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Another deluge of curio mounts as the astronomer, Dustin Lang from the University of Toronto, tweeted about a baffling X-shaped bulge, comprising stars and interstellar matter, lying at the heart of Milky Way’s flat structure. Further analysis of this massive structure can lend a fair insight of how the galaxy was formed, scientists envision.  “The bulge is a key signature of formation of the Milky Way. If we understand the bulge, we will understand the key processes that have formed and shaped our galaxy” says Melissa Ness, who is a postdoctoral researcher from the Max Planck institute for Astronomy, Germany. Milky Way. NASA/JPL-Caltech/S. Stolovy (SSC/Caltech) “The X-shaped morphology of the bulge in itself and the fraction of bulge stars that comprise orbits within this structure has important implications for the formation history of the Milky Way, and spiral galaxies in general” published by Ness and Lang , who are expected to team up as a proper and detailed research starts ...

Enceladus, one of Saturn’s moons has recently emerged as a top priority in the search for alien life. NASA has already announced their plans to send a robot to the moon with plans to carry out an investigation, but it is very possible that the agency might be beaten by a Russian billionaire. Yuri Milner has used his enormous wealth multiple times to advance the our current knowledge and understandings of the cosmos. For example, he has collaborated with physicist Stephen Hawking in creating an idea of an interstellar spacecraft. This concept has become a key component in the project named Breakthrough Starshot . Currently, Milner has taken on a new project. He plans to send an inexpensive probe to the moon Enceladus in hopes of finding life in one form or another in the geysers that are on its surface. He suspects that a mission that is backed by a major space agency (such as NASA, for example,) can possibly take as long as a decade to truly materialize. He also believes that t...

A team led by NASA has found evidence of an enigmatic planet whose properties are so peculiar and unusual, that it brings into question everything astronomers know about these types of planets. Planet WASP-18b is approximately 325 light years away from Earth and its mass is approximately 10 times greater than that of Jupiter.  Around it is a smothering atmosphere of carbon monoxide, and the planet is almost entirely devoid of any traces of water and has extremely high temperatures. Obviously, all of this makes life incredibly unimaginable on this planet. What is particularly interesting about this planet is that having an upper atmosphere filled with carbon monoxide is pretty unheard of in the universe so far. Kyle Sheppard of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, who is also lead author of the paper published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters said the following about the discovery: “the composition of WASP-18b defies all expectations. We don't know of any other extrasolar plane...

China’s Dark Matter Foray Quantum physics has seen tremendous advances and a new hunt is in place: the search for dark energy. As this search continues by American and European scientists, China continues to close the gap in scientific prowess. For example, according to recently reported results , China-led space mission has revealed auspicious symptoms of dark matter.  Despite no direct evidence of dark matter was found, this still remains the first observational data courtesy of China’s very first mission exclusively designed for astrophysics. Welcome the dark horse in the competition. For centuries, the hunt for dark matter has haunted the dreams of astrophysicists. Ever since Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky first discovered that the mass of all of the particles within the Coma cluster of galaxies was responsible for a mere one percent of the mass required to generate sufficient gravity necessary for the galaxy in order to protect itself from dissembling. This was the spark to a ...

Imagine this: you are on a space exploration adventure and nothing could be better. Your diet is fantastic, consisting of all the astronauts typically eat and your eyes are the witnesses to beautiful celestial wonders. You look back towards our tiny, blue marble of a planet and you remember that in just a few hours, you are returning from your exotic travels.  Everything is normal, all works, nothing to fear about. However, so you thought. Right before going back down to Earth, someone accidentally opened the airlock and you found yourself floating in the vacuum of space completely unprotected, and devoid of oxygen. Panic immediately sets in because you know just how horrific it is to be stranded in such a vacuum. Being in the black void of the heavens just as you are poses a danger like no other that will definitely be the cause of your death. Even if after a few moments you found your way back to safety once more, there is no possible way reverse a substantial amount of damage y...

At times, scientists observe flashes of radio bursts with astounding levels of energy, which are called Fast Radio Bursts (FRB’S). Such a flash was observed in 2001, a brilliant burst of light breaching the skies was observed. This event was so powerful that in the matter of seconds, power was released that was equivalent to that of 500 million suns. Just as fast as it had come, the signal disappeared in the matter of milliseconds.  Ever since such an occurrence in 2001, approximately 30 of such flashes have been identified. However, new estimates indicate that these flashes occur almost every second. Dr.Avi Loeb, science professor of Harvard University, says that “in the time it takes you to drink a cup of coffee, hundreds of FRB’s may have gone off somewhere in the universe.”  The origins these flashes remain unknown but an explanation may have been found. The FRB 121102 is the only one of such flashes that repeats. In fact, scientists have observed at least 150 flashes fro...

Director of Berkeley’s SETI Research Center, Andrew Siemion once said: “as we improve our understanding of ancient Earth and the history of our solar system, perhaps we may someday uncover evidence that suggests the activity of another technological civilization right here in our neighborhood.” Massive efforts have been put into the search for alien life in our universe. For example, in the year of 2015 a research study lead by The Pennsylvania State University astronomer Jason Wright, examined 100,000 neighboring large galaxies and concluded that none of them possessed any obvious symptoms of any highly technologically advanced civilizations. Now, the focus is steered closer to home-- in this past spring of 2017, Wright has proposed that an indigenous technological civilization could have arisen and lived within the solar system before Earth-bound life did. He also went on to suggest that its “technosignatures” may have potentially survived if they were made of a material that could...

It was once said by Dr. Wei-Chun Jao, lead author of a new study and research scientist in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Georgia State: “Finding old stars could also lead to the discovery of new planets. Maybe we can find some old ancient civilizations around these old stars. Maybe these stars have some planets around them that we don’t know about.”  Our home galaxy, The Milky Way, reaches an age that is approximately 14 billion years. It’s a very massive galaxy. Within this galaxy, the most antediluvian stars were formed in its early stages of formation, making them about six to nine billion years old. Such stars are found in the halo, a roughly spherical component of the galaxy that was one of the first to form and within it, old stars advance in eccentric orbits. However, younger stars in The Milky Way rotate together along the galaxy’s disk in nearly circular motions, resembling horses on a merry-go-round. This study primarily focused on senior stars, known as co...

The University of Texas’ research team has discovered that the formation of the moon’s crust composed by one mineral could not be explained by the initial crust formation and must have been a result of a major secondary event. The Moon experienced quite the rough beginning. There are few theories about its creation. Although it’s still debated, it is believed by most scientists that the moon was formed by a chunk of the Earth that had been hacked off during a planetary collision and spent most of its early years with its surface covered by an ocean of molten magma before cooling and forming the lunar surface we know today. Nick Dygert, assistant professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, who was temporarily involved in the research said the following about the discovery: “it’s fascinating to me that there could be a body as big as the Moon that was completely molten.” The University of Texas lead a research team at the Austin Jackson School of Geosciences that created a mag...

Prepare for astounding investigation, for the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) has elaborated the 13 proposals that will compromise the initial set of scientific observations carried out by the highly anticipated James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).  The James Webb Space Telescope is a component of NASA’s Next Generation Telescope program that is to be launched in 2019, developed by NASA, Canadian Space Agency, and the European Space Agency.  JWST will ultimately provide unprecedented resolution and amazing sensitivity from the long-wavelength visible light through the mid-infrared range. John C. Mather, senior project scientist for the Webb telescope and senior astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland spoke out about the telescope in a news release: “I’m thrilled to see the list of astronomer’s most fascinating targets for the Webb telescope and extremely eager to see the results. We fully expect to be surprised by what we find.” ...

Aliens-- always a prevalent topic of discussion and one sparking controversy. It is known to everyone that scientists have been searching for extraterrestrial planets for signs of life. Now, in the hope of making contact with aliens, a message beamed by scientists towards two planets potentially capable of supporting life. The message was directed towards GJ 273-- known as Luyten’s star, a red dwarf, lying 12.36 light years away from Earth but scientists estimate that it will take a mere 12 years to reach it. If any aliens reside on the planets and the message is received and understood by them, and a reply is sent, then it is expected to be received in the duration of the northern hemisphere’s summer solstice in 2042 (June 21st, 2042). However, the plan set in motion does not please all-- Stephen Hawking, amongst other experts, warns us that if aliens were ever to discover life on Earth, it is very probable that such a discovery could be the end of a civilization. Life on Earth would...