The universe is undergoing a more rapid decay than previously thought, according to recent calculations by researchers at Radboud University. This phenomenon, known as Hawking radiation, was first proposed by Stephen Hawking in 1975, suggesting that particles and radiation can escape from black holes. Now, scientists have reinterpreted this concept to include other objects with strong gravitational fields, such as neutron stars and stellar remnants.

The calculations, led by Heino Falcke, Michael Wondrak, and Walter van Suijlekom, reveal that the last stellar remnants take approximately 10^78 years (a 1 followed by 78 zeros) to perish. This is significantly shorter than the previously estimated 10^1100 years (a 1 followed by 1100 zeros). The researchers published their findings in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, providing a revised understanding of the universe’s ultimate end.

The study’s authors noted that this rapid decay comes as a surprise, considering the stronger gravitational field of black holes. However, they discovered that these objects have no surface, which causes them to reabsorb some of their own radiation, hindering the evaporation process. As a result, neutron stars and stellar black holes take approximately 10^67 years to decay.

The researchers also calculated the time it takes for the Moon and a human to evaporate via Hawking-like radiation, with both estimated to last around 10^90 years (a 1 followed by 90 zeros). While this may seem like an incredibly long period, the scientists pointed out that other processes could potentially cause humans and the Moon to disappear faster.

The collaboration between astrophysics, quantum physics, and mathematics has led to new insights into the theory of Hawking radiation. As co-author Walter van Suijlekom noted, by asking questions about extreme cases and combining different disciplines, researchers can better understand the underlying mechanisms and perhaps one day unravel the mystery surrounding Hawking radiation.

In conclusion, the universe’s ultimate end is now seen as a more rapid process than previously thought, with significant implications for our understanding of cosmic evolution. While this may seem daunting, it also provides an opportunity to explore the mysteries of Hawking radiation and its role in shaping the universe.

The NASA New Horizons spacecraft has achieved a major milestone in its journey to explore the outer reaches of our solar system by creating the first-ever map of Lyman-alpha emissions from the galaxy. This breakthrough was made possible by the spacecraft’s extensive observations using the Alice instrument, an ultraviolet spectrograph developed by the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI).

Lyman-alpha is a specific wavelength of ultraviolet light emitted and scattered by hydrogen atoms, which is crucial for astronomers studying distant stars, galaxies, and the interstellar medium. By mapping this emission, scientists can gain insights into the composition, temperature, and movement of these celestial objects.

According to Dr. Randy Gladstone, lead investigator on the study and first author of the publication, understanding the Lyman-alpha background helps shed light on nearby galactic structures and processes. The research suggests that hot interstellar gas bubbles, like the one our solar system is embedded within, may actually be regions of enhanced hydrogen gas emissions at a wavelength called Lyman alpha.

During its initial journey to Pluto, New Horizons collected baseline data about Lyman-alpha emissions using the Alice instrument. After completing its primary objectives at Pluto, scientists used Alice to make broader and more frequent surveys of Lyman-alpha emissions as the spacecraft traveled farther from the Sun. These surveys included an extensive set of scans in 2023 that mapped roughly 83% of the sky.

To isolate emissions from the galaxy, the New Horizons team modeled scattered solar Lyman-alpha emissions and subtracted them from the spectrograph’s data. The results indicate a roughly uniform background Lyman alpha sky brightness 10 times stronger than expected from previous estimates.

These findings point to the emission and scattering of Lyman-alpha photons by hydrogen atoms in the shell of a hot bubble, known to surround our solar system and nearby stars, that was formed by nearby supernova events a few million years ago. The study also found no evidence that a hydrogen wall, thought to surround the Sun’s heliosphere, substantially contributes to the observed Lyman-alpha signal.

“This is really landmark observations,” said co-author and New Horizons Principal Investigator Dr. Alan Stern, “in giving the first clear view of the sky surrounding the solar system at these wavelengths, both revealing new characteristics of that sky and refuting older ideas that the Alice New Horizons data just doesn’t support.” The Lyman-alpha map also provides a solid foundation for future investigations to learn even more about our galactic neighborhood.

The universe is home to an astonishing array of celestial bodies, but recent discoveries have shed new light on the prevalence of one type of planet: the super-Earth. Using the Korea Microlensing Telescope Network (KMTNet), an international team of researchers has found that these massive worlds are more common across the cosmos than previously thought.

By studying light anomalies caused by the newly found planet’s host star, combined with a larger sample from a KMTNet microlensing survey, the team was able to show that super-Earths can exist as far from their host star as our gas giants are from the sun. This is particularly interesting because it challenges previous theories about the formation and evolution of these planets.

One of the key findings of this study is that for every three stars, there should be at least one super-Earth present with a Jupiter-like orbital period. This suggests that these massive worlds are extremely prevalent across the universe. To make these discoveries, researchers used an observational effect called microlensing, which occurs when the presence of mass warps the fabric of space-time to a detectable degree.

The team was able to locate OGLE-2016-BLG-0007, a super-Earth with a mass ratio roughly double that of Earth’s and an orbit wider than Saturn’s. These observations allowed them to divide exoplanets into two groups: one consisting of super-Earths and Neptune-like planets, and the other comprising gas giants like Jupiter or Saturn.

This discovery opens new doors for planetary system science, as having a better understanding of exoplanet distribution can reveal new insights about the processes by which they form and evolve. The study also compared their findings to predictions made from theoretical simulations of planet formation, showing that while exoplanets can be separated into groups by mass and makeup, the mechanisms that may produce them can vary.

The researchers believe that greater swaths of long-term data from specialized systems like KMTNet and other microlensing instruments will be necessary to distinguish between different theories of gas-giant formation. This study was led by researchers in China, Korea, and at Harvard University and the Smithsonian Institution in the United States, and was recently published in the journal Science.

In conclusion, this discovery has significant implications for our understanding of the universe, revealing a cosmic abundance of super-Earths that challenges previous theories about their formation and evolution. Further research will be necessary to uncover more secrets about these enigmatic worlds.