Ryan Whalen

2 weeks ago | thedebrief.org | Ryan Whalen

The James Webb Space Telescope has yielded the largest galaxy group sample ever observed after scanning a region known as the COSMOS Web, offering a large-scale look at the universe and illuminating galaxy evolution over time. The new Webb images offer astronomers a glimpse at a portion of the universe so distant and so large that it took between one and twelve billion years for their light to reach Earth.

2 weeks ago | thedebrief.org | Ryan Whalen

A new Europa Lander prototype was just successfully field tested on Alaska‘s Matanuska Glacier to simulate the icy conditions of Jupiter’s moon, demonstrating the system’s capabilities for an autonomous sample collection mission. Beneath its icy exterior, scientists suspect that Europa may harbor at least the building blocks of life in a potentially habitable subsurface ocean.

2 weeks ago | thedebrief.org | Ryan Whalen

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and the Keck II telescope, operated by the California Association for Research in Astronomy, have collected the first direct evidence of cloud formation on Saturn’s moon Titan through atmospheric convection. This convection process, which generates Titan’s characteristic yellow haze, produces rainfall and weather systems similar to those on Earth—but with methane instead of water.

2 weeks ago | thedebrief.org | Ryan Whalen

As one galaxy smashed into the other, it pierced its cosmic victim, leaving behind a high level of radiation that will interfere with star formation in what scientists are calling a unique astronomical observation. This is the first time astronomers have witnessed such an event, which was made possible by the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA).

2 weeks ago | thedebrief.org | Ryan Whalen

A new metamaterial enables sound waves to manipulate underwater objects with no physical contact, enabling easier and more accessible operation in aquatic environments. University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher Dajun Zhang presented the new metamaterial to peers on May 20 at the joint 188th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America and the 25th International Congress on Acoustics.