelle Monáe, Henrietta, “ Niyah Organizations: Adler, Carnegie Hall’s, National Museum of, Star, New York Times Locations: Chicago

☆ Webb space telescope spots oldest ‘dead’ galaxy
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-06 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Astronomers have spotted the oldest “dead” galaxy ever observed while studying the cosmos with the James Webb Space Telescope, and it’s one of the deepest views into the distant universe made with the observatory to date. The galaxy existed when the universe was only about 700 million years into its current age of about 13.8 billion years. But something made the galaxy suddenly halt star formation almost as quickly as star birth had begun more than 13 billion years ago, and the researchers have yet to uncover the cause. Studying the galaxy could reveal new insights about the early universe and the factors that affect star formation within galaxies, according to the authors. “Until now, to understand the early universe, we’ve used models based on the modern universe.

Persons: James Webb, “, ”, Tobias, Francesco D’Eugenio, “ We’re, Webb, Roberto Maiolino, Maiolino, ” D’Eugenio, — Organizations: CNN —, Telescope, University of Cambridge’s Kavli, Cosmology, Kavli, Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge

☆ NASA's James Webb telescope spotted a strange 13 billion-year-old galaxy that shouldn't exist
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-26 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

NASA's new space telescope spotted a 13 billion-year-old galaxy that is much too complex to exist that early in the universe. The galaxy, which is bigger than the Milky Way, could upheave what we know about how dark matter shaped the early universe. Light travels at a fixed speed through space, so the image of these early galaxies in the past is only reaching us now. According to current cosmology models, that should not be possible because dark matter is not supposed to have been mature enough at that time. "This dark matter — we don't know what it actually is —started out really smooth, with only the tiniest of ripples.

Persons: —, Karl Glazebrook, James Webb, Ivo Labbe, Swinburne University of Technology —, Labbe, Claudia Lagos, it's Organizations: Service, Swinburne University of Technology, Telescope, Reuters, University of Western Locations: University of Western Australia

☆ Scientists accidentally discovered a giant ring-shaped cosmic megastructure that challenges our understanding of the Universe
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-13 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Scientists have discovered a giant ring-shaped structure in space, dubbed the Big Ring. AdvertisementScientists have discovered a massive ring-shaped structure in space that challenges our understanding of the universe. The cosmic megastructure, dubbed the Big Ring, has a diameter of about 1.3 billion light-years and is among the largest structures ever observed. The structure observed more than 9 billion light-years from Earth, is the latest large structure discovered that contradicts the principle. The Big Ring is not observable by the naked eye but appears to be a perfect ring shape.

Persons: —, Alexia Lopez, Lopez, Ido Organizations: Service, University of Central, BBC, American Astronomical Society Locations: University of Central Lancashire, New Orleans

☆ Sagittarius A*, our galaxy’s black hole, spins fast and drags space-time with it
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-28 | by ( Taylor Nicioli | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The researchers confirmed that the black hole is spinning, which causes what is known as the Lense-Thirring effect. “But if you have a rapidly rotating black hole, the space-time around it is not symmetric — the spinning black hole is dragging all of the space-time around with it … it squishes down the space-time, and it sort of looks like a football,” she said. Black holes and galactic historyKnowing the mass and the spin of a black hole helps astronomers understand how the black hole might have formed and evolved, Daly said. However, a black hole that was made with accretion of surrounding gas would see a high spin value. “The question of whether our central galactic black hole rotates or not, or how fast it rotates, is quite important,” Stojkovic said in an email.

Persons: NASA’s Chandra, Ruth Daly, Daly, ” Daly, “ We’re, ”, “, Dejan Stojkovic, ” Stojkovic Organizations: CNN, Royal Astronomical Society, Penn State University, University, Buffalo

☆ Scientists think they've finally solved the decades-long mystery of why our Milky Way galaxy is so rare
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-28 | by ( Sonam Sheth | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Spiral galaxies like the Milky Way are surprisingly rare in our galactic neighborhood. The Milky Way, for example, is a spiral galaxy because of the way that stars, dust, and gas spiral out from the center of the galaxy. But spiral galaxies like ours are surprisingly rare in our galactic neighborhood, and for years, astronomers have wondered why since the 1960s. The simulation showed that galaxies in dense clusters, like the one our Milky Way calls home, experienced frequent collisions and mergers. For example, when two spiral galaxies collide, it's thought to create what's called an elliptical galaxy.

Persons: —, Carlos Frenk Organizations: Service, Institute, Durham University

☆ New Breed of Supercomputer Aims for the Two Quintillion Mark
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-14 | by ( Scott Patterson | Photographs Danielle Scruggs The Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

LEMONT, Ill.—Inside a vast data center on the outskirts of Chicago, the most powerful supercomputer in the world is coming to life. The machine will be able to analyze connections inside the brain and help design batteries that charge faster and last longer. Called Aurora, the supercomputer’s high-performance capabilities will be matched with the latest advances in artificial intelligence. Together they will be used by scientists researching cancer, nuclear fusion, vaccines, climate change, encryption, cosmology and other complex sciences and technologies.

Locations: Chicago

☆ Euclid telescope’s first images reveal new cosmic details
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-07 | by ( Manav Tanneeru | Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

What Euclid’s first images revealEuclid focused on an array of targets for its first scientific images. While dark matter has never actually been detected, it is believed to make up 85% of the total matter in the universe. Both dark matter and dark energy also play a role in the distribution and movement of objects, such as galaxies and stars, across the cosmos. These observations will effectively allow Euclid to see how the universe has evolved over the past 10 billion years. “Euclid will make a leap in our understanding of the cosmos as a whole, and these exquisite Euclid images show that the mission is ready to help answer one of the greatest mysteries of modern physics,” said Carole Mundell, ESA Director of Science, in a statement.

Persons: James Webb, “, ”, René Laureijs, Euclid, Matthias Kluge, Max Planck, Ludwig Maximilian, Koshy George, Georges Lemaître, Edwin Hubble, Carole Mundell Organizations: CNN, European Space Agency, Perseus, Max, Max Planck Institute, Ludwig Maximilian University, Orion, Ludwig Locations: Garching, Munich, Alexandria

☆ Euclid Telescope Dazzles With Detailed First Images of Our Universe
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-07 | by ( Katrina Miller | More About Katrina Miller | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“And it’s those ingredients pulled together that is going to make Euclid the iconic cosmology mission of the day.”Whereas NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope zooms in on one part of the sky at a time, Euclid excels at imaging wide, but still detailed, swaths of the universe. That’s perfect for “when you want to look for a needle in a haystack,” Dr. Seiffert said, including objects like free-floating worlds. With the data Euclid sends home, researchers can learn about how the web of dark matter cementing our universe together influences the shapes and motions of visible objects in space. The telescope’s detailed resolution is also expected to help scientists map the distribution of galaxies across cosmic time, aiding in understanding dark energy, the inexplicable force pulling the universe apart. Over the summer, scientists worked around the clock to fix a faulty navigation sensor that made Euclid create images of winding star trails as the telescope tried to capture a piece of sky.

Persons: Carole Mundell, NASA’s James Webb, Euclid, Seiffert, Mundell Organizations: Space

☆ A Guide to the James Webb Telescope's View of the Universe
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-05 | by ( Kate Larue | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

V. Knowing and UnknowingIt’s tempting to decide that all this seeing amounts to knowing. But some of Webb’s observations challenge fundamental assumptions in our timeline of the universe. ‘‘In general, star formation is very inefficient,’’ says Erica Nelson, assistant professor of astrophysics at the University of Colorado Boulder. In the latest models of cosmology, these unobserved phenomena make up 95 percent of the universe. Webb helps us know but also to “unknow”: It gives us stunning new discoveries while simultaneously challenging us to rethink and rebuild our understanding of the past.

Persons: Webb, ‘ ‘, ’, Erica Nelson Organizations: University of Colorado Locations: University of Colorado Boulder

☆ Mysterious fast radio burst traveled 8 billion years to reach Earth
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-19 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

The fast radio burst is one of the most distant and energetic ever observed. Fast radio bursts, or FRBs, are intense, millisecond-long bursts of radio waves with unknown origins. Many FRBs release super bright radio waves lasting only a few milliseconds at most before disappearing, which makes fast radio bursts difficult to observe. “J-P showed that the (farther) away a fast radio burst is, the more diffuse gas it reveals between the galaxies. Astronomers said they hope that future radio telescopes, currently under construction in South Africa and Australia, will enable the detection of thousands more fast radio bursts at greater distances.

Persons: FRB 20220610A, ”, Dr, Stuart Ryder, Ryan Shannon, ” Shannon, “, Jean, Pierre Macquart, ” Ryder, you’re Organizations: CNN —, Macquarie University, Southern, Swinburne University of Technology, “ Locations: Western Australia, Australia, Chile, Australian, South Africa

☆ Scientists untangle mystery about the universe's earliest galaxies
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-06 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Star formation in the early galaxies occurred in occasional big bursts, they found, rather than at a steady pace. "According to the standard model of cosmology, there should not be many very massive galaxies during cosmic dawn because it takes time for galaxies to grow after the Big Bang. And the reason this is so significant is that we explain these very bright galaxies without having to break the standard cosmological model," Faucher-Giguère added. They blast gas into space that becomes ingredients for another burst of star formation. But the stronger gravitational effects in larger galaxies prevent these bursts, favoring steady star formation.

Persons: NASA's James Webb, James Webb, Sun, Webb, Claude, André, Giguère, Will Dunham, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: Northwestern University, Astrophysical, Thomson Locations: WASHINGTON, Illinois

For all the versions of Beyoncé we’ve seen in her career — beauty queen, vixen, scorned women — stand-up comedian might be her most uninhibited. But as much as the Renaissance World Tour is limned with the beauty of aliveness and vitality, it is also preoccupied with mortality. She is deeply aware of the precarity of Black, queer and trans life. The shift between the ecstasy of the concert and the reality of the world was so disconcerting it was almost physically painful. But Beyoncé isn’t the undertaker; she is directing the second-line band at the funeral procession.

Persons: Beyoncé, we’ve, —, “, livin, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, O’Shae Sibley, vogueing, Barbara Ann Teer, Albert Einstein Organizations: National Black Theater Locations: York, Brooklyn, Las Vegas, Jacksonville, Fla

☆ Is There a Crisis in Cosmology? - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-02 | by ( Adam Frank | Marcelo Gleiser | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

A potent mix of hard-won data and rarefied abstract mathematical physics, the standard model of cosmology is rightfully understood as a triumph of human ingenuity. It has its origins in Edwin Hubble’s discovery in the 1920s that the universe was expanding — the first piece of evidence for the Big Bang. Over the past 60 years, cosmology has become ever more precise in its ability to account for the best available data about the universe. Cosmic inflation is an example of yet another exotic adjustment made to the standard model. There is nothing inherently fishy about these features of the standard model.

Persons: Edwin Hubble’s, can’t

☆ ‘Cosmology’: The Japanese skincare range designed for astronauts
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-30 | by ( Christy Choi | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —When Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui heads to the International Space Station (ISS) next year, he will have two new skincare items in his bag that are especially designed for the rigors of space travel. The face wash and lotion are part of a “Cosmology” line unveiled on Monday by Japanese cosmetic company POLA and ANA Holdings, the parent company of All Nippon Airways. The products were created after the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) called for skincare solutions that could be used in the resource-scarce, low-gravity and extremely dry conditions of outer space. The products are not the first cosmetics to head to outer space. Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui will bring the Cosmology skincare products to the International Space Station in 2024.

Persons: Kimiya Yui, POLA, Joan Higginbotham, Estée Lauder, ”, Miki Oikawa Organizations: CNN, International Space, ANA Holdings, All Nippon Airways, Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA, NASA, International Space Station, ANA Locations: POLA, Tokyo

☆ NASA's James Webb telescope discovers the earliest strand of a mysterious 'cosmic web' that links galaxies
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

JWST spotted ten galaxies connected by an invisible cosmic filament. This is the earliest filament ever seen of the so-called "cosmic web," a mysterious network that connects the galaxies in our universe. Galaxies are connected by a cosmic webAn artist's impression of the cosmic web, showing how there are invisible areas of high density of dark and regular matter connecting the galaxies in the universe. Peering back into the early stages of the universe can give us a sense of how galaxies appeared within this mysterious network. The ASPIRE team hopes the picture will shed more light on the cosmic web, but it is also very interested in how early quasars were formed in the universe's infancy.

Persons: JWST, James Webb, Niall Jeffrey, Feige Wang, Joseph DePasquale, Joseph Hennawi Organizations: Service, University of Arizona, ESA, University College London, Guardian, NASA, CSA, University of California Locations: Wall, Silicon, Santa Barbara

☆ The Dark Universe Is Waiting. What Will the Euclid Telescope Reveal?
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-01 | by ( Katrina Miller | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

At 11:12 a.m. on Saturday, the Euclid spacecraft launched into space on its mission to chart the history of our universe as far back as 10 billion years ago. Researchers plan to use Euclid’s map to explore how dark matter and dark energy — mysterious stuff that makes up 95 percent of our universe — have influenced what we see when we look out across space and time. “Euclid is coming at a really interesting time in the history of cosmology,” said Jason Rhodes, a physicist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory who leads Euclid’s U.S. science team. “We are entering a time when Euclid is going to be great at answering questions that are just now emerging. And I am certain that Euclid is going to be fantastic for answering questions we haven’t even thought of.”

Persons: Euclid, ”, Jason Rhodes Organizations: Euclid, European Space Agency, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Euclid’s Locations: Euclid’s U.S

☆ My final, unexpected conversation with Cormac McCarthy
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-18 | by ( David Kushner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

My last conversation with Cormac McCarthy, the acclaimed and elusive novelist who died last week at 89, came as unexpectedly as the first. "I thought you said Cormac McCarthy edited your book on theoretical physics?" "I got the manuscript back in the mail, and it was marked up on every page," Randall told me. By the time I interviewed Randall, Cormac was spending his days at the Santa Fe Institute, a theoretical-research institute in the piñon foothills of New Mexico. "Don't do this to yourself," McCarthy told the guy, before shutting the door in his face.

Persons: Cormac McCarthy, McCarthy, —, Belying, Cormac, Lisa Randall, Randall, Gil, Jon, MacArthur, Murray Gell, Mann, it's, Einstein, they're, Doug Erwin, David Krakauer, David, Stella Maris, I'd, He'd, David Kushner Organizations: Wired, Stone, Harvard, drifters, Santa Fe Institute, Atari Locations: backwoods Florida, piñon, New Mexico, Texas, Tennessee, El Paso, Rolling Stone, SFI

☆ An 'ultramassive' black hole has been discovered that's 33 billion times the mass of the sun
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

They estimate this black hole is 30 billion times bigger than our sun. That would make it one of the biggest black holes ever discovered. This black hole may remain one of the biggest holes ever discovered because physicists think black holes can't grow much bigger than that, Nightingale said. The technique could unveil 'inactive' black holesThe discovery of this black hole pushes back the limits of cosmology, Nightingale told the BBC. "How do you form a black hole this big in just 13 billion years of the universe's existence?"

☆ Fact Check-The Earth is not covered by a dome or ‘firmament’
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Users on social media are saying people on Earth are living under a dome, also called a “firmament,” without providing evidence to support the claim. But the video’s examples offer no proof of humans living under a dome or firmament, while there is ample evidence that no dome exists. “Rocket hitting the flat earth dome”, reads the title of one of the YouTube clips. SIXTY YEARS OF SPACEFLIGHTExperts pointed out that if there were a dome that covered the Earth, astronauts would have encountered it by now. A video provides no evidence that the Earth is under a dome or “firmament”.

☆ NASA awards SpaceX a $255 million contract to launch the next space telescope, which will study dark energy and exoplanets
▼ + stars: | 2022-07-20 | by ( Kate Duffy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Elon Musk's SpaceX will launch the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope in 2026 under a new NASA contract. The telescope will study dark energy, dark matter, galaxies, and exoplanets, NASA said. The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which is 2.4 meters in diameter, is slated to launch in October 2026, the space agency said in a press release. Under the contract, SpaceX will launch the telescope on a Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. According to NASA, the Roman telescope will launch on a Falcon Heavy rocket, which SpaceX bills as "the world's most powerful rocket."

☆ Астрономы уточнили настоящий возраст Вселенной от большого взрыва
▼ + stars: | 2021-01-11 | by ( Mld Media Srl | ) noi.md time to read: +2 min

Команда ученых провела уточняющие исследования относительно реального возраста нашей Вселенной. Такие выводы схожи с предыдущим исследованием, которое провела команда телескопа Planck, передает news.online.ua. Ранее третий научный коллектив провел собственное исследование относительно возраста Вселенной и пришел к выводу, что тот моложе, чем определил Planck. Напомним, наиболее распространенными теориями возникновения и развития нашей Вселенной стали теория Большого взрыва вместе с теорией инфляции. Первая предполагает непрерывное расширение с момента "взрыва", а вторая говорит, что расширение началось, но через некоторое время после образования.

Persons: Planck, Атакамский, Мультивселенная Organizations: Flatiron, Центр вычислительной физики, Институт получившие, Даремский университет Locations: ONLINE.UA, Чили, Луна, Земля, Марс

Search resuls for: "Cosmology"

25 mentions found