Brian Koberlein

Universe Today

The First Confirmed Exo-satellite Challenges Our Definitions of Planets and Moons

By: Brian Koberlein

Stars, planets, and moons are easy to define in the broad. Stars shine, planets orbit stars, and moons orbit planets.

SciTechDaily

This Star Is Racing Around the Milky Way's Black Hole at 8% the Speed of Light

By: Brian Koberlein

Illustration of a sunlike star passing very close to a supermassive black hole. Credit: ESO, ESA/Hubble, M. Kornmesser

Universe Today

Zodiacal Dust in Exoplanetary Systems Could Hinder Our Search For Life On Other Worlds

By: Brian Koberlein

If you've ever been under a dark sky in the early morning before dawn, you may have seen a faint glow, almost like a column of light rising from the east.

Universe Today

Simulations Show That Dark Matter Isn't What Gives Stellar Streams Their Kinks

By: Brian Koberlein

Ah, that ever-elusive dark matter. Although there has been some tantalizing evidence suggesting the detection of a dark matter particle, the data isn't strong enough to be conclusive.

Universe Today

Astronomers See How a Centaur Can Become a Comet

By: Brian Koberlein

Centaurs are small solar system bodies that orbit the Sun between Jupiter and Neptune. Because they move among the gas giants, their orbits are generally unstable.

Universe Today

Pulsar Timing Arrays Could Look for Evidence of Dark Matter Stars

By: Brian Koberlein

Pulsars are incredibly precise cosmic clocks. So precise that we can use them to measure subtle changes in their position thanks to the Doppler effect.

Universe Today

A Pair of White Dwarfs Locked in a Six-Minute Orbit Might One Day Be Observed By Gravitational Waves

By: Brian Koberlein

Current gravitational wave observatories aren't sensitive enough to capture the gravitational waves of binary stars.

Universe Today

Quiet Black Holes With a Stellar Companion Raise Questions About How They Form

By: Brian Koberlein

Active black holes are pretty easy to detect. Their superheated accretion disks emit bright x-rays, and the jets streaming from their poles are easily seen at visible and radio wavelengths.

Universe Today

Some Black Holes Grow Much Faster Than Their Galaxies

By: Brian Koberlein

Nearly every galaxy has a supermassive black hole. The few that don't have had theirs ejected during a galactic collision.

Universe Today

If Alien Civilizations Use Hyper-Efficient Computers, They Will Have A Distinct Energy Signal We Can Detect

By: Brian Koberlein

Love it or hate it, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is likely here to stay. Its ravenous need for computational power has overwhelmed chip manufacturers and power companies alike.