Reuters reporter Will Dunham writes that scientists from MIT and other institutions have found that the destruction of a large moon, called Chrysalis, that “strayed too close to Saturn would account both for the birth of the gas giant planet's magnificent rings and its unusual orbital tilt of about 27 degrees.” Prof. Jack Wisdom explained that "as a butterfly emerges from a chrysalis, the rings of Saturn emerged from the primordial satellite Chrysalis.”
A new study co-authored by MIT scientists proposes that Saturn’s rings could have been created when a lost moon of Saturn’s became unstable and crashed into the planet, reports Katie Hunt for CNN. “While the gas giant likely swallowed 99% of the moon, the remainder became suspended in orbit, breaking into small icy chunks that ultimately formed the planet’s rings,” writes Hunt.
Prof. Jack Wisdom and his colleagues have found that Saturn may have acquired its tilt and rings from a lost moon that was destroyed, reports Leah Crane for New Scientist. “Simulations using data from the Cassini spacecraft shows that an additional moon between Titan and Iapetus, destroyed between 100 million and 200 million years ago, could explain both of these long-standing mysteries,” explains Crane.
Prof. Jack Wisdom is the lead author of a new study that proposes “Saturn and Neptune’s gravity may have once been in sync, but Saturn has since escaped Neptune’s pull due to a missing moon,” reports Laura Baisas for Popular Science.
Researchers at MIT and the University of Waterloo have discovered two properties of accelerating matter that they believe could lead to the direct observation of the Unruh effect, reports Isaac Schultz for Gizmodo. “We’d like to build a dedicated experiment that can unambiguously detect the Unruh effect, and later provide a platform for studying various associated aspects,” says Prof. Vivishek Sudhir.
Scientists from MIT and other institutions have detected the longest-lasting and most regular radio signal in the night sky, reports Jamie Carter for Forbes. “Scientists think that the radio signal may be coming from a neutron star—what remains of the collapsed core of a giant star after it’s exploded as a supernova,” explains Carter.
Astronomers from MIT and elsewhere have discovered radio signals in space that they believe to be coming from a neutron star, reports Tim Marcin for Mashable. “Using the CHIME (Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment) radio telescope, astronomers noticed a strange FRB, or radio burst, from a far-off galaxy billions of light-years from Earth.”
Scientists from MIT and elsewhere have detected a series of fast radio bursts from a distant galaxy, reports Samantha Cole for Vice. “This detection raises the question of what could cause this extreme signal that we’ve never seen before, and how can we use this signal to study the universe,” says postdoctoral scholar Daniele Michilli. “Future telescopes promise to discover thousands of FRBs a month, and at that point we may find many more of these periodic signals.”
A team of astronomers have identified a mysterious radio burst from a far-away galaxy, reports Wyatte Grantham-Philips for USA Today. “Imagine a very distant galaxy. And sometimes, some huge explosions happen that emit huge blasts of radio waves,” explains Daniele Michilli, who led the study and is a postdoc in MIT’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research. “We don’t know what these explosions are, (but) they are so powerful that we can see them from across the universe.”
Postdoctoral scholar Daniele Michilli and members of the CHIME/FRB Collaboration have discovered radio bursts from a galaxy billions of light-years away, reports Ashley Strickland for CNN. “The research team will continue to use CHIME to monitor the skies for more signals from the radio burst, as well as others with a similar, periodic signal,” writes Strickland, noting the work “could be used to help astronomers learn more about the rate of the universe’s expansion.”
Astronomers at MIT and elsewhere have picked up repeated radio signals from a galaxy billions of light-years away from Earth, reports Ayana Archie for NPR. “Scientists have not been able to pinpoint the exact location of the radio waves yet, but suspect the source could be neutron stars, which are made from collapsed cores of giant stars,” writes Archie.
MIT researchers have created Thesan, the most detailed model of the early universe to date, reports New Scientist. “Thesan shows how radiation shaped the universe from 400,000 to 1 billion years after the Big Bang,” writes New Scientist.
Astronomers have identified two Earth-sized exoplanets orbiting a red dwarf star 33 light years away, reports Jamie Carter for Forbes. “Both planets in this system are each considered among the best targets for atmospheric study because of the brightness of their star,” explains postdoc Michelle Kunimoto.
Prof. Erin Kara speaks with Harry Smith of NBC News about the data sonification of the black hole at the center of the Perseus Galaxy. Kara notes that data sonification is “a really exciting way to hear the universe and think about it in a new way.”
Researchers from MIT and the University of Waterloo have found a way to test the Unruh effect, a phenomenon predicted to arise from objects moving through empty space, reports Joanna Thompson for Scientific American. “If scientists are able to observe the effect, the feat could confirm some long-held assumptions about the physics of black holes,” writes Thompson.