Lifeboat Foundation

After decades of searching, scientists have found stars accompanying the gas streaming from two smaller galaxies that orbit our Milky Way.

Our galaxy is so big that astronomers are still exploring its stellar backwaters. Now, new observations have enabled them to map a previously uncharted structure in the Milky Way.

Scientists have found 13 stars that they believe are associated with the Magellanic Stream — a giant ribbon of gas stretching over three-quarters of the way across the sky. The researchers presented their findings on the arXiv astronomy preprint server in June.

Two conflicting methods to measure the expansion rate of the universe give different results, but researchers could resolve the disparity by watching merging neutron stars explode.

For the first time, astronomers have directly imaged the faint glow of the diffuse cosmic web that stretches throughout the known the universe.

The first asteroid sample collected in space by a U.S. spacecraft and brought to Earth is unveiled to the world at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston on…

NASA has issued a request for “lunar freezer” designs that can safely store materials taken from the moon during planned Artemis missions.

According to a request for information (RFI) posted to the federal contracting website SAM.gov, the freezer’s primary use will be transporting scientific and geological samples from the moon to Earth. These samples, the post specifies, will be ones collected during the Artemis program.

Astronomers from the Binary Systems of South and North (BSN) project have conducted photometric observations of a distant binary star known as V0610 Virgo. Results of the observation campaign, published Sept. 23 in a research paper on the pre-print server arXiv, indicate that V0610 Virgo is a low-mass contact binary system.

W Ursae Majoris-type, or W UMa-type binaries (EWs) are eclipsing binaries with a short orbital period (below one day) and continuous light variation during a cycle. They are also known as “contact binaries,” given that these systems are composed of two dwarf stars with similar temperature and luminosity, sharing a common envelope of material and are thus in contact with one another. In general, studies of contact binaries have the potential to reveal many details about the evolution of stars.

Located some 1,560 light years away from the Earth, V0610 Virgo is an EW with an apparent magnitude of 13.3 mag. Although not much is known about this system, previous observations have found that it has an orbital period of approximately eight hours.

New images of the Orion Nebula captured by the James Webb Space Telescope have revealed the existence of 150 free-floating objects once considered a scientific impossibility.

South of Orion’s belt is one of the brightest nebulae visible in the night sky, the Orion Nebula, also known as Messier 42, which is home to the Trapezium Cluster of stars. This cluster produces extremely strong ultraviolet radiation fields that cause the surrounding gas to glow, which is the source of the nebulae’s brightness.

Within the cluster is a veritable nursery for the formation of protostars, which the European Space Agency (ESA) recently called “a treasure trove for astronomers studying the formation and early evolution of stars, with a rich diversity of phenomena and objects” that include a mysterious category of celestial phenomena known as free-floating planetary mass objects.

A study conducted in Japan has found that individuals exhibiting strong autistic traits are often inclined towards dichotomous thinking. The research suggests that these autistic traits might lead to a heightened intolerance of uncertainty, subsequently increasing the propensity for dichotomous thinking. The study was published in Scientific Reports.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental condition characterized by a wide range of symptoms and challenges. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder typically have restricted interests, difficulties in social interaction and communication. The severity of these challenges can vary greatly from person to person. Some individuals with ASD may have significant language delays and struggle with everyday social interactions, while others may have milder symptoms and excel in certain areas, such as mathematics or art.

Aside from atypical social functioning, autistic individuals tend to exhibit a thinking pattern known as dichotomous, “black-and-white”, or binary thinking. This is a form of cognitive distortion wherein an individual perceives things in a binary way – either black or white, good or bad. There is no middle zone or space for any nuances. The result of this thinking pattern is that the person oversimplifies very complex issues, leading often to inappropriate or obviously poor decisions.

A new method rapidly detects the ‘handedness’ of molecules using laser fields that encode chirality in time, not space.