January 19, 2024: Astronomers discover a dark galaxy, corals in deeper water are getting bleached, too, and a pig liver filters human blood. —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | | Astronomers have spotted a galaxy that is made almost entirely of gas and dark matter, with few if any stars. Named J0613+52, it appeared as a blip of hydrogen gas some 270 million light-years away. It's incredibly dim, appearing 100,000 times fainter than our own Milky Way (which glows from the light of 100 billion stars). Researchers think it's likely to have a high amount of dark matter.
Why this is so cool: J0613+52 is completely isolated, with no neighboring galaxy closer than about 330 million light-years. Astronomers speculate that it looks like an object from the early universe, with gas from that time that never got transferred into stars.
What the experts say: "It does look like a primordial object," says Robert Minchin of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in New Mexico. "It's a bit like discovering a living dinosaur and having it there to study." | | | Artist depiction of hydrogen gas observed in galaxy J0613+52. The colors indicate the likely rotation of the gas relative to the observer (red = moving away, blue = moving toward). Credit: STScI POSS-II (starfield); additional illustration by NSF/GBO/P.Vosteen | | | Deeper-water coral reefs can experience bleaching from warm ocean temperatures. At nearly 300 feet below the surface in the Indian Ocean's Chagos Archipelago, researchers found bleached coral in the dimmer and colder waters of what oceanographers call the "twilight zone." It is the deepest instance of bleaching ever recorded. This phenomenon was previously believed to only happen to corals nearer the surface.
How this works: Changes in the circulation patterns of wind and ocean currents can bring warm temperatures to the depths. For example, the Indian Ocean Dipole, a climate pattern similar to El Niño, shifts winds and ocean currents in the region and keeps the top layer of water warm. In certain years, that weather pattern mixes warmer water even deeper, into regions that normally experience colder water. This exposes the coral there to higher temps than they're used to.
What the experts say: "Those corals were exposed to temperatures that are normally found at the surface," says Phil Hosegood, a physical oceanographer at the University of Plymouth. Researchers may have missed similar bleaching events in the past and in other oceans by not looking deep enough, he says. | | | • NASA's moon program faces delays. But the Artemis program promises to revolutionize travel to other celestial bodies. | 8 min read | | | • Tardigrades are microscopic animals (and cuties) that can survive a host of conditions that are too extreme to ever occur on Earth. And scientists just figured out how. | 3 min read | | | • A forthcoming report from an office of the Pentagon to Congress finds no evidence of a conspiracy to cover up the existence of aliens on Earth, or the development of alien technology. Recently retired director of the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office, Sean Kirkpatrick, and author of the report, explains in an Op-Ed that the result of this "whirlwind of tall tales, fabrication and secondhand or thirdhand retellings of the same, was a social media frenzy and a significant amount of congressional and executive time and energy spent on investigating these so-called claims." | 6 min read | | | Our most popular stories this week | | | • Why 2024's Total Solar Eclipse Will Be So Special | 4 min read | • Four New Octopus Species Discovered in the Deep Sea | 4 min read | • Ailing Peregrine Moon Lander Is on Course to Crash into Earth | 2 min read | | | Dark energy, dark matter and now dark galaxies. The more we discover about the universe, the more phenomena seem to operate beyond the visible spectrum of light. If there is alien life out there, I wonder if they have better "eyes" with which to see our universe. | I wish you a peaceful weekend. Let me know your thoughts about this newsletter by emailing newsletters@sciam.com. See you on Monday! | —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | Subscribe to this and all of our newsletters . | | | | Scientific American
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