New Planet X is A Fake, but NASA Has Great News About Dark Matter and Saturn"s Moon Titan - http://clapway.com/2015/12/12/new-planet-x-finding-is-another-fake-123/

A group of astronomers have found two mysterious, distant objects in space that could be the much sought after Planet X that has eluded astronomers.  The space probe ALMA has spotted the most distant objects of our solar system, and it’s one of the most exciting finds of the year.

ALMA Spots New Planet X

ALMA, which stands for Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array is a telescope in the high desert of Chile. The team that looks through that lens for work came across two mysterious objects that were great in size, drifting through the edge of our solar system. A series of studies were conducted upon their discovery, all based on what little could be observed by the ALMA telescope.

But not everyone believes the discovery is as ground-breaking as it’s cut out to be. A large part of the astronomy community is viewing the news as a possible set up, and skepticism is thick in the air. The research, which has been live for two days, has been facing mixed criticism, but that is precisely the team’s intention.

Researchers Say They Want to Be Challenged

The team behind the studies have revealed that they’re looking to find the members of the astronomy community to find things they may have overlooked. This is why they’ve published their observations despite the fact that the data is vague and probably too fresh to be already revealed as ground-breaking.

What the Data Actually Revealed

The study showcases an object about the size of Ireland, drifting in space around Uranus. One side of the argument says that it could be an undiscovered planet way beyond Uranus, while others suggest that it’s a brown-dwarf planet. A brown-dwarf planet is an object that is too big to be considered a planet, but too small to be considered a star, passing through regular interstellar space.

The second object is closer to the alpha centauri system, and this find is much closer to being considered a Super-Earth planet that’s farther away from the Sun than even Pluto. A secondary theory suggests that it could be a super-cool brown-dwarf planet that’s at an unmeasurable distance away from the farthest object discovered yet. A third hypothesis suggests that this object is a cold trans Neptunian object, but this is the least likely scenario. The most popular belief is that this is the fabled Planet X the astronomy community has theorized for years.

However, The Research Just Reveals the Finding of Two Small Spots in Space, Not Planet X

Planet X is a legend, though one that is taken very seriously by the community. The mere idea of one more planet in the solar system is plausible, and many have gone after it to find it. Sadly, the wild search has resulted in a lot of false hopes and ungrounded discoveries. That’s why a large part of the community is so skeptical about the latest pair of studies.

Astronomy Community After Planet X Could Become the Boy Who Cried Wolf

The biggest concern for the astronomy community now is finding the fabled Planet X and suffering a response similar to ‘the boy who cried wolf’. The abundance of these ungrounded finds decrease the legitimacy of all future research, and it dissuades interest in the discovery from the public and within the community itself. They may otherwise be interested in other subjects in regards to space, like the recent data revelation regarding Saturn’s moon Titan, whose color modified landscape is oddly reminiscent of Earth.

Regardless, interest in one more planet in our solar system still holds a never-ending flame of interest. Patience is a virtue when it comes to scientific discoveries in space, and that should also be the key to find anything in our solar system that we haven’t yet seen.

In Other News, NASA Sheds Light on Dark Matter and Saturn’s Moon Titan

Earlier this week, the astronomy community brought to light new studies regarding dark matter and the formation/development of the great super massive black hole in the center of our galaxy. In addition, the agency released some amazing pictures of Saturn’s moon Titan, painted to look almost like Earth. Turns out, the satellite shares a lot of things with Earth, though it’s still not habitable.

New Planet X is A Fake, but NASA Has Great News About Dark Matter and Saturn"s Moon Titan

What is Dark Matter and Why It Matters - http://clapway.com/2015/11/21/what-is-dark-matter-and-why-it-matters123/

A Dead Galaxy Isn’t A Useless One

The Triangulum II is a dead galaxy considering that it lacks necessary gas and also material to develop new stars. The remaining stars in this galaxy are only around 1,000 superstars and also just six stars were luminescent enough to be found by the Keck telescope of the Caltech astronomers.

Triangulum II Reveals How to Find Dark Matter

The observation of dark matter in galaxies like Triangulum II generally starts by considering the spin of galaxies and the communications of stars inside stellar clusters. In such faint concentration of stars discovered in Triangulum II, the detection of dark matter could only be possible through the “smoking gun” of WIMPs annihilation.

The WIMPs or Weakly Interacting Massive Particles are dense cloud located in the Triangulum II. A one-of-a-kind feature of the WIMPs is that these bits annihilate with one another throughout accident and emit gamma ray. In theory, the annihilation of WIMPSs shows that the presence of gamma-ray radiation emitted from the Triangulum II will be easily evident since the waves will be detected on Earth.

Dark Matter is Now Detectable via Gamma Rays

An additional study reveals that the stars outside of Triangulum II galaxy are moving faster and so ripping Triangulum II apart with their solid gravitational field. The Caltech team, which discovered the ability of Triangulum II for dark matter research, said that their following steps are to make measurements to validate if these outer stars are actually moving faster compared to the inner ones.

If this is true, the stars will create, “dynamic equilibrium”, which would make the Triangulum II a superb candidate for discovering dark matter through gamma rays. This notes the start of understanding the powerful effects of dark concern, which continues to be abstruse in the present day.

What is Dark Matter and Why It Matters

"Chameleons" May Reveal Secrets of Dark Energy #darkmatter #space #darkenergy - http://clapway.com/2015/08/24/chameleons-dark-energy123/

The hypothetical ‘chameleon’ particles have thought to be a participant in the dark energy phenomenon that explains our ever-expanding universe. The problem is: these stealthy particles are hard to detect in a lab setting. Scientists from the University of California, Berkeley plan to snare the ‘chameleons’ out of their hiding.

To understand ‘chameleons’, we need to understand dark energy

In the early 1990s, it was thought that the expansion of the universe had to be slowing down because of the gravitational forces of attraction pulling all matter together. However, sovernovae sightings by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in 1998 revealed that the expansion of the universe was accelerating due to gravity, not slowing down. Since then, the name ‘dark energy’ was used to describe anything that could be attributed to the expansion of the universe. Dark energy constitutes roughly 68% of the cosmos, with dark matter making up about 27%. It turns out that what we call ‘normal matter’ makes up a paltry 5% of the universe. Two main theories surround the dark energy phenomenon: The ‘cosmological constant’ theory, which has now been abandoned, states that the space has its own energy that would not get diluted as more space comes into existence. This could therefore cause accelerated expansion. The second one derives from quantum theory of matter and outlines energy from the existence of temporary particles, whose properties change with time and space making them dynamic.

‘Chameleon’ particles are dynamic and camouflaged

‘Chameleons’ are one of the hypothetical particle candidates for explaining dark energy. They are thought to exert forces a million times weaker than gravity. These particles are difficult to detect because they behave differently in surroundings with different densities. In the empty space, chameleons would have a small mass and be able to exert long-range forces needed to push the universe apart. However, in the much denser lab setting, they would have a large mass exerting virtually undetectable, short-range forces. The scientists attempted to defeat this limitation by using an atom interferometer.

Chameleon-induced forces may function at the same scale as gravity

In the experiment involving the interferometer, they dropped atoms of the element cesium over an aluminium sphere, and used lasers to detect the forces the atoms experienced. They found no trace of any other force than gravity, thereby ruling out ‘chameleon’ forces thought to be weaker than gravity. However, this could leave room for the possibility that chameleons may function at the same scale as gravitational forces. Fine-tuning the experimental conditions may reveal chameleons, or other dark energy particles, in the future.

Dark energy exploration often involves ruling things that cannot be true out than find things that are. Though without conclusive evidence, this study has brought us one step closer to what the dark energy could entail.

This is what the dark matter of our universe looks like

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What’s dark, mysterious and ever-expanding? The universe and space!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdcU4nKKV2E

"Chameleons" May Reveal Secrets of Dark Energy

#NuSTAR and its quest for #blackhole info. - http://clapway.com/2015/07/12/the-most-important-things-to-know-about-black-holes-987/

Like many other forces of nature as well as mysteries humanity has yet to explain, very little is known about black holes. Among the populace, there is much speculation about these strange anomalies. Thanks to NASA’s NuSTAR, now researchers know a little bit more about black holes. In fact, NuSTAR has found five already since its launch in 2012.

What is a black hole?

A black hole is what remains after a star that is many times bigger than our sun explodes. All the pressure that builds up from that explosion causes (what some believe to be) the core of the star, to condense into the size of a large city.

Don’t be fooled by its small size, though. Even though this core is so small, its gravitational pull is so strong, NASA says that even light cannot escape its pull.

How many black holes are there?

While it is speculated and theorized that there are a significant amount of black holes in the galaxy and universe, they are actually very difficult to find. The black holes are shrouded by dust and gases that are left over from the explosion and from everything it pulls in. And with no light emitting near the hole without getting sucked in, it is incredibly hard to find black holes. Scientists generally have to look for blank spaces where there probably should be something and estimate if there should be a black hole there.

What is this NuSTAR?

NuSTAR, or the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array is essentially a giant telescope that NASA launched into space. It uses high energy X-rays to collect data. These X-rays make it significantly easier to find black holes as it can easily penetrate through the gases and dust surrounding them. As was stated before, it has already found five. While it is indeed easier to find the black holes, scientists still need to know where to look.

What is there to be learned from black holes?

Many scientists and researchers believe that black holes will help uncover the secrets of a very illusive matter: dark matter. Dark matter is a form of matter that cannot be seen or recorded with any known type of technology. Even without being able to see it, however, scientists are sure that it is there. Unsure of what exactly it is, they have labeled it ‘dark matter’.

It was stated in the Astrophysical Journal that roughly 80% of the universe is made up of this dark matter.

Scientists hope that by learning more about black holes, they will learn more about dark matter, and in doing so, learn more about the natural order of this universe.

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For more space adventures in honor of the mystery of space, check out Space Scouts?:

The Most Important Things to Know About Black Holes