Lifeboat Foundation

How many black holes are out there in the Universe? This is one of the most relevant and pressing questions in modern astrophysics and cosmology. The intriguing issue has recently been addressed by the SISSA Ph.D. student Alex Sicilia, supervised by Prof. Andrea Lapi and Dr. Lumen Boco, together with other collaborators from SISSA and from other national and international institutions. In a first paper of a series just published in The Astrophysical Journal, the authors have investigated the demographics of stellar mass black holes, which are black holes with masses between a few to some hundred solar masses, that originated at the end of the life of massive stars. According to the new research, a remarkable amount around 1% of the overall ordinary (baryonic) matter of the Universe is locked up in stellar mass black holes. Astonishingly, the researchers have found that the number of black holes within the observable Universe (a sphere of diameter around 90 billions light years) at present time is about 40 trillions, 40 billion billions (i.e., about 40 × 10¹⁸, i.e. 4 followed by 19 zeros!).

A new method to calculate the number of black holes

As the authors of the research explain: This important result has been obtained thanks to an original approach which combines the state-of-the-art stellar and binary evolution code SEVN developed by SISSA researcher Dr. Mario Spera to empirical prescriptions for relevant physical properties of galaxies, especially the rate of star formation, the amount of stellar mass and the metallicity of the interstellar medium (which are all important elements to define the number and the masses of stellar black holes). Exploiting these crucial ingredients in a self-consistent approach, thanks to their new computation approach, the researchers have then derived the number of stellar black holes and their mass distribution across the whole history of the Universe.

In recent research, scientists showed that there is enough heat in the bowels of Europa to keep part of the solid core in a molten state, and thereby support the existence of volcanoes on the ocean floor. This find suggests that the volcanic activity may be enough to support subsurface alien life on Jupiter’s moon.

One potential culprit? Ancient Martian microbes.

Scientists are working to identify the source of a carbon signature detected by the Curiosity rover. on Mars. One potential culprit? Ancient alien microbes.

READER QUESTION: My understanding is that nothing comes from nothing. For something to exist, there must be material or a component available, and for them to be available, there must be something else available. Now my question: Where did the material come from that created the Big Bang, and what happened in the first instance to create that material? Peter, 80, Australia.

“The last star will slowly cool and fade away. With its passing, the universe will become once more a void, without light or life or meaning.” So warned the physicist Brian Cox in the recent BBC series Universe. The fading of that last star will only be the beginning of an infinitely long, dark epoch. All matter will eventually be consumed by monstrous black holes, which in their turn will evaporate away into the dimmest glimmers of light. Space will expand ever outwards until even that dim light becomes too spread out to interact. Activity will cease.

Continue reading “How Could the Big Bang Arise From Nothing?” »

Please join us on January 18th at 6pm Pacific / 9pm Eastern for Episode 7 of Red Planet Live! We are excited to welcome Astrobiologist Dr. Graham Lau to the show!

Known online as “The Cosmobiologist”, Dr. Graham is a research scientist with the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, director of communications & marketing for Blue Marble Space, host of the show “Ask an Astrobiologist”, sponsored by the NASA Astrobiology Program and SAGANet, and director of logistics for the Mars Society’s University Rover Challenge.

Continue reading “Red Planet Live — Dr. Graham Lau — Episode 7” »

As of Jan. 8, 2022, NASA’s (Washington D.C., U.S.) James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) team fully deployed its 21-foot, gold-coated primary mirror, successfully completing the final stage of all major spacecraft deployments (including the 70-foot sunshield) since its Dec. 25 launch, to prepare for science operations. The telescope makes ample use of composite materials.

A joint effort with the European Space Agency (ESA) and Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the Webb mission will explore every phase of cosmic history, from within our solar system to the most distant observable galaxies in the early universe.

Continue reading “James Webb Space Telescope reaches major milestone as primary mirror unfolds” »

👽 Many experts, for years, believe that the scientific community no longer has a way to hide it. Life outside the earth exists. 🛸VIDEO 🛸

O’Connell reveals that life is capable of surviving in environments inhospitable to humans. For this reason, he believes that life can be found in a lake of sulfuric acid, inside barrels of nuclear waste, in water superheated to 122 degrees Celsius and even in Antarctica.

Furthermore, he adds that Mars was once an ideal place for life. He believes that the presence of methane in its atmosphere is proof that extraterrestrial life existed there.

Continue reading “‘Extraterrestrial contact is imminent’, according to several scientists (Video)” »

We are getting closer to discovering if life existed on the Red Planet.

Scientists are gathering evidence of Mars’ past habitability through several ongoing missions, including Perseverance, Curiosity, Zhurong, and Exomars.

I found this super interesting. I never considered the idea that I may have lived this exact life an infinite amount of times already. I find stuff like this to be brain candy, and this article is particularly well-written in my opinion. Did The Big Bang Arise Out of Nothing?

“The last star will slowly cool and fade away. With its passing, the Universe will become once more a void, without light or life or meaning.”

Continue reading “How Did The Big Bang Arise Out of Nothing?” »