CANADA: Guides growth of supermassive black holes with new data, Planck satellite brings early universe into focus
Was dark matter responsible for mass extinctions, geologic upheavals, which killed of the dinosaurs? Has a football-shaped collection of stars called elliptical galaxies provided new insights into the connection between a galaxy and its black hole? Has the Planck space telescope offered a glimpse of what the universe looked like almost 14 billion years ago, when it was just 380,000 years old?
Three separate but independent studies might have provided answers to these questions.
Research by New York University, United States, Biology Professor Michael Rampino concludes that Earth’s infrequent but predictable path around and through our Galaxy’s disc may have a direct and significant effect on geological and biological phenomena occurring on Earth.
In a new paper in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, he concludes that movement through dark matter may perturb the orbits of comets and lead to additional heating in Earth’s core, both of which could be connected with mass extinction events.
According to Wikipedia, dark matter is a hypothetical kind of matter that cannot be seen with telescopes but accounts for most of the matter in the Universe. The existence and properties of dark matter are inferred from its gravitational effects on visible matter, radiation, and the large-scale structure of the Universe. It has not been detected directly, making it one of the greatest mysteries in modern astrophysics.
An extinction (level) event (also known as a mass extinction or biotic crisis) is a widespread and rapid decrease in the amount of life on Earth.
Astronomers discover distant dwarf planet beyond Neptune
LONDON: A dwarf planet half the size of Britain has been found tumbling through space in the most distant reaches...
