news 2023

  Searching for signs of alien life in our own solar system    Scientists have long been captivated by the possibility of discovering evidence for extraterrestrial life in the universe. While many of the world's largest telescopes are pointed toward distant galaxies and star systems, some think there's a strong possibility that life could be detected much closer to home.

We put ChatGPT 4 to the test, asking it to read two scholarly studies produced at the university and summarize them in a pair of newsy articles for UdeM Nouvelles. The results were.. mixed. Credit: Miriam Beauchamp (Marc Antoine Charlebois) and Laurence Perreault-Levasseur (Mila Quebec) How good is ChatGPT at reading and synthesizing science, specifically the highly detailed science published as peer-reviewed studies in scholarly journals? To find out, we put the chatbot to the test, twice.

The OSIRIS-REx mission is NASA's first mission to collect samples from an asteroid - in this case 101955 Bennu - and return to Earth. OSIRIS-REx is an acronym for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security - Regolith Explorer. The sealed capsule landed on Sept. 24 near Salt Lake City, Utah, a feat that was broadcast live by NASA.

ESA's Euclid space mission unveils stunning full-colour images of the cosmos, setting a new standard for astronomical imaging precision By Jordan Flemming University Relations Today, the European Space Agency's (ESA) Euclid space mission reveals five of its first full-color images of the cosmos. For the first time, Euclid has harnessed the power to capture razor-sharp astronomical images across a vast expanse of the sky, delving deep into the distant universe.

A Canadian-led team of scientists finds triple the number of galaxies visible in the James Webb Space Telescope's "First Deep Field" image whose distances from Earth can be measured. On July 11, 2022, the very first image taken by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was released to the general public.

In 2022, the James Webb Space Telescope captured an image of a cluster of thousands of galaxies. Astronomers have measured the distance to Earth of 200 of these galaxies. On July 11, 2022, the world saw the very first image taken by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The image is now known as the "Webb Deep Galaxy Field" - a galaxy cluster named SMACS 0723, comprising over 7,000 galaxies! This image has proved an important target for the study of galaxy evolution, as this large number of very distant galaxies tells us a lot about how galaxies formed and evolved in the early Universe.

Antimatter is tied up in one of the world's greatest mysteries. Physics predicts that when we create matter, we also create equal amounts of antimatter. Yet there seems to be almost no antimatter in our universe, a fact that has long puzzled physicists. Now, physicists at Simon Fraser University, the University of Calgary, TRIUMF, the University of British Columbia, York University and the British Columbia Institute of Technology and research institutions from around the world have just answered a long-standing question that will lead to a deeper understanding of antimatter: Does it fall down?

Science, Health & Technology Prof. Takamasa Momose First measurement of the force of the Earth's gravity on antimatter, which leverages a built-in-Vancouver antimatter gravity detector. In the world's first observation of the effect of gravity on antimatter, a group of researchers from Canada and around the world have made an important confirmation: like matter, antimatter does indeed 'fall downwards'.

Complex interplay between stellar activity and exoplanet characteristics revealed in study co-authored by McGill Professor Nicolas Cowan A team of astronomers has made a leap forward in our understanding of the intriguing TRAPPIST-1 exoplanetary system. Not only has their research shed light on the nature of TRAPPIST-1 b, the exoplanet orbiting closest to the system's star, but it has also shown the importance of parent stars when studying exoplanets.

A new study of the intriguing TRAPPIST-1 exoplanetary system has demonstrated the complex interaction between the activity of the system's star and its planetary features. Astronomers led by a team at Université de Montréal has made important progress in understanding the intriguing TRAPPIST-1 exoplanetary system, which was first discovered in 2016 amid speculation it could someday provide a place for humans to live.

Researchers use AI to detect potential problems with satellites before they happen Rural and remote communities in Canada often rely on satellites to access the internet, but those connections are fraught - with many glitches and service interruptions because the technology can be unreliable. The inequity in internet access between these communities and those who live in cities is an ongoing problem with myriad consequences for Canada's economic productivity.

As satellite count surges, Western team uses meteor tracking camera tech to track where they are in Earth's orbit As predicted by Captain Kirk, space is indeed the final frontier. But imagine if Starfleet couldn't launch the U.S.S. Enterprise because there was a traffic jam in Earth's orbit causing congestion or, worse, gridlock.

News Release - Discovery of two potential Polar Ring galaxies suggests these stunning rare clusters might be more common than previously believed. KINGSTON, Ontario - A group of international astronomers, including researchers from Queen's University, has identified two potential polar ring galaxies, according to results published today in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Waterloo scientists guide the decades-long journey for the XRISM astronomy satellite to demystify black hole feedback dynamics By Jordan Flemming University Relations In a quest to decipher the enigmatic power of black holes and the intricate role they play in galaxy growth and structure - Waterloo scientists are gearing up for a much-anticipated launch.

Science, Health & Technology Alex Walls It's not the nicest description for a human, but a two-faced star has been identified by astronomers in a first for its kind. With one side composed fully of hydrogen and the other of helium, the star has been dubbed Janus after the two-faced Roman god of transition, and described in a new study published in Nature today.

Science, Health & Technology Alex Walls Using part of the Milky Way as an antenna, researchers have found evidence for gravitational waves that undulate over periods of years to decades by measuring changes in the tick of 'cosmic clocks', according to new research. The observations, published today in a suite of papers in The Astrophysical Journal Letters , were collected over 15 years by the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) Physics Frontiers Center (PFC), a collaboration of more than 190 scientists including UBC astronomers.

An international team of scientists have used data collected by the NASA / / James Webb Space Telescope to detect for the first time ever a molecule known as methyl cation (CH3+), located in the protoplanetary disc surrounding a young star. They accomplished this feat with interdisciplinary expert analysis, including key input from laboratory spectroscopists.

Through the Gemini-North Telescope in Hawai'i, the chemical composition of WASP-76 b is revealed in unprecedented detail, giving new insights also into the composition of giant planets. An international team led by Stefan Pelletier , a Ph.D. candidate at Université de Montréal's Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets announced today having made a detailed study of the extremely hot giant exoplanet WASP-76 b. Using the MAROON-X instrument on the Gemini-North Telescope, the team was able to identify and measure the abundance of 11 chemical elements in the atmosphere of the planet.

Waterloo Will Percival gives public talk on upcoming Euclid mission By Jon Parsons University Relations Dr. Will Percival is a primary science coordinator for the Euclid space mission, set to launch from Cape Canaveral this July. Percival is the Mike and Ophelia Lazaridis Distinguished Chair in Astrophysics, director of the Waterloo Centre for Astrophysics and a full professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy.

Using the Canadian NIRISS instrument on the James Webb Space Telescope, astrophysics PhD candidate Louis-Philippe Coulombe has mapped the atmosphere of the intriguing exoplanet WASP-18 b. There's an intriguing exoplanet out there - 400 light-years out there - that is so tantalising that astronomers have been studying it since its discovery in 2009.