COSMOS MAGAZINE
#1 Inhospitable worlds we didn’t know about
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) confirmed a type of planet exists unlike anything in the solar system. The new analysis revealed an unexpected atmosphere which was neither hydrogen-rich, nor water-rich. It was, instead, rich in carbon dioxide (CO2) - therefore, this type of exoplanet is neither a Super-Earth nor a Sub-Neptune, but a Super-Venus.
Credit: NAOJ
#2 Hubble captures surprising spiral shaped quasar image
Scientists using the Hubble Space Telescope to study distant quasars – the brightest objects in the universe – have captured a rare image that raises new questions about how they form.
Credit: NASA
#3 Pluto and moon formed through “kiss and capture"
New research challenges decades of assumptions about how Pluto and its largest moon Charon formed on the fringes of our solar system. The new theory could shed light on how other planetary bodies form and evolve.
Credit: Mark Garlick / Getty
#4 Intergalactic carbon makes up our bodies
The carbon on the Earth – and therefore, in us – probably spent some time outside the Milky Way galaxy before forming our planet, according to a new study. The study, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, finds that after being made inside stars, carbon atoms spend some time circling the galaxy in giant currents.
Credit: Mark Garlick / Getty
#5 Universe expanding too fast: Hubble tension turns to crisis
A team of astrophysicists have measured the rate of expansion of the universe, called the Hubble constant, and their research confirms what has been suggested before – that the universe is expanding faster than predicted by theoretical models. In fact, it is expanding faster than can be explained by physics.
Credit: NOIRLab.