Carolyn Collins Petersen

Denver

On Earth, work in space. Love clear blue skies. Wear mask, wash hands, get shots. Watch launches! Science: it works! Joined July 2008. date below should match.

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Articles

Finding a Better Way to Distinguish Life from Non-Life

6 days ago | universetoday.com | Carolyn Collins Petersen

The search for life on other worlds needs a way to sift through the chemistry of their atmospheres. If another species observed Earth to search for life, they'd look for "smoking gun" chemistry in the atmosphere. That includes looking for oxygen, since it is created through photosynthesis by plants and some bacteria. So, the key is to look for life-dependent chemical "signals" at exoplanets.
James Webb telescope spots weird changes on Jupiter's icy moon Europa

1 week ago | yahoo.com | Carolyn Collins Petersen

When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Europa's surface ices are changing constantly, according to new surface spectra taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. | Credit: Image data: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS; Image processing: Kevin M. Gill CC BY 3.0You'd think that icy worlds are frozen in time and space because they're — well — icy. However, planetary scientists know that all worlds can and do change, no matter how long it takes.
James Webb telescope spots weird changes on Jupiter's icy moon Europa

1 week ago | livescience.com | Carolyn Collins Petersen

You'd think that icy worlds are frozen in time and space because they're — well — icy. However, planetary scientists know that all worlds can and do change, no matter how long it takes. That's true for Europa, one of Jupiter's four largest moons. Recent observations made by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) zero in on the Europan surface ices and show they're constantly changing. Dr. Ujjwal Raut of the Southwest Research Institute (SWRI) reported on the changes reflected in the JWST studies.
Strange Object is Releasing Regular Blasts of Both X-Rays and Radio Waves

1 week ago | universetoday.com | Carolyn Collins Petersen

Just when astronomers think they're starting to understand stellar activity, something strange grabs their attention. That's the case with a newly discovered stellar object called ASKAP J1832-0911. It lies about 15,000 light-years from Earth and belongs to a class of stellar objects called "long-period radio transients." That means it emits radio waves that vary in their intensity on a schedule of only 44 minutes per cycle.
Webb Reveals that Europa's Surface is Constantly Changing

1 week ago | universetoday.com | Carolyn Collins Petersen

You'd think that icy worlds are frozen in time and space because they're - well - icy. However, planetary scientists know that all worlds can and do change, no matter how long it takes. That's true for Europa, one of Jupiter's four largest moons. Recent observations made by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) zero in on the Europan surface ices and show they're constantly changing. Dr. Ujjwal Raut of the Southwest Research Institute (SWRI) reported on the changes reflected in the JWST studies.
Will Europa become a habitable world when the sun becomes a red giant?

1 week ago | phys.org | Carolyn Collins Petersen |Sadie Harley |Andrew Zinin

People always want to know what will happen to Earth when the sun eventually swells up as a red giant. For one thing, the expanding sun will turn the inner planets into cinders. It will almost certainly spell the end of life on our planet. Mars might become more temperate and hospitable to life.
Will Europa Become a Habitable World When the Sun Becomes a Red Giant?

1 week ago | universetoday.com | Carolyn Collins Petersen

People always want to know what will happen to Earth when the Sun eventually swells up as a red giant. For one thing, the expanding Sun will turn the inner planets into cinders. It will almost certainly spell the end of life on our planet. Mars might become more temperate and hospitable to life. In addition, it could well be a boon for the gas giant Jupiter and its moons.
Is the world ready for a catastrophic solar storm?

2 weeks ago | phys.org | Carolyn Collins Petersen |Lisa Lock |Robert Egan

Some 13,000 years ago, the sun emitted a huge belch of radiation that bombarded Earth and left its imprint in ancient tree rings. That solar storm was the most powerful one ever recorded. The next strongest was the 1839 Carrington Event. It was spurred by a huge solar flare that triggered a powerful geomagnetic storm on Earth.
Is the World Ready for a Catastrophic Solar Storm?

2 weeks ago | universetoday.com | Carolyn Collins Petersen

Some 13,000 years ago, the Sun emitted a huge belch of radiation that bombarded Earth and left its imprint in ancient tree rings. That solar storm was the most powerful one ever recorded. The next strongest was the 1839 Carrington Event. It was spurred by a huge solar flare that triggered a powerful geomagnetic storm at Earth. The resulting "space weather" disrupted telegraph communications around the world.
How many rogue planets are in the Milky Way? The Roman Space Telescope will give us an answer

4 weeks ago | phys.org | Carolyn Collins Petersen

Over the past decade or so, astronomers have speculated about the characteristics of rogue planets in the Milky Way galaxy. These "free-floating" worlds don't orbit stars, but instead roam the spaceways. They're hard to spot with current technology, but the upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (Roman) will be a perfect instrument to find them and give insights into the history and features they may have in common with solar system worlds.