Lifeboat Foundation

Key Takeaways:

Within this system, two young stars engage in an intimate celestial waltz, while a third star pirouettes around the pair. Enveloping all three stars is a fragmented disk of dust and gas, a cosmic canvas where future planets may take shape. This disk, unlike the one that gave rise to our solar system’s planets, comprises three loops, each with its unique contortions — a middle ring distinctly warped, and an inner ring playfully askew in relation to its companions.

So called Dyson megaphere.

Continue reading “Birch Planets: Galaxy-Sized Worlds” »

A look at creating artificial planets, ones vastly bigger than Earth, or potentially even an entire solar system.

Visit our sponsor, Brilliant: https://brilliant.org/IsaacArthur/
Visit our Website: http://www.isaacarthur.net.
Join Nebula: https://go.nebula.tv/isaacarthur.
Support us on Patreon: / isaacarthur.
Support us on Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/isaac-a…
Facebook Group: / 1583992725237264
Reddit: / isaacarthur.
Twitter: / isaac_a_arthur on Twitter and RT our future content.
SFIA Discord Server: / discord.
Listen or Download the audio of this episode from Soundcloud: / mega-earths.
Cover Art by Jakub Grygier: https://www.artstation.com/artist/jak…

Continue reading “Mega Earths” »

In the final days of his six-month stint aboard the International Space Station (ISS), Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen took some time out of his science work to snap some striking photos of a snow-covered Grand Canyon.

The images were captured from the station in recent days as it orbited Earth at an altitude of around 250 miles.

The historic moon lander beat the odds.

Scientists have identified a region in the Milky Way capable of accelerating particles to super-high energy levels.

Astronomers have spotted a gargantuan protocluster – the primordial beginnings of a galaxy cluster – by searching near a quasar in the early universe.

By Alex Wilkins

A protoplanetary disk is a disk of dense gas and dust, orbiting a newly formed star. It is assumed that planets are born by the gradual accumulation of material in such a structure, therefore discoveries and studies of protoplanetary disks are essential for improving our understanding of planetary formation processes.

Now, a team of astronomers led by Ciprian T. Berghea of the U.S. Naval Observatory (USNO) in Washington, DC, has discovered a new disk of this type that is associated with an infrared source known as IRAS 23077+6707. The finding was made by inspecting the Pan-STARRS data while working on a variability study of active galactic nuclei (AGN) candidates.

Earlier this month, International Space Station astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli captured absolutely stunning pictures of a flag-like green aurora stretching from the southern regions of the Earth far up into space.

“Every time I look out the window, I’m in awe.”