Over 6000 exoplanets, planets orbiting stars other than our Sun, have been discovered, offering a glimpse into the vast diversity of planetary systems beyond our own. As our technological capabilities continue to advance, this number is expected to rise, and many exoplanets will be unveiled. Amidst this cosmic diversity, one question prevails: how do we…Continue Reading Exploring the Twilight Zone on Extrasolar Planets
Dark matter is a mysterious substance that has evaded all of our attempts at directly detecting it in our experiments on Earth. Dark matter is an important ingredient of the Universe’s evolution as it is the foundation upon which galaxies form – without it we would not exist in the solar system we find ourselves…Continue Reading How to Use Asteroids to Look for Dark Matter
All galaxies, including our own Milky Way, contain dark matter. But how much dark matter does the Milky Way have? This is a question that does not have a definite answer; turns out you can’t just weigh the galaxy on a scale and record the mass of dark matter. But that hasn’t stopped astronomers from…Continue Reading Sizing from the Smallest Scales: The Mass of the Milky Way