Meteor showers are here! 10 easy tips for watching

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Hooray! It’s meteor time! That’s right, the Lyrid meteor shower rambles across for a few weeks around April 22.

When is the next meteor shower? Click here for EarthSky’s meteor shower guide

So, how can you optimize your chances of seeing a great meteor display? Follow the tips below.

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Jeremy Evans of California captured a Lyrid meteor zipping along the Milky Way on April 22, 2025. Jeremy wrote: “Lyrid meteor shower at peak activity. It was a quiet shower this year. I had my camera going all night and only caught one meteor. This single frame is from an all-night 1,200 frame time lapse on my front deck. I’m very fortunate to live under dark Bortle 2 skies. The glow on the horizon is from the last quarter moon just before rising. This meteor also left smoke trails.” Thank you, Jeremy.

1. Know the peak time

Generally, meteor showers happen over many days as Earth encounters a wide stream of icy particles in space. These particles are debris left behind by a comet. So the peak is a point in time when Earth is expected to encounter the greatest number of comet particles. To find the peak dates of meteor showers, check EarthSky’s meteor guide.

And here’s the catch … the peak of the shower comes at the same time for all of us on Earth. Meanwhile, our clocks are saying different times. You’ll often need to adjust from UTC to your local time.

However, the predictions are not always right on the money. And remember … it’s possible to see nice meteor displays in the hours – even days – before or after the predicted peak.

Also, keep in mind that meteor showers are part of nature. So naturally, they often defy prediction.

2. Location, location, location

We can’t say this strongly enough. It’s important to have a dark place to observe in the country. Visit EarthSky’s Best Places to Stargaze.

And … you need a wide-open view of the sky. A farmer’s field? Maybe a stretch of country road? Or a campsite with a clear view in one or more directions? That’s because an open sky will increase your chances of seeing some meteors.

3. Oh no! The moon is out

During a meteor shower, a bright moon is not your friend. In fact, nothing dampens the display of a meteor shower more effectively than a bright moon.

If the moon is out, look at areas of the sky away from the moon. Anything in the moon’s vicinity – including meteors – will likely be washed out by its bright light. And, another tip for watching in moonlight: place some object between yourself and the moon. Observing from the shadow of a barn, or vehicle, even a tree, can help you see more meteors. Basically, place yourself somewhere in the moon’s shadow.

4. Know the expected rate

Here, we touch on a topic that sometimes leads to some disappointment, especially among novice meteor-watchers: the rate.

Tables of meteor showers almost always list what is known as the zenithal hourly rate (ZHR) for each shower.

So the ZHR is the number of meteors you’ll see if you’re watching in a very dark sky, with the radiant overhead, when the shower is at its peak. In other words, the ZHR represents the number of meteors you might see per hour given the very best observing conditions during the shower’s maximum.

If the peak occurs when it’s still daylight at your location, if most of the meteors are predominantly faint, if a bright moon is out or if you’re located in a light-polluted area, the total number of meteors you see will be considerably reduced.

5. Don’t worry too much about radiant points

You don’t need to stare all night in a single direction – or even locate the radiant point – to have fun watching the shower. The meteors will appear all over the sky.

But … although you can see meteors shoot up from the horizon before a shower’s radiant rises, you’ll see more meteors after it rises. And you’ll see the most when the radiant is highest in the sky. So, find out the radiant point’s rising time. Then you can pinpoint the best time of night to watch the shower.

And … the radiant point is interesting. If you track meteors backward on the sky’s dome, you’ll find them streaming from their radiant point, a single point within a given constellation. Hence the meteor shower’s name.

6. Watch for an hour or more

Meteor showers will be better if you let your eyes adapt to the dark. That can take as long as 20 minutes. Plus, the meteors tend to come in spurts, followed by lulls. So, be patient! You’ll see some.

7. Notice the meteors’ speeds and colors

The Leonids are the swiftest meteors and the Taurids are the slowest meteors. The nice thing about a slow or medium speed meteor shower – such as the Lyrids – is if you see one and yell “meteor,” other people can catch it as well.

In fact, of the upcoming meteor showers … the Lyrids and the Delta Aquariids are medium speed showers. The Eta Aquariids and Perseids are swift meteors.

Plus, the April Lyrids, the December Geminids, and the August Perseids, can be colorful.

8. Watch for meteor trains

A meteor train is a persistent glow in the air left by some meteors after they have faded from view. Trains are from luminous ionized matter left in the wake of this incoming space debris. Some of the bright Lyrid meteors leave a persistent train. So you you might be lucky and see one.

9. Bring a blanket, a buddy, a hot drink and a lawn chair

A reclining lawn chair helps you lie back in comfort for an hour or more of meteor-watching.

If several of you are watching, take different parts of the sky. If you see one, shout “Meteor!” Dress warmly; the nights can be cool or cold, even during the summer months. You’ll probably appreciate that blanket and warm drink in the wee hours of the morning. Also, leave your laptops and tablets home; even using the nighttime dark mode will ruin your night vision. And this will be tough on some people: leave your cell phone in your pocket or the car. It can also ruin your night vision.

10. Enjoy nature

Relax and enjoy the night sky. Not every meteor shower is a winner. Sometimes, you may come away from a shower seeing only one meteor. But if that one meteor is bright, and takes a slow path across a starry night sky … it’ll be worth it.

To be successful at observing any meteor shower, you need to get into a kind of zen state, waiting and expecting the meteors to come to you, if you place yourself in a good position (country location, wide open sky) to see them.

Or forget the zen state, and let yourself be guided by this old meteor watcher’s motto:

You might see a lot or you might not see many, but if you stay in the house, you won’t see any.

Photos of meteors from EarthSky’s community

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Tameem Altameemi of United Arab Emirates submitted this photo on December 14, 2024, and wrote: “My brother and I decided to go to an area away from light pollution between the mountains in UAE, and despite the moonlight that filled the place, we were able to see and photograph many meteors and fireballs. A special and completely clear night.” Thank you, Tameem!

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Jeff Berkes in Assateague Island National Seashore, Maryland, shared this stunning image of a Geminid meteor he captured on December 14, 2024. Jeff wrote: “The wind was really blowing off the ocean, kicking up some nice waves, which created some minor erosion along the shoreline. I never let the moon or the cold keep me in for the Geminids!” Well done, Jeff!

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Some of the stars of the Big Dipper are part of an open cluster called the Ursa Major Moving Group. On September 6, 2024, Susan Jensen captured this image and wrote: “Right place, right time! Standing on a gravel road in the middle of nowhere, looking across a stubble field. This slow-moving, vibrant meteor stopped me in my tracks! I was shooting the Big Dipper with the shutter locked to catch multiple frames for stacking when this monster did a slow flyby. How lucky that I was able to capture it!” Thank you, Susan!

Bottom line: Meteor showers are unpredictable but always a fun and relaxing time. Optimize your viewing with these tips.

Post your own photos at EarthSky Community Photos

When is the next meteor shower? Click here for EarthSky’s meteor shower guide

The post Meteor showers are here! 10 easy tips for watching first appeared on EarthSky.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/2wzoFaR

You deserve a daily dose of good news. For the latest in science and the night sky, subscribe to EarthSky’s free daily newsletter.

Hooray! It’s meteor time! That’s right, the Lyrid meteor shower rambles across for a few weeks around April 22.

When is the next meteor shower? Click here for EarthSky’s meteor shower guide

So, how can you optimize your chances of seeing a great meteor display? Follow the tips below.

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Jeremy Evans of California captured a Lyrid meteor zipping along the Milky Way on April 22, 2025. Jeremy wrote: “Lyrid meteor shower at peak activity. It was a quiet shower this year. I had my camera going all night and only caught one meteor. This single frame is from an all-night 1,200 frame time lapse on my front deck. I’m very fortunate to live under dark Bortle 2 skies. The glow on the horizon is from the last quarter moon just before rising. This meteor also left smoke trails.” Thank you, Jeremy.

1. Know the peak time

Generally, meteor showers happen over many days as Earth encounters a wide stream of icy particles in space. These particles are debris left behind by a comet. So the peak is a point in time when Earth is expected to encounter the greatest number of comet particles. To find the peak dates of meteor showers, check EarthSky’s meteor guide.

And here’s the catch … the peak of the shower comes at the same time for all of us on Earth. Meanwhile, our clocks are saying different times. You’ll often need to adjust from UTC to your local time.

However, the predictions are not always right on the money. And remember … it’s possible to see nice meteor displays in the hours – even days – before or after the predicted peak.

Also, keep in mind that meteor showers are part of nature. So naturally, they often defy prediction.

2. Location, location, location

We can’t say this strongly enough. It’s important to have a dark place to observe in the country. Visit EarthSky’s Best Places to Stargaze.

And … you need a wide-open view of the sky. A farmer’s field? Maybe a stretch of country road? Or a campsite with a clear view in one or more directions? That’s because an open sky will increase your chances of seeing some meteors.

3. Oh no! The moon is out

During a meteor shower, a bright moon is not your friend. In fact, nothing dampens the display of a meteor shower more effectively than a bright moon.

If the moon is out, look at areas of the sky away from the moon. Anything in the moon’s vicinity – including meteors – will likely be washed out by its bright light. And, another tip for watching in moonlight: place some object between yourself and the moon. Observing from the shadow of a barn, or vehicle, even a tree, can help you see more meteors. Basically, place yourself somewhere in the moon’s shadow.

4. Know the expected rate

Here, we touch on a topic that sometimes leads to some disappointment, especially among novice meteor-watchers: the rate.

Tables of meteor showers almost always list what is known as the zenithal hourly rate (ZHR) for each shower.

So the ZHR is the number of meteors you’ll see if you’re watching in a very dark sky, with the radiant overhead, when the shower is at its peak. In other words, the ZHR represents the number of meteors you might see per hour given the very best observing conditions during the shower’s maximum.

If the peak occurs when it’s still daylight at your location, if most of the meteors are predominantly faint, if a bright moon is out or if you’re located in a light-polluted area, the total number of meteors you see will be considerably reduced.

5. Don’t worry too much about radiant points

You don’t need to stare all night in a single direction – or even locate the radiant point – to have fun watching the shower. The meteors will appear all over the sky.

But … although you can see meteors shoot up from the horizon before a shower’s radiant rises, you’ll see more meteors after it rises. And you’ll see the most when the radiant is highest in the sky. So, find out the radiant point’s rising time. Then you can pinpoint the best time of night to watch the shower.

And … the radiant point is interesting. If you track meteors backward on the sky’s dome, you’ll find them streaming from their radiant point, a single point within a given constellation. Hence the meteor shower’s name.

6. Watch for an hour or more

Meteor showers will be better if you let your eyes adapt to the dark. That can take as long as 20 minutes. Plus, the meteors tend to come in spurts, followed by lulls. So, be patient! You’ll see some.

7. Notice the meteors’ speeds and colors

The Leonids are the swiftest meteors and the Taurids are the slowest meteors. The nice thing about a slow or medium speed meteor shower – such as the Lyrids – is if you see one and yell “meteor,” other people can catch it as well.

In fact, of the upcoming meteor showers … the Lyrids and the Delta Aquariids are medium speed showers. The Eta Aquariids and Perseids are swift meteors.

Plus, the April Lyrids, the December Geminids, and the August Perseids, can be colorful.

8. Watch for meteor trains

A meteor train is a persistent glow in the air left by some meteors after they have faded from view. Trains are from luminous ionized matter left in the wake of this incoming space debris. Some of the bright Lyrid meteors leave a persistent train. So you you might be lucky and see one.

9. Bring a blanket, a buddy, a hot drink and a lawn chair

A reclining lawn chair helps you lie back in comfort for an hour or more of meteor-watching.

If several of you are watching, take different parts of the sky. If you see one, shout “Meteor!” Dress warmly; the nights can be cool or cold, even during the summer months. You’ll probably appreciate that blanket and warm drink in the wee hours of the morning. Also, leave your laptops and tablets home; even using the nighttime dark mode will ruin your night vision. And this will be tough on some people: leave your cell phone in your pocket or the car. It can also ruin your night vision.

10. Enjoy nature

Relax and enjoy the night sky. Not every meteor shower is a winner. Sometimes, you may come away from a shower seeing only one meteor. But if that one meteor is bright, and takes a slow path across a starry night sky … it’ll be worth it.

To be successful at observing any meteor shower, you need to get into a kind of zen state, waiting and expecting the meteors to come to you, if you place yourself in a good position (country location, wide open sky) to see them.

Or forget the zen state, and let yourself be guided by this old meteor watcher’s motto:

You might see a lot or you might not see many, but if you stay in the house, you won’t see any.

Photos of meteors from EarthSky’s community

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Tameem Altameemi of United Arab Emirates submitted this photo on December 14, 2024, and wrote: “My brother and I decided to go to an area away from light pollution between the mountains in UAE, and despite the moonlight that filled the place, we were able to see and photograph many meteors and fireballs. A special and completely clear night.” Thank you, Tameem!

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Jeff Berkes in Assateague Island National Seashore, Maryland, shared this stunning image of a Geminid meteor he captured on December 14, 2024. Jeff wrote: “The wind was really blowing off the ocean, kicking up some nice waves, which created some minor erosion along the shoreline. I never let the moon or the cold keep me in for the Geminids!” Well done, Jeff!

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Some of the stars of the Big Dipper are part of an open cluster called the Ursa Major Moving Group. On September 6, 2024, Susan Jensen captured this image and wrote: “Right place, right time! Standing on a gravel road in the middle of nowhere, looking across a stubble field. This slow-moving, vibrant meteor stopped me in my tracks! I was shooting the Big Dipper with the shutter locked to catch multiple frames for stacking when this monster did a slow flyby. How lucky that I was able to capture it!” Thank you, Susan!

Bottom line: Meteor showers are unpredictable but always a fun and relaxing time. Optimize your viewing with these tips.

Post your own photos at EarthSky Community Photos

When is the next meteor shower? Click here for EarthSky’s meteor shower guide

The post Meteor showers are here! 10 easy tips for watching first appeared on EarthSky.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/2wzoFaR

Suspiciously similar planets could be a sign of alien life

A new study from researchers in Japan suggests that a better way to search for alien life might be to look for suspiciously similar planets that are close to each other. The idea is that if life has spread to neighboring planets, it would need to create a similar environment to its home planet in order to survive. Image via EarthSky with the help of AI.

• Searching for evidence of life on planets around other stars is difficult. A single detection of a certain chemical in an atmosphere or an unusual radio wave could be ambiguous and hard to verify.
• Scientists should look for patterns across groups of planets in a planetary system instead, researchers in Japan suggest.
• Such patterns on multiple planets might suggest that life has spread to neighboring planets and made the conditions more amenable to them. So these patterns could be an indicator of alien life.

Science news, night sky events and beautiful photos, all in one place. Click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter.

Suspiciously similar planets could be a sign of alien life

Currently, scientists searching for life beyond Earth focus a lot on looking at the light coming from a distant planet, which reveals the makeup of its atmosphere. Or they listen for non-natural radio signals coming from space. But on April 15, 2026, a new study from researchers in Japan said scientists should look for signs of life in groups of planets that are suspiciously similar. Detecting patterns across a group of planets might suggest that life has spread from its home planet to neighboring planets and transformed them to accommodate their needs.

The current methods of looking for life through biosignatures (chemical or physical signs of life) or technosignatures (signs of alien technology) can be ambiguous. So a signature found among a cluster of planets would be stronger evidence than a single detection on one planet alone. The new model suggests that if life can spread between planets and affect their observable properties, then detecting this could be a robust signature of life, with few false positives.

When astronomers talk about life spreading between worlds, they call it panspermia. And the concept of altering a planet to suit an alien lifeform is called terraforming. Microbes that traveled via panspermia to another planet could alter the planet’s atmosphere or surface naturally. And an advanced alien civilization could terraform nearby planets artificially. Even humans have contemplated how we could someday terraform Mars to make it more habitable and earthlike.

Harrison B. Smith at the Earth-Life Science Institute, Institute of Science Tokyo, and Lana Sinapayen at Sony Computer Science Laboratories and National Institute for Basic Biology in Japan are the authors of the new study. They published their peer-reviewed findings in The Astrophysical Journal on April 9, 2026.

Our paper on detecting terraformed planets is finally published: doi.org/10.3847/1538…Context: we wanted a method to detect life in the universe that does not depend on any particular chemistry or hyperspecific definitions of life1/n#Astrobiology #ALife

— Lana Sinapayen (@sinalana.eurosky.social) 2026-04-10T01:21:28.458Z

An agnostic approach

The researchers are taking what they call an agnostic approach. That’s what they consider one not bound to any particular hypotheses or beliefs about alien life. So this approach seeks to overcome the limitations of of possible detections on single planets. Simple biosignatures are susceptible to false positives. Technosignatures are less susceptible, but they make strong assumptions about what kind of life could produce them.

Instead, the new approach seeks to find possible life signatures across multiple planets at a time. The signature could affect the observable properties of the planets in a similar way. Notably, this would be a stronger potential signature than on one single planet alone.

Basically, the approach is based on the assumption that life could spread between planets naturally. This is panspermia, where microbes or other cells could escape one planet – such as through an asteroid impact – and spread to other nearby planets.

In either of those two scenarios, life could alter the characteristics of the planets in similar ways. The statistical correlations between planet locations and their observable traits would be detectable.

View larger. | Some scientists think we could gradually terraform Mars in the future. That would be an example of intelligent life (humans) changing a nearby planet to be more like its own world. But even microbes could naturally change a planet through panspermia. Image via Daein Ballard/ Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).

A broad definition of life

Sinapayen described the process on Bluesky, saying:

We wanted a method to detect life in the universe that does not depend on any particular chemistry or hyperspecific definitions of life. So we started with the broadest definition we could think of: Life self-replicates and mutates.

If a form of life landed upon a new planet and survived, it would change the environment on that planet in a way that makes it closer to the origin planet; think of trees producing oxygen, for example. That would be true whether the lifeform is a bacteria, a whole ecosystem, or characters from Andy Weir’s books.

Our question: Without knowing whether any single planet has life on it, could you at least detect that some planets seem suspiciously related? The answer (through simulations): under some conditions, you can make that detection with high certainty and no false positives. You can say ‘there is an X percent chance terraformation is happening’ and point to the planets that are driving that percentage up.

If life can travel to other planets and terraform them, those patterns will emerge between the locations of planets and their observable characteristics (for example, atmospheric composition). On the left, planets show no correlation between their locations and their characteristics. However, if life capable of panspermia and terraforming arises, then correlations emerge (right). In the model, life chooses its destination by looking for the planet with the most similar composition within some maximum distance. Image via Harrison B. Smith/ Earth-Life Science Institute (CC BY 4.0).

‘Something must be happening’

Sinapayen continued:

The best part is that it’s not just ‘oh, these planets look similar, something must be happening.’ Our method specifically picks out planets that seem to have an ‘ancestor to descendant’ relationship through ‘self replication with mutation.’ Because when life replicates with mutation in physical space, on average the parents and children will be closer both in space and in characteristics than the parents and the grandchildren, for example. So you’re looking for a correlation of location and characteristics, not just characteristics.

Harrison B. Smith at the Earth-Life Science Institute in Japan is a co-author of the new study about panspermia, terraforming and alien life. Image via Earth-Life Science Institute.

Lana Sinapayen at Sony Computer Science Laboratories and National Institute for Basic Biology in Japan is a co-author of the new study about panspermia, terraforming and alien life. Image via Google Scholar.

Planets most likely to host life

The researchers also developed a new method to determine which planets might be the most likely to be habitable or host life. They did so by clustering planets based on their observable characteristics and spatial relationships. This provided clues as to which groups of planets had a high probability of being influenced by life. Smith said:

By focusing on how life spreads and interacts with environments, we can search for it without needing a perfect definition or a single definitive signal.

Sinapayen added:

Even if life elsewhere is fundamentally different from life on Earth, its large-scale effects, such as spreading and modifying planets, may still leave detectable traces. That’s what makes this approach compelling.

Bottom line: A new study from Japan suggests we could search for a sign of alien life by looking for a group of planets that are suspiciously similar. Alien life that spreads to neighboring planets would likely transform each new planet to be like their home planet.

Source: An Agnostic Biosignature Based on Modeling Panspermia and Terraforming

Via Earth-Life Science Institute

Read more: Lifeforms can planet-hop on asteroids and survive

Read more: Can air pollution help us find alien life?

The post Suspiciously similar planets could be a sign of alien life first appeared on EarthSky.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/M516xOK

A new study from researchers in Japan suggests that a better way to search for alien life might be to look for suspiciously similar planets that are close to each other. The idea is that if life has spread to neighboring planets, it would need to create a similar environment to its home planet in order to survive. Image via EarthSky with the help of AI.

• Searching for evidence of life on planets around other stars is difficult. A single detection of a certain chemical in an atmosphere or an unusual radio wave could be ambiguous and hard to verify.
• Scientists should look for patterns across groups of planets in a planetary system instead, researchers in Japan suggest.
• Such patterns on multiple planets might suggest that life has spread to neighboring planets and made the conditions more amenable to them. So these patterns could be an indicator of alien life.

Science news, night sky events and beautiful photos, all in one place. Click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter.

Suspiciously similar planets could be a sign of alien life

Currently, scientists searching for life beyond Earth focus a lot on looking at the light coming from a distant planet, which reveals the makeup of its atmosphere. Or they listen for non-natural radio signals coming from space. But on April 15, 2026, a new study from researchers in Japan said scientists should look for signs of life in groups of planets that are suspiciously similar. Detecting patterns across a group of planets might suggest that life has spread from its home planet to neighboring planets and transformed them to accommodate their needs.

The current methods of looking for life through biosignatures (chemical or physical signs of life) or technosignatures (signs of alien technology) can be ambiguous. So a signature found among a cluster of planets would be stronger evidence than a single detection on one planet alone. The new model suggests that if life can spread between planets and affect their observable properties, then detecting this could be a robust signature of life, with few false positives.

When astronomers talk about life spreading between worlds, they call it panspermia. And the concept of altering a planet to suit an alien lifeform is called terraforming. Microbes that traveled via panspermia to another planet could alter the planet’s atmosphere or surface naturally. And an advanced alien civilization could terraform nearby planets artificially. Even humans have contemplated how we could someday terraform Mars to make it more habitable and earthlike.

Harrison B. Smith at the Earth-Life Science Institute, Institute of Science Tokyo, and Lana Sinapayen at Sony Computer Science Laboratories and National Institute for Basic Biology in Japan are the authors of the new study. They published their peer-reviewed findings in The Astrophysical Journal on April 9, 2026.

Our paper on detecting terraformed planets is finally published: doi.org/10.3847/1538…Context: we wanted a method to detect life in the universe that does not depend on any particular chemistry or hyperspecific definitions of life1/n#Astrobiology #ALife

— Lana Sinapayen (@sinalana.eurosky.social) 2026-04-10T01:21:28.458Z

An agnostic approach

The researchers are taking what they call an agnostic approach. That’s what they consider one not bound to any particular hypotheses or beliefs about alien life. So this approach seeks to overcome the limitations of of possible detections on single planets. Simple biosignatures are susceptible to false positives. Technosignatures are less susceptible, but they make strong assumptions about what kind of life could produce them.

Instead, the new approach seeks to find possible life signatures across multiple planets at a time. The signature could affect the observable properties of the planets in a similar way. Notably, this would be a stronger potential signature than on one single planet alone.

Basically, the approach is based on the assumption that life could spread between planets naturally. This is panspermia, where microbes or other cells could escape one planet – such as through an asteroid impact – and spread to other nearby planets.

In either of those two scenarios, life could alter the characteristics of the planets in similar ways. The statistical correlations between planet locations and their observable traits would be detectable.

View larger. | Some scientists think we could gradually terraform Mars in the future. That would be an example of intelligent life (humans) changing a nearby planet to be more like its own world. But even microbes could naturally change a planet through panspermia. Image via Daein Ballard/ Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).

A broad definition of life

Sinapayen described the process on Bluesky, saying:

We wanted a method to detect life in the universe that does not depend on any particular chemistry or hyperspecific definitions of life. So we started with the broadest definition we could think of: Life self-replicates and mutates.

If a form of life landed upon a new planet and survived, it would change the environment on that planet in a way that makes it closer to the origin planet; think of trees producing oxygen, for example. That would be true whether the lifeform is a bacteria, a whole ecosystem, or characters from Andy Weir’s books.

Our question: Without knowing whether any single planet has life on it, could you at least detect that some planets seem suspiciously related? The answer (through simulations): under some conditions, you can make that detection with high certainty and no false positives. You can say ‘there is an X percent chance terraformation is happening’ and point to the planets that are driving that percentage up.

If life can travel to other planets and terraform them, those patterns will emerge between the locations of planets and their observable characteristics (for example, atmospheric composition). On the left, planets show no correlation between their locations and their characteristics. However, if life capable of panspermia and terraforming arises, then correlations emerge (right). In the model, life chooses its destination by looking for the planet with the most similar composition within some maximum distance. Image via Harrison B. Smith/ Earth-Life Science Institute (CC BY 4.0).

‘Something must be happening’

Sinapayen continued:

The best part is that it’s not just ‘oh, these planets look similar, something must be happening.’ Our method specifically picks out planets that seem to have an ‘ancestor to descendant’ relationship through ‘self replication with mutation.’ Because when life replicates with mutation in physical space, on average the parents and children will be closer both in space and in characteristics than the parents and the grandchildren, for example. So you’re looking for a correlation of location and characteristics, not just characteristics.

Harrison B. Smith at the Earth-Life Science Institute in Japan is a co-author of the new study about panspermia, terraforming and alien life. Image via Earth-Life Science Institute.

Lana Sinapayen at Sony Computer Science Laboratories and National Institute for Basic Biology in Japan is a co-author of the new study about panspermia, terraforming and alien life. Image via Google Scholar.

Planets most likely to host life

The researchers also developed a new method to determine which planets might be the most likely to be habitable or host life. They did so by clustering planets based on their observable characteristics and spatial relationships. This provided clues as to which groups of planets had a high probability of being influenced by life. Smith said:

By focusing on how life spreads and interacts with environments, we can search for it without needing a perfect definition or a single definitive signal.

Sinapayen added:

Even if life elsewhere is fundamentally different from life on Earth, its large-scale effects, such as spreading and modifying planets, may still leave detectable traces. That’s what makes this approach compelling.

Bottom line: A new study from Japan suggests we could search for a sign of alien life by looking for a group of planets that are suspiciously similar. Alien life that spreads to neighboring planets would likely transform each new planet to be like their home planet.

Source: An Agnostic Biosignature Based on Modeling Panspermia and Terraforming

Via Earth-Life Science Institute

Read more: Lifeforms can planet-hop on asteroids and survive

Read more: Can air pollution help us find alien life?

The post Suspiciously similar planets could be a sign of alien life first appeared on EarthSky.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/M516xOK

Simulating how black holes light up the dark

Artist’s depiction of a supermassive black hole tearing apart a star. Roughly half of the stellar debris gets flung back into space while the remainder forms a glowing accretion disk around the black hole. Researchers at Syracuse University have created new high-resolution simulations to show how black holes create streams of stellar debris. Image via DESY/ Science Communication Lab/ Syracuse University.

Science news, night sky events and beautiful photos, all in one place. Click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter.

• When a star strays too close to a supermassive black hole, it gets torn apart. The debris accumulates to produce a brilliant flare called a tidal disruption event, or TDE.
• New high-resolution simulations confirm the stellar debris forms a narrow stream that encircles the black hole and collides with itself. Earlier models couldn’t capture this detail.
• Black hole spin may deflect the debris stream off course, offering a potential reason why no two TDEs look alike.

Syracuse University published this original story on April 9, 2026. Edits by EarthSky.

Simulating how black holes light up the dark

Supermassive black holes are among the most enigmatic objects in the universe. They typically weigh millions or even billions of times the mass of the sun. And they sit at the centers of most large galaxies. For example, at the heart of the Milky Way lies Sagittarius A*, our galaxy’s supermassive black hole. It has the mass of about 4 million suns. But these black holes do not emit light, so astronomers can only detect them indirectly through their effects on nearby stars and gas.

The Astrophysical Journal Letters published a new study on March 9, 2026. In it, co-author Eric Coughlin, assistant professor of physics in Syracuse University’s College of Arts and Sciences, and colleagues clarify what happens when a star wanders too close to one of these black holes and is torn apart.

When black holes capture stars

A star ingested by a supermassive black hole does not simply vanish in a single gulp. Instead, the black hole’s gravity tears the star into a long, thin debris stream. Over time, the debris stream wraps around the black hole. This is an effect that ultimately arises from Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. Gravity according to Newton does not produce this effect.

When parts of that circling stream crash into one another, they release a burst of energy and subsequently accrete, or slowly spiral into, the black hole. Both of these effects – the initial collision and the subsequent accretion – produce so much radiation that they briefly outshine the entire galaxy in which they occur.

Astronomers refer to these events as tidal disruption events, or TDEs. TDEs offer one of the few ways to study supermassive black holes like Sagittarius A* in other galaxies. Coughlin said:

We can study tidal disruption events to learn more about black holes hidden from view.

For years, TDEs have fascinated researchers because each of these massive flares is like a fingerprint. By measuring how a flare rises, peaks and fades, scientists can infer properties of the black hole that produced it. These properties include its mass and perhaps its spin. But the details of how these flares form have remained difficult to pin down, in part because the process is hard to simulate accurately.

Seeing the debris clearly

That is where new high-resolution simulations are changing the picture. Recent work by a team led by Lucio Mayer at the University of Zurich uses a methodology known as smoothed particle hydrodynamics. This methodology decomposes a star into particles that interact with one another hydrodynamically. These are the same fundamental equations that govern the flow of water through a pipe.

Their study employed tens of billions of particles to model the disrupted star’s gas in unprecedented detail. The result is a superior view of what happens after a star gets ripped apart. Rather than dispersing chaotically, the debris forms a narrow, coherent stream that follows a predictable path around the black hole before crashing into itself.

Their finding supports a long-standing theoretical prediction. Earlier simulations often mischaracterized the stream’s structure because they lacked the resolution to capture such fine detail. This lead to a “spraying” of the stellar debris and unexpectedly high levels of fluid-dynamical dissipation. With far more particles and through the exploitation of graphics processing units on powerful supercomputers, the shape of the debris becomes much easier to see.

But the new models also reveal something else.

A 3D rendering of modeled debris particles. It highlights the self-intersection of the debris stream flow after a black hole rips apart a star. Image via Jean Favre, CSCS/ Lucio Mayer and Noah Kubli, University of Zurich/ Syracuse University.

The spin factor

Three properties of a supermassive black hole and the stellar orbit can influence the outcome of a given TDE: the black hole’s mass, how fast it spins, and the orientation of that spin relative to the orbital plane of the incoming debris. Together, they may determine when the flare begins, how bright it becomes and how long it lasts.

If the black hole is rotating, it induces additional variation in the spacetime around it compared to a non-spinning black hole. And that produces an effect known as nodal precession. This effect may shift the debris stream out of its original plane. So the stream may miss itself after one orbit, then miss again before finally colliding. In some cases, the flare may be delayed by several loops around the black hole.

No two are alike

That complication may help explain one of the enduring puzzles of TDE research. No two events look exactly alike. Some rise quickly and fade fast. Others unfold more slowly. Some are brighter, some dimmer. Some behave in ways that are still hard to classify. While differences in the mass of the black hole could account for some of these differences, these new simulations suggest that black hole spin may be one of the key reasons for that diversity.

TDEs turn invisible objects into readable signals. A star gets shredded, debris collides, light emerges and a previously hidden black hole is revealed. With better simulations and more powerful telescopes, astronomers are learning how to read those signals more clearly than ever before.

Bottom line: When black holes tear apart stars, the wreckage heats up, creating brilliant flares. And now new simulations are showing these flares with more detail than ever before.

Source: Tidal Disruption Events with SPH-EXA: Resolving the Return of the Stream

Via Syracuse University

Read more: Black hole belches radiation long after eating a star

The post Simulating how black holes light up the dark first appeared on EarthSky.

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Artist’s depiction of a supermassive black hole tearing apart a star. Roughly half of the stellar debris gets flung back into space while the remainder forms a glowing accretion disk around the black hole. Researchers at Syracuse University have created new high-resolution simulations to show how black holes create streams of stellar debris. Image via DESY/ Science Communication Lab/ Syracuse University.

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• When a star strays too close to a supermassive black hole, it gets torn apart. The debris accumulates to produce a brilliant flare called a tidal disruption event, or TDE.
• New high-resolution simulations confirm the stellar debris forms a narrow stream that encircles the black hole and collides with itself. Earlier models couldn’t capture this detail.
• Black hole spin may deflect the debris stream off course, offering a potential reason why no two TDEs look alike.

Syracuse University published this original story on April 9, 2026. Edits by EarthSky.

Simulating how black holes light up the dark

Supermassive black holes are among the most enigmatic objects in the universe. They typically weigh millions or even billions of times the mass of the sun. And they sit at the centers of most large galaxies. For example, at the heart of the Milky Way lies Sagittarius A*, our galaxy’s supermassive black hole. It has the mass of about 4 million suns. But these black holes do not emit light, so astronomers can only detect them indirectly through their effects on nearby stars and gas.

The Astrophysical Journal Letters published a new study on March 9, 2026. In it, co-author Eric Coughlin, assistant professor of physics in Syracuse University’s College of Arts and Sciences, and colleagues clarify what happens when a star wanders too close to one of these black holes and is torn apart.

When black holes capture stars

A star ingested by a supermassive black hole does not simply vanish in a single gulp. Instead, the black hole’s gravity tears the star into a long, thin debris stream. Over time, the debris stream wraps around the black hole. This is an effect that ultimately arises from Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. Gravity according to Newton does not produce this effect.

When parts of that circling stream crash into one another, they release a burst of energy and subsequently accrete, or slowly spiral into, the black hole. Both of these effects – the initial collision and the subsequent accretion – produce so much radiation that they briefly outshine the entire galaxy in which they occur.

Astronomers refer to these events as tidal disruption events, or TDEs. TDEs offer one of the few ways to study supermassive black holes like Sagittarius A* in other galaxies. Coughlin said:

We can study tidal disruption events to learn more about black holes hidden from view.

For years, TDEs have fascinated researchers because each of these massive flares is like a fingerprint. By measuring how a flare rises, peaks and fades, scientists can infer properties of the black hole that produced it. These properties include its mass and perhaps its spin. But the details of how these flares form have remained difficult to pin down, in part because the process is hard to simulate accurately.

Seeing the debris clearly

That is where new high-resolution simulations are changing the picture. Recent work by a team led by Lucio Mayer at the University of Zurich uses a methodology known as smoothed particle hydrodynamics. This methodology decomposes a star into particles that interact with one another hydrodynamically. These are the same fundamental equations that govern the flow of water through a pipe.

Their study employed tens of billions of particles to model the disrupted star’s gas in unprecedented detail. The result is a superior view of what happens after a star gets ripped apart. Rather than dispersing chaotically, the debris forms a narrow, coherent stream that follows a predictable path around the black hole before crashing into itself.

Their finding supports a long-standing theoretical prediction. Earlier simulations often mischaracterized the stream’s structure because they lacked the resolution to capture such fine detail. This lead to a “spraying” of the stellar debris and unexpectedly high levels of fluid-dynamical dissipation. With far more particles and through the exploitation of graphics processing units on powerful supercomputers, the shape of the debris becomes much easier to see.

But the new models also reveal something else.

A 3D rendering of modeled debris particles. It highlights the self-intersection of the debris stream flow after a black hole rips apart a star. Image via Jean Favre, CSCS/ Lucio Mayer and Noah Kubli, University of Zurich/ Syracuse University.

The spin factor

Three properties of a supermassive black hole and the stellar orbit can influence the outcome of a given TDE: the black hole’s mass, how fast it spins, and the orientation of that spin relative to the orbital plane of the incoming debris. Together, they may determine when the flare begins, how bright it becomes and how long it lasts.

If the black hole is rotating, it induces additional variation in the spacetime around it compared to a non-spinning black hole. And that produces an effect known as nodal precession. This effect may shift the debris stream out of its original plane. So the stream may miss itself after one orbit, then miss again before finally colliding. In some cases, the flare may be delayed by several loops around the black hole.

No two are alike

That complication may help explain one of the enduring puzzles of TDE research. No two events look exactly alike. Some rise quickly and fade fast. Others unfold more slowly. Some are brighter, some dimmer. Some behave in ways that are still hard to classify. While differences in the mass of the black hole could account for some of these differences, these new simulations suggest that black hole spin may be one of the key reasons for that diversity.

TDEs turn invisible objects into readable signals. A star gets shredded, debris collides, light emerges and a previously hidden black hole is revealed. With better simulations and more powerful telescopes, astronomers are learning how to read those signals more clearly than ever before.

Bottom line: When black holes tear apart stars, the wreckage heats up, creating brilliant flares. And now new simulations are showing these flares with more detail than ever before.

Source: Tidal Disruption Events with SPH-EXA: Resolving the Return of the Stream

Via Syracuse University

Read more: Black hole belches radiation long after eating a star

The post Simulating how black holes light up the dark first appeared on EarthSky.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/iGu6kS3

DESI’s 3D map of the universe is complete!

This visualization shows how DESI’s 3D map of the universe accumulated over 5 years. It begins with DESI’s tiles on the night sky, each observing around 5,000 galaxies. As we move out to see the observations in 3D, we see how DESI maps the cosmic web of filaments and voids. Earth is at the center of the wedges, and every dot represents a galaxy. Image via DESI Collaboration and DESI Member Institutions/ DOE/ KPNO/ NOIRLab/ NSF/ AURA/ R. Proctor.

Science news, night sky events and beautiful photos, all in one place. Click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter.

• The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument has created one of the most extensive surveys of the cosmos ever conducted. The five-year survey is now complete.
• DESI has mapped more than 47 million galaxies and quasars. This is the largest high-resolution 3D map of our universe to date.
• DESI will continue observations into 2028 and further expand the map. The observations will help astronomers understand how dark energy works in the universe.

NOIRLab published this original story on April 15, 2026. Edits by EarthSky.

DESI’s 3D map of the universe is complete!

On Tuesday night, April 14, 2026, the 5,000 fiber-optic eyes of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) swiveled onto a patch of sky near the Little Dipper. Roughly every 20 minutes, it locked onto distant pinpricks of light, gathering photons that had traveled toward Earth for billions of years. When the sun rose, the instrument had completed a major milestone. It had successfully surveyed all areas in a planned 3D map of the universe.

The five-year survey, finished ahead of schedule and with vastly more data than expected, has produced the largest high-resolution 3D map of the universe ever made. Researchers use that map to explore dark energy, the fundamental ingredient that makes up about 70% of our universe and is driving its accelerating expansion.

View larger. | This is a small portion of DESI’s 5-year map. You can see the large-scale structure of the universe, created by gravity. Each dot represents a galaxy. The denser areas indicate regions where galaxies and galaxy clusters have clumped together to form the strands of the cosmic web. You can also see large voids between the filaments. Image via DESI Collaboration and DESI Member Institutions/ DOE/ KPNO/ NOIRLab/ NSF/ AURA/ R. Proctor. Image processing: M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab).

The mission of DESI

DESI’s quest to understand dark energy is a global endeavor. The international experiment brings together the expertise of more than 900 researchers (including 300 Ph.D. students) from over 70 institutions. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) manages this project. And the instrument was constructed and is operated with funding from the DOE Office of Science. DESI is mounted on the U.S. National Science Foundation Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope at NSF Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) in Arizona, a program of NSF NOIRLab.

By comparing how galaxies clustered in the past with their distribution today, researchers can trace dark energy’s influence over 11 billion years of cosmic history. Surprising results using DESI’s first three years of data hinted that dark energy, once thought to be a cosmological constant, might be evolving over time.

With the full set of five years of data, researchers will have significantly more information to test whether that hint disappears or grows. If confirmed, it would mark a major shift in how we think about our universe and its potential fate, which hinges on the balance between matter and dark energy.

A successful universe-mapping project

Stephanie Juneau, associate astronomer and NSF NOIRLab representative for DESI, said:

It’s impossible to capture everything that went into making DESI such a successful experiment. From instrument builders and software engineers to technicians, observatory staff, and scientists – including many early-career researchers – it truly took a village. Ultimately, we are doing this for all humanity, to better understand our universe and its eventual fate. After finding hints that dark energy might deviate from a constant, potentially altering that fate, this moment feels like sitting on the edge of my seat as we analyze the new map to see whether those hints will be confirmed. I’m also very intrigued by the many other discoveries that await in this new dataset.

Kathy Turner, Program Manager for the Cosmic Frontier in the Office of High Energy Physics at the Department of Energy, said:

The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument has truly exceeded all expectations, delivering an unprecedented 3D map of the universe that will revolutionize our understanding of dark energy. From its inception, we envisioned a project that would push the boundaries of cosmology, and to see it come to such a spectacularly successful completion for its initial survey, ahead of schedule and with such rich data, is incredibly rewarding. The dedication and ingenuity of the entire DESI collaboration have made this world-leading science a reality, and I am immensely proud of the groundbreaking results we are already seeing and the discoveries yet to come as we continue to explore the mysteries of our cosmos.

What’s next for DESI?

DESI has now measured cosmological data for six times as many galaxies and quasars as all previous measurements combined. The collaboration will immediately begin processing the completed dataset, with the first dark energy results from the full five-year survey expected in 2027. In the meantime, DESI collaborators continue to analyze the survey’s first three years of data, refining dark energy measurements and producing additional results on the structure and evolution of the universe, with several papers planned later this year.

Michael Levi, DESI director and a scientist at Berkeley Lab, said:

We’re going to celebrate completion of the original survey and then get started on the work of churning through the data, because we’re all curious about what new surprises are waiting for us.

The plan was to capture light from 34 million galaxies and quasars (extremely distant yet bright objects with black holes at their cores) over the five-year sky survey. DESI instead observed more than 47 million galaxies and quasars, as well as 20 million stars.

Expanding the 3D map of the universe

DESI will continue observations through 2028 and grow its map by about 20%, from 14,000 square degrees to 17,000 square degrees. (For comparison, the moon covers approximately 0.2 square degrees, and the full sky has over 41,000 square degrees). The extended map will cover parts of the sky that are more challenging to observe. These are areas that are closer to the plane of the Milky Way, where bright nearby stars can make it harder to see more distant objects. It also includes areas farther to the south, where the telescope must account for peering through more of Earth’s atmosphere.

The experiment will also revisit the existing area of the map to collect data from a new set of galaxies: more distant, fainter luminous red galaxies. These will provide an even denser, more detailed map of the regions DESI has already covered, giving researchers a clearer picture of the universe’s history.

Researchers will also study nearby dwarf galaxies and stellar streams, bands of stars torn from smaller galaxies by the Milky Way’s gravity. The hope is to better understand dark matter, the invisible form of matter that accounts for most of the mass in the universe but has never been directly detected.

Bottom line: Astronomers have completed the largest, most detailed 3D map of the universe ever made. It charts tens of millions of galaxies and quasars to help reveal how dark energy shapes the cosmos.

Via NOIRLab

The post DESI’s 3D map of the universe is complete! first appeared on EarthSky.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/TgVntla

This visualization shows how DESI’s 3D map of the universe accumulated over 5 years. It begins with DESI’s tiles on the night sky, each observing around 5,000 galaxies. As we move out to see the observations in 3D, we see how DESI maps the cosmic web of filaments and voids. Earth is at the center of the wedges, and every dot represents a galaxy. Image via DESI Collaboration and DESI Member Institutions/ DOE/ KPNO/ NOIRLab/ NSF/ AURA/ R. Proctor.

Science news, night sky events and beautiful photos, all in one place. Click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter.

• The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument has created one of the most extensive surveys of the cosmos ever conducted. The five-year survey is now complete.
• DESI has mapped more than 47 million galaxies and quasars. This is the largest high-resolution 3D map of our universe to date.
• DESI will continue observations into 2028 and further expand the map. The observations will help astronomers understand how dark energy works in the universe.

NOIRLab published this original story on April 15, 2026. Edits by EarthSky.

DESI’s 3D map of the universe is complete!

On Tuesday night, April 14, 2026, the 5,000 fiber-optic eyes of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) swiveled onto a patch of sky near the Little Dipper. Roughly every 20 minutes, it locked onto distant pinpricks of light, gathering photons that had traveled toward Earth for billions of years. When the sun rose, the instrument had completed a major milestone. It had successfully surveyed all areas in a planned 3D map of the universe.

The five-year survey, finished ahead of schedule and with vastly more data than expected, has produced the largest high-resolution 3D map of the universe ever made. Researchers use that map to explore dark energy, the fundamental ingredient that makes up about 70% of our universe and is driving its accelerating expansion.

View larger. | This is a small portion of DESI’s 5-year map. You can see the large-scale structure of the universe, created by gravity. Each dot represents a galaxy. The denser areas indicate regions where galaxies and galaxy clusters have clumped together to form the strands of the cosmic web. You can also see large voids between the filaments. Image via DESI Collaboration and DESI Member Institutions/ DOE/ KPNO/ NOIRLab/ NSF/ AURA/ R. Proctor. Image processing: M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab).

The mission of DESI

DESI’s quest to understand dark energy is a global endeavor. The international experiment brings together the expertise of more than 900 researchers (including 300 Ph.D. students) from over 70 institutions. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) manages this project. And the instrument was constructed and is operated with funding from the DOE Office of Science. DESI is mounted on the U.S. National Science Foundation Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope at NSF Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) in Arizona, a program of NSF NOIRLab.

By comparing how galaxies clustered in the past with their distribution today, researchers can trace dark energy’s influence over 11 billion years of cosmic history. Surprising results using DESI’s first three years of data hinted that dark energy, once thought to be a cosmological constant, might be evolving over time.

With the full set of five years of data, researchers will have significantly more information to test whether that hint disappears or grows. If confirmed, it would mark a major shift in how we think about our universe and its potential fate, which hinges on the balance between matter and dark energy.

A successful universe-mapping project

Stephanie Juneau, associate astronomer and NSF NOIRLab representative for DESI, said:

It’s impossible to capture everything that went into making DESI such a successful experiment. From instrument builders and software engineers to technicians, observatory staff, and scientists – including many early-career researchers – it truly took a village. Ultimately, we are doing this for all humanity, to better understand our universe and its eventual fate. After finding hints that dark energy might deviate from a constant, potentially altering that fate, this moment feels like sitting on the edge of my seat as we analyze the new map to see whether those hints will be confirmed. I’m also very intrigued by the many other discoveries that await in this new dataset.

Kathy Turner, Program Manager for the Cosmic Frontier in the Office of High Energy Physics at the Department of Energy, said:

The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument has truly exceeded all expectations, delivering an unprecedented 3D map of the universe that will revolutionize our understanding of dark energy. From its inception, we envisioned a project that would push the boundaries of cosmology, and to see it come to such a spectacularly successful completion for its initial survey, ahead of schedule and with such rich data, is incredibly rewarding. The dedication and ingenuity of the entire DESI collaboration have made this world-leading science a reality, and I am immensely proud of the groundbreaking results we are already seeing and the discoveries yet to come as we continue to explore the mysteries of our cosmos.

What’s next for DESI?

DESI has now measured cosmological data for six times as many galaxies and quasars as all previous measurements combined. The collaboration will immediately begin processing the completed dataset, with the first dark energy results from the full five-year survey expected in 2027. In the meantime, DESI collaborators continue to analyze the survey’s first three years of data, refining dark energy measurements and producing additional results on the structure and evolution of the universe, with several papers planned later this year.

Michael Levi, DESI director and a scientist at Berkeley Lab, said:

We’re going to celebrate completion of the original survey and then get started on the work of churning through the data, because we’re all curious about what new surprises are waiting for us.

The plan was to capture light from 34 million galaxies and quasars (extremely distant yet bright objects with black holes at their cores) over the five-year sky survey. DESI instead observed more than 47 million galaxies and quasars, as well as 20 million stars.

Expanding the 3D map of the universe

DESI will continue observations through 2028 and grow its map by about 20%, from 14,000 square degrees to 17,000 square degrees. (For comparison, the moon covers approximately 0.2 square degrees, and the full sky has over 41,000 square degrees). The extended map will cover parts of the sky that are more challenging to observe. These are areas that are closer to the plane of the Milky Way, where bright nearby stars can make it harder to see more distant objects. It also includes areas farther to the south, where the telescope must account for peering through more of Earth’s atmosphere.

The experiment will also revisit the existing area of the map to collect data from a new set of galaxies: more distant, fainter luminous red galaxies. These will provide an even denser, more detailed map of the regions DESI has already covered, giving researchers a clearer picture of the universe’s history.

Researchers will also study nearby dwarf galaxies and stellar streams, bands of stars torn from smaller galaxies by the Milky Way’s gravity. The hope is to better understand dark matter, the invisible form of matter that accounts for most of the mass in the universe but has never been directly detected.

Bottom line: Astronomers have completed the largest, most detailed 3D map of the universe ever made. It charts tens of millions of galaxies and quasars to help reveal how dark energy shapes the cosmos.

Via NOIRLab

The post DESI’s 3D map of the universe is complete! first appeared on EarthSky.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/TgVntla

Alpha Centauri, the star system closest to our sun

Our sun’s closest neighbors, including Alpha Centauri and Proxima Centauri. Image via NASA PhotoJournal.

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Alpha Centauri is often said to be the closest star to our sun. It’s true that when you look at this star – the 3rd-brightest star in our night sky – you can think of it as the closest star.

But, really, it’s the closest star system to our sun. The single star we see as Alpha Centauri becomes two stars through a telescope. This pair is just 4.37 light-years away from us. A third star in the system, Proxima Centauri, orbits around the two larger stars.

And, at 4.25 light-years away, Proxima is the closest known star.

The 2 main stars of the Alpha Centauri system

The two sunlike stars that make up Alpha Centauri are Rigil Kentaurus and Toliman. Rigil Kentaurus, also known as Alpha Centauri A, is a yellowish star. It’s slightly more massive than the sun and about 1.5 times brighter. Toliman, or Alpha Centauri B, has an orangeish hue. And it’s a bit less massive and half as bright as the sun. Studies of their mass and spectroscopic features indicate that both these stars are about 5 billion years old. That makes them slightly older than our sun.

Alpha Centauri A and B are gravitationally bound together. They orbit a common center of mass every 79.9 years at a relatively close proximity, varying between 11.2 to 35.6 astronomical units. That is, 11.2 to 35.6 times the distance between the Earth and our sun.

Alpha Centauri, the 3rd-brightest star in the sky, photographed in Coonabarabran, New South Wales, Australia. A faint swarm of stars to the right is the star cluster NGC 5617. Across the field, patches of dark interstellar dust clouds obscure stars in our Milky Way galaxy. Image via Alan Dyer/ AmazingSKY. Used with permission.

Meet Proxima Centauri

In comparison, Proxima Centauri is a bit of an outlier. And this dim reddish star, weighing in at just 12% of the sun’s mass, is currently about 13,000 astronomical units from Alpha Centauri A and B. Recent analysis of ground- and space-based data, published in 2017, has shown that Proxima is gravitationally bound to its bright companions. It has about a 550,000-year-long orbital period.

Proxima Centauri belongs to a class of low-mass stars with cooler surface temperatures. They are known as red dwarfs. Additionally. it’s also what’s known as a flare star. Flare stars randomly display sudden bursts of brightness due to strong magnetic activity.

Hubble Space Telescope image of Proxima Centauri, the closest known star to the sun. Image via Hubble/ ESA.

The search for planets

So, in the past decade, astronomers have been searching for planets around the Alpha Centauri stars. Of course they are the closest stars to us, so the odds of detecting planets, if any exist, would be higher. So far, three planets have been confirmed orbiting Proxima Centauri, one in 2016 and another in 2020. And in 2022, a smaller planet, only about 25% of Earth’s mass, was found orbiting very close to the star. Then in 2025, the James Webb Telescope announced it found evidence of a gas giant planet around Alpha Centauri A. But so far, it has not been definitively confirmed.

View larger. | A small red circle indicates the very faint Proxima Centauri, which is gravitationally bound to Alpha Centauri. The 2 bright stars are Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri. Image via Skatebiker / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).

How to see Alpha Centauri

Unluckily for many of us in the Northern Hemisphere, Alpha Centauri is located too far south on the sky’s dome to see. So most North Americans never see it. The cut-off latitude is about 29 degrees north, and anyone north of that is out of luck. So in the U.S. that latitudinal line passes near Houston and Orlando, but even from the Florida Keys, the star never rises more than a few degrees above the southern horizon. Things are a little better in Hawaii and Puerto Rico, where it can get 10 or 11 degrees high.

But for observers located far enough south in the Northern Hemisphere, Alpha Centauri may be visible at roughly 1 a.m. (local daylight saving time) in early May. That is when the star is highest above the southern horizon. By early July, it reaches its highest point to the south at nightfall. Even so, from these vantage points, there are no good pointer stars to Alpha Centauri. For those south of 29 degrees north latitude, when the bright star Arcturus is high overhead, look to the extreme south for a glimpse of Alpha Centauri.

Skywatchers in the Southern Hemisphere have a better view of Alpha Centauri, in the constellation Centaurus the Centaur. Image via International Astronomical Union/ SkyandTelescope.com/ Wikimedia (CC BY 3.0).

Look for the Southern Cross

Observers in the tropical and subtropical regions of the Northern Hemisphere can find Alpha Centauri by first identifying the distinctive Southern Cross, also known as Crux. A short line drawn through the crossbar (Delta and Beta Crucis) eastward first comes to Hadar (Beta Centauri), then Alpha Centauri. Meanwhile, in Australia and much of the Southern Hemisphere, Alpha Centauri is circumpolar, meaning that it never sets.

In this image taken at the European Southern Observatory’s La Silla Observatory in Chile, the Southern Cross is clearly visible, with the yellowish star closest to the dome marking the top of the cross. Drawing a line downward through the crossbar stars takes you to the bluish star Beta Centauri, and then to the yellowish Alpha Centauri. Image via ESO/ Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).

The mythology of Alpha Centauri

Alpha Centauri has played a prominent role in the mythology of cultures across the Southern Hemisphere. For the Ngarrindjeri indigenous people of South Australia, Alpha and Beta Centauri were two sharks pursuing a stingray represented by stars of the Southern Cross. Some Australian aboriginal cultures also associated stars with family relationships and marriage traditions; for instance, two stars of the Southern Cross were through to be the parents of Alpha Centauri.

Astronomy and navigation were vital in the lives of ancient seafaring Polynesians as they sailed between islands in the vast expanse of the South Pacific. These ancient mariners navigated using the stars, with cues from nature such as bird movements, waves, and wind direction. Alpha Centauri and nearby Beta Centauri, known as Kamailehope and Kamailemua, respectively, were important signposts used for orientation in the open ocean.

For ancient Incas, a llama graced the sky, traced out by stars and dark dust lanes in the Milky Way from Scorpius to the Southern Cross, with Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri representing its eyes.

A plaque at the Coricancha museum showing Inca constellations. Coricancha, located in Cusco, Peru, was perhaps the most important temple of the Inca empire. Image via Pi3.124 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Ancient Egyptians revered Alpha Centauri, and may have built temples aligned to its rising point. In southern China, it was part of a star group known as the South Gate.

How it got its name

Alpha Centauri is the brightest star in the constellation Centaurus the Centaur, named after the mythical half human, half horse creature. Also, it represented an uncharacteristically wise centaur, Chiron, that figured in the mythology of Heracles and Jason. Hercules accidentally killed Chiron, who was placed in the sky after death by Zeus. Alpha Centauri marked the right front hoof of the centaur, although little is known of its mythological significance, if any.

A depiction of the Centaur by Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius in his atlas of constellations, Firmamentum Sobiescianum, sive uranographia. Image via Wikimedia Commons (public domain).

Alpha Centauri’s position is RA: 14h 39m 36s, Dec: -60° 50′ 02″

Bottom line: Alpha Centauri is two binary stars that are sunlike stars. Plus, there’s a third star that’s gravitationally bound to them named Proxima Centauri. In fact, it’s the closest star to our sun.

The post Alpha Centauri, the star system closest to our sun first appeared on EarthSky.

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Our sun’s closest neighbors, including Alpha Centauri and Proxima Centauri. Image via NASA PhotoJournal.

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Alpha Centauri is often said to be the closest star to our sun. It’s true that when you look at this star – the 3rd-brightest star in our night sky – you can think of it as the closest star.

But, really, it’s the closest star system to our sun. The single star we see as Alpha Centauri becomes two stars through a telescope. This pair is just 4.37 light-years away from us. A third star in the system, Proxima Centauri, orbits around the two larger stars.

And, at 4.25 light-years away, Proxima is the closest known star.

The 2 main stars of the Alpha Centauri system

The two sunlike stars that make up Alpha Centauri are Rigil Kentaurus and Toliman. Rigil Kentaurus, also known as Alpha Centauri A, is a yellowish star. It’s slightly more massive than the sun and about 1.5 times brighter. Toliman, or Alpha Centauri B, has an orangeish hue. And it’s a bit less massive and half as bright as the sun. Studies of their mass and spectroscopic features indicate that both these stars are about 5 billion years old. That makes them slightly older than our sun.

Alpha Centauri A and B are gravitationally bound together. They orbit a common center of mass every 79.9 years at a relatively close proximity, varying between 11.2 to 35.6 astronomical units. That is, 11.2 to 35.6 times the distance between the Earth and our sun.

Alpha Centauri, the 3rd-brightest star in the sky, photographed in Coonabarabran, New South Wales, Australia. A faint swarm of stars to the right is the star cluster NGC 5617. Across the field, patches of dark interstellar dust clouds obscure stars in our Milky Way galaxy. Image via Alan Dyer/ AmazingSKY. Used with permission.

Meet Proxima Centauri

In comparison, Proxima Centauri is a bit of an outlier. And this dim reddish star, weighing in at just 12% of the sun’s mass, is currently about 13,000 astronomical units from Alpha Centauri A and B. Recent analysis of ground- and space-based data, published in 2017, has shown that Proxima is gravitationally bound to its bright companions. It has about a 550,000-year-long orbital period.

Proxima Centauri belongs to a class of low-mass stars with cooler surface temperatures. They are known as red dwarfs. Additionally. it’s also what’s known as a flare star. Flare stars randomly display sudden bursts of brightness due to strong magnetic activity.

Hubble Space Telescope image of Proxima Centauri, the closest known star to the sun. Image via Hubble/ ESA.

The search for planets

So, in the past decade, astronomers have been searching for planets around the Alpha Centauri stars. Of course they are the closest stars to us, so the odds of detecting planets, if any exist, would be higher. So far, three planets have been confirmed orbiting Proxima Centauri, one in 2016 and another in 2020. And in 2022, a smaller planet, only about 25% of Earth’s mass, was found orbiting very close to the star. Then in 2025, the James Webb Telescope announced it found evidence of a gas giant planet around Alpha Centauri A. But so far, it has not been definitively confirmed.

View larger. | A small red circle indicates the very faint Proxima Centauri, which is gravitationally bound to Alpha Centauri. The 2 bright stars are Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri. Image via Skatebiker / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).

How to see Alpha Centauri

Unluckily for many of us in the Northern Hemisphere, Alpha Centauri is located too far south on the sky’s dome to see. So most North Americans never see it. The cut-off latitude is about 29 degrees north, and anyone north of that is out of luck. So in the U.S. that latitudinal line passes near Houston and Orlando, but even from the Florida Keys, the star never rises more than a few degrees above the southern horizon. Things are a little better in Hawaii and Puerto Rico, where it can get 10 or 11 degrees high.

But for observers located far enough south in the Northern Hemisphere, Alpha Centauri may be visible at roughly 1 a.m. (local daylight saving time) in early May. That is when the star is highest above the southern horizon. By early July, it reaches its highest point to the south at nightfall. Even so, from these vantage points, there are no good pointer stars to Alpha Centauri. For those south of 29 degrees north latitude, when the bright star Arcturus is high overhead, look to the extreme south for a glimpse of Alpha Centauri.

Skywatchers in the Southern Hemisphere have a better view of Alpha Centauri, in the constellation Centaurus the Centaur. Image via International Astronomical Union/ SkyandTelescope.com/ Wikimedia (CC BY 3.0).

Look for the Southern Cross

Observers in the tropical and subtropical regions of the Northern Hemisphere can find Alpha Centauri by first identifying the distinctive Southern Cross, also known as Crux. A short line drawn through the crossbar (Delta and Beta Crucis) eastward first comes to Hadar (Beta Centauri), then Alpha Centauri. Meanwhile, in Australia and much of the Southern Hemisphere, Alpha Centauri is circumpolar, meaning that it never sets.

In this image taken at the European Southern Observatory’s La Silla Observatory in Chile, the Southern Cross is clearly visible, with the yellowish star closest to the dome marking the top of the cross. Drawing a line downward through the crossbar stars takes you to the bluish star Beta Centauri, and then to the yellowish Alpha Centauri. Image via ESO/ Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).

The mythology of Alpha Centauri

Alpha Centauri has played a prominent role in the mythology of cultures across the Southern Hemisphere. For the Ngarrindjeri indigenous people of South Australia, Alpha and Beta Centauri were two sharks pursuing a stingray represented by stars of the Southern Cross. Some Australian aboriginal cultures also associated stars with family relationships and marriage traditions; for instance, two stars of the Southern Cross were through to be the parents of Alpha Centauri.

Astronomy and navigation were vital in the lives of ancient seafaring Polynesians as they sailed between islands in the vast expanse of the South Pacific. These ancient mariners navigated using the stars, with cues from nature such as bird movements, waves, and wind direction. Alpha Centauri and nearby Beta Centauri, known as Kamailehope and Kamailemua, respectively, were important signposts used for orientation in the open ocean.

For ancient Incas, a llama graced the sky, traced out by stars and dark dust lanes in the Milky Way from Scorpius to the Southern Cross, with Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri representing its eyes.

A plaque at the Coricancha museum showing Inca constellations. Coricancha, located in Cusco, Peru, was perhaps the most important temple of the Inca empire. Image via Pi3.124 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Ancient Egyptians revered Alpha Centauri, and may have built temples aligned to its rising point. In southern China, it was part of a star group known as the South Gate.

How it got its name

Alpha Centauri is the brightest star in the constellation Centaurus the Centaur, named after the mythical half human, half horse creature. Also, it represented an uncharacteristically wise centaur, Chiron, that figured in the mythology of Heracles and Jason. Hercules accidentally killed Chiron, who was placed in the sky after death by Zeus. Alpha Centauri marked the right front hoof of the centaur, although little is known of its mythological significance, if any.

A depiction of the Centaur by Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius in his atlas of constellations, Firmamentum Sobiescianum, sive uranographia. Image via Wikimedia Commons (public domain).

Alpha Centauri’s position is RA: 14h 39m 36s, Dec: -60° 50′ 02″

Bottom line: Alpha Centauri is two binary stars that are sunlike stars. Plus, there’s a third star that’s gravitationally bound to them named Proxima Centauri. In fact, it’s the closest star to our sun.

The post Alpha Centauri, the star system closest to our sun first appeared on EarthSky.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/Iz5KwpX

Hidden soil fungi stole bacterial DNA to control the rain

A new study has revealed that soil fungi can cause clouds like these to release their rain. Image via Raychel Sanner/ Unsplash.

• Most rain starts as ice. Water in clouds needs to freeze into ice crystals before it can then fall as rain.
• Certain forms of bacteria are able to trigger this process by traveling into the clouds and making water freeze at higher temperatures.
• A new study says soil fungi do this too, having ‘stolen’ the genetic ability from bacteria.

By Diana R. Andrade-Linares, University of Limerick

Science news, night sky events and beautiful photos, all in one place.
Click here to subscribe to EarthSky’s free daily newsletter.

Hidden soil fungi stole bacterial DNA to control the rain

Tiny organisms on the ground – bacteria and fungi – have a superpower that allows them to reach up into the atmosphere and pull down the rain, according to a recent study.

To understand how a microbe can control a storm, we first have to look at how clouds become rain. High up in the atmosphere, water doesn’t always freeze at 0 degrees C (32 F). Temperatures are normally much lower at cloud level but pure water can stay liquid down to a bone-chilling -40 degrees C (-40 F).

Most rain starts as ice. In the atmosphere, clouds are full of supercooled water: liquid that is colder than freezing but hasn’t turned to ice yet because it has nothing to hold onto.

And for a cloud to turn into rain or snow, it needs a “seed”: a tiny particle for water molecules to grab onto so they can crystallise into ice, then fall from the clouds as rain. Dust, soot and salt – swept into the clouds by wind – can do this, but they aren’t very good at it. They usually require the temperature to drop significantly before they start working. This is where biology enters the frame.

Meet the ice-makers

For decades, scientists have known about ice-nucleating proteins (INpros) found in certain bacteria like Pseudomonas syringae. Bacteria travel from plant leaves into the clouds to trigger rain. They use special proteins to force water to freeze at temperatures as high as -2 degrees C (28 F). Remember, water freezes at a much lower temperature in the clouds).

But the recent discovery published in the journal Science Advances has revealed a new player in the climate game: fungal ice-nucleating proteins. While bacteria keep their ice-making proteins tucked away on their “skin”, fungi (mainly Fusarium and Mortierella) secrete these proteins into the soil around them. Their structure makes these fungal proteins water soluble and smaller than the bacterial ones, and with a high ice seeding activity which makes them more effective cloud seeds.

In soil like this, fungi can release proteins that help clouds turn to rain. Image via Andrew Tom/ Unsplash.

Making it rain

This leads us to the bio-precipitation cycle. Imagine a forest floor covered in these fungi. As the wind kicks up, their microscopic ice-making proteins are launched into the clouds. Once there, they act as powerful seeds.

And even in relatively warm clouds (above -5 degrees C or 23 F), these fungal proteins can force water to crystallize into ice. As these ice crystals grow, they become heavy and fall. Then as they drop through warmer air, they melt and turn into rain.

This consequently creates a loop:

• Fungi grow in the damp soil of a forest.
• Proteins from the fungi are swept into the sky.
• Rain is triggered by these proteins, watering the forest below.
• Growth of more fungi is triggered by the rain, starting the cycle over again.

Unlike the Pseudomonas bacteria, which use ice to “attack” and damage crops to access their nutrients, these Mortierella fungi are peaceful plant partners. They aren’t looking to destroy. Instead, they secrete their ice-making proteins into the surrounding soil, which seems to create a protective shield from harsh conditions and a nutrient-rich environment that helps both the fungus and the plant flourish.

The new discovery about fungi is exciting because it shows that even organisms buried in the soil can influence the atmosphere, adding a new dimension to this ancient partnership between life and the sky.

It’s a missing piece in the puzzle of how life and the global climate shape one another. This ice-making ability probably gives the fungi a survival edge. They use ice to pump moisture toward their mycelia (a vast, underground web of tiny fungal threads), shield themselves from jagged frost damage and hitchhike through the clouds to reach new homes.

The evolutionary heist

The new research also uncovered how fungi of the Mortierellaceae family gained the ability to create ice. When the researchers studied the fungi’s genetic code, they found that these fungi didn’t evolve this trait on their own. Millions of years ago, they “borrowed” the genetic code for it from bacteria, through a process called horizontal gene transfer.

Think of it as a biological copy and paste. While most animals only inherit DNA from their parents, microbes can swap snippets of genetic code with their neighbours, giving them an instant evolutionary upgrade.

But these fungi are much more efficient at making ice than the bacteria. That’s because the fungus secretes (sweats out) these proteins, meaning they can coat the environment around it and stay active in the soil after the fungus has moved on. These proteins are incredibly hardy. They can wash into streams, dry up into dust and get swept into the sky by the wind.

Why this matters?

This discovery could change how researchers view conservation. If we clear-cut a forest, stripping every tree away and leaving the land bare, we aren’t just losing trees. We might be breaking the biological engine that triggers regional rainfall.

As we face a changing climate with more frequent droughts, understanding these fungal ice-nucleating proteins could be vital. We might one day use these natural, biodegradable proteins for cloud seeding to create rain.

Many countries (like the UAE, China and parts of the US) already have cloud-seeding programs to protect crops from frost. But this kind of cloud seeding relies on silver iodide, a heavy metal that can linger in the environment.

The fungal proteins offer a natural, biodegradable alternative. They could also protect crops from frost. By forcing ice to form early and smoothly, they release a tiny burst of heat that acts like a thermal blanket for the plant.

We could use them to make snow on ski slopes with less energy, create better-tasting frozen foods by preventing large ice crystals from damaging food cells, or even develop eco-friendly cooling systems that don’t rely on harsh chemical refrigerants.

Diana R. Andrade-Linares, Postdoctoral Fellow in Microbial Ecology, University of Limerick

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Bottom line: Some soil fungi have a superpower, inherited from bacteria. It means they can reach up into the atmosphere and pull down the rain.

Read more: Could future moon homes be made of fungi?

The post Hidden soil fungi stole bacterial DNA to control the rain first appeared on EarthSky.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/C9gxJNa

A new study has revealed that soil fungi can cause clouds like these to release their rain. Image via Raychel Sanner/ Unsplash.

• Most rain starts as ice. Water in clouds needs to freeze into ice crystals before it can then fall as rain.
• Certain forms of bacteria are able to trigger this process by traveling into the clouds and making water freeze at higher temperatures.
• A new study says soil fungi do this too, having ‘stolen’ the genetic ability from bacteria.

By Diana R. Andrade-Linares, University of Limerick

Science news, night sky events and beautiful photos, all in one place.
Click here to subscribe to EarthSky’s free daily newsletter.

Hidden soil fungi stole bacterial DNA to control the rain

Tiny organisms on the ground – bacteria and fungi – have a superpower that allows them to reach up into the atmosphere and pull down the rain, according to a recent study.

To understand how a microbe can control a storm, we first have to look at how clouds become rain. High up in the atmosphere, water doesn’t always freeze at 0 degrees C (32 F). Temperatures are normally much lower at cloud level but pure water can stay liquid down to a bone-chilling -40 degrees C (-40 F).

Most rain starts as ice. In the atmosphere, clouds are full of supercooled water: liquid that is colder than freezing but hasn’t turned to ice yet because it has nothing to hold onto.

And for a cloud to turn into rain or snow, it needs a “seed”: a tiny particle for water molecules to grab onto so they can crystallise into ice, then fall from the clouds as rain. Dust, soot and salt – swept into the clouds by wind – can do this, but they aren’t very good at it. They usually require the temperature to drop significantly before they start working. This is where biology enters the frame.

Meet the ice-makers

For decades, scientists have known about ice-nucleating proteins (INpros) found in certain bacteria like Pseudomonas syringae. Bacteria travel from plant leaves into the clouds to trigger rain. They use special proteins to force water to freeze at temperatures as high as -2 degrees C (28 F). Remember, water freezes at a much lower temperature in the clouds).

But the recent discovery published in the journal Science Advances has revealed a new player in the climate game: fungal ice-nucleating proteins. While bacteria keep their ice-making proteins tucked away on their “skin”, fungi (mainly Fusarium and Mortierella) secrete these proteins into the soil around them. Their structure makes these fungal proteins water soluble and smaller than the bacterial ones, and with a high ice seeding activity which makes them more effective cloud seeds.

In soil like this, fungi can release proteins that help clouds turn to rain. Image via Andrew Tom/ Unsplash.

Making it rain

This leads us to the bio-precipitation cycle. Imagine a forest floor covered in these fungi. As the wind kicks up, their microscopic ice-making proteins are launched into the clouds. Once there, they act as powerful seeds.

And even in relatively warm clouds (above -5 degrees C or 23 F), these fungal proteins can force water to crystallize into ice. As these ice crystals grow, they become heavy and fall. Then as they drop through warmer air, they melt and turn into rain.

This consequently creates a loop:

• Fungi grow in the damp soil of a forest.
• Proteins from the fungi are swept into the sky.
• Rain is triggered by these proteins, watering the forest below.
• Growth of more fungi is triggered by the rain, starting the cycle over again.

Unlike the Pseudomonas bacteria, which use ice to “attack” and damage crops to access their nutrients, these Mortierella fungi are peaceful plant partners. They aren’t looking to destroy. Instead, they secrete their ice-making proteins into the surrounding soil, which seems to create a protective shield from harsh conditions and a nutrient-rich environment that helps both the fungus and the plant flourish.

The new discovery about fungi is exciting because it shows that even organisms buried in the soil can influence the atmosphere, adding a new dimension to this ancient partnership between life and the sky.

It’s a missing piece in the puzzle of how life and the global climate shape one another. This ice-making ability probably gives the fungi a survival edge. They use ice to pump moisture toward their mycelia (a vast, underground web of tiny fungal threads), shield themselves from jagged frost damage and hitchhike through the clouds to reach new homes.

The evolutionary heist

The new research also uncovered how fungi of the Mortierellaceae family gained the ability to create ice. When the researchers studied the fungi’s genetic code, they found that these fungi didn’t evolve this trait on their own. Millions of years ago, they “borrowed” the genetic code for it from bacteria, through a process called horizontal gene transfer.

Think of it as a biological copy and paste. While most animals only inherit DNA from their parents, microbes can swap snippets of genetic code with their neighbours, giving them an instant evolutionary upgrade.

But these fungi are much more efficient at making ice than the bacteria. That’s because the fungus secretes (sweats out) these proteins, meaning they can coat the environment around it and stay active in the soil after the fungus has moved on. These proteins are incredibly hardy. They can wash into streams, dry up into dust and get swept into the sky by the wind.

Why this matters?

This discovery could change how researchers view conservation. If we clear-cut a forest, stripping every tree away and leaving the land bare, we aren’t just losing trees. We might be breaking the biological engine that triggers regional rainfall.

As we face a changing climate with more frequent droughts, understanding these fungal ice-nucleating proteins could be vital. We might one day use these natural, biodegradable proteins for cloud seeding to create rain.

Many countries (like the UAE, China and parts of the US) already have cloud-seeding programs to protect crops from frost. But this kind of cloud seeding relies on silver iodide, a heavy metal that can linger in the environment.

The fungal proteins offer a natural, biodegradable alternative. They could also protect crops from frost. By forcing ice to form early and smoothly, they release a tiny burst of heat that acts like a thermal blanket for the plant.

We could use them to make snow on ski slopes with less energy, create better-tasting frozen foods by preventing large ice crystals from damaging food cells, or even develop eco-friendly cooling systems that don’t rely on harsh chemical refrigerants.

Diana R. Andrade-Linares, Postdoctoral Fellow in Microbial Ecology, University of Limerick

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Bottom line: Some soil fungi have a superpower, inherited from bacteria. It means they can reach up into the atmosphere and pull down the rain.

Read more: Could future moon homes be made of fungi?

The post Hidden soil fungi stole bacterial DNA to control the rain first appeared on EarthSky.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/C9gxJNa

What are waterspouts, and how do they form?

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Bob Kuo captured this waterspout over Sun Moon Lake in Taiwan, from a hotel balcony, on November 16, 2023. Thank you, Bob! Read more about waterspouts below.

A waterspout is just a tornado that forms over open water. A tornado over an ocean, lake – or even a river – is considered to be a waterspout. Waterspouts are typically weaker than most tornadoes. And they’re usually short-lived. But they can be destructive. Let’s look at some images and videos of waterspouts and learn more about how they form.

You deserve a daily dose of good news. For the latest in science and the night sky, click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter.

When and where do waterspouts form?

Waterspouts typically occur in tropical regions, but they can form almost anywhere. For example, waterspouts have occurred in the Great Lakes, off the western coast of Europe, in the Mediterranean Sea and in the Baltic Sea.

In the U.S., the most common place to see waterspouts is along the Florida Keys and in the Gulf of Mexico. Waterspouts most often happen in the late spring and summer months, generally forming after 2 p.m. in the afternoon. Florida is the most tornado-prone area in the United States, and many of those move on or off shore as waterspouts. It’s not unusual to see 400 to 500 waterspouts a year in this area, with many that go unreported. In rare instances, more than one waterspout can form from a storm offshore.

Catch My Drift Charters captured this image of a waterspout in the Whitsunday Islands of Australia on April 11, 2023. Used with permission.

Can a waterspout be destructive?

Waterspouts are typically weaker than tornadoes. But, as seen in the videos below, they can still cause a decent amount of damage. If you’re boating in the ocean, you’ll want to monitor the weather to avoid waterspouts. For instance, you might avoid being in the ocean around the Florida Keys in the afternoon or evening, when there’s a chance for thunderstorms at the coast. If you’re on a boat or ship and a waterspout develops, try to navigate around the area by going at right angles to its path. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recommends that those on boats or ships monitor special marine warnings issued by the National Weather Service.

And – of course – it’s highly recommended that you avoid navigating through a waterspout. They can cause damage and could hurt or kill you.

In fact, there are two types of waterspouts we commonly see: a fair-weather waterspout and a tornadic waterspout.

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Mark Rutkowski said on July 3, 2020, that he caught this sunrise waterspout in the Atlantic Ocean near Miami. Thank you, Mark!

Tromba d'água em Manaus. Em frente ao Porto do São Raimundo. #manaus #temporal pic.twitter.com/yLKrfhuLlK

— @realfreitas (@RealFreitas) March 25, 2026

Fair-weather waterspouts

Fair-weather waterspouts form during relatively calm weather. They typically form along the dark, flat bases of a line of developing cumulus clouds. Air begins to circulate at the surface of the water and develops upward. Unlike tornadic waterspouts, which tend to happen in the afternoon, fair-weather waterspouts typically occur in the early to mid-morning hours, and sometimes in the early afternoon. Everyone associates tornadoes and waterspouts with thunderstorms, but when fair-weather waterspouts form, they typically occur during light wind conditions. Because of this, these waterspouts don’t move much.

There are five stages that occur for fair weather waterspouts. Here are the stages:

1. The formation of a disk on the surface of the water, known as a dark spot
2. A spiral pattern on the water surface
3. A formation of a spray ring
4. When the waterspout becomes a visible funnel: the waterspout!
5. The last and final stage of the life cycle is when the waterspout decays. When the waterspout decays, it likely does so because a cool rain falls near the spout. This cool air typically disrupts the supply of warm, humid air that allows the waterspout to keep going.

Tornadic waterspouts

Tornadic waterspouts are simply tornadoes that form over water or move from land to water. They typically occur with afternoon and evening thunderstorms. You need two main ingredients for tornadic waterspouts: warm, moist air and an unstable atmosphere. Trade winds from boundaries can also influence the formation of this kind of waterspout.

Unlike fair-weather waterspouts, tornadic waterspouts typically develop downward in a thunderstorm and begin to appear initially as funnel clouds. The storms that develop these waterspouts are usually non-supercell thunderstorms. According to NOAA, a supercell thunderstorm is defined as:

… a large severe storm occurring in a significant vertically sheared environment; contains quasi-steady, strongly rotating updraft (mesocyclone); usually moves to the right (perhaps left) of the mean wind; can evolve from a non-supercell storm; and contain moderate-to-strong vertical speed and directional wind shear in the 0-6 km [0-3.7 miles] layer.

Supercell thunderstorms are what produce large, violent tornadoes. In non-supercell thunderstorms – like those that produce waterspouts – tornadoes that form are due to a boundary layer. Spin ups that do occur in the storm are generally short-lived. Obviously, every waterspout is different and some could last longer than others.

Waterspout videos

Check out the amazing video below of a waterspout pushing ashore on Grand Isle, Louisiana, on May 8, 2012. There’s spectacular footage of multiple waterspouts and a tornado hitting the coast around four minutes into the video. Scary stuff! FYI: Do not try this at home! If you know a tornado is about to strike near you, go inside and take shelter. It’s not the tornado itself that will hurt or kill you. Instead, it’s the flying debris in the air that’s dangerous.

The video captures an impressive waterspout seen today from the deck of a container ship in the Bermuda Triangle. pic.twitter.com/wD9zaF2JOg

— Weather Monitor (@WeatherMonitors) January 31, 2026

Amazing waterspout ?? pic.twitter.com/TyC1kTFzur

— Cosmic Gaia (@CosmicGaiaX) April 12, 2024

Crazy video of a waterspout moving onshore at Fort Myers Beach! Getting reports of minor damage to the Lani Kai resort. #flwx ??? @NWSTampaBay @spann @StormHour pic.twitter.com/LXo9e7dujt

— Dylan Federico (@DylanFedericoWX) March 12, 2022

Bottom line: Waterspouts can be harmless as long as you understand and avoid them. If you live along the coast, you should treat all waterspouts as you would tornadoes on land. Waterspouts form off non-supercell thunderstorms and are often short-lived. Some waterspouts can reach the coastline and become tornadoes, so it is important for everyone to monitor the weather as it evolves.

The post What are waterspouts, and how do they form? first appeared on EarthSky.

from EarthSky https://ift.tt/LZoB0rN

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Bob Kuo captured this waterspout over Sun Moon Lake in Taiwan, from a hotel balcony, on November 16, 2023. Thank you, Bob! Read more about waterspouts below.

A waterspout is just a tornado that forms over open water. A tornado over an ocean, lake – or even a river – is considered to be a waterspout. Waterspouts are typically weaker than most tornadoes. And they’re usually short-lived. But they can be destructive. Let’s look at some images and videos of waterspouts and learn more about how they form.

You deserve a daily dose of good news. For the latest in science and the night sky, click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter.

When and where do waterspouts form?

Waterspouts typically occur in tropical regions, but they can form almost anywhere. For example, waterspouts have occurred in the Great Lakes, off the western coast of Europe, in the Mediterranean Sea and in the Baltic Sea.

In the U.S., the most common place to see waterspouts is along the Florida Keys and in the Gulf of Mexico. Waterspouts most often happen in the late spring and summer months, generally forming after 2 p.m. in the afternoon. Florida is the most tornado-prone area in the United States, and many of those move on or off shore as waterspouts. It’s not unusual to see 400 to 500 waterspouts a year in this area, with many that go unreported. In rare instances, more than one waterspout can form from a storm offshore.

Catch My Drift Charters captured this image of a waterspout in the Whitsunday Islands of Australia on April 11, 2023. Used with permission.

Can a waterspout be destructive?

Waterspouts are typically weaker than tornadoes. But, as seen in the videos below, they can still cause a decent amount of damage. If you’re boating in the ocean, you’ll want to monitor the weather to avoid waterspouts. For instance, you might avoid being in the ocean around the Florida Keys in the afternoon or evening, when there’s a chance for thunderstorms at the coast. If you’re on a boat or ship and a waterspout develops, try to navigate around the area by going at right angles to its path. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recommends that those on boats or ships monitor special marine warnings issued by the National Weather Service.

And – of course – it’s highly recommended that you avoid navigating through a waterspout. They can cause damage and could hurt or kill you.

In fact, there are two types of waterspouts we commonly see: a fair-weather waterspout and a tornadic waterspout.

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Mark Rutkowski said on July 3, 2020, that he caught this sunrise waterspout in the Atlantic Ocean near Miami. Thank you, Mark!

Tromba d'água em Manaus. Em frente ao Porto do São Raimundo. #manaus #temporal pic.twitter.com/yLKrfhuLlK

— @realfreitas (@RealFreitas) March 25, 2026

Fair-weather waterspouts

Fair-weather waterspouts form during relatively calm weather. They typically form along the dark, flat bases of a line of developing cumulus clouds. Air begins to circulate at the surface of the water and develops upward. Unlike tornadic waterspouts, which tend to happen in the afternoon, fair-weather waterspouts typically occur in the early to mid-morning hours, and sometimes in the early afternoon. Everyone associates tornadoes and waterspouts with thunderstorms, but when fair-weather waterspouts form, they typically occur during light wind conditions. Because of this, these waterspouts don’t move much.

There are five stages that occur for fair weather waterspouts. Here are the stages:

1. The formation of a disk on the surface of the water, known as a dark spot
2. A spiral pattern on the water surface
3. A formation of a spray ring
4. When the waterspout becomes a visible funnel: the waterspout!
5. The last and final stage of the life cycle is when the waterspout decays. When the waterspout decays, it likely does so because a cool rain falls near the spout. This cool air typically disrupts the supply of warm, humid air that allows the waterspout to keep going.

Tornadic waterspouts

Tornadic waterspouts are simply tornadoes that form over water or move from land to water. They typically occur with afternoon and evening thunderstorms. You need two main ingredients for tornadic waterspouts: warm, moist air and an unstable atmosphere. Trade winds from boundaries can also influence the formation of this kind of waterspout.

Unlike fair-weather waterspouts, tornadic waterspouts typically develop downward in a thunderstorm and begin to appear initially as funnel clouds. The storms that develop these waterspouts are usually non-supercell thunderstorms. According to NOAA, a supercell thunderstorm is defined as:

… a large severe storm occurring in a significant vertically sheared environment; contains quasi-steady, strongly rotating updraft (mesocyclone); usually moves to the right (perhaps left) of the mean wind; can evolve from a non-supercell storm; and contain moderate-to-strong vertical speed and directional wind shear in the 0-6 km [0-3.7 miles] layer.

Supercell thunderstorms are what produce large, violent tornadoes. In non-supercell thunderstorms – like those that produce waterspouts – tornadoes that form are due to a boundary layer. Spin ups that do occur in the storm are generally short-lived. Obviously, every waterspout is different and some could last longer than others.

Waterspout videos

Check out the amazing video below of a waterspout pushing ashore on Grand Isle, Louisiana, on May 8, 2012. There’s spectacular footage of multiple waterspouts and a tornado hitting the coast around four minutes into the video. Scary stuff! FYI: Do not try this at home! If you know a tornado is about to strike near you, go inside and take shelter. It’s not the tornado itself that will hurt or kill you. Instead, it’s the flying debris in the air that’s dangerous.

The video captures an impressive waterspout seen today from the deck of a container ship in the Bermuda Triangle. pic.twitter.com/wD9zaF2JOg

— Weather Monitor (@WeatherMonitors) January 31, 2026

Amazing waterspout ?? pic.twitter.com/TyC1kTFzur

— Cosmic Gaia (@CosmicGaiaX) April 12, 2024

Crazy video of a waterspout moving onshore at Fort Myers Beach! Getting reports of minor damage to the Lani Kai resort. #flwx ??? @NWSTampaBay @spann @StormHour pic.twitter.com/LXo9e7dujt

— Dylan Federico (@DylanFedericoWX) March 12, 2022

Bottom line: Waterspouts can be harmless as long as you understand and avoid them. If you live along the coast, you should treat all waterspouts as you would tornadoes on land. Waterspouts form off non-supercell thunderstorms and are often short-lived. Some waterspouts can reach the coastline and become tornadoes, so it is important for everyone to monitor the weather as it evolves.

The post What are waterspouts, and how do they form? first appeared on EarthSky.

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